Cable Upgrade, Alternator to Battery Help -- Resolved

I am upgrading my alternator and upgrading the power cable.

Question: the upgraded cable (battery to alternator) has an inline fuse. The OEM cable runs from alternator to underhood fuse block.

Does the upgrade eliminate or do I use both?

Thanks!

 

I did the Big 7 cable upgrade from Jeepcables and it had a similar setup. With their design, you run the upgraded cable directly to the battery with the inline fuse and bypass the factory fuse box. There is removable section of the fuse box that lets you pull the stock cable easily without any cutting.

 

Thanks!!!

 

Since your changing the original wire it depends just how you connect things.

Extra circuit protection never hurts . You still need to connect from the alternator to the fuse block.

Use both . Are you also up grading the wire from the positive battery terminal to the alternator fuse as well?

It all depends just what all your doing .

 

Replaced Battery to Alternator, Battery to Fuseblock. I elimated the alternator to fuseblock, now no charging. I'll install cable from alternator to the original alternator post in the distribution panel and see if that fixes things.

Thank you!

 

Welp, dang.

Reinstalled wire from alternator to fuse panel. Still no charging. Going to reinstall my old alternator and see if maybe new one is bad. <sigh>

 

What prompted the upgrade? Just what alternator brand?

Meter in hand?

Just how are you checking alternator output from the B terminal on alternator ?

You had removed the negative battery terminal. Before removing or connecting hardware

The truck starts and runs just no alternator output. The charge light in the dash is lit??

Sometimes the 3 wire plug gets corroded . Old brittle wires can break under the insulation on that harness as well.

All your fuses have been checked? Battery terminals clean and tight?

Alternator belt at the proper tension?

Some ideas !!

Good Luck!

 

Ooof, old alternator not showing charging now.

Details:
Why? - Recent trip my Victron 12v/800 inverter would not stay "on" to vehicle charge my solar power station (LightHarvest Solar Aspen 2000wh - similar to Bluetti). Tech at LightHarvest said could be getting too much resistance in line - likely culprit alternator not able to keep up. (OEM alternator).

I have had a Suzuki Vitaro 160amp alternator on the shelf for a while as I was planning to upgrade. I still had wiring from the JeepCables upgrade kit.

Prior: Charging normal, above 14v. Only issue was recent inoperable inverter.

Previously had installed the battery to fuse block cable.

Changes:
Ground - engine block to battery
Ground - battery to fender
Positive - Alternator to battery with inline fuse
Alternator

Reinstalled the smaller cable that OEM runs from alternator to fuse block - still not charging.

Tried reinstalling OEM alternator - not charging.

Not sure what I did to break it. Stopping for today, will get back to it tomorrow.

All insight welcome. Thanks.

 

Have you verified continuity between the alt and the batt. Make sure the inline fuse between the alt and the batt is not open?

 

Have you checked the ALT-S fuse? That’s the voltage sense wire that tells the alternator what to do.

 

The new inline is good. I'll check the ALT-S fuse this morning.

 

I would really look at the 3 wire plug.

Was the charge light lit with the no charge issue of the first alternator?

 

Before changes it was charging fine, just an issue with the inverter load.

ALT-S fuse is good.

I pulled the 3-wire connector, then with ignition on, volt tested all 3 wires.

1 was 11.7v, the other 2 were 12.2v. Does that indicate anything?

 

Thing is some times the meter has a reading but when plugged in the connection is open.

** Is the charge light lit with the engine running ?? This is important !!

Do you have any electrical cleaner it never hurts .

The B terminal is tight ? The alternator grounds through the bracket . Engine Ground in good condition?

How is the Alternator 120 amp (or what yours is) fuse connected ?? There should be no fuses open open or missing . Everything else works for now but you have a no charge issue??

Just that your battery is discharged never hurts to have the battery charger on when trouble shooting electrical issues. The battery should be fully charged when swapping alternators .

I wish I was close enough to help in person it is something minor .

Good luck!

 

Really appreciate the help!

Charge light is not lit.

The new cable is tight on alternator, 200 amp fuse is good. I'll double check the wiring, will open up the conduit cover wiring to alternator. I'll put my trickle charger on.

Yeah, I'm sure it will end up being something simple, and likely a user error.

Again, thank you much for the help.

 

Your very welcome!

Ok making progress !! The charge light does light with the ignition in run?

Try some electrical cleaner on the plug . You did have a meter reading !

I fought with unseen corrosion one day for hours according to the meter it read correct.


Now Your charging set up might be different then my 2000 I also have the 7.5 ignition fuse and the 10 amp gauge fuse. in the charging circuit.Though they should be fine.

Hang in there your doing good

 

You haven't said what engine you have, but I don't think the charging circuits are any different actually. I have attached the one for a 3RZ. There are a total of 4 wires that go to the Alternator. The large white one is the one that goes through the ALT fuseable link in the fusebox. Then there is the 3 pin connector that has Red, Yellow, White. Red is IG, Yellow is L, White is S. All 3 wires connect to power, just through different circuits. Red powers the IC regulator on the alternator. Yellow will ground through the IC regulator if there is a charging issue. White will take the current battery/charging voltage at the ALT fuse and adjust the charge output from the alternator. I'm guessing something is wrong in that 3 wire connector. Just because it plugs in does not mean it has the same wiring as stock. You need to verify that the port on the alternator has the same wiring configuration as the stock alternator. It's possible you blew the gauge fuse or the Alt-S fuse.

 

It seems yall are way past this point... but I already took this pic last night so I'll post it anyway .

Here's my setup currently, have 3k miles with no issues yet. Alt directly to Battery positive (with inline fuse), positive to fuse block with small stock wire (White wire). My kit came with an upgraded wire for this as well but it wasn't a plug and play since I have ABS and the tiny lead for that fuse is directly attached to the block side terminal. There is a little more info on this here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/jeepcables-com-big-7-for-the-1st-gen-tacoma.799516/

Also pardon my Neverstart battery ... We don't have a good selection of batteries out here in the boonies

 

Thanks everyone!!!

<head hanging in humility >

A fresh restart after a night's sleep must have been good.

While double-checking all connections and fuses found the user error. The 4-pin connector was not fully seated! When I was checking I realized it came out too easily.

Buttoned it all up and triple checked all plug ins, now charging as it should.

 

It's always the simplest things! Mine had issues and I discovered the ALT-S wire was cut right near the connector.