Any electrical guys out there?

[phishfud]

Just had a problem with my 84 K10 yesterday. I had pulled the battery out to use in another car, and upon putting it back in the truck, and starting it up, I saw smoke by the junction box on the firewall. There is a wire coming off the j-block, that ggoes into a fusible link, and splits into two red wires. The two red wires are fine (one to alt, the other to light swtch, according to the FSM), but from the link to the j-block the wire is melted and broke. The alternator was smokin hot, after only less than 30 seconds or so of running, and the volt meter in the dash showed it charging at 18 volts. I did a serpentine conversion a while back, and added a CS-130 alt. I have been running this setup since proabably last August with no issues. Is it possible the alt went bad, causing the overcharging issue, and burning out the wire, or should I be looking at something else. Gonna take the alt to get tested, but thought someone may have a clue as to what happened. Thanks for any help.
Terry

[dammitmitchell]

take the alternator down to the store to hang test it and replace the wires you smoked, pull the connectins at the fuseable link and the junction block sand the connectors so they are clean while you are in there...
.... either the alternators bad well.. crap ya know

[piecesparts]

The fuseable link is most likel;y your problem. It is the resistance item for your alternator to sense for charging feedback. I have fried a couple in my time and have gotten to the point where I carry a couple links in my tool box that I cut out of salvage yard trucks. That item going away will take the alternator to max charge and do some damage in many places. I had a high power stereo system in my truck and it cracked the 60 AMP fuse in that system when it died. |The resistance of this link is very important---get it right the first time.