Thread: Wire mess

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66 chevy truck and I am updating the wiring to 1 wire alt,HEI and electric fan!!Dug the voltage regulator outa the harness along with the alt wires.(PIC)http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i1...06/wire001.jpg What I have done is to try to wire it like ford did.+ batt to +batt lug on solenoid ,1 wire alt to + lug on solenoid,from the + lug on solenoid to the main horn relay buss.Then from the R lug on solenoid to HEI.FRom ignition switch to the S lug on solenoid. Over at the horn relay buss is this.http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i1...6/594f085e.jpg New red power wire to horn relay buss and 1 brown field wire ,#4 on the voltage regulator to be used as a switched relay for the electric fan. Looks good on paper ,.....but....?Do u guys see anything that jumps out at ya as bad or dangerous? I have a pic of engine wire and dash wire harness if needed.The truck had a 6 cylinder and I went v-8.If u look at the 6 versus the 8 cylinder diagram there are a couple of wires on the v-8 that was not on the 6.1 extra b/w on the drivers side and a little diff wire on the ignition for the v-8 ,same wires as 6 but hooked in a different way?

Now I have the v-8 engine harness ,with the v-8 wiring under the hood ,but under the dash is the same for both engines.It looks like power up from + lug on solenoid on v-8 diagram and it does not on the 6,same with the extra wire on the drivers side v-8 engine harnes.Not quite sure why its diff and what its running.Also I do not see how the under dash for both engines can be the same.The pass side on v-8 engine wire shows a hot lead back to the cab where the 6 shows the same firewall plug to be the second wire on the temp sender? I do not want a fiasco of baptism by fire here!! Heres the dash diagram .

The top 2 are engine harnes under hood.the second post pic ,is the under dash for 66 ,the book only shows 1 under the dash harness diagram for 66 for all engines,all models.

Pin 4 of the voltage regualtor (circuit 20 ga. brn wire) goes to terminal 1 (spade connector) of the alternator. This operates the charge lamp. Pin 2 (other spade connector) can be jumped to the output terminal.

The output (charge wire, 12 ga. red) also goes to the output terminal.

You won't be using the other wires.

I have a 1 wire alt and a amp guage in the truck.The only thing left of the old charging system is the brn wire,The brown is a key on ,key off wire ?I was going to use it to switch on a relay for the electric fan.? I have a v-8 wiring harness under the hood and there is a extra black with a white stripe on the drivers side harness and theres a diff on the pass side engine harness between the v-8 and straight 6.Both wires appear to be power of some sort for some thing?1 wire appears to run to the guage cluster and the other appears to run to the ignition switch?

Soo if I have the new v-8 engine harness with the b/w power lead drivers side,thats power ing up the cluster,then it looks to come outa the cluster over to the ignition switch,Do I want to hook the pass side like the v-8 on the solenoid,or do I want to hook like the 6 did?It looks to me as if 1 way powers the ignition from the pass side and on the other it gets power from the drivers side to the cluster and the ignition?Just do not want the 2 to meet under the dash and start a meltdown.Not sure about how electricity works I am wood chuck ,carpenter, they do not let us get too close to to shocky sparky stuff Me heads startin to hurt like yesterday ,where is the smiley with the smoke coming out its ears.

If u look at the dash diagram real close u can see it has the cluster diagram on it already ,it looks like the other side of the plug right in the center of diagram.But its the guage pack diagram also,just all crunched together.Looks like it does not matter which way u get power to the dash. Looks like the wires are doing the same thing both ways? 1 way looks like power comes in on the red (6 cyl) and goes to the dash and ign switch thru the dash wires.The other way it looks like it gets power to the same place,just not running thru the dash wires, instead powering it up from under the hood?1 has a 2 wire temp sender and the other has a 1 wire temp sender,sooo.the temp switch 2 wire takes power?I have the 1 wire temp sender,?takes no power? Also if u look real close it looks like the v-8 has an oil pressure saftey switch.Its sayes .O/S switch? on the schematics.By the way I have the oil press guage that takes oil to it ,not power.

Sounds like a plan Denny,thnx.Soo I can leave the extra v-8 solenoid power wire off and use the 1 wire temp sender and forget about the other b/w wire its going into the dash it is doing its job

Thnx Denny!!!I have seen too much ford to understand chevy I see the error of my thinking now,before now I did not understand that the wiring is a floating ground like chrysler did,now I understand how power wires can come from here from there ,this has 2 that has 3 does not matter all of em all 12v + long as there before the switch nuthings gunna matter,but most of all no..........................

Ok ....looks to me like the 2 wire temp sender is for idiot lights and the 1 wire temp sender is for guages?I have guages.Then it looks like the extra b/w wire and the extra black from the solenoid on the v-8 diagram is just extra wire to beef up the system,both wires connect thru the wiring to reach the same places as power already available unswitched. I am gunna sketch it all up(my revised routing) as soon as I find a good sketch program!!!That or do it on paper then take a pic.

Originally Posted by DennyW

What about the white and dbl wire ?

What about 'em?

The regulator and all the wires to the alternator unplug right out of the harness and this leaves #4(pic below) which is the brn wire ,which I am going to use to switch a relay on and off for the electric fan.All the other wires in the harness on the drivers side stays as in the diagram. I was showing in the sketch only the what I was changing from the diagram.I understand ,kinda whats goin on now on the ignition side ,Wire it like the v-8 harnes,just remove regulator , alt wires and charge wire to main horn buss.Replace the removed wires with sketch.What was throwing me off was the floating ground and the fact that the diagram shows power to the ammeter from the hot lug on the solenoid full time,but ....I guess it stays on ,key on or key off??

That picture shows no wire in the #4 terminal of the regulator. This tells me you have an ammeter and not a light. If this is the case, your new 1 wire alternator will burn out the ammeter if you run the output wire through there (which would be putting the output terminal in the original location).

Your factory alternator only put out 45-55 amps. I'm fairly certain your 1 wire is prolly rated at substantially more than that which will overpower the original ammeter.

Thnx ,I did NOT know that would happen ,what can I do to correct this...can u calibrate the old guage or ...I was going to use the #4 wire to activate a relay?????((EDIT)) Well I feel perty silly I just realized I was working off the wrong Dash diagram...... Here is a pic of a 65 dash harness with guages,Instead of ,ironically ,idiot lights from a 66 diagram...... ,All I can say is I apologize!!I have a 66,but just noticed that the diagram was for ......""the Lights"" not all guages like I have I am sure ,after inspection, this is the same as 66 with guages.(EDIT)

Do you know the amperage rating of the alternator? If it's 60 or less, you're okay. If not, you'll want to run the output straight to the battery and forget the ammeter.

Electric fans add 15-30 amps to the system, so you're really gonna want 60 amps at a bare minimum. Figure it like this, 8 amps to run high blower, 10 amps to run all the lights, 5 amps to run the HEI at an average cruise speed, 6 amps on the wipers and 15 for the electric fan. There's 44 amps right there. Now, hit the bright lights, turn the radio on, put the wipers on high, hit the brake lights and you're edging real close to 60 amps and that's w/o any amps being used to charge the battery.

Most cars are designed with 30-40% reserve left in the alternator with all electrical loads on. i.e. a vehicle with a 100 amp alternator will see a max of 60-70 amps total electrical load (w/o charging the battery).

Now, the nice thing about electric fans, the faster you go, the less they draw. At around 90 mph they actually become generators ('course, that depends on airflow through them of course).