Saturn Alternator - How To Wire In?

[Mike Phillips]

Saturn Alternator - How To Wire In?

 

Okay, I have the Alternator ready to bolt in. After it's bolted in I need some help figuring out the wiring. The truck is a 1974 Datsun 620 and the original alternator is externally regulated. The goal is to wire the new internally regulated alternator so that the batter charges and the rest of the Datsun wiring system works as normal.

 

Here's some pictures...

 

GM Pulley Installed

 

 

 

Went to Pick-A-Pull and removed and bought the original wires off of a 1995 Saturn which is what this NAPA replacement alternator is listed for.

 

 

The Alternator has 4 electrical prongs in the back fitting but the plug for the alternator only has 2 wires which feed off the two center prongs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the original wires to the original Hitachi ER Alternator. Blue tape on the one is temporary to keep it from sparking.

(After this picture was taken I disconnected the batter)

 

 

This is the current Voltage Regulator with it's plug opened and exposed to show the configuration.

 

 

 

So the questions is how should all the wires get hooked up?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

:)

[banzai510(hainz)]

Youll do the same as the 510 wiring set up youll short some wires on the plug to them selves(NOT THE VOLT REG SIDE)

Make some shorting wires that are oppisite sex for that plug

 

I believe its bl/wht short with wht/red

 

then yellow short to White

[ppeters914]

I'm positive there's a post (or three...maybe even from Hainz...maybe Paolo?) that includes a diagram on how to neatly by-pass the stock wires, but I'm too lazy to search for it.

 

Appreciate the pic of the replacement alt. Now I know where that nice shield came from in Redeye's pic....stock!

[jesusno2]

Well good question! as I don't think a whole lotta people know. I have a sat alt I tried putting on my 720, but it was int reg already. Basically the way I figured the wiring was, one big wire straight to the batt and remove the factory white wire from the harness and then tie the the 2 brown wires into the T plug but I never got any solid awnsers as if that was correct my alt was no good from the junkyard so I need to get another one and then I'm gonna try it out on my 510 their is a lot more room and no powersteering and other stuff in the way.

[slodat]

I am the person who originally came up with the Saturn alternator swap onto L series engines.

 

The thing you need to know is that "Saturn" alternator is a very standard GM CS-130 alternator. The reason I use the Saturn application of the CS-130 is it is the only one I have found that has the same straddle style lower mount. It is close enough to the stock straddle style lower mount to get it all to mount up.

 

I actually grab a little different plug off a different CS-130 - usually those Pontiacs with the alternator nice and convenient at the top of the engine. It will have one heavy gauge wire (10ga or so) and one smaller. The smaller (I believe pin 3) goes to the warning light circuit. The heavier wire (I believe pin 1) goes to the output post on the back of the alternator.

 

As far as eliminating the stock external voltage regulator there's a great article on this at the Dime Quarterly website.

 

I hope this helps. If not, ask and I'll help you out. This setup works great. It is in my 510 right now.

[]2eDeYe]

 

 

In that pic.

 

F is Field which is your 12v power source to excite the alternator.

L is Light which goes to the wire in your harness that goes to the dummy light.

 

 

In that pic

 

I'm fairly certain the Yellow wire with tape get's attached to the BAT lug.

 

Don't have the wiring diagram near and it's dinnertime so I can't be sure on the other bit's ATM

 

All you need to get it to work is feild (ignition) and the battery connected to the BAT lug.

 

Hope that helps.

[jesusno2]

So seems to me that all you need is 2 wires if you don't care about the dummy light then correct? I was going to remove the one white wire and replace with a 4 or 8 guage wire to better handle the amprage the saturn alt puts out.

[Mike Phillips]

I am the person who originally came up with the Saturn alternator swap onto L series engines.

 

The reason I use the Saturn application of the CS-130 is it is the only one I have found that has the same straddle style lower mount. It is close enough to the stock straddle style lower mount to get it all to mount up.

 

That's correct and important... this picture shows the lower mounting brackets to be close if not the same.

 

Stock Hitachi .............................................................................Saturn Alternator

 

This is the most important part of a swap like this because it give you a solid mount for the alternator but can still be rotated.

 

Good find!

 

:)

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks for the replies, I'll try to get to wiring this thing up sometime this week. I've uploaded some pictures showing some of the modifications you need to do in order to make this installation work.

 

 

Saturn Alternator Install - Miscellaneous Prep Pictures

 

 

Another Electrical Newbie question....

 

If I wanted to install an aftermarket gauge to monitor what's going on at the battery, would I install a Volt Gauge or an Amp Gauge? I want to make certain the the battery is being properly charged.

 

:)

[ppeters914]

Another Electrical Newbie question....

 

If I wanted to install an aftermarket gauge to monitor what's going on at the battery, would I install a Volt Gauge or an Amp Gauge? I want to make certain the the battery is being properly charged.

