Swafflife
Cadet
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2017
- Messages
- 13
I'm running a 2003 5.0 Gxi-C and I recently installed a Blue Sea Add-a-battery where I have a dedicated starting battery (Optima blue top) and two house batteries (Optima blue top 31 series) for the house loads. After install and testing, I noticed that the LED on the ACR was not solid green showing that the relay was combining and charging while the engine was running. After some discussion with tech support, I ran through a troubleshooting worksheet sent to me from Blue Sea and read the same voltages engine stopped and engine running. It looks like my Alt isn't putting out the necessary voltage to trigger the ACR to combine and charge the batteries while cranked. I haven't taken a voltage reading at the alternator yet, but at the starting battery while cranked, I'm only getting about 12.5 volts. The Blue Sea tech says the ACR won't even activate until there is around 13.5-14 volts detected from the charging source. My dash voltmeter typically reads around 12.5 while running which is obviously low. Does this sound like a bad alternator or possibly a bad voltage regulator? All assistance is much appreciated.