Electrical PA Performance 200A Alternator Not Charging Help!

Imatk · Nov 20, 2018

My car had, I believe, a PA Performance alternator on it before which just went bad.

So I bought a 200AMP PA Performance alternator and it seems like the wiring is very different.

I'm not sure because I didn't install the first PA alternator so not sure about the wiring.

The new alt calls for the black and orange power wires to be used and put on the power point on the back of the alternator, along with a large fused wire that goes to the solenoid.

The large fused wire was already connected, from the old alternator, but the black and orange power wires were not used at all. I found them taped up farther down the harness.

I connected those with eyelet connectors to the back of the alt along with the power wire and the alternator isn't charging at all.

Checked the ground with a multimeter and it's good. Checked the fuse for the larger power wire and it's good... but the alt isn't charging and I'm not sure what to do at this point.

I included a picture of the wiring, one of the eyelets came off when I pulled on the wire but it was attached along with the other orange/black wire... but the alternator doesn't charge.

If anyone knows why this might be happening I'd appreciate it.

Blown88GT · Nov 23, 2018

Imatk said:
The large fused wire was already connected, from the old alternator, but the black and orange power wires were not used at all. I found them taped up farther down the harness.

That is correct, they are not to be used.
p.16 of pdf (2nd p. 12 in upper left corner)

View: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1on5czXKmpETzxUggWTGtoUuVkJT2UUxN

jrichker · Nov 26, 2018

Here is the correct way to wire a 3G alternator.
http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/threads/3g-alternator-install-a-how-to.646825/#post-6673702
Alternator wiring.

If you have a 3G alternator, the white/ yellow wire is critical to proper operation. It is the voltage sense and regulator power lead that picks up the difference in voltage at the alternator output stud and the connection point at the starter solenoid. If you cheat and run it directly to the alternator output, it sees the voltage at the alternator output stud. It does not see the voltage at the starter solenoid connection point where it feeds power to everything else. You may have a voltage drop in the wiring between the alternator output stud and the connection to the starter solenoid. Thus you may have low voltage or less than the standard regulated voltage at the starter solenoid connection point. This makes for low voltage throughout the rest of the car: everything operates at less than full efficiency.

Starter solenoid wiring 86-91 model cars.

Connect the fused 4 gauge wire to the alternator and the battery side of the starter solenoid.

Starter solenoid wiring 92-93 model cars.

Imatk · Nov 30, 2018

I spoke with PA Performance and they said I could do it either way.. with or without the black wires.

Turned out to be the accelerator wire. Found a break in the PCB on the back of the cluster.

jrichker · Nov 30, 2018

Imatk said:
I spoke with PA Performance and they said I could do it either way.. with or without the black wires.

Turned out to be the accelerator wire. Found a break in the PCB on the back of the cluster.

You got some bad advice, never mind that it was from PA Performance.

Here is the reasoning behind using only a single 4 gauge fused power feed to the alternator. If you use the two 10 gauge black/orange wires in addition to the 4 gauge wire, you have two fused power feed paths. The total current capacity of the wiring is the sum of the fused paths. The 4 gauge path is fused for 125 amps, and the two 10 gauge wires are fused for 60 amps. That is a total of 185 amps, which exceeds the capacity of the alternator. Overload can occur without the fuses blowing, damaging the alternator.

The worst case scenario is that the alternator develops an internal short to ground resulting in a catastrophic failure. The initial short circuit surge current is limited by the resistance of the wiring. The current in a parallel circuit divides up according to the resistance of the branches. If the 4 gauge fuse opens up first, the two 10 gauge black/orange wires will be carrying the short circuit surge current. Depending on the time lag of the fuse links, they may open up before a fire starts or they may not.

Imatk · Dec 1, 2018

So I guess I'll take off the black/orange wires then

That is how it was originally wired... without using the black/orange wires.

Electrical PA Performance 200A Alternator Not Charging Help!

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