ALTERNATOR WIRING

[pm]

Hi i have spent the afternoon fitting a alternator to my 1970 saloon all seems ok apart from the fact that i have no ignition light on startup , is this ok or a problem .
any help would be great .

phill

[Willie]

Depends! If the ignition warning light still comes on when you switch on the ignition but goes out as soon as the engine starts then that is ok. If it doesn't then you have a problem. If it is not a faulty Alternator then check that the THIN yellow wire and the Green/Yellow wire which were removed from the regulator terminals and connected together are making a good connection.

[pm]

thanks , its a good quality lucas alternator but you never know i will check the wiring .
thanks again
phill

[pm]

checked the wiring re soldered the connection so i guess it must be a dodgy alternator .
if not any other ideas .
phill

[minor_hickup]

Some of the Lucas alternators have 2 small tabs. Make sure there isn't another tucked away by the larger tabs, if so use this for the ignition warning light.

[IslipMinor]

PM,

Which model alternator? How many connections are there and what size?

[pm]

the alternator is a lucas 17acr with 2 large terminals and 1 small ,
i have tried earthing the small terminal out to see if the light comes on but nothing so possibly could be bulb . is the bulb part of the charging circuit . i took the car out for a spin sunday afternoon and dosent seem to drain the battery .
any advice would be great thanks phill

[IslipMinor]

The two large terminals are a common connection at the alternator and are connected either to the battery side of the starter solenoid, or directly to the positive connection on the battery (-ve earth system).

The small terminal (usually brown/yellow cable) is connected to one side of the ignition warning light and the other side is connected to the ignition switch (the terminal that becomes 'live' when the switch is in the normal running position. The light should be 'on' when the ignition is turned on, but no engine running, and will go completely out once the engine is ruuning, indicating that the alternator is charging (unless you have a very, very slow idle speed!!)

If you have converted from a dynamo and need to know which connections to use from the original control box, we will need to wait until someone who has done it replies!

[weets]

Have a look at this site good conversion info


http://www.minimania.com/web/DisplayID/ ... ticleV.cfm

[pm]

thanks for all the help everybody

returned to the garage tonight with the same wiring plan i realised i had failed to connect a wire up

now connected and all working ok .

again thanks for all the help .

phill