I see one thing right away... Run at least 2 gauge from the battery. Both pos and neg. Then run at least 8 ga from hot solenoid to alt. At least 4 to starter from switched side solenoid. I don't know what to figure on the accessories... Doesn't that have it's own wiring on the hot side solenoid?
If you are wiring from scratch, you should also: Run 2 ga from batt neg to block. This is primary ground cable, or neg battery cable. Run 4-6 ga from back of head to firewall. Some cars also run 4-6 ga from block to front frame rail. The more surefire grounds you have, the better off you are.
ok so 2 gauge for the battery, 8 or 6 for alternator, 4 for starter, 8 should do it for the accessories, i won't be running nothing heavy, just power for fuel pump, gauge lighting, ignition and stuff, all thru relays ofcourse and yeah i'm wiring all starting/charging from scratch i'll post picks of it when i'm done ofcourse, won't recognise the car
I don't see why not... My grandpa and I have talked about several diffrent things to do with it. He wants me to just put a Ford alternator and voltage regulator on it. I've already got a hybrid ignition system on it using Ford Duraspark II parts.
The fuse would be a saftey precaution if the battery,alternator, cable shorted out. Almost all new cars have them.
I have seen newer cars have a fuse link and I have seen them burnt. Seems when I have seen them burnt and I just replace the fuse link the amperage reading is over the vehicles or alt spec. The problem was usually an alt that failed to switch or regulate properly and would put out maximum charge or even over charge, causing the link to burn. This link would save the rest of the wireing I guess... There are some fuse links in my 73 Comet, but I hav'nt traced them, yet.
Let's think about it further for a second... I'm the first to admit that I don't know as much about wiring as I should. 1st concern: If you heat a relay from both sides of the main current circuit, it shouldn't affect the circuit being disrupted... Am I correct? AFAIK, the fact that there is current on both sides is immaterial... 2nd concern: How to heat the relay... I have a novel idea: Get the heat from the alternator wire itself. That way the alternator spins, puts current, kicks the relay, battery charges. Then, car off, engine stops, alternator no spin, relay relaxes and disconnects the alternator from the battery. If this stuff is worked out, and we use a relay to match the amps of the alternator... The one wire alternator just turned into a one wire to relay alternator, with a ground wire for said relay... unless you found one that could mount and ground itself by mounting. Just a brainstorm for consideration...
The relay I have powering my horns is powered by the same circuit as the horns. Granted that it is not as serious of a circuit, but It seems to work fine. The relay always has a power going to the positive side and my horn button is between the ground instead. I did it this way simply out of ease and likewise, I have had no problem with it. Just a little backwords of how most people wire relays. I don't see any reason why you couldn't use the alternator to power the relay. Infact, it seems like great idea. It would be totally self contained and turn itself on and off. I do wonder if it would affect the operation of the internal regulator in the alternator though, although I can't see why it would since as long as the relay has power the circuit should stay open.
It is when you can buy the new wireless alternators. Works just like a wireless keyboard. In fact you can just leave the alternator off the vehicle if you plan on driving less than 10 miles from home.
Our cars all originally had fusible links in that location to protect the battery and alternator from each other (either one can short out and damage the other). A fusible link is nothing more than an undersized wire. And yes, if there is a problem the "link" will get real hot and burn open. That's it's purpose. It's a cheap fuse. In my case my "one-wire" alternator is an 80 amp model. The correct size wire for that is normally 6 AWG so I used an 8 AWG link wire.
That would be a great idea if you could get an alternator that had a self contained battery. An alternator will not produce any voltage unless it is excited with voltage while it is in motion. You could turn it as long and as fast as you wanted with no voltage and it would not put out anything. So it needs an external source of voltage to operate at all. Just something to think about. Don
Not sure what you mean by "heat the relay". A relay is an electromechanical device, an electromagnet that attracts a hinged contact when it's energized, not a thermal device. In the case of a DC operated relay it requires one of the coil (electromagnet) terminals to be supplied with positive voltage (usually 12v in our cars) and a lesser voltage on the other coil terminal (usually ground).
