1988 7.3 BATTERY LIGHT ON AFTER NEW ALTERNATOR??

[NOAH MATTEOLI]

DONE EVERYTHING.....BATTERIES, GROUNDS... MY SUSPECT IS DIODES IN ALT.?? 6 DIODE MAYBE ONE IS BAD. BUT THE BATTERIES DO NOT DRAIN? ALSO JUST PUT IN CRATE 7.3 IDI. CAN I PUT A TURBO ON IT WITHOUT LIFTING THE HEADS OFF? 7.3'S HAVE BIGGER HEAD BOLTS.. I BLEW HEAD GASKET ON # 8 ON 1986 6.9 WITH 400,000 MILES ON IT AFTER I PUT BANKS TURBO. JUST TRYING TO PULL GRADE A LITTLE FASTER???

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[DaveBen]

You might consider head studs in place of head bolts. They do not stretch and will hold the head on much better. arp-bolts.com has them or summitracing.com. Saves head gaskets.

 

[mu2bdriver]

1G or 3G alternator? I had a problematic battery light on with a 1G setup which would extinguish after a new external regulator but would come back on within ~500 miles. Went to 3G and didn't have the problem again.


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[franklin2]

First thing to do is see if the light is lying or telling the truth. What is the voltage on the battery with the truck idling?

 

[Macrobb]

The 'battery' light is wired into the regulator. Basically, one side of the light is connected to battery power, and the other to the regulator. When the alternator is not generating power, current flows from the battery, through the light, through the regulator and provides enough 'starting power' to get the alternator to start generating.
Once it starts producing power, the alternator/regulator circuit becomes 'self-exciting', with a small amount of power generated by the alternator being fed back to power it.
The voltage across the light then becomes basically zero, as both sides are powered.

If the regulator isn't wired correctly, the light will be on. If that light wire(on the regulator side) ends up shorting to ground, it will also be on.

As much as everyone likes the 3G setup, a 1G setup will work just fine, IF TAKEN CARE OF PROPERLY.

The biggest problem I've seen with the 1G is grounding. There must be a good ground between the regulator case and the alternator(The alternator should be grounded to the battery via the engine block). If the regulator isn't grounded properly, it can easily short out or do other weird stuff.

Run a good heavy wire between the regulator and alternator and it might well fix your problem.

Also, check the connections. On the regulator, you have 4 terminals:
I - Goes to Ignition via the battery light. This terminal CANNOT BE CONNECTED DIRECTLY TO POWER, EVEN SWITCHED POWER. It must go through a light/resistor to switched power.
A - Alternator, should be hooked up to the alternator power terminal, or battery +(usually connected at the starter relay on the fender)
F - Hooks to the F(field) terminal on the alternator.
S - Hooks to the S(Stator) terminal on the alternator.

Check all the wiring and if it's done right, it should work just fine.

 

[NOAH MATTEOLI]

1G or 3G alternator? I had a problematic battery light on with a 1G setup which would extinguish after a new external regulator but would come back on within ~500 miles. Went to 3G and didn't have the problem again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

88 7.3 idi. stock..no turbo. 100 amp external regulator.

 

[NOAH MATTEOLI]

The 'battery' light is wired into the regulator. Basically, one side of the light is connected to battery power, and the other to the regulator. When the alternator is not generating power, current flows from the battery, through the light, through the regulator and provides enough 'starting power' to get the alternator to start generating.
Once it starts producing power, the alternator/regulator circuit becomes 'self-exciting', with a small amount of power generated by the alternator being fed back to power it.
The voltage across the light then becomes basically zero, as both sides are powered.

If the regulator isn't wired correctly, the light will be on. If that light wire(on the regulator side) ends up shorting to ground, it will also be on.

As much as everyone likes the 3G setup, a 1G setup will work just fine, IF TAKEN CARE OF PROPERLY.

The biggest problem I've seen with the 1G is grounding. There must be a good ground between the regulator case and the alternator(The alternator should be grounded to the battery via the engine block). If the regulator isn't grounded properly, it can easily short out or do other weird stuff.

Run a good heavy wire between the regulator and alternator and it might well fix your problem.

