Kind of a dumb question... hooking up 1 wire alternators.

[TomCat]

Yep I bought a PM 140a alternator, but the thing only comes with like one wire to hook up to it instead of the two plugs that are on the fox. Is this all there is supposed to be? If so, what do I do with the old alternator wires and stuff.

Thanks,
Brandon

 

[kornchild4life]

you doing the 3G alt. chagne? check out theses two sites, they helped me when i did my alt change.


http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2001/03/paperformance/index2.shtml

http://www.mustangmonthly.com/howto/26599/

 

[TomCat]

Actually I just bought one from Summit. Powermaster makes it and it supposedly tested at 149amps at highway rpm :shrug
I'll look into those sites and see if they offer any insight.

Thanks!

-Brandon

 

[TomCat]

Ok so what I got from that and some searching is to hook up the one wire to the fender mounted solenoid and leave the stock plugs alone.

 

[TheUser]

Ok so what I got from that and some searching is to hook up the one wire to the fender mounted solenoid and leave the stock plugs alone.

Yep...since the positive battery cable also goes to the the same side on the starter solonoid, it charges that way.

I also ran a 4ga power wire instead of the wire provided. I used a 6' 4ga battery cable (coiled it around my sway bar since it's longer than necessary and I didn't cut it) from the local farm supply store and just chopped the battery terminal end off and use a 4ga end that you can side over a bolt/stud. You could also use welding cable or maybe a better solotion is a starter wire since it already has the appropriate ends. You could get a ballpark figure of how long you want it and ask the local auto parts store clerk to check sizes for you or they let me go in the back and look myself.

The wire provided may be adequate, but I wanted to go above and beyond. It is also recommended if you do this to install an inline fuse to prevent a fire...I assume the same goes for the supplied powermaster wire.

BTW, yeah, just tuck the stock alternator plugs away or zip tie them to something. The powermaster begin to charge until you rev to around 1500 rpm's, so you can either touch the gas when you first start it up or you can wire up the stock "exciter" to turn the alt on w/o having to rev...there are posts about that if you search.

Good Luck

 

[HISSIN50]

James, how did you get your charge cable around your sway bar? Is that a typo?

 

[TheUser]

HISSIN: No, not a typo...? The bar that drops down and runs horizontally in front of the oil pain is the sway bar right? That's what I have my alt wire wrapped around. I can get pictures if you want