Connecting Wires to the Starter / Alternator

[BadAsp427]

Simple question, perhaps, Perhaps not???

Tonight I planned to connect the wiring to the Single Wire alternator as well as the starter... Ran in to a problem on both, but mostly on the starter. I have 4 10-gauge wires plus the battery cable to attach to the starter... That many creates a very thick stack of eye lugs.... too thick to be able to then put the nut on and not to mention the lock washer. How are you guys doing this? On the alternator(even a smaller lug bolt) I was able to put the two 14-gauge wires into one eye lug and the the others into another and make it fit and get the nut on it correctly.

Thanks for your insight and if you happen to have photos of your work, I love to see that.
Carl

[JimLev]

Here's what I used on my '33. Battery and cable to the starter on one stud. Alt to another stud.
Fuse block power to another stud, etc.
Each stud can take 2-3 lugs so you should be fine.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M3U1DSY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[cgundermann]

Terminal block is the way to go...really keeps things tidy.

Chris

[Derald Rice]

I have and will use the same bus bar for my rewire project this winter that Jim has referenced .

Another low cost and rather creative option was suggested by Big Blocker not too long ago. Replace the nut on your starter with a coupling nut. The coupling nut should be able to hold 2 of the wires on the stud, and a bolt can be used on the other open end of the coupling nut for the other 2 wires. Problem solved for about a buck.

[edwardb]

It's a little confusing IMO that the RF harness wiring shows all those wires attached to the "starter solenoid" which most interpret as the solenoid on the now almost universally used Ford mini-starters. I suspect that's really a reference to the firewall mounted solenoid that was commonly used in the past and still is on some builds. But the fact is (1) a firewall solenoid isn't required any longer, and (2) it's not necessary or even very neat or practical to drag all those wires down to the actual mini-starter on the firewall. Instead, use a binding post at a convenient place on the firewall. Or a bus bar as suggested. I personally use this one: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Systems-2315-Terminal/dp/B000OTJ8A0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540267766&sr=8-1&keywords=blue+seas+bus+bar. All that's needed at the starter is a single 4-gauge wire from the battery to the large post and the blue start wire to the small post.

For the alternator, a 1-wire alternator just needs one of those wires on the RF harness. If you strip back the convolute, you'll see that the two large wires are joined together a little ways back from the end. Just eliminate one. You also don't need the brown wire for your setup. It too can be removed.

[BadAsp427]

Well there you have it.... THANK YOU EVERYONE!

[CraigS]

One detail I'd like to ad if you run your battery cable to the buss. Put the battery cable and the wire to your starter on the same lug on the buss. Since starters can draw 200+ amps you don't want that load going through the buss. Jims I am not clear whether it is rated at 150A or 250A and EdwardB's at 100A

[JimLev]

One detail I'd like to ad if you run your battery cable to the buss. Put the battery cable and the wire to your starter on the same lug on the buss.
Jims I am not clear whether it is rated at 150A or 250A and EdwardB's at 100A

I did mention having both the battery and starter cable on the same stud, doing so you don't need to worry about the current rating of the bus's bar.
The different ratings are for the various bussbars options, 4 studs, 10 studs, 12 studs, etc.

4-post models available in 5/16" or 3/8" posts, with 3 additional #8 screws for small attachments. Rated at 250 amps at 12VDC, maximum 48VDC.

[edwardb]

One detail I'd like to ad if you run your battery cable to the buss. Put the battery cable and the wire to your starter on the same lug on the buss. Since starters can draw 200+ amps you don't want that load going through the buss. Jims I am not clear whether it is rated at 150A or 250A and EdwardB's at 100A

My usual wiring practice is to use a master disconnect rated at 200 amps. The battery goes there and the other side to the starter and the bus bar. The bus bar never sees the amperage from the starter when wired that way. But didn't want to complicate this discussion. Agreed to just connect them to the same post if that's the way you go.

[BadAsp427]

For the alternator, a 1-wire alternator just needs one of those wires on the RF harness. If you strip back the convolute, you'll see that the two large wires are joined together a little ways back from the end. Just eliminate one. You also don't need the brown wire for your setup. It too can be removed.

Paul,
Thanks for the info, have a question you may be able to answer. The Brown wire, of course it shows on the RF wiring diagram as being connected to the ALt... You indicate it is not needed. OK... I actually have all the wires hooked up and in fact, with it included, it is like I have the key in the ALT position even when it is off... Simple fix, cut it out and all is good... My question is: What the heck is that wire for? Do you know??? Either way, I have it cut off and covered with shrink tube. Strange...

[edwardb]

Paul,
Thanks for the info, have a question you may be able to answer. The Brown wire, of course it shows on the RF wiring diagram as being connected to the ALt... You indicate it is not needed. OK... I actually have all the wires hooked up and in fact, with it included, it is like I have the key in the ALT position even when it is off... Simple fix, cut it out and all is good... My question is: What the heck is that wire for? Do you know??? Either way, I have it cut off and covered with shrink tube. Strange...

To be honest, I don't know what the brown alternator wire is for. I've only done one-wire alternators. Two on SBF's, and now two Coyote's which only need the single red wire from the RF harness and the controls are from the Ford Performance controls pack harness. In all cases, I've removed the brown wire as was suggested to me way back on my first build.

[karlos]

Brown wire is for the exciter circuit (shown as the green wire below) which isn't needed for a 1-wire alternator. So, yeah, you can eliminate it.

Note that the brown wire also drives the alternator charge light. And that's one of the shortcomings of a 1-wire alternator - no charge light. Since I wasn't confident I would spot a no-charge condition with just the voltage meter on the dash, I installed an LED voltage monitor to provide the same functionality as the charge light. Got it here: http://www.sparkbright.co.uk/battery-voltage-monitors.php

Changes color based on battery voltage and flashes red in the event of a no-charge condition (voltage drops below 12.45 volts). Works great.


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