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Yay! Charging issues!

TechnoWeenie

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Okay, I have a fun one.

Ever since I purchased my m1031, at high RPM, the Gen 1 and Gen 2 lights like to dance. They kind of alternate glowing on and off, but never full on. I figured that they were on their way out, or I had a bad ground. As I do with all new vehicles, I clean off any grounds, do a general inspection on the electrical system, and replace batteries. So there are two brand-new, now one-year-old, batteries Interstate group 31 be specific.

I've had other CUCVs and the dancing alternator lights, seem to be fairly common, some more pronounced than others, so I didn't think too much about it, just thinking that I may have to replace an alternator sooner rather than later.

Well, here I am two years later, and my m934 was completely dead. I used the slave port to charge the batteries on my m934. It immediately dropped my voltage indicator into the yellow. I was able to jump my m934, after letting it sit in charge for about an hour, but I had to raise the idle on the cucv, to get the voltage indicator back into the green. It normally runs in the high green area. After I jumped my 934, it appeared that it would be in the low green area, and never went back to where it was. The Gen 1 and Gen 2 lights operated as normal, coming on when placed in ignition, and fluttering as I call it, during high RPM, such as highway, driving. The voltage gauge never went back to its normal position in the high green area.

And stupid phone submitted it before I was done... Grrrr.... Editing more..

So, I'm also running two reserve batteries, that are Hawker 6TL that are mounted to the back, and isolated through a high current solenoid. The batteries are only hooked up to the charging circuit when the vehicle is running.

I only drive the vehicle about once a week if that. But, I noticed that, the voltage seems to be dripping down from the green into the yellow, and farther down the yellow, the more I drove, according to the voltage indicator. At no point was my gen 1 light illuminated. Now, like an idiot, I did not check my fuel status, I ran out of fuel. I noticed that after about 20 seconds of to Prime the lines that I had almost no 12 volt power. And the voltage indicator was in the red. I got a 12-volt jump to the front battery, and the voltage indicator went back to the green. Well previously, I had been able to run lights, windshield wipers, etcetera. Now I couldn't even turn on my headlights, and my windshield wipers pretty much stuck where they were very low.

My immediate thought, was that I had blown one of the fusible links. I went home, threw the batteries on a charger, and double-checked all the voltages. The batteries are now sitting out where they should be.


Here's the fun part.

I have voltage from the battery to the 12 volt stud on the firewall. I have voltage from the stud to the alternator. I have voltage from the red wire on the 2 pin connector at all times, and I have voltage on the brown wire on the alternator when the ignition is on (not started).

The first thing that I checked when I got home, was to make sure that the fusible links were intact. Which they are because they're passing 12.x volts, which is what the batteries are sitting at. And I double-checked that both generator lights,are when the vehicle is placed in the Run position.

Now, I just went back to double-check, before I started the vehicle, and now the Gen 1 light, is not Illuminating when placed in ignition.

Now, from my understanding, the brown Exciter wire that goes to the alternator, gets its power through the Gen 1 bulb, so if the Gen 1 bulb is not illuminated on ignition on, there should be no voltage getting to the brown Exciter wire. The voltage on the Exciter wire, is about 12.2 volts, verses about 12.8 that I'm getting from the other connections.

So, I figured that the alternators were going to need to be replaced anyway, and I ordered Wilson. Guess what? The only one that's within about a thousand miles, is not ground isolated, despite the fact that it's supposed to be. You can tell that they attempted to use washers to isolate the casing, however they were still continuity between the ground point and the case. So I opted not to buy it.

I also forgot to mention, that I have two 12 volt batteries, both Interstate group 31, and the 12-volt position, both purchased at the same time, to assist with glow plug starts. The wiring between the batteries and the glow plugs has been updated, and the 24 volt resistor bypassed.

I essentially was running off of 2 group 31 batteries, and2 hawker 6TLs.... which is why it took me a couple months to realize that I wasn't actually charging my batteries. So, in that respect, the system worked as designed. LOL.


Now, my real question, how am I getting voltage on the Exciter circuit, if my gen 1 light is not working? My gen one light was working, but appears to have stopped working, when I threw my battery charger on it. I believe that is just a coincidence, because the vehicle was never on or in the ignition position, while the battery charger was attached.

I have not yet started the vehicle, and checked for output from the alternator, because I'm still charging the rear Hawker Reserve batteries. But, I I'm 90% certain, that I will have no output. But, the gin one light, was working until I placed my battery charger on it. Like I said, peobably coincedence....

The other question is, if my generator one was not working, why did my gen 1 light not come on solid? Was it because of the additional battery capacity allowing the voltage to stay high? But if that's the case, then why was the voltage meter inside the vehicle indicating yellow / red? Again, the gin one light did illuminate on ignition only, and would pulsate at high RPM, along with the Gentoo light, but that's been doing that since day one, and as mentioned before all of my other cucv do that as well.

Sorry for any typographical or grammatical errors, this was posted mobile, from my phone, using voice to text.
 
Last edited:

TechnoWeenie

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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Location
Nova Laboratories, WA
Seriously? No one has an idea why I have voltage at the Exciter for Gen 1, but the bulb won't illuminate in ignition¿

If I have power to the Exciter, and to the battery, and a ground, the alternator should be working.
 

Barrman

Well-known member
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Giddings, Texas
I had almost the exact same issue. Diode trio inside the alternator was bad. The TM tells in great detail how to check it and get to it.

Posting on a saturday afternoon is kind of the slowest time of the week.
 

TechnoWeenie

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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Location
Nova Laboratories, WA
It's all good....

Decided to pull the alternator anyway..

Took it to Oreilly...

Dead as a doornail....

To rebuild I go!

Luckily I have a real good rebuilding place that's local...
 
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