Help wiring: GM alternator vs external voltage regulator

Discussion in 'Interior/Electronics' started by Perkolator, Jan 10, 2016.

  1. Perkolator

    Perkolator Toyotaholic

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    Looking for some help with wiring up a GM alternator in my 75 Hilux. I'm not clear on how the stock external voltage regulator plays into the wiring of this upgrade.

    I have a Trail Gear GM alternator bracket for Toyotas and an Autozone DL1352-1-11 alternator, for a 90s Chevy K3500 diesel. It's got 100A, the correct 180* mounting tabs and a v-belt pulley, I think it was around $75. I have a GM pigtail for this to splice into my stock wiring, the terminals on the plug are: P-L-F-S and in the same order they're colored yellow, white, black, and thicker red. Just don't know what goes where vs this voltage regulator wiring.

    I'm colorblind and not the best with wire colors. I only have a Haynes manual for schematic. I see a white lead wire coming off the stock alternator, separate from plug. I assume this goes to the battery, but it disappears into the main wiring harness going into the firewall. I do see a white wire around the same gauge going to the positive battery post, so that must be it reappearing on the other side.

    The stock alternator connector has 3 wires coming off it: a green wire, a light purple wire (not sure it could be blue but schematics suggests light purple), and a thicker off white or yellowish wire. This thicker yellowish wire gets spliced off several times into smaller wires (white with one stripe) that all go into firewalls main harness. The original yellowish one continues into the external voltage regulator plug. One of the wires that splices off goes to a ground (?) - attached to one of the bolts mounting the voltage regulator. The other green and light purple also go into the regulator plug. There are also a few wires that appear to originate from the firewall coming into the regulator plug too.

    Here are pics of everything:
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  2. jetas

    jetas Grand Toyotaholic

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  3. Perkolator

    Perkolator Toyotaholic

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    Yeah I'm still confused.
     
  4. first80toyota

    first80toyota Addict

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    I suggest you return that alt, and get a basic gm 3 wire. For gm 3 wire alternators, pin 2 on the plug gets looped with the main wire to battery, then pin 1 goes to the indicator light wire. I believe the wire thats yellow with white tracer in the pig tail for the regulator goes to the charge light.

    I did this setup on my 77, and it worked fabulously!
     
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  5. jetas

    jetas Grand Toyotaholic

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    im with ^

    I used a 3 wire on mine. Install is stupid easy. I got a Powermaster 100A from Summit for about $100. V belt pulley came standard
     
  6. first80toyota

    first80toyota Addict

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    I simply walked in to napa and asked for one, they had a 75amp in stock and it was only like $65
     
  7. Perkolator

    Perkolator Toyotaholic

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    Well what else did you guys do for the upgrade? Did you guys run a new output wire directly to the battery with a fuse in between? What about the stock external voltage regulator - do I simply unplug it? What about the rest of the stock wiring harness?

    Everything I'm seeing on other installs suggests wiring my new cs130 alternator like this:
    S-red, jumped to the output terminal to battery + post
    F-black, not used
    L-white, 12v source/signal wire
    P-yellow, not used

    I was going to use the stock white maybe 8 gauge? (1/8" thick) feed wire to the battery but I'm thinking now I should upgrade it to a new wire and fuse that can handle the extra amps.
    The yellow wire coming into the voltage regulator from the firewall - So is this the wire I need to connect to my L-terminal on the new alternator?
     
  8. jetas

    jetas Grand Toyotaholic

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    I used a 4awg wire from alt to Batt. Need to add a fuse. And i have aftermarket wiring on mine but the white Sense tells it to start working amd the other i looped to the + going to the Battery off the alt. The internal regulator does the rest so you can ditch the factory regulator
     
  9. first80toyota

    first80toyota Addict

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    I ran a 4awg to the battery, no fuse though I probably should have. The white wire can go to any switched positive wire, but I had mine hooked to the stock dummy light and it worked perfectly.
     
  10. Perkolator

    Perkolator Toyotaholic

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    So aside from the new feed wire to the battery, you guys pretty much just leave the stock harness alone and remove the voltage regulator?
     
  11. jetas

    jetas Grand Toyotaholic

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    Pretty much. Since it has an internal regulator all you need to do is wire it.
     
  12. first80toyota

    first80toyota Addict

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    Yep^

    I tried to do as little cutting and redoing to the factory harness just incase I had to change it back for whatever reason. I even still have the old stuff now, a year after I sold that truck..
     
  13. jetas

    jetas Grand Toyotaholic

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    I think i tossed all the factory wiring from mine but most of it was fried anyway lol
     
  14. Perkolator

    Perkolator Toyotaholic

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    Ok so I havent finished this up yet, still need to order some wire to hook it up. I want to make the wiring look clean and if I'm touching it, make sure it's an upgrade toward any future electrical needs. Looking for advice on my upgrade plans, as I've never done this type of thing before.

