Alternator Upgrade Related Questions (was One-Wire Alternator Questions)

[ArdWrknTrk]

We are safe. But Barnsdall, a town 20 miles away, took a direct hit. We watched on TV as the rotation started SW of us and tracked about 15 miles west of us and then watched as it made a beeline to Barnsdall. And they are guessing it was an EF3 with a debris field to 20,000 feet in the air.

Then it went right up to Bartlesville. Barnsdall is a burgh but Bartlesville is a major city in OK.

Now there is another storm firing up near Wagoner, which is where John/Machspeed is. Just texted him and he's ok - so far.

Yep, I know where John is. 💡

Somebody the other day needed his contact info for a sticker.....

[dirtymac]

But I need to change the schematic if Rocketman confirms this is the way he's sending the voltmeters.

I have no news from Bob/Rocketman… I sent him my NOS ammeter for conversion, and tracking is confirming the delivery on last April 26th.

I emailed Bob to be sure everything is ok on his side, no sound, no image.

I have emailed him about my situation with the polarity change on my converted meter. I'll let everyone know what the response is.

[ArdWrknTrk]

You beat me to it. I was able to check the voltage at the back of the meter, -12.5v. Something I missed in Rocketman's documentation is that he recommends not using the factory cluster wiring but instead wiring the converted meter in with new wires.

I was not expecting the conversion of the meter to switch it's polarity. I don't know if that is due to the nature of the conversion or what.

You've got to realize that his main business is '60s Torino's, Cougars and Mustangs.

Harnii in vehicles that old are usually toast.

These '80's trucks hold up pretty well from what I see.

Though yours is pretty early, with a 335 and all that Cleveland goodness going on!

[Gary Lewis]

You beat me to it. I was able to check the voltage at the back of the meter, -12.5v. Something I missed in Rocketman's documentation is that he recommends not using the factory cluster wiring but instead wiring the converted meter in with new wires.

I was not expecting the conversion of the meter to switch it's polarity. I don't know if that is due to the nature of the conversion or what.

You've got to realize that his main business is '60s Torino's, Cougars and Mustangs.

Harnii in vehicles that old are usually toast.

These '80's trucks hold up pretty well from what I see.

Though yours is pretty early, with a 335 and all that Cleveland goodness going on!

On the left is the backside of C208A, the connector that goes into the gauge cluster. And you can see the R/O & Y/LG wires in the upper right, pins 8 & 9. On the right is the front side of that connector and I've pulled up the tab that keeps Pin 8 in the connector. To swap the two wires you just ease that tab up, pull the wires, swap, and reinsert them.

I hope to dig down to the way Big Blue is wired later today, but my documentation shows that the R/O wire is positive and the Y/LG is ground.

[Gary Lewis]

On the left is the backside of C208A, the connector that goes into the gauge cluster. And you can see the R/O & Y/LG wires in the upper right, pins 8 & 9. On the right is the front side of that connector and I've pulled up the tab that keeps Pin 8 in the connector. To swap the two wires you just ease that tab up, pull the wires, swap, and reinsert them.

I hope to dig down to the way Big Blue is wired later today, but my documentation shows that the R/O wire is positive and the Y/LG is ground.

Well, the plot thickens. The pics below show how Big Blue is wired - just like my documentation says. R/O goes to Pin 8 and Y/LG goes to Pin 9 of C208A, and 8 has battery voltage on it when the key is on and 9 is ground. Not only that, you can see Rocketman's red paint on the DS stud and black on the PS stud of the voltmeter. Plus, I've put lines on the traces to show where they go.

Will - Which of your voltmeter's studs is red? Has he changed his orientation?

[dirtymac]

Well, the plot thickens. The pics below show how Big Blue is wired - just like my documentation says. R/O goes to Pin 8 and Y/LG goes to Pin 9 of C208A, and 8 has battery voltage on it when the key is on and 9 is ground. Not only that, you can see Rocketman's red paint on the DS stud and black on the PS stud of the voltmeter. Plus, I've put lines on the traces to show where they go.

Will - Which of your voltmeter's studs is red? Has he changed his orientation?

Mine are opposite. I refused to unplug the cluster again last night when we were diagnosing the issue so this is a badly lit and badly focused image. However, the red and black markings should be clear enough.

[Gary Lewis]

Mine are opposite. I refused to unplug the cluster again last night when we were diagnosing the issue so this is a badly lit and badly focused image. However, the red and black markings should be clear enough.

