New guy with problems

Post by **olskool** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 8:47 pm

Hello i looked everywere on your site and did not see anyone else with my problem (i might have missed it)

i have a 1956 minor 1000 with a 1275CC motor with a judson supercharger unit on it all new or rebuilt.

My problem is with the alternator. The internal voltage regulator is constantly on drawing power from the batter when the car is shut off. I checked the wiring but i do not have the same wiring color as the instrcutions say i should have from a place called "charels wares morris minor center"

Their instruction tell me to wire a small brown yellow wire with a small brwon green wire. I dont have these colors

My wiring colors meet up with the shop manual i have for left hand drive models with central instrument cluster and flashing turn signals.

i dont know if i missed somthing or what the car charges fine when running it just draws power when off. i traced everyhting and i cant find a problem im lost

i have a small yellow wire with a green stripe going to the small terminal and one bigger soild yellow going to the terminal next to it

i have racked my brain and searched the internet for hours to try find the soluition hope you guys can help

Post by **simmitc** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 12:15 am

Hi, and welcome. A standard car from 1956 will not have either a 1275 engine or an alternator, so it has obviously been modified. This doesn't help with the fault, but will explain why the wiring colours do not match up completely with those in the manual.

Is the ignition light staying on? Does the engine run normally and stop when you turn off the key? Not wuite sure what this will prove, but just mulling over a few ideas and looking for clues for you.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 5:54 pm

If the alternator is drawing power when not running - the diode pack is ruined ! Either fit new diodes - or swap the alternator for a recon unit. BTW - This can happen if someone has been electric welding on the car ? The alternator should ALWAYS be disconnected (not just the battery - actually take the wires off the alternator terminals) when any electric welding is done on the car.

Post by **MarkyB** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 8:58 am

Has the alternator been wired to the cars voltage regulator?
It shouldn't be as the alternator does everything internally.
Some ways of fitting an alternator involve using the old regulator as a "connection block" but it is no longer operational.
There was a nice simple wiring digram on here somewhere, a search should uncover it.
Don't get hung up on the colours of the wires, just make sure the circuit is right.

Post by **PAULJ** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 6:26 pm

Just wondered how you know the alternator is drawing from the battery. Is the ignition light staying on with the ignition off? Sorry if thats a stupid question

linearaudio · Post by **linearaudio** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 6:45 pm

I've had alternators with one diode down in the rectifier pack- they usually go open circuit but can go short circuit, then everything looks and seems to work fine, but as you found, the battery will flatten overnight. You can't really go wrong with the wiring- big lead to starter solenoid/permanent power point, little wire through ignition light to "switched" power. At the moment over here new alternators can be got indecently cheap, so its hardly worth even investigating internal problems any more!!

Post by **bmcecosse** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:09 pm

As long as the Diode goes 'open' - then all that happens is you lose one phase - ie 1/3 of the three phase generating capacity - and it could be like that for a long lng time and never be noticed. The reverse drain is usually only noticed when the battery is completely flat one morning!

Post by **olskool** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:22 pm

PAULJ wrote:Just wondered how you know the alternator is drawing from the battery. Is the ignition light staying on with the ignition off? Sorry if thats a stupid question

well i have this device that supplies a constant 12 volts to the sytem with low amps you plug your postive and negative lead into the box and if there is an amp draw a little light goes red. Then i just unpluged things till i found it the box goes green when the draw is taken away. its one of these weird things i found thats actually for testing somthing else but works well with these problems. Didnt take long as it was the second thing i tried.

the igniton light does not come on. but all other systems work fine. the more i look into it the more its comming back to the alternator i got a triumph TR6 sitting next to the minor with the same alternator im going to plug it in and see if it does the same thing that should tell me right off if it the alternator.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:43 am

It will be the alternator - unless you have an alarm system that draws a littl;e current all the time. Simple test - pull tyhe wires off the alternator, and then 'flash' the battery connection lead onto the battery. Obviously there should be no 'spark' if nothing is drwaing current. If there is a spark - keep searching!

Post by **olskool** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 7:55 pm

well it turn out to be the alternator. With everyhting in the car being new and pretty much untested i just wanted to make sure that there wasnt a wiring issue. But i plugged the Triumph alternator into it and problem solved so looks like its getting a GM one wire unit as this thing doesnt put enough out anyway to run the stereo that will be going in it

Post by **bmcecosse** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 9:58 pm

The normal alternator is good for ~ 30 amps - it will cope with your 'stereo' ok.

Post by **olskool** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 11:07 pm

well this thing is going to have two amps and a subwoofer the amps together draw more power than the lucas can keep up with .