Alternator problems.

[Dennis Scheel]

Just bought this Jubilee and the alternator was not working. Bought a new alternator but gauge still shows a discharge even though battery is fully charged. Wiring is suspect. Only one wire off alternator which is running to gauge and then to battery, but ther are 2 extra wires in the harness. Left over from generator? Also battery boils over and is leaving acid residue all over, over charging,or not charging at all?

 

[JMOR]

(quoted from post at 22:40:27 10/01/09) Just bought this Jubilee and the alternator was not working. Bought a new alternator but gauge still shows a discharge even though battery is fully charged. Wiring is suspect. Only one wire off alternator which is running to gauge and then to battery, but ther are 2 extra wires in the harness. Left over from generator? Also battery boils over and is leaving acid residue all over, over charging,or not charging at all?

Boiling over is sign of overcharge. If you didn't buy an alternator with a 1-wire regulator, then you need to hook up the other 2 terminals. Some alternator regulators will blast full output when Sense line is disconnected and other designs will output zero when Sense line is disconnected. If truly a 1-wire design then it should work correctly without a Sense line.
Gotta know what you have?

 

[souNdguy]

ditto what jmor said. in addition.. do you get negative deflection on the ammeter when lamps or ignition is on ( points closed ), and engine not running?

soundguy

 

[john in la]

Checking the battery at the terminals with a volt meter and you could answer these questions.

If you want a wiring diagram to wire the alternator let me know.

 

[sotxbill]

most delcos need the voltage sense wire connected to the load somewhere to sense the voltage and control the level.. its the little lead thats further away from the battery lug.. you can simply run a wire from it to the battery lug to get the voltage to set at that point. then the alternator should drop back to 14.2 volts at that point. If you move the sense wire back towards the amp gauge, it will make sure that the voltage at the point is 14.2 volts.
at the amp gauge, the alternator and load should be on one side of the amp gauge and the battery & starter should be on the other..

then is a matter of seeing if the gauge goes left or right when charging.. if not reverse the wires to correct the gauge direction.

 

[Dennis Scheel]

Ok guys I'm back in town and have done a little more checking based on your comments.
The boiling over occured with the old alternator that checked out bad and eventually the battery would run down.The new alternator I believe will have to have 3 wires as I show no increase in voltage at the battery with the engine running at 1800 RPM. I do show a dicharge with the ignition off and the lights turned on. The key switch does have to be on to have lights.
The main lead from the alterntor goes to the neg side of the ammeter. From the ammeters pos side a wire runs to the pos side of the terminal block and one to the solinoid and then to the battry.
The other 2 wires that are not conneced at the alternator, one goes to ground and one goes to lite switch. I have 1 wire that comes off the neg side of the terminal block and goes down to the solinoid area but is not connected to anything.
This whole harness looks homemade. Can I use any of these as a sense wire?

 

[Dennis Scheel]

Ok guys I'm back in town and have done a little more checking based on your comments.
The boiling over occured with the old alternator that checked out bad and eventually the battery would run down.The new alternator I believe will have to have 3 wires as I show no increase in voltage at the battery with the engine running at 1800 RPM. I do show a dicharge with the ignition off and the lights turned on. The key switch does have to be on to have lights.
The main lead from the alterntor goes to the neg side of the ammeter. From the ammeters pos side a wire runs to the pos side of the terminal block and one to the solinoid and then to the battry.
The other 2 wires that are not conneced at the alternator, one goes to ground and one goes to lite switch. I have 1 wire that comes off the neg side of the terminal block and goes down to the solinoid area but is not connected to anything.
This whole harness looks homemade. Can I use any of these as a sense wire?


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[Dennis Scheel]

Ok guys I'm back in town and have done a little more checking based on your comments.
The boiling over occured with the old alternator that checked out bad and eventually the battery would run down.The new alternator I believe will have to have 3 wires as I show no increase in voltage at the battery with the engine running at 1800 RPM. I do show a dicharge with the ignition off and the lights turned on. The key switch does have to be on to have lights.
The main lead from the alterntor goes to the neg side of the ammeter. From the ammeters pos side a wire runs to the pos side of the terminal block and one to the solinoid and then to the battry.
The other 2 wires that are not conneced at the alternator, one goes to ground and one goes to lite switch. I have 1 wire that comes off the neg side of the terminal block and goes down to the solinoid area but is not connected to anything.
This whole harness looks homemade. Can I use any of these as a sense wire?

 

[Dennis Scheel]

Ok guys I'm back in town and have done a little more checking based on your comments.
The boiling over occured with the old alternator that checked out bad and eventually the battery would run down.The new alternator I believe will have to have 3 wires as I show no increase in voltage at the battery with the engine running at 1800 RPM. I do show a dicharge with the ignition off and the lights turned on. The key switch does have to be on to have lights.
The main lead from the alterntor goes to the neg side of the ammeter. From the ammeters pos side a wire runs to the pos side of the terminal block and one to the solinoid and then to the battry.
The other 2 wires that are not conneced at the alternator, one goes to ground and one goes to lite switch. I have 1 wire that comes off the neg side of the terminal block and goes down to the solinoid area but is not connected to anything.
This whole harness looks homemade. Can I use any of these as a sense wire?

 

[souNdguy]

bad wireing setup for one thing...

alternator charge wira, and all loads like ignition and lamps should be on one side of the meter.. the other side of the meter is the wire to the solenoid hot terminal ( battery ). this gives you a net charge / discharge setup.

( also.. your ignition switch HATES conducting the current to run yer lamps ).

soundguy

 

[Dennis Scheel]

Makes sense to me. I need to remove the hood to fix the gas tank and I will reroute the wiring or order a new harness it makes it a lot easier. Thanks

 

[souNdguy]

yep.. clen new wires with a premade harness or not is much better than a birdsnest..

soudnguy