Alternator troubles

[marbles54]

Recently my coil fell off the doghouse on my trike. When it did it shorted & burnt several wires . My question concerns the altenator I have the one wire from the screw post that goes to the starter. The other wire that plugs in the other male post I have going to the alt gauge. The last couple of days my battery has gone down I put a test light to the male connector on the top of the alt and there is no juice at all It doesn't matter if the engine is running or not If the wire is hooked up to the gauge the gauge doesn't work
Sould there be juice coming from the male post?
Could I have burnt up something in the alt?
The wire that is held on by a nut on top the alt going to the starter is fine.

[glutamodo]

What do you mean by "alternator gauge"?? - that push on terminal is not there as a feed for some kind of voltmeter, rather, it's there to ground out the feed from the charging system warning light in the speedometer. I'm not sure how you had this hooked up before, but an internally regulated VW alternator needs to have power flowing to it, from a warning light in order for the alternator to work properly. That small amount of current you get when the charging light comes on as you start the engine is the "initial excitation" current that kicks the regulator into charging - (and it provides a ground path if the charging quits - like say, you break your fan belt)

-Andy