WH 1-Wire 3g Alternator Install

Hey Guys,

I've done a lot of searching on the forum in preparation for installing a new-to-me Wild Horses 3G 1-wire alternate purchased from another board member.

I remember reading about the install when I bought the alternator, and then decided to wait to do the installation. Now I am trying to find some of that same information. Some of the questions might be a little basic; but, I'd like to make sure I do it right the first time. (After all the searching I did, I'm hoping that these questions might help others doing the same thing.)

1. As I understand it, the "1-wire" is the power wire from the alternator to the battery. If this is true, the plug at the voltage regular integral to alternator isn't connected to anything. Correct?

2. What becomes of the stock voltage regulator? Simply remove the plug connector from the regulator and get rid of it?

3. I purchased the fuse assembly from Wild Horses for connecting the alternator to the battery. I ran across the picture below in another thread which covers the 1-wire install. The pic shows the wiring of the alternator output. Does it make a difference that the fused output goes to the solenoid rather than a terminal on the battery? Is there an advantage to doing this way? That's a great thread for this conversion, too. (Here's a link to that thread. The pic is on post 20.)

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=237629&highlight=wild+horses+alternator&page=2

4. (This is more a question for WH, and it's not a big deal; but, the pic that shown in the above thread shows the longer of the cables attaching the alternator to the fuse block. On the fuse block assembly I received, the shorter cable has the small terminal connector required to attach to the alternator. The connectors on the longer cable are too large to attach to the alternator lug. If someone were trying to wire the same as in the other thread, it might be confusing.)

Thanks for your help.

Take Care,

Jeff

Hey Jeff. 'Bout time!;D

Jeff10 said:

1. As I understand it, the "1-wire" is the power wire from the alternator to the battery. If this is true, the plug at the voltage regular integral to alternator isn't connected to anything. Correct?

Click to expand...

Correct and correct.
The "one wire" refers to the main charging cable.
While you no longer need any of those old wires (or the regulator) for charging/alternator duties, most end up keeping at least the Green w/red wire somewhere handy to use if ever they need a switched power source under the hood. Very convenient to have that one left over.
If you don't have a use for it right away, just cap it off so the conductor can't touch anything.

Jeff10 said:

2. What becomes of the stock voltage regulator? Simply remove the plug connector from the regulator and get rid of it?

Click to expand...

Yep.
Your new regulator is inside the alternator. They're called "internally regulated" alternators for this reason. And since you only need one regulator per alternator, you give the external one the "old 86" and a heave-ho.

Jeff10 said:

3. I purchased the fuse assembly from Wild Horses for connecting the alternator to the battery. I ran across the picture below in another thread which covers the 1-wire install. The pic shows the wiring of the alternator output. Does it make a difference that the fused output goes to the solenoid rather than a terminal on the battery?

Click to expand...

For our purposes, no. Use whichever is most convenient.
There is a theoretical advantage to a direct connection to the battery, but with only a few inches of (supposedly) heavy gauge cable between the two points, it's effectively the same.

Jeff10 said:

4. (This is more a question for WH, and it's not a big deal; but, the pic that shown in the above thread shows the longer of the cables attaching the alternator to the fuse block. On the fuse block assembly I received, the shorter cable has the small terminal connector required to attach to the alternator. The connectors on the longer cable are too large to attach to the alternator lug. If someone were trying to wire the same as in the other thread, it might be confusing.)

Click to expand...

Several possibilities at work here. First of all, the function does not care whether the short or long side is at the alternator or battery.
As far as the connectors go, either we made it differently back then (whether on purpose or by accident), or we made a custom set for his order, or he re-did his own, or Slednut simply made it work that way even with the odd-size connectors.
Not sure, but thanks for bringing it up. Bottom line is just do what works best for you, or what looks cleanest.
I know several who have crimped new ends on theirs to better fit their setup. We just use lengths that should work with most EB installs, but in some cases you're better off with a custom set.

Paul

Definitely worth the time and effort bud.

Hi Paul,

As usual, your answers are awesome. Thanks for taking the time to be so detailed.

I was going to wait until I got this finished; but, as usually happens with me, life got in the way. I'm hoping to get back at it early next week.

Thanks again.

Jeff

Hi Paul,

DirtDonk said:

The "one wire" refers to the main charging cable.
While you no longer need any of those old wires (or the regulator) for charging/alternator duties, most end up keeping at least the Green w/red wire somewhere handy to use if ever they need a switched power source under the hood. Very convenient to have that one left over.
If you don't have a use for it right away, just cap it off so the conductor can't touch anything.

Click to expand...

I want to make sure I don't overload the circuit if I choose to use the green w/red wire that would normally go to the voltage regulator. I believe that the source of that switched power runs through a 14 amp fuse at the fuse block, if I found the correct schematic. Can you confirm that? I'm considering powering the stock back-up lights with that circuit. If the load is too great I'll go with a relay as was suggested on another thread.

Thanks for your help.

Jeff

Jeff10 said:

I want to make sure I don't overload the circuit if I choose to use the green w/red wire that would normally go to the voltage regulator. I believe that the source of that switched power runs through a 14 amp fuse at the fuse block, if I found the correct schematic. Can you confirm that?

Click to expand...

Wire 904, which is the Green w/Red stripe wire originally run to the voltage regulator is fused only by the original fuse link. It comes directly from the ignition switch and is connected to the same terminal as wire # 16, the resistor wire that powers the original coil. Power to the ignition switch is supplied by Wire #21, which is spliced directly into the charging "loop" consisting of wires 37 and 38 which run from the output of the stock alternator to the BAT+ side of the starter solenoid (through a fuse link).

What Steve said. Pretty sure it's a direct line in the stock harness.
You still running stock or something else?

I would think it's more than sufficient to handle the two standard lamps. But I would still run a relay as not only protection but for higher loads in case you decide to use more powerful lamps (which we all should!) of some kind. I used high-wattage halogen bulbs in mine and would not want that load added to the switch. I'm sure it can handle even that up to a point, but I dislike adding more to the ignition switch than just the critical functions.

What's up with your original backup lamp wiring? Something go wonky with it, or is the Green one just easier to work with?
A lot of wire length down the hard working length of the truck all the way to the back, with many more possibilities of mischief. So at the very least I'd protect the switch and wiring with at least a small fuse of your own added to this new backup lamp circuit.
Adding a relay just adds some capacity and takes some load off the ignition switch.

Paul