One wire alt ?

[poorboy]

I have a one wire alt to put on my truck. My question is does the hot wire the goes to the back of the current alt have to be hooked to anything or can I trace it back and eliminate it?

[ChiefRocka]

I would eliminate it all together...and run an 8 guage wire directly to the battery.

I ran mine along the valve cover towards the firewall, then down to the starter terminal.....this way it kinda hides it.

[poorboy]

Cool thanks!

[greg64]

poorboy, with the one wire alt, make sure you use heavy wire (8 ga like John said) to reach the starter terminal. Otherwise you'll get a voltage drop (dimmer headlights, etc.) which won't be compensated for since the alt can't adjust the voltage remotely. You might also want to use relays for the headlights, since this helps as well. There's some good writeups on this I can forward if you're interested.

Greg

[poorboy]

Another question. What do I do with the wires going to the voltage regulater?

[Tim64]

Hey Guys,
When I hooked up my alt. I just used the old hot wire that went to the old alt. Sounds like I'd be better off to run a new wire from the alt. to the starter post were the + battery wire hooks up. Is that right? Mine charges fine the way it is, but the head lights do dim at a low idle.
Thanks,
Tim

[ChiefRocka]

Originally Posted by poorboy

Another question. What do I do with the wires going to the voltage regulater?

You can tape them off...or remove them from the harness all together.

Slice the insulation, remove the wires, and then re-tape.

Also....I have a nice schematic on the headlight relays....there's also a write-up on it somewhere, as mentioned above.

[rickf]

Originally Posted by Tim64

Hey Guys,
When I hooked up my alt. I just used the old hot wire that went to the old alt. Sounds like I'd be better off to run a new wire from the alt. to the starter post were the + battery wire hooks up. Is that right? Mine charges fine the way it is, but the head lights do dim at a low idle.
Thanks,
Tim

Changing where your wire goes won't change the headlights dimming at low idle. The essence of it is the one-wire alt does not produce any useful power at idle.

[ChiefRocka]

Well once you rev the engine to 2000...this energizes the alternator and begins charging....even when it returns back to idle. My volt meter jump to 14 when the throttle is blipped to 2000...everything brightens up at that time.


This is true of the one wire alternator in my boat and the Chief.

[greg64]

Tim, you might want to check a couple of voltages while the engine is idling. See what the voltage right at the headlights to ground is (obviously with them on), and then check your voltage on the alt positive terminal to ground. If there's more than 1V of difference (say 14 and 12) then you're losing voltage through the original sub-standard wiring. If so, you can improve things by using relays to power the headlights directly off the alt.

[rickf]

Originally Posted by ChiefRocka

Well once you rev the engine to 2000...this energizes the alternator and begins charging....even when it returns back to idle. My volt meter jump to 14 when the throttle is blipped to 2000...everything brightens up at that time.


This is true of the one wire alternator in my boat and the Chief.

I would presume there are different quality levels in alternators, since there seems to be in everything else. I've used cheapo $49 reman alts from the cheapo parts store. I'm on my second, or maybe third, and they all worked this way. Maybe better quality alt would make a difference.

Although, perhaps it is the wiring like others are saying. I just took the original hot wire and attached it. The original regulator plug is still wired in where it alwasy was, it is just left hanging there.

I'm needing to go to a better alternator anyway. I have an electric fan now and it pegs the needle when its on. I'm looking at that 100+ amp conversion and remote sense stuff that has been cited here before. Just got to find that round tuit.

I'm intending to do the relay thing to my headlights (sigh, one of these days), although it is mostly just for sport. At driving speeds my headlights seem to work fine, but maybe I don't know what I'm missing, we'll see.