At 07:03 PM 12/19/02 +0000, James Carruthers wrote:
>Weird stuff thats happening... the ignition light stays on... I can't
>start the car without jump starting (the battery doesnt have enough power
>to even engage the solenoid)
The ignition light should only be on when the vehicle isn't running. It is
the load that the light draws that starts the alternator charging in the
first place. The back of the A127 / AC Delco 7127 alternator has the main
battery charging terminal then a smaller two bladed plug on the side of the
case. There should be numbers cast into the casing next to this
connector. Terminal 2 gets connected back to the main battery terminal on
the back of the alternator. This powers the field coils so the alternator
can charge. But it won't actually start charging until the regulator
inside detects a need to do so. This is what the wire from terminal #1 is
for. It leads from there to the ignition light load which will trip the
regulator into thinking it needs to start charging.
You can also choose to connect a wire from terminal #1 to an ignition
ballast resistor (one of those ceramic wire wound types) and then to
ground. That would also trip the regulator into charging. Be advised that
as long as that connection is made, the alternator would be charging, so
you would want to probably put a relay in there that turns the circuit off
when the ignition is off otherwise it will drain the battery by keeping the
field coils active even with the engine not running.
>But here is the weirdest thing, when the alternator is plugged in (engine
>not running), the voltage at the battery starts to go down. When I unplug
>it, it jumps up a volt or to and stops going down.
This is related to the situation above. The regulator is in charge mode
because it is detecting a load on the system. It means that the wire from
terminal #1 is connected to something that is still powered on with the
ignition off. Although if this is the situation you get with the key in
the ON position and you are getting a battery discharge, that is perfectly
normal and easy to correct- just turn the key off. :)
This might help out in some of the confusion:
http://www.ponypics.com/spitfire/7127-conversion.jpg
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