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The other day as I was driving home the engine would die then surge back to life for no apparent reason I thought it was a red death symptom I managed to make it home to my barnyard The engine was idling very rough and the alternator light was flickering...I shut off the ignition and then tried turning it back on to see if I could restart the engine ...Nothing electrical worked....I figured there had to be a short somewhere so reached back to shut the battery switch......and found it had been knocked into the "halfway " position. Turned it to all the way on and problem solved...had me freaked for a couple of minutes !!!!

You have another problem. If the main switch is disconnected while the engine is running, there is a relay that is held closed to feed the charge power back to the batteries to prevent damage to the system. Check your battery voltage to be sure they are fully charged, and the molex connector in the sheet metal that the red lead isn't corroded.

Actually the molex connection was the first thing i checked as have had the poor connection there problem before...batteries are both topped up..i have driven about 250 miles since the incident with my lights on ....so it seems that all relays etc have resumed normal operation.

May want to look here, good write up on testing the power cut off circuit.

http://www.sdp-pinzgauer.org/html/bypass_relay.html

Thanks for the link..I tested the ground cable as described and tested that the alternator was putting out...... Being more of a visual rather than written word learner....I cant really understand the following instruction "My preferred way is to open the connector, disconnect the light-blue wire from the regulator and connect the power supply to the Molex connector" so am waiting for a second brain and will then do the relay check...based on performance tho I think I am ok.

thanks for the info both of you

yeah if the engine is running and you turn the battery switch off, the engine still runs fine off the alternator.

i think that means your relay IS fried