    I want to start at the battery terminal and use a multi-wire terminal with protective cover. I want one with screw connectors so it looks clean vs the ring terminal version even though that may be a more secure connection. I want to go straight from the terminal to a 4-way power distribution block with inline midi fuses inside. Branching off the distribution block will be my: 4ga starter power, 4ga alternator power feed, 8ga (?) stock fuse panel wire, blank (for future audio amplifier).

    What I'm unsure of is whether I should use dual 1/0ga wires between the battery and distribution block (obviously the most overkill) or are dual 4ga wires enough? Do I even need dual wires between battery and the distribution block? My reference is in google images - look up battery distribution block and you'll see a Kia Optima with a nice setup in the first few results
    Edit - got image to work, don't mind the arc'd wires and fuse lol
    [​IMG]

    I was going to get 100 amp fuses for the block but not sure if this is enough for the starter? Should be perfect for my alternator and maybe too much fuse for my stock fuse panel wiring -- so maybe the combo fuse pack with 60, 80, 100, and 150 amp fuses will cover all my fuse needs?

    Parts I'm looking at:
    http://m.ebay.com/itm?itemId=361062313697
    http://m.ebay.com/itm/2-Pack-Stinge...ge-Wire-AWG-Top-Post-/400889314210?nav=SEARCH
    http://m.ebay.com/itm?itemId=400180597918
    http://m.ebay.com/itm/16-Nickel-Min...ire-Fuses-Combo-Pack-/201098805771?nav=SEARCH

    What you guys think?
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2016
  15. TRUCK ACTION

    TRUCK ACTION Grand Toyotaholic

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    I run a GM 12SI billet cased from Quality Power, it is 150 amp /100 amp @ idle, had them put a smaller pulley on it as I run a under drive pulley @ the crank. They had the connector to go from the Toyota stock plug to the GM alternator, keeping it a three wire connection for the trigger as stock!
    I have a Odyssey PC1500T battery located in the cab, & run 2GA. power & ground leads, a power distribution block in the engine bay & power & ground distribution blocks in the cab for amps & air pumps!
    When you go to a higher than stock output you have to change the main fuse @ the engine bay fuse box!
     
  16. Perkolator

    Perkolator Toyotaholic

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    Finally got this project completed. No sparks or fire so I guess it's all good ;)

    Parts used:
    AutoZone DL1352-1-11 alternator, 100A
    Trail Gear GM alternator bracket
    KnuKonceptz Kolossus Flex Kable, 0-AWG and 4-AWG
    KnuKonceptz ultimate battery terminal
    KnuKonceptz KonFUSED 2-way distribution block, 100A fuse for alternator, 2nd output for future audio
    Harbor Freight nylon cable clamp assortment


    I chose to modify the TG alternator bracket by chopping out the upper right mounting hole so that it matched the 3-hole mounting pattern of the stock alternator bracket. This 4th hole interfered with a spacer welded to the stock motor mount. It's possible to remove the spacer but it was faster to modify the bracket. The part of the bracket that does insert behind the engine mount needs to be reduced in thickness to match the thickness of the spacer/stock alt bracket.

    Wiring:
    - I simply electrical taped and tucked away the stock wiring to the old alternator and removed the external voltage regulator.
    - The new alternator plug only uses the S and L terminals from the P-L-F-S plug, the other two got shrink wrapped in place for aesthetics. The S jumps to the alternator output with a ring terminal. The L wire connects to the yellow w/white tracer wire using a connector inline. This yellow wire is found entering the plug for the voltage regulator, it goes to the charge light.
    - 4ga wire goes from alternator around engine bay to a 2-terminal power distribution block. I used only one output for now with a 100A fuse, since it's sized closest to the alternator max output. The other terminal will be used for a future audio build.
    - 0ga wire feeds between the power distribution block and the new battery terminal.
    - new battery terminal has multiple outputs and I connected the starter and other power wire that was on the old positive cable.
    - Harbor Freight nylon cable clamps hold the wiring in place.

    Pics:
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  17. Mikerocosms

    Mikerocosms Veteran

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    You went around the back firewall? Why didn't you go through the radiator support? It would have saved you some wire. Anyhow, it looks good.
     
  18. Perkolator

    Perkolator Toyotaholic

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    I considered it and could have easily gone that way yes, but the extra couple feet of wire was literally like $6 more so I figure why not since it would add some red to the border, which ties in with the red plug wires and valve cover. Can always move it later. I'm not worried about resistance with the distance, the KnuKonceptz wire has a ridiculous 2058 fine copper strands inside compared to whatever the stock 10ga coarse stranded wire had.

    Still need to work on the battery area in the future, the inner fender under my battery tray is pretty much gone. The PO only made a new battery tray/plate and didn't patch up the rest of the damaged area.
     
  19. Randy justice hilux

    Randy justice hilux Newbie

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    Its che
    Paper to get a 1 wire alt and go straight to the battery
     
  20. first80toyota

    first80toyota Addict

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    Yes. But, then you constantly get your charge light on. Doing a 3 wire allows you to still have the charge light be functional, and it really isn't any more expensive.
     

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