The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Ignition wire problems

62 Serires 80 with a 348
I read about twenty pages of search and nothing seemed like my situation.
First off the alternator would was bad so I switched it out for a later model one I had sitting in the shop. The old one was externally regulated correct. The new one is internally regulated. I now only have the big wires going back to the battery and into the cab. Nothing off the plug. seems to be working and the volt meter seems to work.

Now the ignition. I spent several hours trying to chase wires around to get power to the coil. I finally ran a hot wire from the key to the coil. Is this a bad thing to do? Will I burn up my coil from having too much power to it? Near as I can tell there is a dark green wire that goes to the starter that is supposed to power the coil or something.

IBenDcars,

Technically speaking, your alternator should not work if it is a true three wire unit and the DA plug isn't connected. By changing the internal regulator, this unit can be morphed into a single wire unit but the two tabs in the DA hole disappear.

Doesn't your ignition coil wiring include a ballast resistor somewhere....on the firewall. The coil should see 12 volts during START, and around 9 volts on RUN. This is usually accomplished with the ballast resistor, but sometimes with a resistance key wire in the loom.

The starter solenoid is a common place for a bypass contact...it's usually a small terminal marked 'R' (I think). This would go to the coil side of the ballast resistor or to the coil + itself. You should have either two wires on the coil +, one full voltage START and one reduced voltage RUN. If you have only one wire on the coil +, then those two wires described above would be attached to the ballast resistor (on the coil side).

You won't burn up your coil, but your points will fail prematurely. Hope this mini-novel helps some.

Stuart

Thanks for the quick reply.

Alternator What is the DA

I did not see a ballast resitor but that would explain the wires to the starter, I may have to pull the starter to figure this one out. I don't want to burn up the points so no more driving till till i get this one figured out.

IBenDcars,

Did your '62 originally have a generator with firewall mounted voltage regulator...I think so! If someone removed the generator and installed a old style externally regulated alternator, then they also had to swap voltage regulators.

If you have just put on a newer (old now) SI, or internally regulated alternator, then you no longer need or use the firewall mounted voltage regulator.

The two styles of SI alternator would be a single wire version or a three wire version. Neither would use the voltage regulator, but the three wire version will have a small two prong plug on top of the case as well as the large BATT wire for output. The small two prong plug is referred to as a DA plug and it allows the alternator to monitor system voltage and to switch on and off to charge and needs to be wired into the system for this to happen.

So there are three kinds of alternators; old one with regulator on the firewall, newer one with three wires and internal regulator, and the simplest one, with only one wire. These are all connected differently.

Stuart

IBenDcars,

In regards to your coil wiring....there is another way this could be wired so I don't want you to give up if you don't find the wires as I have described them. There is a different type of key switch that does all the routing through the ballast resistor without multiple wires on the resistor or the coil +. This system doesn't use a bypass terminal on the solenoid either.

If the wiring has been attacked by a previous owner, the best suggestion is to get a handle on how things are suppose to work and jump in with a voltage tester to sort things out. Using full battery voltage will not cook the points immediately, but it is something that should be ironed out.

Stuart

As far as a generator do they look different than an alternator. The voltage regulator in mine was on the radiator support not the firewall so it looks like it has already been done by a PO. The alternator I put on had the post and the DA plug. The big wire off of the DA plug went straight to the post. I have no clue what it came off of, probably some derby car years ago. Anyway it just bolted in so I figured it would work. It moves the volt meter in the cab when I give it the RPMs.

The key switch was hanging under the dash when I got it, only a couple wires connected. One was for the starter, one was on the post marked ign. and a couple on the post marked acc. I don't think it was the factory key switch. I replaced all the wires on another aftermarket switch but just ran a hot wire straight for the ign. post to the + on the coil so it is getting the full 14.5 volts from the alt. I basically need to figure out where the ballast resistor is then I could know where to stat wiring it up.

Update
I printed out this topic and took it out to the truck while I was working so I could reference it if needed. To start I took off the starter and figured out the problem. The wire that was supposed to go from the R side to the coil was broken. I fixed it and replaced the bad ends on the rest of the wires on the starter and now have the proper voltage to the coil. I never even looked at my printed out papers. Thanks for the help guys, that is why I love this site. There are always people here that know what they are doing and willing to share info with us that don't.