The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network - View Single Post

**HO455** · 07-24-2019, 01:52 PM

Thanks guys! I was able to find fusible links in 14, 16, 18, and 22 guage on the shelf locally. Also the folks at Mad Electric sell them as kits including 12 guage for about half the price. I ended up not finishing the post last night as my sister called, her stove had quit working.

So off I went.
Now for the rest of the story. In order for the alternator to work there needs to be a minimum amount of resistance in the wire between the alternator and the ignition switch. In order to achieve this an external resistor needs to be installed in the brown wire from the alternator going to the firewall plug.

The 'L' connection is the lamp connection. The 'lamp' refers to the typical idiot light for an alternator. This connection requires switched (ignition) voltage through between 35 and 350 ohms of resistance. If the alternator sees below 35 ohms of resistance, the CS alternator will fail eventually. As long as you keep the total resistance between 35 and 350 ohms, you should be ok. If in doubt, measure the resistance of your brown wire to ground with ignition off to determine your car's baseline resistance.

The folks at Painless Wiring recommend using a 85 ohm 5 watt resistor, which as I mentioned I was unable to obtain locally. I used two 100 ohm 2 watt resistors in parallel for my installation. Photo 1 shows the first step of assembly. Out of sight on the other end of the wire is the 4 pin plug for the alternator (photo 2 installed). Then they were soldered to the factory brown wire. (Photo 3) Since the resistors are relatively fragile I put two layers of heat shrink over them. (#4 photo).
I chose to put the resistor on the fender end of the alternator harness as it should see less vibration and heat there.
One note on the plug is that it comes with 3 wires the center one is not used. I attempted to remove the pin but was unsuccessful. I have done this many times in the past but this one pin refused to come out. I quit trying when the pin began to deform from my attempts. I ended up cutting the wire off at the plug and sealing the exposed conductors with liquid tape insulation. ( See the black spot on the back of the plug in photo 2)
https://www.permatex.com/products/ad...ectrical-tape/

07-24-2019, 01:52 PM	#472
HO455 Post Whore Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Portland Oregon Posts: 10,903	Re: Working Man's Burbon Thanks guys! I was able to find fusible links in 14, 16, 18, and 22 guage on the shelf locally. Also the folks at Mad Electric sell them as kits including 12 guage for about half the price. I ended up not finishing the post last night as my sister called, her stove had quit working. So off I went. Now for the rest of the story. In order for the alternator to work there needs to be a minimum amount of resistance in the wire between the alternator and the ignition switch. In order to achieve this an external resistor needs to be installed in the brown wire from the alternator going to the firewall plug. The 'L' connection is the lamp connection. The 'lamp' refers to the typical idiot light for an alternator. This connection requires switched (ignition) voltage through between 35 and 350 ohms of resistance. If the alternator sees below 35 ohms of resistance, the CS alternator will fail eventually. As long as you keep the total resistance between 35 and 350 ohms, you should be ok. If in doubt, measure the resistance of your brown wire to ground with ignition off to determine your car's baseline resistance. The folks at Painless Wiring recommend using a 85 ohm 5 watt resistor, which as I mentioned I was unable to obtain locally. I used two 100 ohm 2 watt resistors in parallel for my installation. Photo 1 shows the first step of assembly. Out of sight on the other end of the wire is the 4 pin plug for the alternator (photo 2 installed). Then they were soldered to the factory brown wire. (Photo 3) Since the resistors are relatively fragile I put two layers of heat shrink over them. (#4 photo). I chose to put the resistor on the fender end of the alternator harness as it should see less vibration and heat there. One note on the plug is that it comes with 3 wires the center one is not used. I attempted to remove the pin but was unsuccessful. I have done this many times in the past but this one pin refused to come out. I quit trying when the pin began to deform from my attempts. I ended up cutting the wire off at the plug and sealing the exposed conductors with liquid tape insulation. ( See the black spot on the back of the plug in photo 2) https://www.permatex.com/products/ad...ectrical-tape/ Attached Images __________________ Thanks to Bob and Jeanie and everyone else at Superior Performance for all their great help. RIP Bob Parks. 1967 Burban (the WMB),1988 S10 Blazer (the Stink10 II),1969 GTO (the Goat), 1970 Javelin, 1952 F2 Ford OHC six 4X4, 29 Model A, 72 Firebird (the DBP Bird). 85 Alfa Romeo If it breaks I didn't want it in the first place The WMB repair thread http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=698377 Last edited by HO455; 07-25-2019 at 01:48 PM. Reason: Corrected bad information.