Alternator upgrade!

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Nov 15, 2006 | 06:07 PM

tom1979

Thread Starter

Mountain Pass

Joined: Dec 2005

Posts: 181

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From: Zachary, La.

Alternator upgrade!

I have been looking at upgrading or converting from a 60 amp oem alternator for my 79 F-150 (460) to a 100 amp 1 wire ford type alternator. What is the different other than to clean up under the hood. I assume it does away with the ext. regulator. Anyone, please explain further and how do you wire it up?

Nov 16, 2006 | 08:37 AM

subford

Fleet Owner

Joined: Aug 2005

Posts: 23,666

Likes: 301

From: Easton,Ks

Quote:

Originally Posted by tom1979

Not sure what you mean by one wire unless you mean one large wire. They all have to have a control wire.

Here are two diagrams of systems, the first one is like yours now and the second one is of one with the internal regulator.

With a 100 amp system you will need the big wire to be 8 GA with a 12 GA fuse link.

Your system:
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...ulator1977.jpg

Internal system:
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...lator21977.jpg

Nov 16, 2006 | 02:03 PM

Franklin2

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Joined: Jan 2001

Posts: 56,971

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From: Virginia

Quote:

a 100 amp 1 wire ford type alternator.

Yes, I do not think Ford had a one wire alternator unless you are getting it from the aftermarket and it's been modified.

Nov 16, 2006 | 04:27 PM

tom1979

Thread Starter

Mountain Pass

Joined: Dec 2005

Posts: 181

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From: Zachary, La.

Yes, it is a aftermarket thru JEG'S. They call it 1-wire ford hybrid alternator. They have them for Ford and GM. So, does this mean they do have one wire or what?

Nov 16, 2006 | 04:32 PM

buzzbait65

Elder User

Joined: Jul 2003

Posts: 504

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From: west central florida

yes, 1 wire to the positive of your battery, internal regulator, very clean and simple, Powermaster is the brand i believe, unless there are more makers of them now

Nov 18, 2006 | 09:21 PM

Franklin2

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Joined: Jan 2001

Posts: 56,971

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From: Virginia

They have a special regulator inside the alternator to trigger it to charge. It has to detect automatically when to bring the alt "online" to charge, and "offline" when the engine is not running so it will not run down the battery.

You have to make sure you run a fairly large wire for these as was mentioned, and in some installations they can be finicky to get them to charge. What this usually means is you may have to rev the engine a little bit to get it to start charging after you just start the engine.