Quote:
Originally Posted by California98Civic
I have a dash mounted volt meter. Unplugging the 4P plug will always keep the alt completely off. It cannot power-up itself through the thick white charging wire to the battery. My switch disables two of the wires in the 4P connector. If the alt is running and I cut the switch, the alt still charges until I cut the injectors and bump start again. But according to some, a small light on the line can drain the residual charge in the field windings (I have not tried this).
You might try taking the powr steering belt off as a test of this idea. It's easier than an alt disable and completely reversible.
I believe the answer might be yes, because the alt will be generating power with nowhere to go. But why would you want this? The power generation itself would still be a parasitic draw on your engine.
I hope those answers help.
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My thought was that if you switch off all 4 wires and the main charging wire, so all 5 wires, then the alternator should shut off. I wanted to be able to do this on the fly so I don't have to go under the hood to reconnect anything, or bumpstart the car, even though bumpstarting isn't a huge pain.
My car doesn't have power steering.
So that's why people put the small light on the field winding wire, to drain the field windings of the electricity so it totally stops.