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Hi all, I was thinking about fitting an alternator fail light on my trike. However I had a look and there is only an output wire on the back. No field winding ?? This got me thinking, how does the Chevy alternator work and can a fail light be fitted ??
Thanks

You have a one wire alternator. They are used in industrial, marine and street rods. They are an easy hookup, which makes them very popular. They do have some drawbacks like no charge at idle but they seem to work well enough. Your voltmeter should act as a failure warning device. When it stays under 13.5 volts, you have experienced failure. Seek help at once

Thanks for the reply Carl. The volt meter works well but nothing attracts the attention more than a light coming on. I am ok with vehicle electrics but have never come across an alternator with no field wire. Guess every day is a school day !!
Thanks again

Interesting take on one wire alternators here
http://www.madelectrical.com/electrical ... wire.shtml
I posted this, on the other site, a few years back and was told that he and I are FOS and the one wire is God's gift to the world. I just have to wonder why NO new car manufacturer uses them. As I said, they seem to work well enough. I have one on my bike and have no plans to change it

Carl La Fong wrote:Interesting take on one wire alternators here
http://www.madelectrical.com/electrical ... wire.shtml
I posted this, on the other site, a few years back and was told that he and I are FOS and the one wire is God's gift to the world. I just have to wonder why NO new car manufacturer uses them. As I said, they seem to work well enough. I have one on my bike and have no plans to change it

Thanks for the link. All very interesting. Do you by any chance know the part number for a three wire straight swap on BH??

I believe they are 12SI alternators, if I remember correctly I bought an alternator for a 87 chevy pickup with a 454. I took everything out of the alternator and put it in my chrome housing, put all my bad parts in the new housing and returned it for a core. I wired my bike for the 3 wires and my light is under my seat because I don't care about seeing it just needed it so the Alternator will work. The other power wire was already installed from the factory on my 2003 and taped back in the harness along the frame between starter and alternator. I beleive the only thing you really need to change to make the alternator work single wire or 3 wire is the regulator. But I also beleive the terminals are on the regulator for the single wire alternator so you may want to research it and you may need to change nothing just wire it with the additional wires. I never checked into that as I had bad winding in mine and needed the new alterntor.

Shane

Carl, that was a good article ! thanks

Thanks very much for the information. I was looking at fitting a warning light because Ive been fitting all the other warning lights which weren't on the trike ie, indicator, high beam, oil pressure ect. Having seen the price of the three wire alternator I think ill live with the single wire one. I suppose I could fit some kind of volt sensitive relay that puts a light out above say 13V.
Cheers

I don't know what the availability of AC/Delco parts is like in Jolly Olde, but you can simply replace the internal regulator with a standard two prong regulator.