I have re-written this post multiple times to try to make it make sense. I fear I may have failed. I'm pretty much a rookie when it comes to electrical rules/theory so I apologize up front for any ignorance. :-)
After reading this thread three times I think I understand what you are saying. I am a bit shaky on a few points. First, what is this talk about "excitation?" What does that mean?
To mitigate the fact that you made an uninformed choice in purchasing an Alternator that is too big for your truck, I put out there that we can put a 50 amp inline fuse or circuit breaker in the main charging line or a fusible link.
Second, what is the purpose of the 50 AMP inline fuse in the main charging line? Is that to kill the power to protect the ammeter if the alternator produces more than 50 amps? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the larger alternator? Or is that the whole point? If you have a 150 amp alternator but don't want to melt down the ammeter, you need to use the fuse, thus artificially limiting the output of the alternator.
Third, you need to help me understand how running a second wire from the alternator to the battery will protect/limit the amps to the ammeter. Are you saying that once the ammeter "pegs" at 50 amps, any excess amps will simply flow down the other wire and not overload/melt down the ammeter? Is that possible??
