"Veddy In-te-reth-ting!"

rumrumm · July 11, 2007, 08:08:28 AM

Arte Johnson used to say on Laugh In. I had one of those moments yesterday. On Monday I converted my PowerMaster alternator from one wire to three wires--you can wire them either way. Afterwards, I fired it up and it carried 14.1 volts rather than 13.8. Great. I went up to the BP station to fill up and when I went to shut the car off, it wouldn't! So I drove home, pulled the coil wire to shut it off. Yesterday, I called Jim at Centech, whose wiring harness I used, and he told me to go to Radio Shack, get a 3 amp diode and wire it into the white wire coming off the alternator and leading to the fuse panel. Voila! Fixed it! I learned something useful.

Dave · July 11, 2007, 08:16:33 AM

Quote from: "rumrumm"Arte Johnson used to say on Laugh In. I had one of those moments yesterday. On Monday I converted my PowerMaster alternator from one wire to three wires--you can wire them either way. Afterwards, I fired it up and it carried 14.1 volts rather than 13.8. Great. I went up to the BP station to fill up and when I went to shut the car off, it wouldn't! So I drove home, pulled the coil wire to shut it off. Yesterday, I called Jim at Centech, whose wiring harness I used, and he told me to go to Radio Shack, get a 3 amp diode and wire it into the white wire coming off the alternator and leading to the fuse panel. Voila! Fixed it! I learned something useful.

Yup been there done that.. Curious though. Did you go to 3 wire just so it would automatically start charging with out having to rev the engine? I was gonna change mine but never got around to it. Id driven it on a cruise once and i didnt revit up after i started it and we were only going bout 25 mph and all of a sudden my radio started acting wierd and stuff and i realized i wasnt charging. Quick to neutral and a blip of the throttle and then it was charging. I always thought that was a PIA.
Dave

rumrumm · July 11, 2007, 08:48:55 AM

That, and I wanted the system to charge better. So I read this article www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/onewire-threewire.shtml and decided my electrical system would perform better if I went to a three wire hookup. At first I thought maybe the #10 wire going from the alternator to the starter was too small, so I switched over to a #6 wire. That did not help so I started thinking of ways to improve it. The problem occurs with the A/C--it will pull down to 13.2 volts with the A/C on. You would think a 105 amp alternator would do better, especially when everything is run through relays. Hopefully the problem is solved. I'll find out when I drive it tonight--if it doesn't rain again.

phat rat · July 11, 2007, 11:30:15 AM

Quote from: "rumrumm"That, and I wanted the system to charge better. So I read this article www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/onewire-threewire.shtml and decided my electrical system would perform better if I went to a three wire hookup. At first I thought maybe the #10 wire going from the alternator to the starter was too small, so I switched over to a #6 wire. That did not help so I started thinking of ways to improve it. The problem occurs with the A/C--it will pull down to 13.2 volts with the A/C on. You would think a 105 amp alternator would do better, especially when everything is run through relays. Hopefully the problem is solved. I'll find out when I drive it tonight--if it doesn't rain again.

Car doesn't run or drive if it's raining?

Dave · July 11, 2007, 11:41:14 AM

Quote from: "phat rat"
Quote from: "rumrumm"That, and I wanted the system to charge better. So I read this article www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/onewire-threewire.shtml and decided my electrical system would perform better if I went to a three wire hookup. At first I thought maybe the #10 wire going from the alternator to the starter was too small, so I switched over to a #6 wire. That did not help so I started thinking of ways to improve it. The problem occurs with the A/C--it will pull down to 13.2 volts with the A/C on. You would think a 105 amp alternator would do better, especially when everything is run through relays. Hopefully the problem is solved. I'll find out when I drive it tonight--if it doesn't rain again.

Car doesn't run or drive if it's raining?

Your a trouble maker Jack

I got a little time to go to that link. Ill try and bring it up this eveniung and print it. Thanks for the link. I learned some new things today. Very interesting

Dave