First time here as a poster. I bought a 35 amp Chevy mini Denso 1 wire alternator. But I see it also has 2 terminals besides the large battery terminal. Do I need to hook anything to these other 2 terminals?? I think one of them is for a idiot light on the dash, which I do not have. I only have an ammeter which I figure the alternator to feed on one side and the battery on the other. Thanks John
I had one of those and burned it up in no time. 35 amps is very small. It was running all out all the time. I upgraded to a 110 amp power master problem solved.
if you want to figure out how to wire an alternator, the first thing to do is figure out what alternator it is. What was it originally used in?
I bought this alternator off Ebay. For my use the 35 amps is actually overkill. The original 6 volt 3 brush generator was only 12 amps max. I'm converting to a 12 volt system. It only needs to keep the battery charged for lights, horn ect... The engine has a magneto on it for ignition.
so you don't know what it fit originally? Maybe if you post a few pictures of it, or a link to the ebay ad at the very least, folks might be able to help you figure it out. Right now we have nothing to go on, so not much we can do for you.
the eBay listing says it is a one wire , but in the pictures there is clearly a connector on the back of it with two terminals. i'm guessing that one of them needs power to excite it
I have ran the same one of those for over ten years, mine was originally from a Kubota riding mower. Im not sure those can be made to be 1 wire.
One wire regulators are available for that alternator , they still have the plug in for ign and light function but they are not needed to make it kick in and charge. The OP should ignore the plug and hook up a 12v wire back to battery positive. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
In the Ebay description it says; "Internally regulated with 1-Wire Hookup. You will only need to connect your main battery charging wire to the alternator output terminal post. "
I'm using one similar, but 55 amp in my 29. Been running it one wire for several thousand miles now, works great.
Thanks that's good to know, years ago when I got my original one I asked about it and they weren't available then (or so I was told). I also carry a spare but have never needed it. Mine has been dependable as can be.
This one is going on a King Midget car, that the owner wants me to convert to 12 volt. That is the reason I only need a 35 amp job. Thanks for the info, one wire will make for easy hookup then. John
Can you please post a schematic for this same 35 amp denso to show an ammeter included in the wiring?
You may not have noticed that the thread was two years old when you found it on Google. Farm tractor wiring is probably your friend here.
no diagram , but i will tell you how to wire an ammeter the wire from the output of the alternator goes to the + (plus)side of the ammeter , then a wire comes from the - (negative) side of the ammeter to the + (plus) side of the battery. then all power for the entire electrical system is from a wire attached to the + (plus) side of the ammeter wired this way the ammeter will show how much power is flowing into or out of the battery , and not necessarily what the alternator is putting out
1 wire alternators havea magnetized rotor that provides startup field currant. That is why some times you have tap the gas to get it to start charging.
Thank you! I may have a bad alternator, revving the engine won't excite it. I appreciate your response
i use a similar Mitsubishi alternator. it's used on fork trucks and some 70's japanese cars. it too has a built-in regulator. most internal-regulator alts need a current source to tell it when to turn revolutions into power. usually that's the idiot light itself. i too don't run a lamp, i use a 100 ohm (10 watt) resistor, under the hood near the alt. you could put a lamp for it under the hood! it'll be lit only when the engine's not running. wiring for the idiot light is ignition (switched 12V) --> lamp pin, other lamp pin --> alt. (mine's got *two* connections, 1/4" fast-ons. i dont know what the other is for on my mitsu. usually the 3rd wire is a "sense" line, connected to the battery compensates for voltage drop in cables etc.) how i'd use even 20 amps in a car is beyond me. IMPOSSIBLE TO IMAGINE.
Brand new alternator. I've seen wiring diagrams showing wires connected to the two terminal blades. Do I need to do that, or is it truly just one 10 gauge wire to positive?
It is not a 1 wire unit, you will need to hook up the small terminals. If you don't know which terminal is what ground the case and touch a hot wire to a terminal and turn the pulley at the same time if you feel a drag that is the field current wire. You can use a light or a resistor from the ign. sw. Run the other wire to the pos. bat. cable. Was this sold as a 1 wire alt.? They look the same.
Yep, described as a one wire, but it is identical to the alternator pictured in the previous comments. I'll try connecting the two spade terminals and see if that will get things going. Car is sold, and I'd like to make right, but the buyer said he'd figure it out if not. Thanks for your advice. I was afraid I'd cook the alternator if I messed with more than one wire.