Hey guys.

Awhile back, the POS reman alternator that was in my car when I bought it finally gave out. I bought a nice chromed out 140 amp powermaster alternator. HOWEVER...

I was told since this alternator was a 1 wire design, all I needed was the positive cable going to the battery and I could leave the 2 wire red/white harness that went to my old alternator unplugged. This alternator had what I thought be a blockoff plug where the harness would have gone on a different model using the same casing. But then, the "blockoff plug" fell out with normal engine operation. I wasn't a plug. This alternator actually has the two prongs for the harness that I left unhooked. The car seems to run fine as well as the charging system, but I was wondering what am I leaving out by not having this harness hooked up to the alternator?

 

Sounds like you have one of Powermaster's 'hybrid' alternators that can be installed as one-wire or three-wire. Using it as a one-wire setup, you don't take advantage of the alternator's ability to energize with ignition, sense voltage remotely (for regulation at the primary junction), and work with the warning light in your dash (if you have one).

I actually just wired up my own hybrid Powermaster alternator (I've got the 100amp model) to a three-wire setup and it definitely improved voltage stability, especially at night when the headlights are on. So if you've already got the proper harness for hooking it up as a three-wire alternator, I'd recommend going for it.

For further reading, check out this article, very useful information here: http://www.madelectrical.com/electri...hreewire.shtml

 

I still have the brown wire tucked up in some wire loom, but I can't seem to locate the red wire or remember what I did with it. If I have to wire up another one, where does it go?