Electrical Help

[Matt Man]

81 k10. Should there be voltage with the key off on the two wires that plug into the alternator?

I woke up this morning to a dead battery and when I checked my battery it was really dead and took quite a while to charge back up. Once I got the battery charged back up, I started the truck and there was some smoke coming from the gauge cluster area so I shut it off. I noticed the alternator was not charging so I took it off and had it tested at the parts store and it was bad.

I got a new alternator installed and now the alternator smokes only when the truck is running and there is no more smoke coming from the gauge cluster area. I can have the key on the run position without it running and it does not smoke. I have inspected the alternator wires and they are in good shape with no issues and everything else works on the truck. I am going to pull the gauge cluster and dash out tomorrow to investigate some more.

Any ideas?