Chipmaker wrote:Hey Curt, I got my alternator in like yours. Do you mind sharing with me how you wired it up? I know the nut lug goes to the amp gauge but what about the plug? Are both connectors used & what are they hooked to?
Ok, the lug with the nut is the alternator output. It needs to go to the battery via the starter. I used a pretty heavy wire for that. Alternator is rated around 40 amps output, so I sized the wire accordingly. I swapped the original charging ammeter for a volt meter, so I am not wired the same way. I don't know if you can pump 40 amps through the factory Ammeter.
In order to get any output from the alternator, it needs to be supplied with 12V to power the field. That is what the two spade connectors are for in the "T" socket. One of them is the field (the switched Ignition lead.) The other spade lug is for an optional charge indicator lamp. On early nippon-deso alternators, that had to be connected via a lamp to 12V, but modern ones do not need to be connected at all.
So, in my case, I only have two wires: A big one from the alternator lug to the lug on the starter. Then a small gauge wire between the "I" spade connector to the ignition switch.
Here is what I used as a guide: