Inliners International Forums General Discussion Electrical One wire altenator

Can someone please tell me how to wire a one wire altenator. As I mentioned before on other topics, I purchased a 21 circuit wiring harness and it has a wire labeled "altenator exiter".
thin wire by the way. It's in a 50 Chevy car.

The exiter wire is not needed with a one wire altenator. It is only used when using a standard alt. One wire alt. exite themselves. That is why you have to rev. the engine up some on start up to get it to operate. Hope this helps.

That's right.

Unless your going to run A/C, the 1955-62 12V generator will work just fine. You can 'push start' should the battery 'die' too.

Good luck.

I forgot to add in my post, if your new wiring harness has the exiter wire. It would be cheaper to use the standard alt. they cost less than the one wire ones. Hope this helps.

Another thing is mant one wire alternators have a small current drain when not running. This won't affect a vehicle driven everyday, but will drain a battery over a couple of weeks of not being driven. I have run into this on several cars that guys used a one wire setup.

It's real simple, run a wire from the alt. to the hot post on the starter. I was told to use a cable as large as the battery cables for this wire. This is using efi, so I don't know if it applies to other uses.

Another drawback of one-wire alternators (or two-wire setups) is the lack of a voltage sense line.

Thank you, this helps. I already purchased a one wire alt. so I'll be using this one.
So 8 gauge wire should be fine?
On another tone, I can't seem to find a backup switch on my tranny. I found a round thing with a single pin sticking out. Is this it?
I would rather use the one that came with my 50 but I think I got rid of it. The tranny is a late 60's chevy 3spd.

Maybe

What Amp rating does your alternator carry? If it's a one wire, most of those are 75+ amps, if it is 80 or less, and you run that lead to the hot side of the starter to keep the run short (and root it away from other wires) it will likely be fine, I hesitate to use an 8 if it is 100+ amps. I know you probably don't want a 6+ AWG wire going to the alternator, but more amps = heavier wire.

FWIW I would reccomend a fuse link or fuse of some kind in that line.

I believe it's a 90 amp.
Thanks.

Okay it's been a while since I looked in here. I'm not sure if other people had trouble getting in the forums but I did.
Anyhow, someone told me to run a wire from the alternator post to the possitive side of the battery. Is this ok?