I added a AD244 alt to my 91 Camaro RS, I have read threads on this forum and various others and I am am not sure I have read anything that gives me a true understanding of how this alternator/regulator works

I installed the alternator from a 2002 Tahoe 5.3 with a new pig tail. Several people/threads say you don't need the S wire and you need a 470k ohm resistor or 194 build in series with the L or F wire. This doesn't make sense for 2 reasons, the F wire has a internal resistor in the voltage regulator that leads to the L wire AND the 194 has 4.2 ohms of resistance. Who came up with this 470k ohm resistor madness? Maybe there are different scenarios where this works, just not mine.

My Camaro has a 12 gauge red wire that goes to S and a small gauge brown wire. My AD244 needs a the S wire straight to battery and the Brown wire hooked up to the L with a 194 light in series. The 194 light goes out when the engine starts running, This makes sense because that may be how alt warning lights in the dash were meant to work. This is the only combination that works for me, the 470k resistors nets .11 volts and that isn't enough to get the alt charging. Full battery voltage to the L wire without the light and the regulator gets fried quick. Currently, there is about 14.5 volts at the lug with little load on the alt and just a tick under that after the 194 bulb leading to the L wire.

Some of the truck/blazer/s10 sites are big into stereos so they need the alternator, their consensus seems to be a 8.2 ohm resistor, which I seem to see on some wiring diagrams unless I am reading them wrong. there has to be someone else who has figured this out or understands it, I would imagine you couldn't do and LS swap without tackling this problem.

 

Wire it the same way the stock CS130 was wired. The large red wire on S goes to a fusible link at the starter, which is fine.

The F terminal gets key-on power to enable the alternator, that too is fine the way it is.

Leave the L terminal open as there is a dash voltage gauge. No need to connect it to anything.

The resistor would be a 470 ohm, not K-ohm.

RBob.

 

F wire does not get the alternator alternator charging, whether it is straight 12v or with a light in series.

From what I have read people are saying too use a 470k ohm resistor, hell I have a friend here in town that is using that and it has been working for a year now.

And...the 194 bulb has 4.2 ohms, so I don't understand where the 470 or 470k ohm figures come from....

 

That is cold, the resistance increases once powered up. And sounds low as that would be 3.3 amps at a nominal 13.8 volts.

RBob.

 

I have not heard of cold resistance but I will take your word for it. The resistors resistance matches their rating when "cold", so I guess I am not smart enough to go down this rabbit hole LOL.

 

I did some checking on the resistor value. They probably meant to say 47 ohm. As the 194 bulb is about 52 ohms.

This is an inline resistor between switched +12 volts and the L terminal of the alternator.

Not sure why powering the F terminal directly didn't have the alternator charging. Something is not right about that.

RBob.

 

Mine has a P L I/F S connector.

Terminal S I have hooked directly to 12V ignition. I ran it to the keyed ignition side of the electrical system that way it's sensing the lowest system voltage on the car. Keeps the system running around 14.2V at all times with all systems on (EFI, stereo, electric fans, head/tail lights, A/C on full, etc).

I have the I/F wire connected to keyed 12V but with a 470 ohm resistor in line.

EDIT...i mistakenly said keyed ignition to terminal P. Should be S.

 

The spec for LS1 F-body alternator is 50 Ohm, 10W resistor inline with the L terminal. Alternatively, you can use a small incandescent light bulb. (The light bulb DC resistance increases substantially after the bulb lights up.) Another option is to wire a 12V switched source directly to the F terminal (no resistor). I'm not guessing, I personally know the engineer that owns these alternators and checked the specs when I built my car.

I don't know about the AD244 but it very well could have the same specs since many of the Delco Remy alternators share the same regulator module. There is a simple solution to learning though: Call the Delco Remy technical hot line and they'll tell you.

My recollection is the 470 Ohm value came from a DIY kind of guy on LS1tech that did his own bench testing many years ago. Smart enough to set up and run a test, but not smart enough to simply find the proper specs. He observed that the alternator tuned on with a 470 Ohm resistor and that became the stuff of legends you still hear today. Obviously the alternator will turn on, but not as reliably as when you use a 50 Ohm resistor. Using the proper resistor will turn on the alternator at a lower speed, lower voltage, and all temps.

 

470 Ohm correct or not, i can say for a fact my alternator is on and putting out full voltage while idling at 650 rpm.

 

If fcm42000 calls the technical help line then he can post up what they say about the AD244, and maybe we can all know what to recommend in the future.

 

Hello, I installed this same alternator in my 87 305 formula this past spring when I did a serpt belt conversion. I talked to the manufacturer and he suggested that I use a 470K-0hm restster in line with the (gosh I don't remember now) I think the L line. He also suggested larger cables, which I did and to place a 150 AMP replaceable fuse on the battery post. I get a steady 14.1 volts from idle to cruise. And the alternator runs nice and cool. I hope this helps.

Louis

 

470K ohm resistor?

as in 470,000 ohm???

Can one of you guys post a photo of the resistors that were purchased...
I would like to read the Color Code Bands, and confirm the resistance value.

 

It's absolutely 470 ohm. Not 470 kOhm.

 

Vortec,

This is the resister I used, per instructions of the alternator manufacturer. No problem, works great.



Louis

 

Wow. I just measured mine on the car and its 459 ohms (resistor tolerance variation).

Maybe the value isn't as important as everyone says if yours and mine both operate normally with such wildly different values.

Though I'm shocked that at nearly 1/2 megaOhm, the alternstor doesn't see that as an open circuit.

Another member also used 470. This is the thread that I followed to do my conversion.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/electronics/728975-alternator-cs130-ad244-conversion.html

 

Is the alternator strictly an externally excited type (need excitation wire to turn on), or does it also have self-excitation capability? Alternators that are self-excited will turn on if the rotor has adequate residual magnetism.

 

Add me to the list of people where 470k doesn't work. So with positive going to S, and I've tried both the I and L wires on the negative.

Edit: Nevermind. In the end, all I needed to do was run either the red or black wire from the CS130 connector (S or I) with a 470 to the L wire on the alt and that's it. The other 3 wires from the AD244 are useless. This was more simple than it should be lol.
Especially because I didn't tap out anymore of the bracket in order for the alternator to fit. I just got a thinner grade 8 bolt and nut to fit through it. Don't feel like damaging the bracket any.
The alternator wines really bad though. Ill have to take it back and get something better. From Advanced Auto, 2002 Escalade.
Not only that, with the AC on, LS1 fans going, I'm measuring 13.7 volts.

 

These connections always work.