ignation warning light will not go out

[alanlad]

Have with a friend fitted a new wiring loom and alternator to my 1969 traverller, what a surprise when it all worked but the ignition warning light will not go out. Is there something that I,m missing or just a fault in the warning lights? Looking in the Moss cat. they have for sale a list of items under the heading of Regulator for alternator, do I need to look at this?
Please help

[mike.perry]

If you have an alternator, you will not need a regulator/conrol box and if you specified that you had an alternator then there should not be any control box wiring.
Unfortunately the wiring diagrams in the workshop manual do not include alternator wiring.

[alanlad]

Thanks for that info it's good to be on the right path. Saying that I now need instructions on fitting a alternator on the Minor.
and what I need to fit. The Moss cat. that I,m looking at has 3 items:
1) Control box, warning light
2)Field relay
3) regulator bor

Any ideas?

[mike.perry]

Foget the control box, when an alternator is fitted with the original wiring it acts as a junction box. With a new wiring loom it should be completely redundant. I will look at my wiring in the morning

[alanlad]

Thanks Mike would like not to buy the extras as it is all cost. So if you could look for me it would be a great help but my main problem was where to fit it. It seems silly that there is no drawing for this change which sounds a common upgrade.

Alan

[simmitc]

Was the car originally fitted with an alternator, or did it have a dynamo and subsequent conversion?
Was the new wiring loom ordered as for a standard car or specified as being for an alternator?
When you say that everything works apart from the warning light, have you confirmed, using suitable test equipment, that the battery is being charged?

If the car originally had a dynamo then you will have a standard dynamo control box on the bulkhead (unless it was replaced by a terminal strip at the time of the conversion).

If the car was one of the few fitted with an alternator by the factory then you may have an alternator control box. However, this was short-lived, and modern alternators do NOT require a separate control box.

[bmcecosse]

Hopefully - the car is now negative earth ? And as others have asked - is the wiring harness specified for an alternator?

[alanlad]

The alternator i bought to convert,the waring harness I bought and it,s for a alternator so they should match.
The car has allways been neg earth.
We have not tested to check if it,s charging but assumed that as we had the engine running for 40 mins and the battery was fine. It also started again mins later.

[mike.perry]

You should have a plug in connector with a large brown, small brown and small brown/yellow on alternator
The starter solenoid has a ring terminal with a large and small brown wire which locates on the battery lead terminal.
Other large and small brown wires fit a large spade connector on the solenoid.
There is a brown/yellow wire on the ign. warning light which should be the other end of the alternator wire.
A white wire connects to the ign. switch then the fuse box.

[alanlad]

Mike
Had a look and it looks correct,could you confirm that the brown & white that is at the warning light when it connects to the alternator is green and yellow
The light is still on when the battery is conected with the key in or out
Thank you
Alan

[simmitc]

The light is still on when the battery is connected with the key in or out

Additional information! The light should go out when the ignition is off. Also, a battery with a good charge will easily run the car for 40 minutes - I did 6 X 25 minute journeys with no charge, and still enough power to start again. Once you have checked the wiring as per Mike's advice, put a meter on to check the charge. Failing that, put the head lamps on, then rev the engine - do the lights get brighter? Yes = charging, No - not charging. It's either a simple wiring mistake or a faulty alternator. Good luck.

[alanlad]

Thanks for that will turn the lights on tomorrow night to try it as going out tonight and need a break. Looking back this started when I put a new battery on the car saturday but it can't be a faulty battery?

Alan

[simmitc]

Agreed, not going to be the battery, but it is possible that a short circuit or reverse polarity during installation could damage the alternator.

[mike.perry]

Green/Yellow is the cable from the oil filter light to the oil filter.
Brown/White is not used. I think if you look closer it is Brown/Yellow

[alanlad]

Mike thank you for your colour code,someone before me has had a go at the warning lights and I,ve put that right.
The Ign light is now only on with it turned on and not all the time but will still not go out. Spent all day yesterday checking the car and now all electrics are in order except the ignition light staying on, late last night had the lights on full revved up then took my foot off. The lights stayed bright telling me that the alternator is working.
Will leave now untill my neighbour returns off holiday with his meters so we can give the car a proper look at.

Alan

[bmcecosse]

This all started when you fitted a new battery? So - up to then - it was all working correctly? Sure you didn't connect the battery wrong way round ?

[mike.perry]

Have you been running the alternator on an open circuit, ie with the battery disconnected? That can damage an alternator.
I had the ignition light glowing on a previous car, never did find out why, the alternator still charged.

[alanlad]

Was on a run last night with the local Morris Minors club, they have helped me and are going to lend me a meter to test it over the weekend. After talking last night with them I thought the same as you for the reason I have a problem.
If I get a meter we will see over the weekend
Alan

[bmcecosse]

You don't confirm if it was ok before you swapped the battery?

[DaisyMayFozz]

whoops-wrote about completely the wrong thing!

erm, have you got a spare battery you could check with? if you swap the battery with another and the light goes out then it is the battery, otherwise not sure.