[toyota231]

Well i developed a charging problem lately and got fed up with chasing wires so I decided to just rewire the darn voltage regulator. I attribute my problem to a bad wire from the fuse block to the regulator. Also my truck is a 91.5 so it had the voltage regulator from the factory but this would work the same for a 92 or 93 that someone is installing an external regulator on. I did a lot of searching through this but didn't see many threads with pictures.

Here we go. The pics are cell phone pics so the aren't the best.

Here are a couple of the voltage regulator. 1 wire from the alternator to the top left post on the regulator, 2nd wire from the alternator to the lower post on the regulator. 2nd wire also combines with the hot wire from the relay.



Here is the back of the alternator. Two wires go to the regulator. I left the little black box so i could use the factory ground and power wires. I did cut the green wires going in and sawed off the two terminals that attached to the alternator.


Now we have a couple pics of the 40 amp relay i used. It was $5.99 at advance and is used for aux lights or a horn.



Back of the box of the relay to show it's wiring diagram.


Finally, a crappy drawing of my wiring.


For my "key on" i ran to the radio in the fuse box. I tried using one of those advance fuse taps where it goes into the fuses spot and then the fuse went into the tap but it didn't work so for now the wire is just stuck into the fuse till I can get a nice fuse tap. I figured the radio was the best spot for a key on tap. If it blows im only minus the radio.

Again sorry for the crappy cell phone pics, thats my only camera. Please excuse all the wiring mess i'm cleaning it up as i'm finishing up the install.

Any questions please ask i'll be glad to answer. Hopefully those that ask about this subject can find these pictures and it will help them so they wont have to start another thread.

 

[9297oldram]

Good write up, I'm glad to see you are using battery voltage for the regulator by using the relay. That will help with the overcharging problem alot of trucks have.

I would suggest flipping your relay around to keep water from getting on the terminals and causing problems.

 

[toyota231]

Good write up, I'm glad to see you are using battery voltage for the regulator by using the relay. That will help with the overcharging problem alot of trucks have.

I would suggest flipping your relay around to keep water from getting on the terminals and causing problems.

Thanks. When it comes to electrical I don't want to play around. An extra few dollars compared to the troubles I would have is worth it. Good eye on the relay I will flip it over today.

 

[justtryingtofixthis]

what part are you sawing off the back of the alternator per say? id like to get this under control and would rather not mess anything up, thanks

 

[9297oldram]

what part are you sawing off the back of the alternator per say? id like to get this under control and would rather not mess anything up, thanks

Just breaking the black plastic box that holds the wires together, your only going to be using the big ground and battery cables.

 

[justtryingtofixthis]

thanks for the writeup, just got around to doing this, just mine needs fancy cover tubing, but def dropped my 18v output down to 14.7 which is i guess ideal charging volts.

 

[9297oldram]

thanks for the writeup, just got around to doing this, just mine needs fancy cover tubing, but def dropped my 18v output down to 14.7 which is i guess ideal charging volts.

Yes that's a good charging volts, glad to here it's fixed.

 

[justtryingtofixthis]

Yes that's a good charging volts, glad to here it's fixed.

Hey so thoyght was fixed, but after 6 days it got weird and i think its the relay was cheap or something, but i wheb doing this added a small digital voltage meter and have made sure with a multimeter etc that its accurate, but other day noticed it went back to 18 so got off and looked to be sure all my connections was still good(since i live on a dirt road), and everything seemed fine then After that i got back in it was back to 14.6/14.7 and i drove abour 3 more hours that day no fluctuating, this morning it started at was at 14.5 for maybe 5 mins then went back to 18, since i had to go to work and was on the way i just drove the 12 mins and watched, it was riding at 15 and jumping from 14.6-18.5 every so often, then at idle stays at 16 solid for mpst part, then under a load goes back to up n down, then after 6 miles(12minutes) idling it was back to 14.5 but in 30 seconds had jumped a few times up a few volts then back down to 14.5 and fluctuated, would this be the relay? Or maybe should i redo all my wires and connections again? Thanks

 

[9297oldram]

Make sure your regulator is grounded good. I run a ground wire from the screw that you have holding the regulator on,then to the alternator case. That way they are grounded together.

 

[justtryingtofixthis]

Make sure your regulator is grounded good. I run a ground wire from the screw that you have holding the regulator on,then to the alternator case. That way they are grounded together.

Ok ill look into that vs ive it grounded to battery ill run it to the alternator, and the bracket should be good right?

 

[9297oldram]

Bracket should be ok, or the bolt on the alternator where the ground cable is.

 

[justtryingtofixthis]

Did that and still having problems, gonna warranty out my vr, and i guess see from there

 

[9297oldram]

Is this the VR that your using, hope your not getting a cheap wells from AZ.

# C8313 - Heavy Duty External Chrysler type, Voltage Regulator with Adjustable Voltage

 

[justtryingtofixthis]

Is this the VR that your using, hope your not getting a cheap wells from AZ.

# C8313 - Heavy Duty External Chrysler type, Voltage Regulator with Adjustable Voltage

Looks similar unsure brand(masterpro i believe) i get it from oriellys and i think they only Had 1 option, maybe use napas? They have a standard and a ac delco one at orielly aswell unsure if brand will be the difference i need quality wise.

 

[9297oldram]

Looks similar unsure brand i get it from oriellys and i think they only Had 1 option, maybe use napas?

If it's the same part number then it's the same.

 

[sdeeter19555]

You can find the Transpo on Amazon also...no longer USA, but still good.

 

[tobylou8]

Looks similar unsure brand(masterpro i believe) i get it from oriellys and i think they only Had 1 option, maybe use napas? They have a standard and a ac delco one at orielly aswell unsure if brand will be the difference i need quality wise.

I'm on my 4th Oh-oh-oh noRielly's VR in less than 2 years. Had a NAPA one before that. I do have lower volts at the VR (12.1) than at the battery (12.3) so I'm following to see if we have the same issue. My gauge lights were so bright the other night it was hard to see out the window and it was charging at 16.75 at idle.

 

[9297oldram]

I'm on my 4th Oh-oh-oh noRielly's VR in less than 2 years. Had a NAPA one before that. I do have lower volts at the VR (12.1) than at the battery (12.3) so I'm following to see if we have the same issue. My gauge lights were so bright the other night it was hard to see out the window and it was charging at 16.75 at idle.

You have to be the same volts at the battery and the regulator key on wire or you will overcharge like your doing. You'll be blowing up your battery if you don't do the relay install so that the regulator sees the battery volts.

 

[tobylou8]

You have to be the same volts at the battery and the regulator key on wire or you will overcharge like your doing. You'll be blowing up your battery if you don't do the relay install so that the regulator sees the battery volts.

The relay option looks easier to do than other methods I've read about, am I wrong? At least my windows are up!

 

[9297oldram]

The relay option looks easier to do than other methods I've read about, am I wrong? At least my windows are up!

The relay is easy just follow the diagram that I gave.