Battery Generator Guage

[militarypotts]

For the first time since I bought my truck, my battery generator guage needle moved from rock solid green zone to the right in the red. When I last had the truck on the road for a bit, I came home, put it in the garage, and for some reason I left the turn signal lever up and in the emergency flasher position. I then turned ignition to the off position, and the truck stayed like that for about 5 days before I started it again. My question is, could the emergency lever in the up position have slightly put a drain on the batteries and the guage now shows it's charging? What's confusing to me is that my turn signals and flasher unit seem to works only when THEY want to. Their was't any flashing when I walked away from the truck. Do the flashers draw voltage even if the ignition switch is in the off position?

[Barrman]

Do you have the solid state or relay blinker system? I don't know about the relay version. The solid state one will put power to the circuit if anything inside the blinker arm is making contact. One of mine had a bad box and it would just light up the light on the blinker arm continuously. Never blinking. I can see where your could have had a single bulb on for 5 days.

Put a volt meter across both connections to the truck at the batteries. 28.8 volts is what it should be for a healthy alternator while running. That is 14.4 volts to each battery. Anything higher and you probably have a bad regulator at work. I would suggest verifying the alternator is over charging. Then, charge each battery by itself and test again.

[Don Cavey]

I don't know much about the flashers. But if you use a voltmeter on the batteries, they should read about 26 volts when charged with everything off and 28-29 volts when charging. You need more than the rated voltage to charge a battery. That can be a simple test with a Harbor Freight Digital Meter, the ones that go on sale for $2.99. Just a quick check. Or, you could charge each battery separately for several hours each, re-install them and see what happens.

[militarypotts]

Thanks guys. Actually, I took my truck out today to fuel up for the parade tomorrow and the needle is back solid in the green. To me it appears that the turn signal arm being up in the flasher position for a couple of days put a slight drain on the batteries. The charging system was just doing it's job. All seems well at this time. Thanks again for all the info tho. I took the truck out today, and it was 97 degrees here in Illinois. While my water temp guage stays put at about 190, the truck always seems to be giving off so much heat under the hood. I always raise it when I get her back in the garage. Just a habit I suppose, but I do it religiously. I think these trucks with tall gears and large tires prefer the cooler temps, I know mine does.