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Siqx's Vertically Challenged K/C


Siqx20

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Well that was a pain. Swapped alternators today. The new one pits out like 100 amps. Plenty of power. Now I might actually have wipers that work with my headlights on. If j run my headlights, high beams, blower on high, and wipers it only dips down to about 13 volts maybe a little less at idol. I will throw my volt meter on it tomorrow and get a accurate reading. So anyways. Swapped it in. Did the needed wiring to run a internally regulated alternator and not have the choke relay hot all the time. That was fun. Anyways, atleast now when I'm driving in the rain at night I have over 11.5 volts. Unlike before.

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So every day since my alternator swap I have bad to jump my battery in the morning. I disconnected the choke relay heater since the choke isn't doing anything at the moment anyways. I thought it was my battery so I swapped in a new one that was charged. Let it sit at work for my entire shift (10 hours) and when I went to start it it was dead. So this was a serious draw.

 

Well I checked amperage inline with the battery circuit and it was like 6amps! So I started tinkering with things. When I unhooked the plug from the back of my alternator the amps would drop to zero (hmmmm that's weird) checked the voltage out of the back of the plug and in the key off position I had full voltage (12.xx V) so obviously I had a problem. My field wire (think that's what the "F" stands for on the plug) was back feeding voltage when the key was off. So I wired a diode inline with the circuit. Problem solved. I no longer had a draw and everything worked like it was supposed to. I didn't read a out anyone else having to do this when they went to a IR swap. So I thought this was kinda weird. Either way. She is happy and charging and holding said charge now.

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Is your charge lamp hooked up correctly?
If it's not wired correctly, technically the alternator will always be on. This is why when the charge lamp is missing or burned out, the alternator will not charge. What it sounds like to me is the lamp circuit was closed so it was always 'charging' because the alternator is always excited. Even when not rotating it would still be on, since it's not powered by the IGN switch, it's directly wired.

You might double-check the wiring and see if you have the +12V side of the two external wires backwards from the lamp circuit. An easy way to check would be to remove the charge lamp and see if the alternator charges. If it still charges with no lamp present, then it's a closed circuit and you need to fix it. The lamp itself provides the necessary resistance to allow the alternator to charge while rotating, and in the event of alternator failure the lamp is then grounded via the circuit, hence why the charge light illuminates during a malfunction.

Keep in mind that an LED will NOT work in place of a charge lamp because LED will only allow voltage to flow one direction (non-bidirectional). Hence why there is a specific (+) and (-) side of an LED. The circuit breaks the ground and kills the bulb, and the alternator charges. I used a small 3/8" accessory lamp from CarQuest myself.

If your alternator is self-exciting (GM One-Wire) then ignore all the above. Delco CS-105/6/7 require a lamp I believe. The saturn alternator is a Delco CS105. If yours is an overwound stock unit it should still require a lamp. I bet this is where your problem lies.

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The problem is you're not charging when the engine isn't running.
But it's TRYING to. So you're just discharging. No energy is free. Takes some to make some.
No Jap-Tin will ever be a perpetuual motion machine. :)

Swap your wires. W/R is usually your hot ones. Not sure on the pickups. Think the 510's had w/r and y/g or just Y.  W/R just loops to +12 @ the charge post, and the other goes to your lampy lamp.

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Changed the oil in the Datto today, alternator is working well now. Not sure why it was working funky and draining the battery but its working good now. Swapped out the shitty tail lights and housings for a better set I had. Replaced a few burnt out bulbs, and fixed the right blinker issue it had.

 

One step closer to rolling to canby.

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Also thinking about raising the truck up maybe a inch or two. Haven't decided yet. Saw a couple other trucks at canby that were not as low with similar wheel sizes. And they looked good. A little more ground clearance and suspension travel would be nice too. Idk. I'm so torn.

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