Steve Saunders Goldwing Forums banner

Question about Alternator wiring

3K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  CrystalPistol 
#1 ·
My 84 GL1200 came with the Alternator conversion already done, but the bracket and alternator were missing. So, I am making a new bracket and got a new 1 wire alternator. However, even though it is a "1 wire" and I know it can be hooked up this way, there are 2 other wires. One I suspect is a ground for the light in the dash, and the other a sensing wire. Do any of you know what is what?
This is the type of alternator in question:
[ame]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DHQBMX3/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/ame]
 
#3 ·
Dave,
that is not the Alternator that came with the bike.
it is a new one he has purchased.

I would just hook it up, connect the big post direct to the battery, and fire up the engine.

monitor the battery voltage. I am betting that the alternator has an internal regulator and probably will regulate just fine at 14.3-14.4 for a cold alternator..... and when it finally gets warm, it should drop down to 13.3-13.6 range.

If it does not charge period, then the sense wire needs to go a point where it can sense battery voltage "key on"... the accessory terminal block is not a good place for that, as it will be somewhat lover in voltage because of current draw by accessories. that would cause the battery to be overcharged.

a small relay connected to the accessory block can connect the sense lead to the battery B+ post.

you can ignore the other two wires if any, on the alternator.

take a picture of the back of the alternator and post it here.
 
#6 ·
I think I would ignore that connector for now.
just hook it up, and start the engine

that will be proof of the pudding as to whether those connections are even needed.

The light wire is not needed at all, so forget that one.

The "sense" wire, if it happens to be needed, is simple to hook up.
at first, just connect it to the Accessory block, if that makes it charge, and you will see the initial voltage at high RPMs go much higher than 14.3 because of the voltage drop between the battery and the Accessory terminal.

an easy fix, but for now, don't worry about it, just get the alternator installed and hook up ONLY the Red wire from the Post to the Battery. ( actually don't it go to the Fuse first? ) to prevent a failure in the alternator from burning up the wiring?


the fact that Alternator is advertised as ( one wire ) indicates that it does NOT need a sense wire for exciting the field. It has to have an internal Voltage Regulator feeding the internal field windings.
 
#9 ·
OK, so I know it has been a while on this one, but this bike took a different turn that the original plan. It is naked now.

So, anyway I put the alternator on the bike and hooked up the one wire and it did nothing. I was not sure why, but no charge. This is a brand new Alt. So I hooked up a wire to one of the 2 wires on the back and it started to work. Charging perfectly. So even though it said it was a one wire, you still need to have at least the voltage sense wire hooked up.
 
#10 ·
If you have the right alternator it should charge with a single wire going from the big terminal to the battery direct. All other functions are done internally. Senses voltage from the "battery wire" and gets power to turn on the regulator internally as well. Not sure what is wrong but good for you for getting it going. :)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top