The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

I have spent the better part of two hours trying to find information and understand how I convert to an alternator! I DON'T GET IT
Could someone give me good information and maybe an easy to understand wiring diagram to how I do the conversion?
A step by step walkthrough would make me a very happy person!

Winchester wrote:I have spent the better part of two hours trying to find information and understand how I convert to an alternator! I DON'T GET IT
Could someone give me good information and maybe an easy to understand wiring diagram to how I do the conversion?
A step by step walkthrough would make me a very happy person!

Hi Tom,

This is what I'm doing for a minimalist alternator conversion. I aim to use an Autosparks Super Dexta harness as I've fitted a separate Super Dexta style 'ignition key, on the RH side of the lower dash. PM me if you want a large scale copy.

http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/phpbb ... =8390#8390

I will use the standard harness but just leave the regulator wires unconnected & taped off. I've ringed the main changes - not many: just the alternor connections, remove regulator box and reverse battery polarity.

I've not installed it yet, that's my next project, but it has had the approval of some of the accepted Dexta gurus, so I'm hopeful it will work! You may want to fit a fuse box instead of my auto-resetting 30A circuit breaker (which has been suggested on here by our very own Commander!).

Yes, please send me a large copy: winchester (a) online.no, replace (a) with @.

So I install it without the original regulator? As the original has one buildt in.
This is the first time I have been LOST when doing something like this, and I have restored 3 american mucle cars all from frame up!

Tom,

http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/phpbb ... f=7&t=3639

I have just added some details to this link that you may find helpful. They come from my days of teaching 12v Electrics to Dealers, mechanics and farm staff.

Thanks a lot Brian! If I can follow that picture in that post, I see a light in the end of the tunnel!

This is the alternator I thought I would put in! It fits perfect in to the place of the old one,
the only thing now is to wire it up. Would this alternator work with that wiring you showed me in that picture?
It's from one of my Chevy Blazers, with a 6.2L diesel. It should work, shouldnt it?

i think this is correct:

1 to charging light
2 to bat terminal
bat to battery +

Thank you I will give it a try over the weekend

Winchester wrote:Yes, please send me a large copy: winchester (a) online.no, replace (a) with @.
So I install it without the original regulator? As the original has one buildt in.
This is the first time I have been LOST when doing something like this, and I have restored 3 american mucle cars all from frame up!

Yes omit the original Dexta regulator box. Alternators usually have a built in regulator, and either three, two or even just one wire. Mine has two wires, a thick wire for Power, and a thin wire for warning light/field coil excite. This is what I've shown in the wiring diagram in the other thread http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/phpbb ... 8390#p8390

If your alternator has three wires, or only a single 'BATT' wire, don't panic

A third wire will be the Sense wire. The different set-ups are described in the link below.

Looks like you have a three wire set-up, and Frode^ has it right, see here:
http://bob_skelly.home.comcast.net/~bob_skelly/alternator_conversion/wiring_alternator1.html

A refinement of Frode's set-up, would be to take wire#2 (Sense) to the battery terminal post, eg on Solonoid, rather than to the BATT post on the alternator.

That last link you posted there are GOLD!!! Thank you! Now, together with the wiring diagram I just got to my email adresse this should be easie!!

Thank you!!

Then it's ready to be installed:



One more question Can I remove the gear handles plate without something falling apart inside?
To get to the regulator I need to move the "dash" box back against the seat. I can take of the tank, but that needs some more work as I have a front loader that has a crossbar going over the tank.

Winchester wrote:One more question Can I remove the gear handles plate without something falling apart inside?
To get to the regulator I need to move the "dash" box back against the seat. I can take of the tank, but that needs some more work as I have a front loader that has a crossbar going over the tank.

Yes you can remove the gear sticks. Just undo the 4 bolts and lift it off. Suggest you make sure she's in neutral first.

BUT you should be able to remove the lower dash with the sticks still in place. Just undo the two bolts holding the dash onto the rear fuel tank support, and slide it back.

Maybe I can, but I remember when I changed my temp meter last summer, I couldn't get it off as it was hitting the bottom of the shifter plate.
But I will try before I unbolt the plate Thank you!

Then it's all hooked up. And It works great. It's does charge at 13.5v but I think that is because of a some what thin sensor wire and therefor the voltage drop is to much from the battery to the sensor at the alternator. I will install a new sensor wire tomorrow. For the charing light I reused the original light wire. As the second wire now ain't hooked up in the regulator end I only had to hook up the original connector to the alternator.

