Delco Alternator wiring in detail! (was Delco Alternator wiring)

["Steve Rubano" <srubano@xxxx>]

This is a long one, sorry!
Ok all, here's how to wire up your new Delco Alternator.

Note: when splicing the wires for the alternator replacement plug, 
use heat shrink tubing for insulation and solder the wire's together. 
Do not rely on crimped splicing connectors or electrical tape. For 
some added protection, before applying the heat shrink tubing, coat 
the bare wires with some dielectric tune up grease (same you use on 
the spark plug wires) then slip the tubing over it. That way no 
moisture will get in and corode the wires. I am not going to refer to 
wire color on the Delorean harness since the colors vary (for some 
reason) from car to car. I will refer to what they were connected to 
or how to find them using a volt meter.

If you are replacing a Ducellier: 
After installing the Delco unit and the pigtail adapter for the 
Alternator, take the Red Sense wire (it will have an "S" stamped on 
the black plastic housing of the plug on the pigtail) from the Delco 
and splice it to the wire that came off of your Ducellier wire from 
the "+" (stamped on the black plastic casing on the Alternator)
connector. It is the smaller connector. Now take the Lamp wire (again 
marked on the black plastic housing of the plug on the pigtail 
as "L") from the Delco and splice it into the wire that came off 
the "L" connector on the Ducellier (again stamped on the black 
plastic casing on the Ducy Alternator as "L" ). It is VERY important 
that you connect the sencse wire! If you do not, you can burn out 
your alternator. If you are not sure which wire is what on the 
Delorean wire harness going to the alternator, do the following: 
Disconect the plug from the alternator, turn the ignition key to the 
On position, DO NOT START THE CAR! Using a volt meter connect the 
positive lead to one of the connectors. The connector that is reading 
the battery voltage is your "Sense" wire. Also if you have someone 
turn the key to the off position while holding the volt meter on that 
connector, you should see no voltage.

If you're replacing a Motorolla alternator: 
Connect the Lamp wire from the Delco to the Lamp wire on the Delorean 
(single wire that was going to the Motorolla alternator) then solder 
a Lug connector to the Sense wire on the Delco connector. Connect the 
Sense wire with the Lug connector to the Battery post (where you are 
connecting all the brown wires to) on the alternator. Failure to do 
this will fry your new alternator. The sense wire needs to read the 
battery voltage for proper charging. The Motorolla unit did not have 
an external sense wire on it like the Ducellier because they were 
monitoring the Battery voltage internally from the "B" post. If any 
of you want to get fancy, you can get a high amp relay to click on 
when the ignition key is in the on position, that will go from the 
battery to the sense wire of the alternator that way there is only 
battery voltage present at the sense wire only when the ignition is 
in the on position. This is better if you store your car alot since 
if there is constant voltage on the sense line with the car off, 
there will be a small (very small, like milliamps) battery drain.

If any of you have further questions, or would like to see pictures 
on how it's done, email me or visit my site at 
www.dmcman.homestead.com. I will have pictures an detailed 
explanation of the Sense wire, Alternator mounting plate 
modifications and pictures of the new alternator along with part 
numbers.

--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxx, "John Hervey" <dherv10@xxxx> wrote:
> Ralph, 
> There are suddle differences in the wiring vs the books. My wire 
> coming out of the wiring loom going to the alternator is 
brown/white 
> book say's brown/yellow, if you really want to get technical then I 
> can show you other wires in the book say one thing and on the car 
are 
> different. Also, go out to your car and unplug the light wire ( if 
> you want to call it that )from the alternator, then start the car 
and 
> watch the needle set below 13volts, then plug it back in and watch 
> the needle go to where it should be:appx. 14.4 volts. They do work 
> together.
> John
> P.S. Thanks for the call
> 
> --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxx, sand131@xxxx wrote:
> > Can one of you Delco experts tell me the wiring to replace my 
> Ducellier 
> > alternator with a Delco. Or send me a diagram (I am better with 
> pictures) at 
> > SAND131@xxxx
> > Thanks,
> > Ralph
> > Vin 1606