colin99999
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| posted on 25/5/15 at 10:34 PM |
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Ginetta G20 1.8 Zetec alternator wiring and battery charging
Looking for some pearls of wisdom regarding alternators, wiring and battery charging please.
I have an ex-championship Ginetta G20 race car running a 1.8 black top Zetec that I use for the odd track day at the moment. A minor issue is there is
no battery charging circuitry connected hence after a dozen or so starts the battery is flat. Checking the alternator wiring on the car, there’s nowt
connected to the B+ terminal but there’s a 3 pin plug with a yellow wire which goes to the charging warning light on the dash and then a pair of blue
wires, both of which appear to carry 14-15V with the engine running and feed into a voltage regulator relay type thing outputting 12V. Granted the
wires could go elsewhere too as I haven’t probed the whole loom.
Knowing nowt about vehicle electrics really other than what I’ve read up online already, I understand the 3 pin plug could indicate I have a Ford
Smart Charge alternator of some description which tallies with the engine, but the 3 pin wiring seems to function differently as explained. Also its
putting out 14-15V akin to a normal alternator, rather than up to 18V I read they are capable of. There’s the remains of a label stuck over another
label on the alternator body but nothing legible to be gleaned from either unfortunately.
I’ve pilfered a charging cable from an old Mondeo that was heading to the crusher and connected it from the B+ terminal on the alternator to the
battery positive terminal. With the engine idling it gives 14.1V across the battery terminals rising to 14.2V or so with modest revs running for a few
minutes. The freshly charged battery measured 12.7V shortly before firing the car up so it seems I’ve got some volts going back into the battery at
least, and all other systems appear to function as desired! I say this because initially I connected the cable from the alternator to the starter as
it was on the Mondeo, but the engine continued to run even after I knocked off the master switch…
So can anyone advise whether what I’ve connected up should lead to a suitable long term solution that won’t cook the battery? Does the alternator have
built in power output regulation? Any other gems of knowledge regarding how the alternator and wiring system might be functioning? Fire away if you
need any further info.
Thanks in advance!
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austin man
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| posted on 25/5/15 at 10:41 PM |
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the alternator has a regulator built in, you should get around 14 volts across the battery when its running Ive seen the output wired to either the
positive pole on the starter and also directly to the battery a separate wire should go to the dash warning lamp
Life is like a bowl of fruit, funny how all the weird looking ones are left alone
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