On my Oldsmobile Toronado I have replaced the stock alt. with a chrome 100 amp one wire alt. I have one red wire going to it.My understanding is that it only need the one wire to charge my battery.It is not charging my battery,so I dont know if it is defective or am I not hooking it up right. I do see two side connectors on the alt.where wires can be plugged it.My stock Alt has a grey plug that fit in the back of it,but I was told I do not need to use it one one wire alt, so I taped it up. I know that it is not charging my battery.Do I have it hooked up wrong. Thanks

 

Are you hooking the red wire straight to the battery or voltage regulator?
The alternator housing should be grounded by the bracket. Check for continuity between the alt housing and block or even better back to the neg terminal on the battery.

 

The wire goes to the horn relay just like the original alternator. Nothing has been changed except the new alternator just has one wire going to it.They told he it is a self exciting alternator and only needs one wire because it excites itself.

 

And that would be your problem right there.

This comes up a lot. I fail to see the attraction of a one-wire alternator. The biggest problem is that the 12SI voltage regulator won't start charging until the alternator achieves about 1500-2000 RPM. There are LOTS of 94A 12SI alternators available for stock replacement applications (check mid-80s Caddy Fleetwood and Olds 98 with the 307 motor). The correct wiring only requires that the wire from the #1 terminal connect to the brown wire for the GEN light and the wire from the #2 terminal connect to the horn relay stud also.

There, was that so hard?

 

I'm excited to see this in operation! Just Google GM 1 wire for a pic of how it should be set up... Either way it still needs to be grounded or you have an open short.

 

I found a Powermaster 17294 Delco 12SI
100 amp Alternator.They said I could get it in a 1 or 3 wire set up.If I get the 3 wire one will I hook it up just like the Original, and charge below the 1500RPM.Alot of time when I drive around town I am at Idle or below 2000 rpms so that worries me that the battery wont be charging.

 

The 3 wire is better. Since you have a grey plug, I suspect you had an external regulator and your stock plug won't work in the later style alternator. You will need to connect it like Joe said. If you rev the 1 wire up , it will start charging and will continue to charge until you shut it off. Once it starts charging it will charge at low rpm and it is not necessary to keep it at high rpm to charge.

 

Not to be a total p#&¢k, but is that like jumbo shrimp? Military Intelligence? Rap music? Secure e-mail?

- Eric

 

Or hurry up and wait.

 

Ha all of the above Eric

 

You guys are cruel, but since I am on the bus I may as well go for the ride. I think an (open short) would have an (awful good) chance of having at least (even odds) of creating an (icy hot fire). But then again I may have (clearly misunderstood) the problem and then the chance of the fire would be (growing smaller).

 

Lol

 

Funny.....

 

Oh, that ship has sailed, Eric...

 

Do I need to attach a ground to the alternator or is it grounded with the bracket it is attached to.I have Custom bracket system from Mondellos that is polished aluminum.

 

Are you referring to her "sound signal appliance"?



I sound one long and three short blasts when backing out of the slip and into the channel.

- Eric

 

As long as there isn't paint where the alt and brackets go it will be already grounded.

 

The alternator SHOULD ground through the bracket, however it never hurts to run a ground strap. The SI-series alternators are not particularly sensitive, however the CS130 alternators are definitely sensitive to this. There's even a TSB that calls for a ground strap to the rear housing of the alternator if the stock bracket doesn't provide a ground path. The problem is that the aluminum housings of the alternator will experience galvanic corrosion at the joint to the iron stator core. Since the voltage regulator is in the back housing, if the bracket only bolts to the front housing, this corrosion can cause a bad ground path and ultimately cause the regulator to fail. I went through this several times on a 92 Buick until I found the TSB. The ground strap fixed the problem. Again, this is probably not something you need to worry about with an SI-series alternator.