sun20ma

any diagrams on wiring a single wire alternator and eliminating the side regulator

4 Speed Dave

One wire to the pos side of the battery, it is really that simple. Depending on the maximum alt output will govern your wire size.

John S 1961

Why one wire? they are for race cars and tractors. Study up a little at Madelectrical.com. By using the voltage sense wire at the main bus your alternator maintains proper voltage in the system not just the battery.

TXSTICK

I changed over to a 3 wire (120 amp), very easy and it will regulate better (gauge still works).

http://www.madelectrical.com/electri...hreewire.shtml

Just get the adaptor kit from one of the venders.

http://www.ecklerscorvette.com/corve...1963-1968.html

http://www.zip-corvette.com/ProductD...GR-SR&CTitle=&



plug and play.

Chuck

Scott Marzahl

If old three wire SI alternators are better why do all the power hungry new GM vehicles come equipped with CS144's which is todays standard heavy duty output alternator.

wmf62

dunno, but i have a 140amp SI alternator...
Bill

Plasticman

Check out the top line, 3rd from the left titled "Original Chevy System" (May have to increase screen size to view properly - Control & thumbwheel):

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=...s=0&fr2=rs-top

Plasticman

Scott Marzahl

Just asking because I pulled two cs144s at the junkyard and planned on installing one on my 67 and one on the boys 76 vette. Seems to be a common upgrade an the c3 forum and I need more power in my car.

toddalin

Not if you want the amp gauge to work.

I used the existing wire to the horn relay and just unplugged the voltage regulator.

TXSTICK

I only said better than a one wire, I am not saying they are the best.
I had thought about looking into one of the newer style alternators, but I did not need to have 140 or more amps. I have read that the newer ones have better cooling.

Chuck

4 Speed Dave

You are at the mercy of the gauge wire that is in the car now, unless it is upgraded back to the battery to match the amp output of the new alt. People should blindly just wire it up like that which is why I didn't mention that. The entire system has to be sized accordingly which lots of people don't do. And by the way that is a small charge wire in your photo I'm guessing a No.10?

rene-paul

Scott, CS144's were built to address two concerns; first being higher current draws on systems and subsystems on the vehicle and second, with over drive transmissions engine speed decreased thus a redesign for high output at lower engine speeds.
Please review maddelectrical for the installation of the CS144 on older vehicles. Since it is an internally regulated alternator, to operate properly it will need a load sense.
Battery is the store of volts/amps; alternator resupplys the store.
Brgds,
Rene

toddalin

That's the stock wire that goes to the horn relay and a "100 amp" alternator . There is no need to upgrade the wire gauge if you don't add additional load to the system. Just because an alternator can put out more amps than the stock alternator doesn't mean that it will if it doesn't need to.

Even so, you would want to run the heavy wire to the horn relay and hook up your additional power accessories there. The wire from the horn relay to the battery is to charge the battery and that draw doesn't change so that wire could remain.

4 Speed Dave

Your logic is incorrect. As I said before: "The entire system has to be sized accordingly which lots of people don't do"

If you have a 100 amp alt everthing that the alt feeds should be capable of 100 amp feed all the way to the end of the line i.e. the battery. Your thought that you are not increasing the load maybe is true on a normal situation if you don't have a large MSD igintion, electric fan, AC clutch, huge radio system or electric fuel pumps, however if your battery is going bad, take a guess what will be working as hard as it can to keep it charged. Your 100 amp alternator that is trying to feed the battery with up to 100 amps through a 10 ga wire, that first has to go through the horn relay prior to getting to the battery.

Combine this with some Corvettes still having the original wiring is not a good combination. I'm not trying to be a PITA but maybe help someone not burn down their car in an electrical fire by overloading the charge circuit. Your method might work for a normal everyday situation however a proper complete electrical circuit is sized for the worst case situation to avoid a meltdown.

wmf62

i have a 140amp alternator that i added when i wanted to use a Mark VII electric fan. i eventually gave up on the electric fan and went back to a flex fan....

but, in preparing for the fan we ran an additional 10 gauge wire directly to the battery via the connection to the starter and utilized the other from the horn relay through it's normal routing from the horn relay, making the circuit through the amp gauge one leg of a parallel circuit.

amp gauge still shows charge/discharge movement of the needle but seldom goes above '0'..
Bill

GCD1962

Almost all 1-wire alternators can be used as a preferred 3-wire, internal regulator set-up. If your 1-wire has a plastic plug. remove it, get a connector from auto parts store and follow instructions from MADD. If you run an HEI or other accessory needing the full 12-14 volts this is your best set-up