Mustang II One Wire Alternator Conversion?
- Thread starter 3djedi
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Yes I use heat shrink too at some points. Interior I just use the connectors. Exterior I add heat shrink. I tend to use heat shrink as strain relief as well.
95% of older car electrical work will be volts. Usually just a matter of if you have voltage at a certain time and place or not. Occasionally Ohms. A test light will fix most problems but a meter is going to really help move to the next level.
Ohms is resistance. aka continuity. Usually you tests ohms with the power off on the circuit. Reading of 0 means wire is conducting electricity. Infinite or anything else but close to 0 is an open. Means electricity is not making it from a to b. Voltage doesn't matter when speaking of ohms. Your just describing how hard it is for the electrons to pass through that section of wire or components. A very long wire or tiny wire can increase resistance. Corroded connections or broken wires will too. Ohms can help you find these problems
Think of the battery as a fish tank. In our case it holds a bunch of water (electrons). This water is under pressure (volts). The battery can fill and discharge itself at a certain rate(amps). Wires are water lines. Bigger lines feed more volumn of water(amps). In our example 15 is the max pressure. We have a fish tank in a car so we really don't want it full. Lets shoot for 12 being the optimal operating pressure of the tank. If we are taking any water out we will drop below 12. So lets add a water pump. It's magical and creates water out of thin air. Our pump needs to be able to pump more than we use. Lets go with 100 amps as the high flow point of our pump and 14.7 as the high pressure. That way if we have the stereo cranking and ac on high. Bright lights on and the wipers cranking away the tank never goes below 12 psi(volts) or 500 amps. We will not use all the accessories all the time so we need a way to control the pump. Lets add a regulator. It can monitor how full the tank is and have the alternator make more or less power/water as needed.
Each electrical item is actually a little water wheel inside. Some things need a giant wheel, like a blower motor. Some things use a tiny wheel, like a marker light. The bigger the wheel the bigger the wire/water hose needed to power the wheel. This is amps. The higher the amperage the more water is needed to keep the item powered. If we have too small of a hose the water wheel will try to spin it's desired speed. It will pull so much water through the hose it gets hot turning to steam and can melt to water line.
Watts is just a measure of work required. It indicates how much volts and amps are required to make something work. It does not tell us what amps or volts. Once we have the wattage we can apply that to the voltage of our chosen system which will tell us what amps will be drawn. This will determine what size wires we need.
95% of older car electrical work will be volts. Usually just a matter of if you have voltage at a certain time and place or not. Occasionally Ohms. A test light will fix most problems but a meter is going to really help move to the next level.
Ohms is resistance. aka continuity. Usually you tests ohms with the power off on the circuit. Reading of 0 means wire is conducting electricity. Infinite or anything else but close to 0 is an open. Means electricity is not making it from a to b. Voltage doesn't matter when speaking of ohms. Your just describing how hard it is for the electrons to pass through that section of wire or components. A very long wire or tiny wire can increase resistance. Corroded connections or broken wires will too. Ohms can help you find these problems
Think of the battery as a fish tank. In our case it holds a bunch of water (electrons). This water is under pressure (volts). The battery can fill and discharge itself at a certain rate(amps). Wires are water lines. Bigger lines feed more volumn of water(amps). In our example 15 is the max pressure. We have a fish tank in a car so we really don't want it full. Lets shoot for 12 being the optimal operating pressure of the tank. If we are taking any water out we will drop below 12. So lets add a water pump. It's magical and creates water out of thin air. Our pump needs to be able to pump more than we use. Lets go with 100 amps as the high flow point of our pump and 14.7 as the high pressure. That way if we have the stereo cranking and ac on high. Bright lights on and the wipers cranking away the tank never goes below 12 psi(volts) or 500 amps. We will not use all the accessories all the time so we need a way to control the pump. Lets add a regulator. It can monitor how full the tank is and have the alternator make more or less power/water as needed.
Each electrical item is actually a little water wheel inside. Some things need a giant wheel, like a blower motor. Some things use a tiny wheel, like a marker light. The bigger the wheel the bigger the wire/water hose needed to power the wheel. This is amps. The higher the amperage the more water is needed to keep the item powered. If we have too small of a hose the water wheel will try to spin it's desired speed. It will pull so much water through the hose it gets hot turning to steam and can melt to water line.
Watts is just a measure of work required. It indicates how much volts and amps are required to make something work. It does not tell us what amps or volts. Once we have the wattage we can apply that to the voltage of our chosen system which will tell us what amps will be drawn. This will determine what size wires we need.
Always heat-shrink crimped connections. I'll let Uncle Tony explain:
View: https://youtu.be/cMx9Bhsnh_4
View: https://youtu.be/cMx9Bhsnh_4
He is close but I don't use the connectors he has. They are the cheapo version of these type of connectors. I use the heat shrink and gel filled. The gel melts and seals as the outer coating shrinks. Here is one version I have had good luck with.
View: https://youtu.be/lyrBzPX8LO4
View: https://youtu.be/lyrBzPX8LO4
Great explanation. It was used by my physics teacher in high school. And he was a car guy too! One typo I think. Instead of 500 amps I think you meant 100. And I think you always use the ohmmeter on a dead circuit otherwise you'll be buying a new fuse for your meter.
I agree about using an ohm meter on a live circuit. Since I only stayed in a Holiday Inn Express once I cannot claim to know for sure.
That 500 is referring to the battery capacity. It's the cca rating on the battery. Not the alternator output. It has to have more capacity than what the alternator puts out. We also need to have plenty of reserve for starting, sitting with engine off listening to radio and now days the computers staying on to listen for key fobs. Ect.
That 500 is referring to the battery capacity. It's the cca rating on the battery. Not the alternator output. It has to have more capacity than what the alternator puts out. We also need to have plenty of reserve for starting, sitting with engine off listening to radio and now days the computers staying on to listen for key fobs. Ect.
I only remember a more rudimentary water analogy that voltage is the amount of water moving and amperage is the force it applies. I knew that Ohms was resistance without an analogy, but all of that has gotten me by well enough. 
I have had it described to me that way as well but my brain cannot make it work. If voltage was the amount of water then wire size would depend on voltage. Not amperage. We can put 12 volts on a tiny wire or huge wire. Wire size depends on the amperage we are going to draw. Since amperage can require more wire surface area it has to be volume in the water analogy. Therefore in my brain amperage has to be volume and volts is best represented as pressure. Granted we are comparing apples and oranges so the analogy will have to be flexible but I believe my way fits much better for a beginner.
I have been married for a few decades now so I understand I am probably wrong but.....
I have been married for a few decades now so I understand I am probably wrong but.....
"...amp...to be volume in the water analogy..."
"...volts...as the psi..."
getting there w/U guys help (example - the schematic shows a diode asa 1 way switch!)
(Volume, pressure, flow, etc. Never heard of the bat. as a tank but it fits the annology used here.)
Easier for me to see in mind's eye than the actual ions, atoms, etc
"...volts...as the psi..."
getting there w/U guys help (example - the schematic shows a diode asa 1 way switch!)
(Volume, pressure, flow, etc. Never heard of the bat. as a tank but it fits the annology used here.)
Easier for me to see in mind's eye than the actual ions, atoms, etc
Yes, there's a 2 AWG wire there (with a mega fuse). You reminded me that I could benefit from a newer and stronger keyed ignition switch, or I could figure out how to add the relays you mentioned. That would save a lot of rewiring as the old fuse box only has 5 to 7 slots. My setup will include a CB (it's a 4WD 1st gen Bronco, not the one mentioned in my signature) and a second winch battery, beyond its original equipment configuration.
