Can someone tell me how to wire a one wire altenator in a 1960 f100 with a 292 motor?

 

Welcome to FTE! All you need to do is connect the 'BAT' wire to the positive side of the battery. The easiest way to do that on your truck might be attaching it to the post on the starter solenoid which goes to the strarter...

 

Thank you for the answer.I should start from the beginning.Ihave a 1960 f100 with a 292 v8 motor 4x4. I mounted a one wire altenator in place of the generator and voltage regulator.I connected the battery wire from the plug of the alt. to the post on the alt. Then I connected the bat.side of the selinod to the bat post on the alt. then I connected the wire from gen. light to the exciter wire from the alt. plug.Then I grounded the bat. to the frame and from that place I ran a ground to the alt.Everything is working great but the gen light is on when the key off and off when key is on. What did I do wrong? Can anyone help? I'm new to this old ford game but I really enjoy the challenge!

 

I don't follow your connections entirely but for the most part it seems that you have it connected correctly except for the exciter wire. One-wire alternators do not have an exciter wire. If this alternator has an exciter wire then it is probably a three-wire. If you are trying to hook up an exciter wire to a one-wire alternator by splicing into what WAS originally the exciter wire, it won't work (AFIK) because the one-wire alternator has different internal wiring and is self-exciting...

 

The plug on the alt has 2 wires one goes to the bat.Where does the second one go?

 

If you use the stock 3-wire plug, the large wire (probably red) in the plug can be cut short and run to the BAT post or back to the solenoid. The small field wire (probably 18 gage and maybe blue?) doesn't get hooked up to anything. You can just tape it up. If you decide not to use the plug you can use a slide on terminal instead and leave the field wire off entirely.

Be sure to use the proper size BAT wire depending on the alternator output. If the output is in the 100 AMP area you need a 6 gage wire. If around 60 AMPS you should use a 10 gage and if less than 60 you can use a 12 gage....

 

Is there a way for the 'generator light' on the dash to work with a one wire alternator?

 

Not that I'm aware of. That's one of the disadvantages of the one-wire. If you really want to maintain the generator light stick with the standard 3-wire. They aren't that much harder to wire...

 

Is the idiot light voltage or amperage? Not knowing exactly how that circuit works I would assume you could tap into anything anywhere that fed what you need. What trips the light if levels are too low? Is ground or no signal or ...?

 

I'm no electrical expert but this is the way I understand it works. The idiot light is connected internally to 12V source in the alternator. So, when you turn on the switch the light illuminates. When the alternator starts charging that internal 12V source terminates and so the idiot light goes out because there is no longer any source of power to it...

If some electrical expert out there has a better explanation or thinks it works some other way let me know. I'm always willing to learn something new.

 

Hey GreatNorthWoods I get it! Got her done and all is well.Many thanks my friend.