Alternator question...

[wasted wages]

Wiring up an electrical system from scratch for my truggy project....
basic wiring only,,, toggle switch for ignition,,,push button for starter etc..

I need to know how to wire the two small wires that plug into the back of the alternator ( field excitation wires ??? )

Or should I just convert the alternator to a single wire setup.
( Jegs sells a conversion kit for about 35 bucks )

 

[ktmoutfront]

Go single wire and keep it simple. I have done this to all of my projects, Hot rods and off road alike.

 

[dremu]

Wiring up an electrical system from scratch for my truggy project....
basic wiring only,,, toggle switch for ignition,,,push button for starter etc..

I need to know how to wire the two small wires that plug into the back of the alternator ( field excitation wires ??? )

Or should I just convert the alternator to a single wire setup.
( Jegs sells a conversion kit for about 35 bucks )

Yup, the small wires are to excite the thing (ooh, ooh! ) and to drive the indicator light. One goes to the ignition hot, IIRC, and the other to the indicator light (which in turn goes to ignition hot.) You can verify this on the wiring diagrams (Brochures link below) or if I think later I'll check.

However, though I'm ordinarily not a fan of the one wires, given the minimalistic nature of your electrical system, a one-wire setup makes sense.

(OTOH, if you're electrically minded, you can prolly do the conversion for <$5 at Radio Shack ... thirty-odd bucks seems a bit steep, but if you're not into soldering and reading color codes, than it's prolly worthwhile.)

-- A

 

[ktmoutfront]

I should have said I have done the conversions myself. About $5 is correct.

 

[wasted wages]

(OTOH, if you're electrically minded, you can prolly do the conversion for <$5 at Radio Shack ... thirty-odd bucks seems a bit steep, but if you're not into soldering and reading color codes, than it's prolly worthwhile.)

Do you have a link or more info???

I'm sure I can do it,,,,, if I had a clue " how " to do it....

 

[dremu]

Do you have a link or more info???

I'm sure I can do it,,,,, if I had a clue " how " to do it....

A little googling brought up

http://www.nk.ca/~zcar/pages/articlepages/alternator.html

He says the F wire should go straight to the battery as the reference voltage for the internal regulator. I thought it was the ignition switch ::shrug::

And the R wire should go through a diode (he says 1N5401) and a resistor to mimic the alternator fault light (he says 10W 10ohm) to the ignition.

I say "he says" as I've not done the math to verify the values. Both parts are available @ RatSnack and are definitely in the sub-$5 category =))

OTOH, if you're gonna do some soldering, you might consider keeping the alt fault light. ::shrug:: A thought.

-- A

 

[kennyw]

The one wire setups don't charge as well as the standard setup at idle though. The 3 wire setup is so simple to start with and would cost you $0 to convert to it...