Ok, well now that my truck is finally running fine, one of the first things I'd like to do is the generator>alternator(one wire)

But I need help. A lot. I have said it once and I'll say it again, I suck at electrical/wiring. I plan on just finding the year/make/model of a car that came with a one wire alt and going to autozone and just buying it right there. Lifetime warranty.


But there's a couple of issues.......1) is it hard to mount them since the mounting can't possibly be the same?

2) Exactly which of the many many electrical wires do I splice the single wire into,......that's crazy to even think about!

3) And about that little box called the voltage regulator, it has 3-4 wires going to it.......so do I have to remove it or not? What will I do with the 3-4 wires that go to it?

4) What is the difference between a 3-wire and a 1-wire alt? Why do people chose one over the other? Cost? Efficiency? Durability? Preference?

5) Is there an elimination of anything else that I might have to rewire? I want to do as little electrical alteration to this truck as possible since I suck at it so much.

I just hate wiring, I can't get it. Thank you for any help.

 

If you have a wire diagram I can help you with it. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

 

My advice would be to invest in a one-wire type GM 10 SI alternator. They are by far the most popular and easiest to install. It's a standard internally regulated alternator that can be found on any 70's GM product, but it has had a self-exciting regulator installed. The stock unit found on those cars does not have self-exciting regulator and requires a couple more wires. The addition of the special regulator eliminates the extra wires. The only thing you would have to do is run one brand new #10 wire from the big post on the alternator to the positive post on your battery or starter solenoid. You can tape the old regulator wires up, tie them out of the way, and forget about them. The old regulator can stay, too. It won't do anything anymore, but it won't hurt anything either. This way, you wouldn't have to modify the wiring at all - just add one. Unfortunately, I don't think you can buy an off-the-shelf alternator for any application with that special regulator setup at AZ. They are widely available or eBay, etc. As a matter of fact, I've got a brand spankin' new shiney chrome one that I was going to use and have changed my mind. I've been meaning to list an auction for it and haven't yet. I could make you a great deal on it to save me the effort. PM me if you're interested.

 

Wow, I'm already overwhelmed....

http://www.kansasselectproducts.com/...ernator/Detail
Problem #1, here I found this with a simple search. What do I want/need? 6v or 8v? I thought I had a 12v system?
And then it says if you don't need 12v, you can go with a "10Si"..........wait, that's exactly what I'm looking for, right?


So the 10Si is a newer updated version of the alts used on the 70's vehicles. And that is the one I'd want...ok.

So wait, what would I need to do about my "BATT" light wiring, would there be NO new wiring needed to make my truck run and work like it does now other than that one wire to my solenoid/battery? That's awesome.

Would I need to disconnect any of the wiring from the old voltage regulator, or just leave them alone?

This seems so simple, but I still feel somewhat left behind.


Steve--Thanks, we'll talk about it tomorrow.

 

speedway motors has a bracket for the GM alternator page 246. 3 choices.. alternators on page 183..and the heavy 10 gauge wire goes to your solenoid the lighter wire .the 14 gauge goes to a switched lead off your ignition you can tie into your generator wiring for that..I am sorry but the light connection evades me right now.. you are running a flatty arn't you??

 

That's all there is to it. You run one new #10 wire from the alternator to the battery or starter solenoid and that's it. Just go drive. The only thing about one-wire alternators that is really any different is that if you start the engine at idle it won't charge right away. You've got to "goose" the throttle a little bit to get the RPM's high enough so that it self-excites and starts charging. Really not that important as the first time you accelerate through first gear it will excite anyway. No need to put a bunch of though into that part or make a point of doing anything special. You probably wouldn't ever even notice unless you really watched the ammeter.

You don't have to do anything to the old regulator or its wires. Just tape up the old generator wires so they can't short together or to ground and tie them out of the way. If you want to make the old "generator" light work, you can do that, but it will require doing some more wiring.

