Battery light ON 93 5.0..new battery/alternator

[fongo]

Hi everyone.
OK, here's the situation. Over the winter my battery died. I got a new battery this summer. However, when I start the car, i get a "hesitation" click right before crank before it starts. Once on at idle, the battery red light remains on. The battery indicator gauge is about only 1/4 of the way up (usually its almost all the way up!), so I'm suspecting it's somewhere in the alternator / battery circuitry. I talked to PA perform (battery manufacturer) and they said it could be the either the voltage regulator or a fuse located somewhere between alternator and battery. Does anyone concurr with this? Any other possibilities? Need to know before I do something..
Thanks!

[fox bodies rule]

the battery red light will stay on until the other side of the light "sees" alternator output voltage = > battery voltage. Based on your "click" comment I would go after a bad ground first but with the light staying on after starting would seem to indicate that you have a problem with the charging output side, so maybe two problems are involved. Fiirst the obbvious. Clean the posts and cables. Get a DVM and check for resistance in the cables and in the connections. With the cables connected to the battery, read from one cable to the other, not the posts. 12.3 to 12.7 is a good indicator of a fully charged battery and little if any resistance in the cable connections to the battery. Did you plug all of the connections back up to the alternator when you changed it out? Has the alternator been bench tested? If not, off to AutoZone, NAPA, Checkers; your choice, for a free alternator output test. If all of your connections and the alternator check out then the fun begins. Check for alternator output voltage getting to the battery by going from the positve post to a known good ground with the engine running and you should be reading anywhere from about 13.2 to 14.5 volts. If not, then back to the begining and find out where you have a bad connection. I hope this helps, it hasn't failed me yet but it has driven me nuts trying to find the problem

[fongo]

Thanks 'fox bodies rule'. It turned out to be easier to send back the the alternator back to vendor (PA perf). They inspected and fixed it (lifetime warranty!!!) no cost! I think it was the voltage regulator. It must of gotten fried or something during one of our t-storms during the spring (had the car outside near a tree..) although i dont quite that's the reason too (I few other fuses also blew, including my stereo amp and fog lights seperate switch too).
I ll receive it this week. I'll let all of you know if all goes well (I hope so...cant wait to get it back on the road..)

[fox bodies rule]

hmm. the good news is that your repaired alternator will be putting out ~14.5 volts. The bad news is why did it blow in the first place along with certain other high current draw item fuses? I would personally be looking for a problem before I hooked that bad boy up and fired it off or you may blow another diode pack (regulator) and assorted high amp fuses. Your lightening theory would have taken out all of the fuses, especially the low current ones, as opposed to just smoking the high current ones; path of least resistance and all of that crap. Is your amp aftermarket and high draw? is it on the same circuit as the fog lights? Did you do some wiring changes just recently? Pack rats eating the insulation? (I'm not kidding, been there, done that and own the T shirt) Call me paranoid, but something just doesn't smell right here and if you can think of anything that you have done electrically, like hook the battery up backwards maybe? we could trouble shoot this pretty quickly. Since things were all ok before you put the car up for the winter I'm going to err on the side of caution and suggest that you still have a problem, the alternator was just one of the symptoms. I would hate to see you go back to the begining again; blow the alternator and again no clue as to why the ! %$#! light is still on. If you want to thrash this out behind the scenes, pm me and send a reply to this post telling me and I'll hook up with you.