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1 wire alternator

B

brian 1855

New User
I just installed a new 1 wire aternator on my super c. How can I test it? Should it be grounded other than the mount, and how many rpms should excite it. And once excited will it show charge back at idle speed.

Thank you for the help.
Brian
 
No the mount is all the ground you need. Amp meter to the stud will show charge so will your guage. On my H you have to get to around 1/4 throttle but right after startup it don"t take long for the guage to drop back to center. On my A shows charge at less throttle. Turn on the lights and watch your guage it should not discharge if it is working. Also if you don"t run the tractor much put a disconect on your battery.
 
Run it up full throdle for a second, the gauge should show charging, should charge normal after that,if it dosent, see if it will hold a screw driver on the back of the alternator, should act like a magnet. if not its not working.
 
mounting the alternator is all it needs to be grounded.if there is no amp meter on the tractor,check the battery voltage before and after startup.it should increase to around 14 depending on load.most of time the motor needs to be reved to get it charging if only one wire is used and should charge at idle.if b blade terminial is wired to the battery it will start to charge at motor start up but is not nessacary.alternator is most likely neg ground and so the battery needs to be also.coil wires may need to switched too. starter does not matter
 
1 wires are not worth the money they cost and take high RPM to kick in most of the time. Shoot you can get a 3 wire for $35 plus a core or with out a core $45.
Volt meter or the screw driver test work well. NEVER ever pull a battery cable off to test if it is working because if you do that you can/will let the smoke out and by the way can also kill you because the alternator will try to charge max amps and volts and that is enough to kill a person
 
1 wires at NAPA $44.00 all day every day and I have never had but 1 problem with one of them and that was my fault. Guess the 1 wire 3 wire chatter will go on and on.
 
Every one I have ever messed with did not work well and did the on again off again type working. I have one on an 8N ford right now that works when it wants and doesn't when it wants. It cost me around $65 for it years back. Now days I just do the simple 3 wire and then I know I have one that works when it should. I just had a friend ask me to look at his 1 wire that was not working. I pulled the cover out where the plug should go and wired it up 3 wire and it started to work just fine but didn't before that
 
(quoted from post at 19:57:30 01/24/10) 1 wires at NAPA $44.00 all day every day and I have never had but 1 problem with one of them and that was my fault. Guess the 1 wire 3 wire chatter will go on and on.
Click to expand...

If one wire alternators are so darn cool, why is it that no automotive manufacturer uses them OEM?
 
And that is the best answer (other than the fully wired units work like your road vehicles (all the time)) Jim
 
In the early 1980's, an old timer who worked on gen/alt's for a living made me a one wire alternator that was positive ground for my Farmall Super C. It has been working great ever since. He tried to sell the idea to Delco -no go!
 
"If one wire alternators are so darn cool, why is it that no automotive manufacturer uses them OEM?"

Because they do.
There are thousands if not millions of FACTORY 1 wire Delco alternators used on medium and heavy trucks, marine applications and many industrial applications.
The 90 and 92 model IH and Volvo trucks parked in my yard both have OEM 27 SI Delco 1 wire alternators on them. They work first time, every time and excite at less than 1000 engine rpm.
They are less troublesome and less likely to drain the battery than a 2 or 3 wire Delco alternator.
FACTORY Delco 1 wire alternator manual.
 
When you build or buy a 1 wire Delco alternator, insist on nothing larger than a 37 amp model. They excite at aprox 1/2 the rpm of a 61 or 72 amp model. Aftermarket stators( the part that decides the amp output of the alternator) are cheap to rebuild a used alternator to a 37 amp 1 wire model.
A 37 amp 1 wire alternator is much more forgiving of rpm and is usually far more amps than an older tractor needs.

If a 1 wire alternator is new, or has not been used for a long time, it may need a field flash to restore the residual magnetism to get it charging the first time.
Field flashing a 1 wire alternator is simple.
With the tractor running at mid speed, momentarily use a jumper wire to connect the #1 regulator blade in the side of the alternator to the big BAT stud on the rear of the alternator.

This is a 1 time deal, you should not have to flash the alternator again unless the alternator has been disassembled or remains unused for a very long time.
 
Pretty easy deal loren. Several of the aftermarket company's will sell you a complete 6V or 12V pos ground Delco 1 wire alternator.(even JC Whitney).
If you want to rebuild a used neg ground 12V Delco alternator into a 1 wire pos or neg ground 6V or 12V alternator, all the parts come in a kit. The 6V or pos ground alternators or kits are very little more $$ than your standard rebuilt Delco 3 wire 12V neg ground alternator.

Get on a search engine like Google, and type in the search box "1 wire 6V alternator", or "1 wire pos ground alternator."

Quite a few parts suppliers have them.
 
I have one on my "C". To excite it I would have to pull the throttle rod to get some extra RPM out of the engine. I changed the size of the pulley and life has been great since then. The battery is always fullly charged, even when I let it sit all winter. I think my 400 is a one wire also.
SDE
 
Delco truck systems (cool) this still does not make 10si, or hitachi units a clear advantage.
Some units do work well, some tractors (and trucks) are driven daily and/or have massive batteries. There are enough cold under used winter hibernated tractors that are affected by the inconsistant one wire rebuilds and converted new systems, that I cannot recommend them. The three wire systems are anything but complex, and easy to make correct. Jim
 
It depends on the application.
A tractor with a charge light needs a 3 wire setup so the charge indicator light functions as intended,no question there. They also excite at lower rpm.

A tractor with mag ignition and no ignition switch is a much cleaner conversion with a "1 wire" alternator. Just a single wire from alternator to ammeter, like the original generator with gen mounted cutout / regulator.
No need to clutter the tractor with an oil pressure switch or manual switch to excite the 3 wire alternator. also no manual switch to forget on when you park it and kill the battery.

Like anything else, how well the "1 wire alternator" works, depends on the guy wo did the conversion.
Too big a "1 wire" alternator with too large a drive pulley on an old 1200 rpm tractor will not make for a happy user.
Size those things correctly and they work quite well, especially now with the new self exciting regulators on the market. They eliminate the diode trio and excite at very low rpm, as low as some 3 wire systems with a small charge light.

Check it out at the site below. down the page part # D102HD1
Low speed excite , self exciting regulator.
 
Yep, the only trick to installing a 1-wire is getting the pulley size right- the RPM range of old tractor engines is typically much lower than car or pickup engines, so you may need a slightly smaller pulley- if it's carrying the load and barely charging at idle, you're golden
There's also a 24V version of the 1-wire, I have one on my 680E Case, and it works perfectly- the spider's nest of original wiring is still hanging on the engine, but the only thing hooked up is the single wire to the batteries
 
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