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crap. I promised someone I'd draw up a diagram of how I have my alternator wired up in the big block dakota for them so they could do a big block swap.
but I cleaned out my PMs and accidentally deleted that traffic, and now I don't remember who it was!!!
SORRY!
anyway, instead of giving you chicken scratch, I found this:
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much cleaner and simpler. you can also read the text at the website:
http://www.mymopar.com/charging.htm
our OEM alternators are a simple dual field alternator, and the fields are reversable, so it doesn't matter which one you hook up to the VR and which one you hook up to Batt +
essentially you put a switched voltage source to the VR and to 1 field on the Alternator, then connect the 2nd field directly to the VR, and make sure you've got a good ground on the Alternator and the VR.
I have mine hooked up this way, and my original, computer controlled alternator is now maintaining 14v at idle and 15.5v above 1,000 rpm. Perfect for a 12V system--because 12V automotive systems actually operate at 14V when the engine is running. 4,000 street miles at 15.5v and everything works fine, so I'm not too worried about it being 1.5v higher than "normal" besides, tolerances on these VRs leaves a lot to be desired, and if I swapped it out, I might get one that maintains a constant 14v, another one might do 16v.
higher voltage can actually be a good thing too...everything will use less amps. V=IR, (I is amps, R is resistance) --increase volts, and amp draw goes down.
but I cleaned out my PMs and accidentally deleted that traffic, and now I don't remember who it was!!!
SORRY!
anyway, instead of giving you chicken scratch, I found this:
much cleaner and simpler. you can also read the text at the website:
http://www.mymopar.com/charging.htm
our OEM alternators are a simple dual field alternator, and the fields are reversable, so it doesn't matter which one you hook up to the VR and which one you hook up to Batt +
essentially you put a switched voltage source to the VR and to 1 field on the Alternator, then connect the 2nd field directly to the VR, and make sure you've got a good ground on the Alternator and the VR.
I have mine hooked up this way, and my original, computer controlled alternator is now maintaining 14v at idle and 15.5v above 1,000 rpm. Perfect for a 12V system--because 12V automotive systems actually operate at 14V when the engine is running. 4,000 street miles at 15.5v and everything works fine, so I'm not too worried about it being 1.5v higher than "normal" besides, tolerances on these VRs leaves a lot to be desired, and if I swapped it out, I might get one that maintains a constant 14v, another one might do 16v.
higher voltage can actually be a good thing too...everything will use less amps. V=IR, (I is amps, R is resistance) --increase volts, and amp draw goes down.