 

:)

 

I Googled on "voltmeter vs ammeter" (without the quotes) and found a bunch of answers. I'll let you peruse the details, but the short answer is that the voltmeter is more useful.

[slodat]

So seems to me that all you need is 2 wires if you don't care about the dummy light then correct? I was going to remove the one white wire and replace with a 4 or 8 guage wire to better handle the amprage the saturn alt puts out.

 

The CS130 must have the wire connected to the warning light. This is well documented in other places. This is what actually turns on the regulator. It's easy and the warning light is VERY handy! It will tell you if your alternator stops spinning - before you overhead and blow a head gasket.

 

Another Electrical Newbie question....

 

If I wanted to install an aftermarket gauge to monitor what's going on at the battery, would I install a Volt Gauge or an Amp Gauge? I want to make certain the the battery is being properly charged.

 

:)

 

Voltmeter. That's it. Voltmeter. You are looking for >13v with the engine running.

[Mike Phillips]

As far as eliminating the stock external voltage regulator there's a great article on this at the Dime Quarterly website.

 

This one?

 

http://dimequarterly.tierranet.com/articles/tech_iralt.html

 

 

:)

Edited December 2, 2008 by Mike Phillips

[Mike Phillips]

In the information posted here,

 

It says,

Before tossing that old voltage regulator into the trash bin cut OFF the connector block.

 

Splice the W (white) wire to the Y one. (Sense circuit)

Splice the W/R (white/red) wire to the

W/B

one. (Lamp circuit)

 

My connector block has' date='

 

One yellow wire

One white wire

One red/white wire

One blue/white wire

One black/white wire

One black wire

 

[b']Question:[/b] Where it says to splice the W/R, white/red), wire to the W/B wire, does W/B stand for White/Black or White/Blue?

 

:confused:

[Mike Phillips]

Here's my best attempt at a screen shot of the pertinent portion of the wiring diagram.

 

[Mike Phillips]

The wiring diagram pdf here

http://www.olddatsuns.com/data/dat620-1974a.pdf

 

 

Shows blue to be the letter "L"

 

 

So I'm guessing Thomas Walter the author of the article here knows this already and thus the B/W indicates Black/White, not Blue/White which would be L/W

 

???

 

Play along with me here folks, I've never really done any wiring to this level before.

 

:)

[Mike Phillips]

Assuming my assumptions above are correct, here's the modified Connector Block to plug into the other half in the wiring harness.

 

[Mike Phillips]

Next...

 

Okay, so I plug this into the back of the Saturn Alternator and then figure out which of these two wires go to the two wires in the factory T-Plug.

 

These two wires... the F and L wires

 

 

Go to these two wires?

The Yellow and White/Black wire attached to the white T-Plug, (on the left)

[Mike Phillips]

I'm at a point I need help...

 

Here's the Saturn Alternator and the wires and plugs that came with it.

 

Here's the original wires that were attached to the stock alternator,

 

T-Plug, Thick White wire with a red stripe and a fairly thick Black Wire, (is the black wire a ground?)

 

 

Also picked up an 30Amp, 14 gauge inline fuse wire in case I need one of these?

 

 

As soon as I can hook the right wires to the right wires I can start driving this thing again. I'd like the idiot light to work for now and I can run down to AutoZone and pick up a Voltage Gauge to use for now and then likely replace it in the future with a better quality gauge.

 

 

Help? :)

[slodat]

There are four terminals in the four pin connector on the CS series alternator:

 

P - half wave rectified. Don't use the P terminal.

L - light and will go to your lamp circuit on the dash. Connect the L terminal to your white black on the bottom of the T connector(the one that previously went into the stock alternator) on your harness.

F - field positive. Don't use the F terminal.

S - sense. Connect the S to your yellow wire on the top of the T connector on your harness.

 

BAT - this is the +12v output of the alternator. Connect it to the heavy gauge white wire to charge the battery.

 

Ground If you don't have a black harness ground connector, make one and connect it from the alternator case to any black ground wire in your wiring harness. Do yourself a favor and also connect a super heavy battery cable from your engine block to your frame. I use a 12" battery wire from a starter mounting bolt to a idler arm mounting bolt on my 510. This can help with some of your problems blowing out alternators.

 

If you happen to get an alternator with an "F" terminal on its regulator plug, AND if you don't need an idiot light, you may apply 12V directly to the F terminal with key-on, and this will excite the alternator safely.

 

Applying 12V (not through a bulb) to the L terminal will smoke the regulator!!

 

Some of the above taken from the bluebirds list.

[banzai510(hainz)]

this is for a 510

also the write up is in the Dime Quarterly website

http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=124&size=big&papass=&sort=1

 

 

I assume you took the regulator side of the plug and shorted it out using the color codes. Just be careful I have noticed some aftermarket volt regs the color code if off ,so use the main harness as the main reference for the color codes.

