62 Falcon - $5k challenge, how will it rise from the ranger's ashes?

[milner351]

[BBR]

That sounds like the voltage reg is not being triggered by the green wire. That is why my truck would not charge after I put a new reg on. It was not getting the 12v signal from the ignition switch.

[STINEY]

That sounds like the voltage reg is not being triggered by the green wire. That is why my truck would not charge after I put a new reg on. It was not getting the 12v signal from the ignition switch.

I'm with this feller.......hook up that idiot light and enjoy the juice!

[milner351]

Indeed - but it's not a green wire in this case - the "alternator exciter" wire is white in the rebel-wire harness - and it appears to be 14 gauge - seems sort of hefty to run in series through a small bulb? that's how I'll wire it and see if it works


PS - the '54 has been picked up - I'm glad I wasn't the buyer on this end of the deal - I would have been furious to wait almost 3 months for the vehicle to be picked up after paying for it. The guys that picked it up weren't impressive - not on time by a long shot, and then revved the wee out of it and slipped the clutch like crazy driving it onto the trailer..... oh well - hope the new owner enjoys it - he's going to have a lot of cleaning to do by the time it shows up in california - it's on an open car carrier loaded low just behind the front wheels of the trailer.

PSS - the trim parts lot I won on ebay showed up - the tail lights with integrated back up lights, mirrors, door handles, horn trim ring, and gas cap are in better shape than I expected. Very much looking forward to getting the tail lights installed and back up lights functional - the kilduff shifter has two micro switches - one for neutral safety, one for reverse lights.

[milner351]

IT CHARGES!
small incandescent bulb inline to the I terminal of the 2G alternator (eventually I will upgrade to 3G) and it works.... what I don't quite understand is if I need to put in a 510 ohm resistor in parallel to the bulb or if that's an either /or situation. The bulb never lights now.... I'm not sure if it will light or not if charging fails - but the voltmeter will tell me if the charging fails.

[BBR]

That's funny because JWS4621's Mustang has a bulb in-line under the hood and the alternator will only charge if it is there. If you jumper it, no charge.

[STINEY]

Bulbs ARE resistors.....they just make light and heat doing it. The Regulator needs to see some need before it issues the command to start charging, the bulb is its way of "seeing" the need.

AWESOME! Glad it is charging now. One more thing off the list?

[milner351]

I understand the tungsten in the old school bulb has a resistance (LED's no worky for this) what is confusing is the schematic showing the resistor next to the bulb. Is the resistor required to make the bulb light up with the ign ON but engine not running? I could have sworn all the older cars I recall with an "ALT" or "BATT" light, the light would come on during cranking, and if the ign sw was ON but the engine wasn't running.... is my memory failing me here?

I suppose it doesn't really matter - since I have a volt meter - but it would be sort of nice if a charging failure would light this light.... totally not important in the grand scheme of driving this car however!

[milner351]

While we are on the subject of resistance.... I have a mismatch between the factory fuel gauge sender in the factory replacement fuel tank, and the fuel gauge which came with a float / sender I can't use with the factory tank.... should I measure the resistance of the two different senders and add resistors to make them match? Currently - the gauge reads 3/4 even with a nearly empty tank. I suppose the other option is to try to swap senders between the two assemblies - but I'd prefer not to open up the tank.

[TheSilverBuick]

IT CHARGES!
small incandescent bulb inline to the I terminal of the 2G alternator (eventually I will upgrade to 3G) and it works.... what I don't quite understand is if I need to put in a 510 ohm resistor in parallel to the bulb or if that's an either /or situation. The bulb never lights now.... I'm not sure if it will light or not if charging fails - but the voltmeter will tell me if the charging fails.

Either Or situation.

[STINEY]

Yeah, either/or. Bulb or a resistor, but not both.

Thought just occured to me - John did you wire the bulb in series to the current? As in switched hot into the bulb ground, and out from the positive of the bulb to the white on the RebelWire harness?

[milner351]

Series - yes - out of fuse block, into bulb, out of bulb, to I terminal of alternator - can anyone tell me why an alternator exciter wire needs to be a 14 gauge wire when it has to pass through the filament of a bulb to work (in this case) I'm guessing GM has a different set up that requires more current? It seems most aftermarket harnesses are set up more like GM wiring than ford or mopar.

[STINEY]

That white wire on the RebelWire harness should provide 12v+ when the switch is on - that wire goes to one side of the bulb (positive or negative doesn't matter which)

The alternator wire (or terminal on the alternator is a better term to use) should be grounded when the alternator is NOT charging, therefore providing a ground for the bulb to light.

That ground goes away when the alternator is charging, turning off the idiot light.

[STINEY]

Found this on the RebelWire site. I was wondering it that 14g white wire isn't doing what we think it is? I suppose it is labeled and you tested it for switched hot?


Once we get the idiot light working correctly I'm afraid you will need a diode too to prevent run-on (back-feeding the coil through the idiot light circuit. We run into that a lot with customer conversions from generator to alternator on antique tractors - we have a handy diode that plugs right into the alternator circuit.


(Q: ENGINE WILL NOT SHUT OFF? Your getting a back feed from the alternator thru alternator exciter wire. Install a diode #IN5408 inline in exciter wire, marker ring toward alt. Radio Shack sells this diode their part # 276-1661.
Electric fans will also cause this problem if not run thru a relay)

[milner351]

Thanks Stiney - the engine shut off just fine last night - but it was cold, I just ran it for a minute or so to confirm the charging behavior - the volt meter dropped a bit when I switched on the headlights, so I took that as a sign it was working OK.

Looks like a trip to radio shack is in my future, I will try to keep all the connections for this under dash if possible - less likely to be affected by engine heat / vibration / moisture etc.

Now that you've figured this out for me - how about that fuel gauge quandary? ;-)