"Charge" light is on, wtf?

[Bad@$$Toy]

I am fairly new to the toyota community. I just bought an 86 pickup 4x4. I was driving it around and the charge light in the dash is on, well I got to my gf's house and when I went to leave the battery was dead, the head lights were dim. I dont think the alternator is pushing out any volts. If anyone has any other ideas maybe common flaws with yotas that may cause this to occur. i.e (loose wiring harness, etc.) let me know.
Thanks
-=cody=-

[ToyRunner1]

That generally means that the alt is dead. The only other time I've had that happen was when the main harness on my 4Runner was damaged. I'd guess you just need a new alt.

[keyice]

14 volts with truck running at battery good, check ground at alternator, check fusible link at battery for corrosion,

[WrenchTwister]

is the brake lite on too?
that generally means you need new contact brushes on the alternator.
i dont reccomened replacing the alternator, unless its genuine toyota parts.
its simple to replace the brushes and only costs a few bucks.

[81toy4x4]

lol, my alternator was charging 20 volts and we had no idea where someone had screwed up the wiring in the past. Simple solution: we put on a *shrug* GM one wire alternator on there from powermaster. Works fine but the charge light and brake light still come on when the engine warms up. Oh well. Its just fine for me, the truck isn't done but the charge/brake dash lights will be unplugged shortly.

[Rust Heap]

Charge and Brake light on in a 1st gen is a bad relay. Click here (http://www.thegatts.us/) for how to fix it cheap.

[vigilantejustic]

is the brake lite on too?
that generally means you need new contact brushes on the alternator.
i dont reccomened replacing the alternator, unless its genuine toyota parts.
its simple to replace the brushes and only costs a few bucks.

if the brake light is on too, it doesn't mean that you have bad brushes, the brake light and the charge light are on the same circut on the first gens, which is why they both come on.

general reasons why the charge light are: battery isn't holding a charge and needs to be replaced, alternator is putting out too much or too little power (due to the voltage regulator being bad, first gens have externally regulated ones, second gens have internally regulated ones) another reason why there isn't enough power could be the brushes of the alternator being bad.