The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Alternator conversion question

I'm converting to an alternator. I have several spare alternators bit I don't know if they have internal voltage regulators.

Is there any way of determining if there is an internal regulator?

InMy40's

SI, or internally regulated alternators will have the tabs for the DA plug on the circumference of the case and the tab orientation will look like this --. The case is usually embossed with 1 & 2.

The older style that would require a voltage regulator have the DA port on the BACK of the case..its pin configuration looks like this II. The case is usually embossed with R & F

Modern units have a small plug and maybe other differences, but they probably aren't what you are dealing with.

Stuart

The best of them all, in my opinion, is the Delco 12si -- with a Delco internal regulator!

The Delco internal regulator actually reads the temperature of your battery ... and when it's hot, like on a hot August day, the Delco internal regulator reacts to that and sends less voltage to your battery, extending battery-life significantly.

Thanks Stuart, it does have the regulator.

Alan, that's really interesting about the 12si. How does it read the temp on the battery?

I don't know how it does it ... but I do know it's *only* the Delco internal regulator that does it.

It also helps that I have my alternator wired correctly! Most people take the #2 wire and piggy-back it to the BAT connection -- that's the wire that reads how much voltage your system is getting from the battery. But doing it that way is just reading the battery itself. I've wired mine to a terminal on my firewall where all my equipment it getting juice from the battery -- see this picture:
http://alanhorvath.com/54chevy/chevypics/wiring_1.jpg

I installed the Delco 12si with a Delco internal regulator via advice from Mark at MadElectrical.com ... after noticing that my voltage gauge was dropping down to 11 Volts, from 14 volts, I called him and he asked me if it was a hot day. I said, yes ... and he said "That's great, Alan! That means you have the Delco internal regulator!" Then he explained it to me and I was amazed because I had never heard anyone talk about that before. It sure is a smart feature.