1 or 3 wire conversion for alternator. Why do it? (& how)
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,857
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From: Yakima WA
1 or 3 wire conversion for alternator. Why do it? (& how)
My new alternator (140 amp chrome one) is going to be here in a couple of hours. It states on info about the alt. that it can be converted to a 1 or 3 wire. What if any reason would I want to convert it? How hard is it to do?
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 3,655
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From: Charleston SC
Re: 1 or 3 wire conversion for alternator. Why do it? (dbwade36)
I know that GM uses a resistor that around 470 ohms in the wiring for some alt's such as the CS-130 and if you hook up the wrong pin (Pin L I belive) without the resistor it will cause the alternator to put out around 19 VDC and smoke. The CS-130 is capable of a one wire hook up if you wire 12 VDC ignition to the F or I Pin on the terminal. I am not aware of any benifits of wiring the altenator with either one wire or three wire hook ups, but the company probably makes your altenator so it can be hooked up either way depending on the aplication. If I where you I would stay with what ever the car curently has, and hook the new altenator up acording to the man. instructions. If you have a 3 wire hook up stay 3 wire and if you have a 1 wire stay with that.
[Modified by 84LT1, 7:40 PM 10/17/2003]
[Modified by 84LT1, 7:40 PM 10/17/2003]
