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Last night I noticed my gen light flickering for a minute or so while driving on the highway. It was never fully illuminated like it would be prior to engine start but I've never noticed this before. It was momentary but wondering if it may be the first sign of a bad alternator? I feel like I may benefit from a newer one anyway, where it's older and prob has 50k miles on it. I don't know if it's original. But I have noticed that if my headlights are on and the secondary fans come on, the headlights dim to about half the brightness. ?
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tajon; Your post may open a "can of worms" discussion regarding the light flickering. It may or may not be the alternator. Could be regulator, loose belt, battery, loose electrical connections, etc., etc. With the fans and lights on, there is quite a load on the electrical system (through the ammeter and ign. switch). There are a number of posts in the "Find". One that has a number of posts is "ammeter".
maybe this could help narrow down the wires to check.
the left shows the circuit path to turn the light ON.
the right shows the circuit path to turn the light OFF (by putting 12VDC on both legs of the bulb)
the bottom shows the wiring that could cause loss of 12VDC on the right bulb leg and cause it to come on


1) the R2 contacts
2) the Y wire from starter solenoid to A terminal of regulator
3) the G?R wire from alternator to the S terminal of the regulator
4) the big BK from battery to starter solenoid

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