"headlight harness" idea for heater fan....

[dogma420]

possibly simply replacing my stock alternator (72 240) with a higher output (ie. ZX alternator) would eliminate the low output at idle...

I'm more concerned with the fan slowing down at idle...I have a heavy duty pretty new battery, but stock alternator...Dave has said in the past this alternator is notorious for having a low output at idle....

[gogriz91]

Or the Z-specialties alternator with built in voltage regulator? (Shameless plug I know, but it's what I did to help the system out)

[dogma420]

I'm going to start a new thread on this, but was reading on usenet a post about grounding wire kits, and they said:

This deals with when you are starting the car, the current the starter is using...

<<Like the eletronics guy said, if the cranking current cannot complete its circuit

through the negative cable, it will try to find any other path available

including smaller wires you may have added as a "grounding kit"

or other wires which already exist in the wiring chassis such as radio,

heater, ECU, sensors, alternator and/or regulator, etc.

This can cause severe damage to any of these components.

If you run higher amperage through a wire than the wire can handle,

it will heat up and burn off its insullation. This may cause shorting with other

wires or a fire as insulation can burn as well as other flamable items like

plastic parts and interior.

>>

In other words, with these additional harnesses on the 240z (the headlight / parking light harneses / my radio direct to battery) should we make the ground on the alternator more strong, even if at this point in stock setup it is in perfect condition? I know that the kits are adding to + side of current, but never the less it made me think, as strengthening my ground is pretty cheap insurance but since I'm grounding illiterate (other than making stock have perfect wires and ground points)....

The guy in his post also stated that using one of the grounding kits, once all the multiple points are on there, you don't need a ground to the body....is this right? That didn't make sense to me.....

[bjhines]

Sure... the starter circuit and the rest of the electrical systems are all in parallel... the heavy wires connect directly to the starter housing at their designated points... any problems with one circuit can lead to problems with another...

Grounding is best done at one point in the car... It is called star grounding... this ensures that there are no unforseen high resistance points between body panels that may cause problems... You cannot easily accomplish this single point grounding...

In the 240Z there are several grounding points on the front clip, right frame rail, firewall, transmission tunnel, and several more in the rear clip... there are splices throughout the harnesses... dozens of them... >>any of these points can deteriorate and lead to problems...

I have gone through my harnesses... I cleaned and soldered everything carefully... many circuits added as well...

When you add a circuit you should add a ground as well... the trick is to use the factory points wherever possible...

[hls30.com]

Adding ground kits cant hurt but two things, your wallet and accessability to parts. Makes for an easy sale, and is hard to argue against, but, more than the factory supplied grounds aren't necessary on a well maintained un-modified car-upgrade the Alt, Upgrade the size of the wire on the grounds that are already there, not the number of grounds.

Will

[Zs-ondabrain]

I have a basic knowledge of electrical, nothing fancy or Degree worthy but here's what I know.

1) your system starts with a general size guage of wire. for starting and accessories. (from the factory)

2) Any time that you add extras or accesories to that system, you put more of a load on said system.

3) Most people get bigger wires for the possitive post but forget about the ground. It's kind of like finding the perfect glove for your right hand but not getting a glove for the left hand. Your battery has 2 parts, a (+) and a (-)

you can't make one stronger than the other without asking for trouble.

4) Add up all the wires that you have going to the positive post and make sure the the negative post has the equivalant guage wire to compansate for the extra (+) wires.

Like this......

Your battery has a 1) 4 guage power wire going to the starter 2) you've aded my parking light harness (12 guage wire) and my headlight harness (10 guage wire)

3) you also aded an MSD 6A to the battery which has a (12 guage) wire.

add them all together and you have (aprox) 2 guage worth of wire.

Therefore, you should have at LEAST a 2 guage wire going from the batteries Negative post to the starter bolt on the engine block. AS well as an 8 guage wire going from the negative post to the stock firewall location.

It also never hurts to make sure that the ground wire and positive wire on the alternator are up to par and of equal guage.

Go get some dialectric grease, reground all of your ground points by removing them from the chassis and exposing new metal, then add a little grease to slow down corrosion, then remount the grounds. (TIGHTLY)

JM2CW

Dave.