But I run into one problem, the cooling wheel on the alternator runs the "wrong" way. Don't know if I have to change it out, turn it around or leave it as it is.
I don't think the alternator would get to hot as it sits right begind the radiator fan.

Winchester wrote:Then it's all hooked up. And It works great. It's does charge at 13.5v but I think that is because of a some what thin sensor wire and therefor the voltage drop is to much from the battery to the sensor at the alternator. I will install a new sensor wire tomorrow. For the charing light I reused the original light wire. As the second wire now ain't hooked up in the regulator end I only had to hook up the original connector to the alternator. But I run into one problem, the cooling wheel on the alternator runs the "wrong" way. Don't know if I have to change it out, turn it around or leave it as it is. I don't think the alternator would get to hot as it sits right begind the radiator fan.

Well done - technology triumphs!

Are you saying the alternator is running the opposite way to the way it was designed?

I don't understand that. 99% of all engines i have seen runs clockvise when you look at it from the front. That means all cars, tractors trucks etc. And the alternator always rotate the same direction as the crankshaft.

I might be on thin ice here,but I read a bit before installing it and what I got out of it is that a modern alternator can run both ways and still function 100%.
The cooling wheel is formed almost like a turbine, and I took it for granted that it should suck air in not push it out. The engine run clockvise looked at from the front.
This alternator was bought new, ment to be used on a 6.2 chevy diesel engine.

Take a look at this pic, this running clockvise this would in my head make the cooling wheel/fan push air away from the alternator.

Hi,

I think the alternator fan is an exhaust fan... and so pulls air through the back onto the rectifier and heat sink first and then exits at the front.

Someone else though might be able to confirm this.

Les

1. It will not matter which way the alternator spins.

2. You are not going to get the alternator hot enough to worry whether the fan sucks or blows, blowing is normal.

3. 13.5 volts is battery voltage. 6 cells X 2.5 V = 13.5 Volts. Alternator output voltage should be 14 to 18 Volts so this is what you should be reading across your battery terminal when the engine is running.

4. Unless you have your warning light wired and working the alternator normally will not charge. The warning light is used to power the magnet coils in the alternator. If these are not powered the alternator will not charge.

I have had cases where a tractor has been tow started with a flat battery and the customer has then asked for a new alternator because, even after working for two days, the battery did not charge and the lights did not work. We jump started the tractor using a slave battery and, lo and behold, all his electrical problems disappeared! The slave battery had allowed the magnet coils in the alternator to work and so it began charging. This has happened to me many times over the years.

A dynamo retains residual magnetism in the magnets so does not require power to start charging, many alternators do not.

Lesfen wrote:I think the alternator fan is an exhaust fan... and so pulls air through the back onto the rectifier and heat sink first and then exits at the front. Someone else though might be able to confirm this.

+1.
Tom's fan is a centrifugal fan, designed to extract air and throw it out at the front of the alternator, as Les says.
So I don't think you have a problem!

Good Then the fan sits the way it should I have the warning light wired, and it work. I have a 3 point alternator. And from the page one of you sent me it says that the sensor wire should be so that it don't have voltage drops. I used a very thin wire and I think this gives a voltage drop before it enters the alternator and therefor only charges at 13.5 volt. If I give it more throttle it charges at 14.4, why I don't know, should read the same through the sensor wire.

Have you any pics of your fitted alternator?

Voltage drop is a feature of load (amps) and the length of the wire. You are only using a very small amount of power over a very short distance, any voltage drop would be minimal.

What I think you are seeing is the voltage regulator at work, the 13.5 volts is battery voltage when the alternator is not charging, increase the revs and the regulator switches the alternator on to charge, voltage increases to 14.4 volts. I would say that this is normal.

Yes, I think you are right. It works the way it should. I have the original lights, two working lights in the front, one working light at the back and some red position light on the side. With the old generator I could see the light get dimmer as I turned on more and more lights. With the new alternator the light stays bright with all the lights turned on.

I came out today to find my tractor hidden under the snow that has slid of the of the garage roof, the tractor is fine but I need to remove some snow to get to the side with the alternator I will get some pics later this night

I havn't forgot the pictures. I'm just working on getting it to charge right. It still charges a bit low....

OK, here is a pic. Almost the way it will be. Adding a pipe between the two top bracket eyes, to make it a bit stiffer, changing out the bolt to a shorter one without square plate under the rounded head, and painting it blue. But it's not bad looking I think.

Now I only need to make it charge right at idle