 

Install a volt gauge,When it loads down the voltage will lower as there is more a draw. Just find a wire that has 12volts in the ON position.The gauge doesnt require a big wire. as everything is in parallell with the battery. I used the radio power wire and just made a jumper inbetween so not to cut the stock datsun connectors. Oh I forgot to mention I dont have a radio

 

Fuck amp gauages. Amp gauges work by having the amp in series with the power wire. menaing the wire off the alternator to the gauge in the car/truck then routes back to thfeed side where it was to go.

Edited December 2, 2008 by banzai510(hainz)

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks for your help...

 

There are four terminals in the four pin connector on the CS series alternator:

 

P - half wave rectified. Don't use the P terminal.

L - light and will go to your lamp circuit on the dash. Connect the L terminal to your white black on the bottom of the T connector(the one that previously went into the stock alternator) on your harness.

F - field positive. Don't use the F terminal.

S - sense. Connect the S to your yellow wire on the top of the T connector on your harness.

 

 

Okay bare with me here... in order to hook up the wires like you posted above, I'm either going to need to get a different plug or figure out how to attach individual wires to the terminals/pins in the back of the alternator.

 

The connector I removed from the Saturn only has wires for the F and L terminals and I need a connector that has terminals for L and S

 

 

 

This isn't a very good picture and there's dielectric grease inside but what kind of electrical doodad can I get that I can connect directly to the individual pins?

 

 

 

 

Or can I go to the wrecking yard and get a connector off a Pontiac that is wired for the L and S terminals like you mention here?

 

 

I actually grab a little different plug off a different CS-130 - usually those Pontiac's with the alternator nice and convenient at the top of the engine. It will have one heavy gauge wire (10ga or so) and one smaller. The smaller (I believe pin 3) goes to the warning light circuit. The heavier wire (I believe pin 1) goes to the output post on the back of the alternator.

 

 

BAT - this is the +12v output of the alternator. Connect it to the heavy gauge white wire to charge the battery.

 

Check.

 

 

Ground If you don't have a black harness ground connector, make one and connect it from the alternator case to any black ground wire in your wiring harness.

 

I think the black wire shown on the left hand side of this picture is the factory ground wire coming out of the wiring harness and was bolted to the back of the original harness. I'll try to trace it on the wiring diagram to make sure and I think I have a picture of the wires hooked up to the original alternator before I removed it.

 

 

 

Do yourself a favor and also connect a super heavy battery cable from your engine block to your frame. I use a 12" battery wire from a starter mounting bolt to a idler arm mounting bolt on my 510. This can help with some of your problems blowing out alternators.

 

Check. I have a brand new batter cable bolted from the negative lug on the battery right to the block just above the alternator and can attach a second ground cable to the frame.

 

 

If you happen to get an alternator with an "F" terminal on its regulator plug, AND if you don't need an idiot light, you may apply 12V directly to the F terminal with key-on, and this will excite the alternator safely.

 

I bought a new/rebuilt alternator from NAPA for a 1995 Saturn, it has what looks like 4 terminals in the back where the plug fits and the plug I got off a 1995 Saturn in the wrecking yard has a wire for the F terminal coming out of it but not the S terminal which you posted I need to have a wire going to it.

 

Plug Receptacle on the back of the NAPA alternator

 

 

 

Plug I got off a 1995 Saturn, has wires for L and F but not S

 

 

Applying 12V (not through a bulb) to the L terminal will smoke the regulator!!

 

Check. Don't want to smoke the brand new alternator that's why I started this thread, to help myself and help others. Plus the wife will kill me if I tell her I need to buy another alternator. :)

[slodat]

Take the time to find the correct connector. I do not recommend trying to connect to the individual pins. That is a very standard connector. I was actually looking through some junk and found that I bought the connector at my local auto parts store. It will look like the one you have, but with the additional wires coming out. I just cut the one I didn't need flush with the top of the connector.

[Mike Phillips]

Think I figured a way to make my own plug. Going to go to a stereo store and get one of the thin little female speaker wire connectors as that will fit the S prong in the alternator. Will drill out one of the Saturn connectors I bought at the wrecking yard and jimmy it into place and then probably set it with a little Goop Glue.

 

Hopefully I have everything figured out... thanks slodat and banzai510

 

Will update after I put it all together and re-install the alternator.

 

:)

[slodat]

I'd go find the correct weatherpack connector for that plug. A short in that plug could equal an underhood fire if bad enough..

[Mike Phillips]

I'd go find the correct weatherpack connector for that plug. A short in that plug could equal an underhood fire if bad enough..

 

Dumb question, how does one go about finding the correct "Weatherpack Connector"?

 

:confused: