Archived Electrical Issue while travelling

[Dreamer]

We are on the road travelling and I just had the Volt meter peg left, indicating no charge. I recently added my camper to the truck for the first time and have a lot of lights on this evening. Checked to see the belt is still on the alternator and its still spinning. Any thoughts.

 

[JR]

Check the big fuse in the PDC?

 

[Dreamer]

Is that under the hood? Driver or passenger side?

Thanks

 

[JR]

Dreamer, I can't be of much help to you, but it's gotta be in your pdc (fuse panel) under the hood. I would venture to guess it would be on the driver side, probably mounted to the fenderwell. Also check all your battery and ground connections you can find to make sure you don't have a corroded or loose connection. Aside from that, you may have to find A shop to have your alt bench tested. Sorry I can't be of any more help, good luck to you.

 

[Dreamer]

Thanks for the suggestion. I think I will head for a shop in the morning. Gotta get outa here and into the sunshine in Arizona.

 

[Hoefler]

Intermittent short. May be on an un-fused lead.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

As above, check the fuses, and look carefully for shorts and evidence of rodential chewing on wires.

 

[Dreamer]

Started up this morning and all was well. Gauge read over 14 volts. Went to a shop this morning and had the alternator and batteries checked. Everything OK. I hate those mystery problems. I think it will be back to bite me later.

 

[JR]

What if any symptoms were you having? I'm not completely familiar with the CR but logic tells me that at that low of voltage the truck would not even run or at a minimum would run very poor.

 

[p-Bar]

Maybe disconnect camper power if it acts up again

 

[Dreamer]

There were no symptoms except the gauge bottomed out. Lights did not go dim, truck ran fine, headlights/high beams, heater etc. worked fine. I did disconnect the camper and it made no difference. It's a mystery to me.

 

[rkressg]

I had the same thing happen to my truck (granted an older model). It turned out the brushes were worn out on the alt, causing them to arc, and the voltage to drop. I had about 175k miles on the alternator at that time.
The brushes are inexpensive, about $15, and if you have a philips screwdriver, you can change them in about 20 min (10 getting the alt off the truck).

 

[CKelley1]

if the lights did not dim it is the gauge that is bad. the oldest wiring diagram I have is for a 06 and it is way different than a 05. do not worry about it for now and order you a service manual on a disk from Chrysler