Re: Alternator help needed...1-wire / field wire to batt. stud trick

[farna@xxxxxxx]

Apparently the newer ones have a diode or something preventing feed-back through the field wire as you suggested. My car was only driven once every 2-3 weeks while I was in Korea and never had a problem. But I better check and see if the wire is just jumpered or I ran a switched wire to it. I remember jumpering it at one point, but but don't remember if I ran it differently when I rebuilt the car. 


On May 19, 2005 Jerry Casper wrote:

> --- farna@xxxxxxx wrote:
> > An alternator has to have some battery voltage going
> > to it to excite the field before it will charge. A
> > standard Delco alternator can be made into a
> > one-wire by simply attaching the field wire to the
> > battery cable stud on the back of the alternator.
> 
> 
>  Uh, two things...a single-wire alternator has a
> SELF-exciting regulator, which doesn't require a field
> voltage to get it to start charging, just a higher
> potential from the alternator turning over at a higher
> rpm. THis is NOT the same thing as a standard
> alternator!
>  The OTHER thing is that if you jumper a normal GM
> style alternator Field winding wire to the Battery
> stud, this will cause your battery to discharge more
> quickly over time, as you are keeping a constant ( if
> tiny ) electrical field in the field circuit, and if
> your car sits a couple of weeks, it could be dead by
> then. How do I know? I did this with my '57 Chevy
> years ago, when I upgraded from a generator to an
> alternator, and instead of finding the correct wire
> from the key switch, I just jumpered it. Sure, it
> works...but you will discharge your battery , too. If
> you don't let the car sit for weeks, it's fine, but if
> you go away a few weeks, and come back, dead or low. I
> lived a few hours away from where I stored my car, and
> would only come back on weekends and drive it. If I
> missed a weekend, it'd be 2 weeks. I learned quickly
> that bypassing the shut-off circuit for an alternator
> field circuit wasn't a good idea.
>  "Maybe" the more modern GM alt's are ok with it, but
> they still are NOT 1-wire with self-exciting
> regulator. 

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