Thanks, Will. That pretty well confirms it.

I just sent Bob/Rocketman this email:

Bob - First, I am so sorry for your loss.

I'm one of your biggest fans and strongly recommend that people converting to a 3G alternator on the Bullnose trucks have you convert their ammeter to a voltmeter, which you can see on my webpage here.  I'm running one of yours and love it.  In fact, I think I sent you a core several years ago to just help out.

But I need a bit of help as one of the Bullnose Forum members just got his meter back from you and it appears that the positive and negative terminals have been swapped, which means my wiring diagram is wrong.  I couldn't believe that so I pulled my dash apart today and documented which post you painted red vs black, and had my member take a pic of his.  They sure seem to be flipped.  You can see the pictures of them in my post here and then his follow-on post.

I'm just trying to understand how you are going to be doing it so I can adjust my schematic if needed.  Not at all saying you are wrong.  But I'm updating my wiring diagram and would like it to match how you plan to do it.  Will, the gentleman that just installed your meter, is the first to use my new schematic, and Jeff in Canada has a meter on order from you, and he''ll be #2.  So I need to get this right and would appreciate your help.

Thanks,

Gary Lewis

Bullnose Forum

[Tarheel Blue]

Thanks, Will. That pretty well confirms it.

I just sent Bob/Rocketman this email:

Bob - First, I am so sorry for your loss.

I'm one of your biggest fans and strongly recommend that people converting to a 3G alternator on the Bullnose trucks have you convert their ammeter to a voltmeter, which you can see on my webpage here.  I'm running one of yours and love it.  In fact, I think I sent you a core several years ago to just help out.

But I need a bit of help as one of the Bullnose Forum members just got his meter back from you and it appears that the positive and negative terminals have been swapped, which means my wiring diagram is wrong.  I couldn't believe that so I pulled my dash apart today and documented which post you painted red vs black, and had my member take a pic of his.  They sure seem to be flipped.  You can see the pictures of them in my post here and then his follow-on post.

I'm just trying to understand how you are going to be doing it so I can adjust my schematic if needed.  Not at all saying you are wrong.  But I'm updating my wiring diagram and would like it to match how you plan to do it.  Will, the gentleman that just installed your meter, is the first to use my new schematic, and Jeff in Canada has a meter on order from you, and he''ll be #2.  So I need to get this right and would appreciate your help.

Thanks,

Gary Lewis

Bullnose Forum

The instruction sheet that was included w/ my conversion states that RED is + and BLACK is -

But also states;

“If you wire the meter backwards it won’t be harmed, It just won’t work. Reverse the wires and you’ll be fine.”

[Gary Lewis]

The instruction sheet that was included w/ my conversion states that RED is + and BLACK is -

But also states;

“If you wire the meter backwards it won’t be harmed, It just won’t work. Reverse the wires and you’ll be fine.”

Right, Kurt. But it appears he's switched which post is positive, which makes it really hard for us to come up with an easy way to do this. Granted it is easy to swap the R/O & Y/LG wires and you are literally right there when installing the voltmeter in the cluster and then the cluster in the dash.

[dirtymac]

Thanks, Will. That pretty well confirms it.

I just sent Bob/Rocketman this email:

Bob - First, I am so sorry for your loss.

I'm one of your biggest fans and strongly recommend that people converting to a 3G alternator on the Bullnose trucks have you convert their ammeter to a voltmeter, which you can see on my webpage here.  I'm running one of yours and love it.  In fact, I think I sent you a core several years ago to just help out.

But I need a bit of help as one of the Bullnose Forum members just got his meter back from you and it appears that the positive and negative terminals have been swapped, which means my wiring diagram is wrong.  I couldn't believe that so I pulled my dash apart today and documented which post you painted red vs black, and had my member take a pic of his.  They sure seem to be flipped.  You can see the pictures of them in my post here and then his follow-on post.

I'm just trying to understand how you are going to be doing it so I can adjust my schematic if needed.  Not at all saying you are wrong.  But I'm updating my wiring diagram and would like it to match how you plan to do it.  Will, the gentleman that just installed your meter, is the first to use my new schematic, and Jeff in Canada has a meter on order from you, and he''ll be #2.  So I need to get this right and would appreciate your help.

Thanks,

Gary Lewis

Bullnose Forum

The perfectionist in me is just screaming right now.