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Originally Posted by Chevy 350 Fan
My ignorance is going to show here so please bear with me: I thought an internally regulated alternator was a one wire alternator I've never heard of 3 wire. Would you mind explaining the difference? I did some research, looked into those links and from what I understand a one wire voltage is sensed at the alternator and 3 wire it is sensed at another location???? (I would assume external v regulator) but that couldn't be the case because then it wouldn't be internally regulated.
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Externally vs. internally regulated just describes the physical location of the voltage regulator ... not where the regulator is sensing the voltage.
A "3 wire" alternator is basically just a stock internally regulated alternator. However, you probably haven't heard it called that because the term "3 wire" isn't all that common.
As the name implies, a "1 wire" alternator only has 1 wire to hook up to the vehicle's electrical system. But because of that, it can't compensate for voltage drop in the charging system wiring due to it only sensing the voltage at it's own output terminal. And a 1 wire alternator also lacks the ability to operate a warning light.