Removed Gen lights

[xenocath]

the gen lights on my truck were removed by the previous owner and gauges were stuck in the holes where they used to be and i mean they cut circuit board and everything to place the gauges in the dash. my question is i know the gen lights are part of the circuit for charging the batteries what i was wondering is exactly how could the lights be bypassed in theory. my truck charges once you rev it and the 24 volt gauge remains in green and the 12v gauge goes to 14.5 ish how ever both gauges constantly surge and the truck lights also surge. i am currently chasing what i think is a problem redoing all grounds cleaning connections etc if anyone can give me another direction to take and fix this annoying problem i am all ears.

 

[1stSarge]

Can be done pretty easy. Anything that will conduct with a similar resistance will work in theory. So even just a resistor there would work.

Cleaning all connections is a great place to start, fixed so many problems that way.

Then, keeping it simple first; make sure batteries are good and belts are tight and in good shape, could be just a belt slipping, THEN start thinking of charging system problems.

 

[xenocath]

ok whatever magic made my set up work in the first place has expired. reving the motor no longer works to excite the system. i have pulled the dash completely apart to see what exactly has been done and following tech manuals/diagrams traced and checked the exciter circuit and found what i knew, there is no light bulbs or sockets in the gen idiot lights and aftermarket gauge wires pass through the holes where bulbs would go in the circuit board . what i did not expect was the fact it seems no other modification was made to bypass the light bulbs or splice around them via the gauge harness plug i have found no extra resistors bulbs or wires either. my question is why did it ever excite the alternators and charge just fine, i mean there are a ton of threads concerning these lights and what part they play in that circuit.
now how in the heck can you simply remove them and get the system to work just by reving the motor? seems to me it should never have worked instead of just now failing.

 

[mistaken1]

Look at the wiring at the alternators, perhaps they did something there to excite the alternators.

 

[dependable]

Don't know if this helps, but if your wire harness is still stock, the are I think 2 terminals in the plug for the instrument cluster that should test 24v w voltmeter. These are the ones associated w the gen 2 light. Don't have a cucv dash apart right now or I'd tell you the terminal numbers. The gen 1 light is run by a double brown wire that also feeds blower motor.

 

[xenocath]

well as closure to this thread i started, i have removed the gauges from the gen light holes, bought a new instrument cluster with new gen placards, rebuilt three diffrent alternators swapping them in and out, replaced both under dash relays, traced/replaced and cleaned all connections and grounds changed the gen 2 light bulb numerous times replaced the 24 volt fuse on box and changed out the diode behind the heater controls. all of this over the last year or so. oddly enough the dern convoluted system still would not work as it should according to the tech manuals. it worked well enough to charge the batteries, i also replaced just never the gen 2 light or fully to tick mark in the green and it would lose volts as the engine heated up. after all this i was slightly stumped and was kicking around the idea of the roscommon conversion as a fix. well here is the rub instead of assuming everything done by the po was wrong i stuck the diode in the exact same way as was done previous which was backwards....... i flipped it around and low n behold running straight and normal. now all lights and gauges working correctly.