LUVTruck.com

HD presumably means heavy duty and HD lites probably means brighter and therefore higher wattage. That means higher current draw. So in the short version, yes, those front bumper lights could be causing the Gen lite to come on. BUT, I thought I remembered you having a heavy duty generator. High amperage. That should carry the load. I've got one on my LUV becuz I've got air conditioning. Never have had a glowing gen. lite. Lucky, I guess. Is the voltage regulator new?

i think this was supposed to be a reply to MEPR's post on gen lite still...

i wouldn't think it would be the volt reg, unless your fuel pump does not run while engine is running. case in point, my light was on very bright. thought maybe the alt was bad. nope. the thing wouldn't idle more than a few secs either. found out that the fuel pump wasn't working. with advice from 800xl we determind it was in fact the volt. reg. $42 and some change later, good as new. i guess what i'm saying is if you're pumping fuel, save the bucks. do you agree 800xl?

Since everything is working, just the gen light is glowing, I'd say it sounds more like a ground leak of some kind. If the reg went bad, I'd think it would act more like you are thinking. Fuel pump wouldn't fire, light would be fully and unmistakablly on, etc.

If it were me, I'd start hooking up some ground wires around under the dash. Maybe even run a line from the negative side of the battery, ground the heater blower and a few places in the dash metal, maybe even the harness if an existing ground wire under there can be found easy enough. I solved most of my 77's gen lite glow by grounding the cab better. My 79 still has the issue, and the blower motor and wipers are exceptionally slow.

yeah im running a 50amp alt and the voltage regulator is new. I have started to notice that sometimes my truck will kinda crank over slower than others when the temp is the same. Im going to have the batt load tested just to cover some bases...

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1980 LUV 4x4, going under re-construction...

Here's another check you can do. Put a voltmeter across the battery terminals while the truck is running with no lights or anything on. The voltmeter should read from 13 1/2 volts dc to 15 volts dc. Turn on the lights and heater blower so the gen lite is on. If the voltage is now below 13 1/2 volts, you've possibly got a line voltage drop somewhere, assuming the battery, alternator, and voltage regulator are good. A line voltage drop is usually a bad connection or corroded connection. But load checking the battery is a good idea. If it has a bad cell, it only puts out 10 to 10 1/2 volts. That creates larger current draw when charging. Add a bigger external load, such as the blower, etc, and the gen could top off too low to carry all that load. Hence the warning lite.

My name ain't Earl. It's Bob and that ain't encrpted.

My gen light used to glow and my truck completely died, nothing at all, even with brand new battery. I have asked this question in the past, and you guys said that the grounding strap might have went bad. Also you guys said that you can run a long battery cable to the engine block and frame. My question is, one, is there a really quick check or connection that can be done to see if that is the problem, and two, if this is what I need to do, does the auto parts stores carry cable long enough and where exactly do I connect it to on the engine and frame? I would like a quick fix to get the truck running so I can get firewood with it. It isn't inspected and has sat for about 9-10 months because it needs rocker panels and a new exhaust. Any and all help will be appreciated. Thanks!

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http://www.purerockradio.net/

on the pos. battery connector there are two smaller wires that come off and go to a plug. check those wires and plug good. thats where my trouble was. same as you, no power to anything.