 

I have not had a generator for I cant remember on all my trucks. On the
shelf at Napa. All trucks have 100 amp one wire alt. I have left everything there. Connect the heavy wire from the alt to the Batt terminal
on the former regulator. That will allow the power to travel the original
path to the amp meter on the dash. I used the orig. generator harness,
connect the fat wire to the new alternator and then go to the regulator
take this wire which is Arm and move it to Batt. forget the little wire which is the F field it is now dead or you can tape it if it makes you feel
better. So now the regulator is dead and only acts as a terminal board.
My first job was at Raytheon a cable maker for submarine signal div. so
I do not hack wires. Recap - look under my hoods, you will see the
common old regulator and nothing has been cut or hacked up. And also
if I were to put a generator back in there, its generator ready. These
are not expesive and Napa has a good stock of pulleys. One thing is
I dont know if you are positive ground which requires some more questions
at Napa, however some GM models pos or neg doesnt matter. Ok now
for the proven facts. The three dump trucks plow for the town you all
know we just went through a blizzard here in new england the trucks
ran steady for two days with all those lights, strobes, plow lights, heaters
wipers going idling pushing with no problems. One more thing, these were
6v pos ground I had to re loop the ampmeter wire and a ballest resistor
to a new coil, add a start solonoid for this resistor change bulbs and
I found out a 1961 2 3 64 12vt wiper motor fits right in there only has
one speed. Quick tip I just put a new right wiper pivit Dennis Carp. easy
I took the ash tray out there it is. this is on 1953 thru 1956 sam

 

I bought a 10SI from kansasselect products. I went with the 3 wire though because it charges right away. The article and wire diagram on the website is straight forward and easy to follow. It works fine and the price is reasonable. Mounting isn't a drop in but with some thought you can come up with something simple that will work. Kansas also sells a generic mounting bracket but your likely can modify your generator mount or build a version of it to adapt to the alternator. Good luck.

 

What year is your truck, Morot? Does it have an ammeter or just the idiot light?

If you can forego the idiot light it is as simple as BigJob describes, although I would be nervous about connectiing a 100 amp 10Si to wiring designed for 35 - 40 amps. I think you would want to upgrade the feed to the battery, and use a fusible link to protect the system.

 

^Is there a lesser amp alt I can buy? I REALLY don't want to replace all of my wiring!

And I have a '56 F100. It has just the idiot light and I do want that working.

 

Then you want a 3-wire, one of the 3 is for the light. I believe Dulie posted the diagrams for this, try a search on her name and "alternator wiring"; if it doesn't pop, there are some folks who've saved them. There are also a lot of diagrams on how to do it on the internet, lots of folks have done it.

The 3-wires are also what is on stock GM cars at the boneyard, and older ones are like 65 amps.

 

If you have the Y-Block motor,John Mummert has a nice alternator bracket he sells:

HOME PAGE

C.R.A.P. Industries also has alt. brackets for the Y,as well as other motors,and in really nice chrome if you desire.In fact,I have one waiting on my shelf,but found out it is for a Ford,not G.M. alternator.The bolt spread is different.

http://www-link.com/cgi-bin/odbic***...lientno=1681.0

There is also a post or two in the archives with good photos on making your own,if you can dig it up.

Just because you go from an generator to a 100 amp alternator,does not necessarily mean you have to rewire.I left my stock wiring in place,but added a marine-grade fuse block near the battery on the inner fender.Any new "loads" on my electrical system get their own fuse and separate circuit.On my truck,that means the upgraded halogen headlights/relays, CD/stereo, camper-shell lights, driving lights,and a separate lighter circuit for miscellaneous things.

Of course,if your trucks' wiring has been carelessly hacked/Southern-engineered, you might be wise to rewire at the time you convert from gen. to alt.

Steve.

 

^^Nahh, I have the 223 I-6.

Most of the wiring is in tact, I ran over it all before I did the brakes. It's pretty solid, and I redid a few sections here and there where it was bad.

3-wire it is! Now time to figure out what to do.

Ross--In one of my old threads I searched for wiring diagrams from Julie and 90% of her posts were for some odd reason deleted. All of which had the diagrams. I found the ones I needed in an email from a while back, but it seems like her posts are disappearing.

 

Read the ongoing Spam thread,it'll all become clear to you, and provide a little entertainment, to boot.

Not sure,but if I recall correctly, there are some universal, supposedly one-size-fits-all brackets available.

 

Actually, a while back, Dan threw a hissy fit, and started retracting all of his electrical diagram posts/picture gallery. He then got over it, so to speak, but his damage was done. Point me to the thread you are referring to, and I can try to plug the thread with his pictures.

Maybe I'll just start with this one: