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Old 02-03-2012, 01:28 PM   #27 (permalink)
California98Civic
Cyborg ECU
 
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Coastal Southern California
Posts: 6,299

Black and Green - '98 Honda Civic DX Coupe
Team Honda
90 day: 66.42 mpg (US)

Black and Red - '00 Nashbar Custom built eBike
90 day: 3671.43 mpg (US)
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a puzzle (update)

Quote:
Originally Posted by drmiller100 View Post
There are only really two wires needed for the alternator to work.

The main battery lead (big wire) from battery to alternator I leave alone. If you unhook the Yellow/black which goes from the key switch to the alternator, and start the car, the alternator will not charge.

If you then give power to the yellow/black, the alternator will start charging. I have not tested to see if you shut the power off to the yellow black if the alternator will keep charging.
Following this theory of what wires do what, I attempted (finally) drmiller's recommended test procedure. I made connecting wires for each of the 4P connections so that I could plug all four in and remove them one at a time. Before I give you the results, a point of clarity: if I leave the thick white power line from the alt to the battery connected and unplug the 4P connector, the alt does not charge (I have a voltmeter mounted on my dash).

Results: no matter which individual connector of the four I disconnected, one at a time, the alt continued to charge at 14.2 or 14.3 volts. Is it possible that when one wire is disconnected the others somehow back it up? It seems very unlikely that there is a sufficient residual charge in the field windings because if I unplug all four, the alt immediately stops charging.

What's the solution? Is an alt delete impossible on my car? Do I really need four switches? Is there a switch I could use that could cut all four at once?

james
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See my car's mod & maintenance thread and my electric bicycle's thread for ongoing projects. I will rebuild Black and Green over decades as parts die, until it becomes a different car of roughly the same shape and color. My minimum fuel economy goal is 55 mpg while averaging posted speed limits. I generally top 60 mpg. See also my Honda manual transmission specs thread.



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