As many of you know I'm using a 1.6 Sigma engine for my project and am planning a DTA ecu. Normally the alternator is, I believe, on this engine controlled by the ecu. This won't be possible with the after market ecu. I've heard and would appreciate confirmation that the alternator can be wired in the normal way without going through the ecu using an ignition warning light and direct connection to the battery. If this is right can you tell me what wires are redundant and which one is the exciter.

Thank you

Joh

Do we know the part number of the alternator John?

Cheers
Mike

I'll try to attach a couple of photos Mike. Thank you for your reply.




[Edited on 16/7/20 by John Bonnett]

Its not quite as straight forward as you think. I have a contact who mods these things to make them run or better use the twee dihatsu one.
its not a voltage but a signal that controls it

John,

I will have a play around when I'm in work in the morning.

Cheers
Mike

quote:

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Originally posted by starterman
John,

I will have a play around when I'm in work in the morning.

Cheers
Mike

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I ran into the same problem on the st220 engine/smart alternator. I ended up stripping the alternator down, removing the 'clever' control and adding in 3 diodes and a conventional reg so it works as a conventional alternator with ignition dash light.

Has anyone had any luck with this?

I have the same problem.

There must be a way to fool it into charging.

Change the regulator. Drop in and have a chat if you want, I'm in Callington.

Cheers
Mike

Thanks Mike, sent u2u

is there a solution here that can be shared as i'll be in this boat soon.

quote:

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Originally posted by FFMan
is there a solution here that can be shared as i'll be in this boat soon.

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does anyone know how different these alternators are to the slightly newer ones found on the duratec's ?

for example my tin-top (2008 1.8 duratec) started playing up - at first it was just like a battery not holding much charge (struggling to start on cold days etc) and I didn't think too much of it, but before I got any further with it I ended up with a totally dead battery and was forced to jump start it (which I know is not great for some of these cars ) shortly after this it started throwing up error codes and turning off the power steering while driving etc... which all seemed to come from over-voltage (according to the dash it was charging at anything between 11v and 18v seemingly at random)

long story short I bit the bullet and swapped the alternator out which cured the over-voltage issues - so I'm sure the regulator was dead in the end (who knows if that was part of the original issue as the old battery actually shows up not too bad on tests)

but I still get the other error code which is apparently triggered by a short somewhere (not found it yet, could be in the ECU) - this means that smart charging has effectively switched off and runs the alternator in limp mode at a constant 13.5v


This started me wondering if there was an relatively simple way to trick these alternators into limp mode ?
or is changing the regulator cheap enough that it's not worth the hassle ?

Mike (starterman) changed my regulator for £15. Wasn’t worth messing around with at that price, very helpful man. 👍

Sounds like the way to go as I am trying to isolate my ecu to engine only in prep for replacement and perhaps one that does not have alternator control or drive the dash board etc

Question. If i convert my alternator to a more conventional type, will the standard ecu get hissy prior to me ditching it ?