[cwcarpenter98]

Two weekends ago I noticed the alternator light was faintly on while driving home from my friend’s wedding. I figured the externally regulated alternator was to blame, so I decided to pick up an internally regulated alternator that also put out more amps. What I thought would take a day or two ended up taking two weeks.

The first alternator that showed up was bad out of the box. That sucked, so got another. The second one tested good but the alternator light was still coming on when I turned on the a/c. I finally found out that the voltage at the blower motor fuse dropped to 10.4 or so volts when the a/c was turned on. I also discovered that the ignition switch plug melted from excess heat. Although I had replaced the fuse block several years ago, it was a reproduction of the original, so apparently the wire size is too small to effectively run the a/c system.

The fix? Relays. I ran two relays to bypass the fuse block and just triggered the relays with the heater circuit on the fuse block. The relays will only send power to the a/c system when the key is on. That did the trick and the a/c is back to working great. I tested it by cruising over to Acworth, Ga for a cruise in. I did notice that the fan belt wasn’t sitting well in the pulley on the new alternator, so when I got home after dinner, I went ahead and swapped out the pulleys from the old alternator to the new one. The belt fits much better now.

Couldn’t pass up the opportunity to park next to a suburban. It’s got a 502 big block and a th400