Yet another Alternator wiring question...

[Andy San]

I am rewiring my car with a universal 12 circuit loom and I need to hook up the altenator pins. I am stuck on the warning light pin, I don't have a warning light any more, as it is all done through my dash unit, and from what I have read it needs to be connected for the altenator to work, can I hook it into 12v or ground it to make it work or does it need some form of resistor?

altenator is a typical toyota 4A one with the standard 3 pin rear plug that they all have.

Cheers

[slide86]

That wire doesnt need to be connected to get the alternator to charge.

If you do want some sort of auxiliary light on the dash, you can wire a circuit for it. When that wire is EARTHED it will bring on the charge light, so I would gather that the alternator internally earths that wire if there is a fault. Having some sort of LED or 5w bulb with 12v on one side and the wire from the alternator on the other should complete the circuit.

[Nikkojoe]

Yeah what slide86 said. You don't really need it connected for it to work.

Although im pretty sure nissans require the light to be connected in order for it to start charging.

[Andy San]

Thanks guys, the dash unit in the car has a warning light and a 'volts' display that comes up when it drops below a certain level. So if I put switched 12v to the ign pin and 12v battery to the sense wire it will all work ok?

[Nikkojoe]

Yeah that sounds fine. I usually tap a wire off the bolt on strap to the sense so it's all neat.

[Skylar]

Nissans work without charge light.