[freebird]

Hi All, got all my wiring and starter problems squared away with help from the board...I am in the home stretch. Just got a new one wire summit alternator.
Hooked it up...One wire (4 Guage) from the post on the alternator to the battery side of my kill switch in the trunk.. Anyway it wont charge..Had it tested twice and they say its good. Anyway I had my buddy rev the motor and I put a volt meter on the alternator post and ground and it read 12 volts..not charging. It tested the wire and the connections are good..

If the alternator is no good is that a common thing for a new one to be junk?

Any Ideas??

thanks
Chris

[Eric Kammerer]

How high did you rev it? A lot of one-wire alts have to be run up to start charging.

[HarleyD67]

In most cases 2000-2500 is usually enough to excite it. Mine excites after it's taken over 1000 and continues to charge even at idle @850.

[dnult]

Are you sure it's not a 3 wire (a.k.a. 5 wire) alternator such as a CS130? They can be wired as a 1 wire alternator, but the brown lead (that typically is connected to the GEN lamp) needs voltage applied to it to excite the alternator. If you don't use a lamp, you can connect the brown wire to the B+ lead, but you need a resistor in series with it to limit the current. If it is in fact a 1 wire alternator, then disregard.