What kind of alternator has one wire to the plug?
One wire to the plug is a two wire alternator in that you have one wire to the plug and one to the battery post, two wires total. If you have checked the ignition wire, battery cables and all other possibilities the next step is to take the alternator off and have it checked off the vehicle.
What should I do if my alternator is not working?
Also, do not disconnect the battery wire with the engine running and the alternator working, this may damage the vehicle electronics. In the old days you could do this when there were no sensitive electronics to be damaged. Of course, if the alternator is not working, this will rarely damage a thing.
How does a voltage regulator work on an alternator?
This shows an alternator with a built-in Voltage Regulator (VR). Basically, the voltage regulator senses the battery voltage on the S wire, and controls the current in the rotating field winding (Rotor) via F1 and F2 . The IG wire simply switches on/switches off the VR circuit so that it doesn’t drain the battery when the vehicle is parked.
What causes the alternator to pull too much current?
As soon as the engine has ignited the battery’s internal resistance also become quite low, forcing it to pull too much current from the alternator and thus leading to a possible deterioration of the alternator. In order to restrict this high current consumption, resistor R4 is introduced within the primary power terminal from the alternator.
How to know if your alternator is charging or not?
This is the large charge wire that electricity flows from the Gen/Alt to the 140amp fuse in the PDC and onto the battery. This is the large wire on the large stud on your Gen/Alt and you should have battery voltage or alternator output voltage on this stud. Check the fuse if you don’t, or wires associated with that circuit. 2.
When is a voltage regulator bad for an alternator?
When your test shows a steady or intermittent high or low voltage output, the voltage regulator is possibly bad. Most voltage regulators fail by allowing a high voltage output, though. However, before going any further, check that all the connections to the alternator and battery are good and clean as described in the next section.
One wire to the plug is a two wire alternator in that you have one wire to the plug and one to the battery post, two wires total. If you have checked the ignition wire, battery cables and all other possibilities the next step is to take the alternator off and have it checked off the vehicle.
Why does my alternator get higher than base voltage?
You should get 0.5 to 2 volts higher than base voltage. If you are getting more than 2 volts above base voltage, most likely your alternator is over-charging the battery or the battery is faulty. Other potential problems are a faulty voltage regulator or a problem in the charging system wiring.