Voltage Regulator HELP (1 Viewer)

[thenative1]

Morning all,

Here's my latest conundrum for you. Background: my battery isn't charging. I'm replacing the alternator today and a few days ago I installed a new voltage regulator (this did not fix the issue). Slight problem is that all three of the "new" voltage regulators I've found as appropriate part replacements have an extra wire. Ugh.

The previous installation (see pictures) seems to have a wire coming off the truck loom that goes to (I think?) an "ignition condenser" that's mounted to the firewall to the left of the voltage regulator. Coming from that ignition condenser is a blue wire. On the NEW voltage regulators (I have three of them), there is a separate blue (2 instances) or red (1 instance) wire that's separate from the wiring connector. And since the backs of the voltage regulators are sealed, it's not like I can open them to examine what that new/separate wire is doing/its function.

Thoughts? For now, I have connected the new one so the ignition condenser remains connected to the wires coming from (presumably) the alternator (and battery?), leaving the new wire dangling. Any help/counsel you can provide would be VERY VERY helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

[thenative1]

Here are images of the "new" voltage regulators with the extra wire...

 

[charliemeyer007]

Nice pic's. I would start with the wiring diagram for your: year, model, market, and compare that to the one(s) correct to your new voltage regulators.

You know with old rigs that have PO's just about anything can have been modified because...

In the manuals there are test procedures to see if the alternator or the voltage regulator was bad.

 

[nabbasi]

It looks like your "original" voltage regulator has the older wiring colors. The blue wire goes to a condenser that was used for noise suppression for radios (info from City Racer's voltage regulator pages). My understanding is that there is no issue with leaving it unplugged.

Check out page 11 on Mark (Coolerman's) site; http://www.globalsoftware-inc.com/c...9A Wiring Diagram 1983 Pickup, LC40, LC60.pdf

This matches the coloring of one of your images. It appears that the blue and red start together instead of being spliced together once out of the Voltage Regulator like the diagram shows. (Also, make sure you look to the right on page 11 as it shows the alternator & external regulator. L=Blue, B=Black, W=White, G=Green, R=Red, Y=Yellow).