The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Alternator wiring...solved? (think so)

After reading replies to my original post, reviewing the really poor instructions that came with my harness (diagram didn't even show the alt.), and working it over in my brain I concluded my problem was that my heavy alt. wire ran only to the headlight switch. That gave me good readings at the Dakota gauge and powered everything else inside, but didn't charge the battery.

Per guidance from replies I ran a 10GA wire from the alt terminal to the battery side of the starter switch.

I had ~11v readings from the battery before (it was not fully charged) and had 13.5v and rising after starting it with this new wire in place.

Sounds fixed, right? (or am I missing something?)

That sounds good. When you say battery side of the starter switch,you do mean the connection on the starter that the battery connects to?

Yes, that's where I made the connection.

A #10 wire is a tad small for a charging wire. If you leave the lights on, a hard start and such will cause the alternator to pump more current into the battery than a #10 can handle. If it were mine, I'd install a #8 or larger. Problem is, your instructions are so bad that you are putting heavy current wire in places we don't normally see those connections. Example: one would normally run a high current wire from the alternator output to the large lug on the starter (if no amp meter is installed). Power connections to other places like lights are 'piggy backed' on to that large starter lug (hopefully through a fuse panel). In electrical lingo it becomes a 'buss'.

This chart:
http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm
shows 10GA as good for 15A for power transmission and 55A for chassis wiring (don't know what that means). I don't think I've ever tried to start a car with the lights on (Driving 101) or anything else that would put additional load on a battery. Hey, I even turn off the AC in my wife's car rather than add that load.
I thought about 8GA, but Ace Hdw didn't have any terminals for wire that size.

There's nothing at all wrong with running TWO 10 GA wires side by side- - - -the resulting parallel circuit will carry more current than a single 8 GA wire.
Jerry