Also, check the connections. On the regulator, you have 4 terminals:
I - Goes to Ignition via the battery light. This terminal CANNOT BE CONNECTED DIRECTLY TO POWER, EVEN SWITCHED POWER. It must go through a light/resistor to switched power.
A - Alternator, should be hooked up to the alternator power terminal, or battery +(usually connected at the starter relay on the fender)
F - Hooks to the F(field) terminal on the alternator.
S - Hooks to the S(Stator) terminal on the alternator.

Check all the wiring and if it's done right, it should work just fine.

 

[NOAH MATTEOLI]

Thanks...I will take a look...ford over thank this whole thing. GM 1 wire was ingenious huh?

 

[franklin2]

Thanks...I will take a look...ford over thank this whole thing. GM 1 wire was ingenious huh?

I have never seen a factory GM 1 wire. I have seen GM alternators with one wire conversion regulators on them. All factory charging systems I have ever messed with always had a wire going to the ignition switch and or alt light and ignition switch to bring the alternator online to charge.

The one wire alternators always use some sort of hokus pokus to bring the alternator online to charge without telling it manually with a extra wire. Some monitor voltage drop during starting. They have various ways they do it. Some of the 1 wires will not charge till you rev the engine way up.

 

[Macrobb]

And, they also tend not to charge as well. The main advantage of the multi-wire setups is that they can sense the voltage at whatever common point is chosen, and then adjust the voltage accordingly. So the voltage drop from heavy load on a wire becomes less of an issue.

 

[NOAH MATTEOLI]

And, they also tend not to charge as well. The main advantage of the multi-wire setups is that they can sense the voltage at whatever common point is chosen, and then adjust the voltage accordingly. So the voltage drop from heavy load on a wire becomes less of an issue.

 

[NOAH MATTEOLI]

I have 2 batteries anyway...

 

[NOAH MATTEOLI]

The 'battery' light is wired into the regulator. Basically, one side of the light is connected to battery power, and the other to the regulator. When the alternator is not generating power, current flows from the battery, through the light, through the regulator and provides enough 'starting power' to get the alternator to start generating.
Once it starts producing power, the alternator/regulator circuit becomes 'self-exciting', with a small amount of power generated by the alternator being fed back to power it.
The voltage across the light then becomes basically zero, as both sides are powered.

If the regulator isn't wired correctly, the light will be on. If that light wire(on the regulator side) ends up shorting to ground, it will also be on.

As much as everyone likes the 3G setup, a 1G setup will work just fine, IF TAKEN CARE OF PROPERLY.

The biggest problem I've seen with the 1G is grounding. There must be a good ground between the regulator case and the alternator(The alternator should be grounded to the battery via the engine block). If the regulator isn't grounded properly, it can easily short out or do other weird stuff.

Run a good heavy wire between the regulator and alternator and it might well fix your problem.

Also, check the connections. On the regulator, you have 4 terminals:
I - Goes to Ignition via the battery light. This terminal CANNOT BE CONNECTED DIRECTLY TO POWER, EVEN SWITCHED POWER. It must go through a light/resistor to switched power.
A - Alternator, should be hooked up to the alternator power terminal, or battery +(usually connected at the starter relay on the fender)
F - Hooks to the F(field) terminal on the alternator.
S - Hooks to the S(Stator) terminal on the alternator.

Check all the wiring and if it's done right, it should work just fine.

 

[NOAH MATTEOLI]

thx...I'm gonna go thru everything tomorrow..

 

[NOAH MATTEOLI]

DONE EVERYTHING.....BATTERIES, GROUNDS... MY SUSPECT IS DIODES IN ALT.?? 6 DIODE MAYBE ONE IS BAD. BUT THE BATTERIES DO NOT DRAIN? ALSO JUST PUT IN CRATE 7.3 IDI. CAN I PUT A TURBO ON IT WITHOUT LIFTING THE HEADS OFF? 7.3'S HAVE BIGGER HEAD BOLTS.. I BLEW HEAD GASKET ON # 8 ON 1986 6.9 WITH 400,000 MILES ON IT AFTER I PUT BANKS TURBO. JUST TRYING TO PULL GRADE A LITTLE FASTER???

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