the brown wire comin from the white clip on the altenator??

[down4thakrown]

the white clip on the back of the altenator has a red wire and a brown wire . the red wire i think goes to the junciton block or starter but the brown wire goes the wire harness then up to the gauges. i was wondering if i could cut that wire and run it to my volt meter on a triple gauge sunpro cluster since my rig wont have any oem gauges working.just some dummy gauges for looks.

 

[LongIslander26]

Alt wire

I'd want to be sure where and to what that wire went to before I just cut it to hook up gauge. It's obviously there for a reason doing something.

 

[JEBSR]

alt wire

Without that wire your alternater will not exite. If you have an alternator light, that is where the wire goes. Without it the alternator will not start. If you have just a gauge the wire still gets voltage through the gauge exiting the alternator. If you want to hook up an aftermarket gauge just go to the positive terminal on the alt. (for a voltage gauge anyway).

 

[down4thakrown]

theres nothing that goes to the terminal. the harness i got fits the harness on my truck but a couple of the wire prongs were in differant places and theres nothing that goes to this wire. i was goin to run a hot wire from where tha one red wire with a boot hooks up on the back of the altenator and connect it to the battery.i looked in the back of a haynes and it just shows the wire goes to the gauge cluster but it doesn't say what it does. haynes wiring diagrams suck. so i thought i could hook up my voltmeter

 

[JEBSR]

alt wiring

the main red that goes on the rear post should go to the batt. the red wire at the two wire plug will basically go to the same post or to another hot source (doesn't matter). I would just run a jumper to the post on the alternator. the brown wire should go in the cab to the alt light. The wire should be hooked to one side of the light and the other wire comming out of the light should be connected to an key on power source (must only have power when key is on). Otherwise it will run the batt down. What will then happen is when the key is turned on voltage will go through the light and exite the alternator, If the regulator goes bad or the alternator fails in general it will ground that lead comming out of the alternator causing the light to light up telling you that there is a problem. If you don't care to have a light just hook it up the same way with a marker light bulb under the hood and tape up the wiring. will work the same without running all the wiring. You just won't be able to see the light if the alternator should fail.

 

[R72K5]

and the red wire doesnt have to go down to starter you can run it to battery directly, along with the other red wire too

straight to hot source

 

[JEBSR]

wiring

Correct Nothing goes to starter? plug red goes to post on rear of alternator, Post goes directly to battery.

 

[down4thakrown]

so the brown wire has to go to a light?

 

[JEBSR]

brown wire

There are other ways to do it, but this is the easiest and the original way. It also gives you a method of checking your charging system with the light.

 

[kennyw]

The best way to hook up a Voltmeter is to run it to an ignition source on your fuseblock inside your truck cab. No reason to run wires thru the firewall when you already have what you need close to the guages.