From: Bill Kealey (cwkealey@atlanticbb.net)
Date: Sat Jan 15 2005 - 08:27:13 PST
Bjorn, Noel and RAM,
Thank you all for your replies. As stated many many times previously, I am
electronically challenged so some of the technical terms are Greek to me.
Not a problem as my brother is an electronics wiz kid (49 still a kid?) and
can explain the terms to my my kindergarten son can understand and perhaps
explain further to me.
I am going outside in a few minutes to examine what I have under the hood as
I realize that I should have done before sending my request for help.
I believe, but am not positive, that my truck has the generator and voltage
regulator. Will check this out.
Yesterday, I started out with fully charged batteries. I do not recall the
exact readings with the multi-meter but the batteries without a load were
within .1 volts of each other. The batteries are not the correct ones for
the truck and are significantly smaller. The trucks batteries crapped out
on a Friday afternoon at a truck garage while the rear wheel seals were
being replaced. It had been necessary to give it a hot shot to get it
started as one of the batteries was weak anyway when I bought the truck.
So, I put in the largest batteries that would fit in the box that was
available at that truck repair shop.
Normally, the truck starts easily and the only problem is extremely cold
weather.
While the truck was starting the Volt meter was in the high green shaded
area yesterday with a full charge and the charger disconnected.
The voltage steadily dropped and within a half hour was in the high yellow
area. I had placed all of the lights on including emergency blinkers and
heater fan to see how long it would take to discharge the batteries this
way. Since the volt meter on the dash shows green when the batteries are
freshly charged this could be misleading. That is why I decided to run
everything at once.
I did not charge the batteries last night as I have only one charger and my
jeep batteries are being used as a back up for the truck and needed a charge
up.
I only have an hour or so to play with the truck today ... Mommy has other
plans. I will gather as much information as I can so that I can be better
informed when I write next.
I have a tendency to think that the voltage regulator is the culpret but
will check connections. The charging system was working correctly then just
quit suddenly. That had me suspecting a fuse or similar device.
***************
I am also out in the sticks and would have to wait for shipping. Would one
of the 24 volt regulators be a suitable temporary replacement for a short
time if the connectors are compatable? I have several of these from my
M38A1 and it is not in service at this time anyway.
Thanks again for your help and guidence, Bill K.
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