60 amp swape not charging battery

[hotflames280z]

Just joined the zclub and have a major problem. Installed 81zx 60amp alternator and my hook-up to the regulator had only 5 pins wired, not six like the change over showed. HOOKED UP the alternator and battery is not charging. Could any one help please? my 50amp was not charging like I wanted. I have a genneric stereo and speakers not hi-tech stuff and no heavy loads on the system.:disappoin:paranoid: Forgot to tell u folks that I have a 75 280z modified to three screw su's done by ztherapy. Thanks again.

Edited March 10, 2013 by hotflames280z

[SteveJ]

Was the conversion done like on this page? http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/alternatorswap/index.html

[hotflames280z]

yes it was. I have a 76 harnes that I bought a few yrs back and that harnes has six wires for the six pins. I thought I might install that harnes in. If I don't , maybe ren-stall old alternator and see if I can find mecahanic that can tdo the swape for me. I sure would like to do myself and save money for other things I like to get for my Z.

[SteveJ]

Are you sure you bought an internally regulated alternator?

[hotflames280z]

Yes, I made sure that it was not for a turbo 1981zx modle. I had them make sure it was for 81zx 60amp. Like the swape over the one I bought is bigger and has all the right stuff for the swape and it does say on the instructions that it has internal regulator. I was try to find the correct wire to splice into the number one pin but could not find it. I tracked two white wires and checked them out with a multimeter to check continuity and still didn't find the correct wire to hook it up. The other two wires 2,3 are fine, but 1 is missing. Trying to locate today with multimeter. The 76 harnes is almost the same except I can't find the wir that goes to the starter solidnoid. Love ur car. Thank you for your reply.

[Zed Head]

Do you have an ammeter or a voltmeter? I'm not sure when they switched over but the missing wire may be the charge lamp wire, which would be necessary for the alternator to energize and charge, but missing if you have an ammeter. Maybe you should be using the 240Z swap wiring scheme.

[hotflames280z]

Hey thanks for your reply Zed Head! I used a digital multimeter. It works well and with it I was able to track down pins 1,2,3,4 on the 76 harnes. Trying to find the one wire I need to hook the 1 pin and 5 pin. The 2,3 pin are there and hooked up. When I checked in the electrical section on my Haynes manual for the color code wire, it showed a grn/red wire. I hooked up to it and battery was not charging and was loosing amps. the battery is fully charged at 12.73 volts and when I start the engine , it drops down to 11.33 and keeps going down. Just need to find the correct wire and it should work well. I don't know if the wire harnes is the same as a 240z one is. I won't give up since those new ztherapy carbs are working so well and its a blast to drive the car. Thanks again for the info.

[Zed Head]

You're probably on a better track now anyway. By the time I got done with my charging system, I ended up at just the basics of finding a good voltage source for the S wire to monitor voltage, the L wire which comes through the Charge lamp, and the main charging wire for the battery after it runs through the fusible link. All of the original regulator wires are unused now, except the L wire.

On the 76 system a problem I found that's not covered by the various internet schemes is that the brake check warning lamp relay power runs through the external regulator. It's yellow and runs back in to the harness. You can end up with it powered always or not powered at all, both wrong if you want it to work. You'll know that you might have this problem if you get a small spark at the negative terminal and hear a relay click when you reconnect the battery. That's another issue though, I don't know if 75 has it.

[hotflames280z]

Yes I agree with you. I'll b checking out some wires and hope to find the right one. Thanks again!

[SteveJ]

Okay, let's move away from pin numbers and focus on wire colors.

It took me a while, but I think I have it figured out.

The White & Yellow wires should be jumpered together.

The Green & White/Black wires should be jumpered together.

The Black wire doesn't need to be jumpered.

The Green/Red wire doesn't need to be jumpered.

See if that works for you.

[hotflames280z]

Thank you SteveJ. I hooked the wires like u mentioned and almost everything worked, that is the good news is that the alternator is good and charging the battery. No sparks or smoke naywhere that I can see. Even the lights,wipers worked alot better. Ok,nuff of that! when I turned the key to turn off the motor , the motor would not turn off. According to the info I got on the swape looks like I need to ge t a diode from Radio Shack and solder it to the T connection. Not a problems as long as it works. Thanks again for your help.

[SteveJ]

It took some effort to figure it out. I used the wiring diagrams from the 73, 75, & 81, the 75 and 81 FSMs, and the old writeup on zhome.com as references.