Posted by Keith in Washington from 207.46.137.9 (tide09.microsoft.com) on Friday, April 12, 2002 at 10:51AM :
In Reply to: Re: Chebby 1 wire alternator number posted by Cheyenne Dave from 65.100.92.44 (?) on Friday, April 12, 2002 at 10:08AM :
I just had my single wire alternator rebuilt last month by a shop that specializes in alternators and starters. There are 2 setups that can be considered a single wire set up. One is truely a single wire and it only has the charging wire that connects into your battery. That is how mine is. It is self exciting and will do so at 800 engine RPM. The other variety is the one that you just mentioned. It has a single wire going to the battery but also uses the spade connectors on the alternator. One of the spade wires goes to the Batt post on the alternator and there is apparently a resistor between the two spade connectors. This is not a self exciting alternator. The wire going to the BATT terminal on the alternator turns on the charging circuit. This circuit is drawing power from your battery all the time (24 hours a day) even when you have everything shut down. Ie the charging circut is always ON!. This configuration is only good if you drive the vehicle daily or very often. If you let it set for a couple of weeks you will find a dead battery. They converted my alternator to this type but changed it back when I stated that the truck can sit for long periods of time and that I did not want any dead batteries as that is why I was having mine rebuilt (The RPM that my alternator turned on was set too high and I was not getting enough charge).
I would not recommend the "single" wire alternator that uses the spade connecter. Use the true single wire alternator the only diffrence is in the voltage regulator that is used.
Follow Ups: