[dmjlambert]

Sorry to hear about those troubles. I think perhaps that light offered too little resistance. It is a bright bulb to light up the cab via a dome light, compared to an indicator light which is not that bright. If it were me, I'd not use a light and use that resistor adapter you bought, and not connect the I terminal. Just connect the S and L terminals of the plug. The L terminal goes through the resistor and then to a source of switched power. That would normally be the brown wire on a stock wiring harness. I don't know about the Rebel harness white exciter wire.

Here is why I would not use any terminal on that plug other than S and L. PLIS type regulators use the I terminal as an input, and PLFS type regulators use the F terminal as an output. F and I are in the same plug position. The stamping on the case of the letter F or I does not necessarily guarantee the regulator that matches the case stamp is installed inside that alternator. Some alternators have that terminal marked F/I. You can't identify or trust what type of regulator you have in the alternator from the outside of the alternator. This is because unless you know the application (year, make, model, engine) the alternator was designed for, and trust your alternator supplier gave you the exact and correct alternator for that application, and you have the opportunity to walk up to and examine that newer model vehicle and see how that terminal is used in that vehicle by tearing into the wiring or researching the wiring diagrams (if available) for that vehicle, you can't trust whether that position is F or I. So, in my opinion, there's a 50/50 chance to fry a CS alternator by connecting the I terminal (it may be an F terminal and you don't know it and you may be hooking it up wrong). This is described in better language probably, but also much more brief, in the American Auto Wire article I gave the link to earlier in this thread.

Here is the reason I would not use a bulb instead of resistor: In my observations by reading threads on this forum, I have developed the impression in my head that gauge clusters are far more common than idiot light instrument clusters. I don't know that for sure, and perhaps the folks with idiot light instrument clusters just happen to be more quiet or don't do as many customizations in the alternator area. Or perhaps they are super smart and just do it right the first time and we don't hear from them much because they're not posting about their problems. I'm assuming gauge clusters are more common, and the total accumulated experience on the forum leans toward doing alternator upgrades to later models such as SI and CS alternators in trucks that have gauge clusters. I want to stick with the crowd. I have not seen any threads on this forum about upgrading to CS style alternators on a truck with an idiot light instrument cluster. And finally, I don't know what bulb number to use, I'd have to research that by finding out what application the alternator was designed for, and researching the wiring on that newer model vehicle to see what idiot light bulb it uses, and further research to find out whether any resistors or resistance wire is used in series with that bulb. Just too much to research. I'd rather wait for one of those brilliant idiot light instrument cluster guys chimes in here to say "this is how I did it with my idiot light instrument cluster, here's the parts you'll need and the wiring diagram, and I've had it installed and working well in my daily driver for 5 years."

I wrote too much! It must be caffeine or cabin fever...