16 replies to this topic

[Hamish]

Hi all, I have a 1969 morris mini k and have struck trouble in the way if the battery not getting charged. On the alternator there are 2 large and 2 small terminals, on one of the small terminals there is a green and brown wire which reads terminal F-,, the other small terminal has a yellow and brown wire which reads IND. One of the large terminals has a positive sign next to it and the other negative, now I assumed the brown wire which was in the loom next to it goes to the + terminal and a separate wire be run to an earth point from the negative terminal however when I tried this the battery still only remained at around 12.6 volts when the car was running. Can anyone help with the correct wiring of this type of alternator as I beleive that the alternator is in working order with no shorts, solid connections and good brushes, thanks

[Hamish]

I am currently restoring the car so I never go to see how the wiring originally went as the motor was out of the car when I brought it...:/

[freaker]

normally the wires are in the loom. taped together...

 

so i pressume you are making a new wire ?

 

have you tried giving a bit of throttle and measure then ?

 

 

freaker

[Hamish]

Yes the brown wire is taped in with the brown yellow and brown green which have a connector on them so they can't be out around the wrong way, however there is no other wire so I assume that I needed to put another wire in from the negative terminal to an earth point?, and yes tries revving the engine to driving speed but no real change in the battery voltage

[freaker]

measure, the voltage at the alternator ? what do you have there ?

 

and what do you mean by no wreal change ?

 

freaker

[lrostoke]

are you sure this is an alternator and not a dynamo...

 

dynamo will have a seperate control/regulator box, from memory when I had a dynamo years ago, it was the control box that needed setting to get the system charging correctly.

[freaker]

good thought :)

about the dynamo :)

 

freaker

[Hamish]

Not real change meaning like .1 of a volt at the battery, and yes it's an alternator.. Measuring approx 14 volts at the brown positive wire at the alternator meaning the alternator is working but how come it's not getting back to the battery?? That wire not connected somewhere down the line I assume? It's night over here so can't check at the moment

[lrostoke]

wiring sounds odd to me

 

alternator only need 2 connections really..

 

the connection giving the 14v should go direct to the solenoid battery terminal

 

You may find 2 wires go to the solenoid , should be brown, and one may have a blue tracer.

 

The brown/yellow should go to the ignition warning light on the dashboard.

 

pictures may help

Edited by lrostoke, 03 October 2013 - 07:55 AM.

[Hamish]

Yea may be a loose or missing connection at the solenoid, will have a look tomorrow. And I took a photo but was unable to upload it to the post, think that's because I'm on my phone not computer. But yes the terminals are unlike any other mini alternators iv seen on the net but that may be due to it being an Australian model? Don't know if there different or not but thanks for the help I should be able to diagnose now I know the alternator is putting out power

[lrostoke]

as it been converted from a dynamo to alternator...the colour wires you describe are consistant with a dynamo setup..

 

One way of converting was keep the original wiring and alter the connections on the regulator box...

 

If this is the case worth seeing if regulator box still fitted and if wiring is OK.

[Dan]

  Very early alternators had a separate regulator, just like dynamos.  The F terminal is the field, in this case the warning and field are not common.  The alternator won't energise unless the field is live.  Is there a number on the alternator?  Can you find a control box?  It should be a 4TR.  There should be another separate control box for the warning light, it looks like a large round flasher unit and is called 3AW.  There is also a relay used to shut down the alternator field when switching off.  All this stuff was all put inside later units.  Are you sure the terminals on the alternator aren't actually marked ' +, Field, B'?  The ' - ' on the type I am thinking of is just a divider between the markings.  Look carefully.

 

  Be careful, this type of alternator was generally fitted to positive earth models and I don't think swapping it over would be as straightforward as for a dynamo.  This is why it has separate + and B terminals.

 

  Yes there are differences due to it being a Mini K, the wiring was one of the locally sourced parts even in the CKD models I believe.  But there were UK Minis with early alternators too and these had 3 brown connections, one brown / yellow, one brown / green and one black positive earth which was not part of the loom.

Edited by Dan, 03 October 2013 - 08:43 AM.

[Hamish]

I'm not sure of the alternators originality to the car as I'm not the first owner of it however it was on the engine when I brought it and the engine and car body match up to the 1969 morris k 1100 model. The only identification I can find on it is Lucas Australia, 62921207A ..15 amp current

[Hamish]

I'm not sure of the alternators originality to the car as I'm not the first owner of it however it was on the engine when I brought it and the engine and car body match up to the 1969 morris k 1100 model. The only identification I can find on it is Lucas Australia, 62921207A ..15 amp current

[Dan]

15A?  Just bin it and rewire for a modern one.  15A is not worth having.  You could probably sell it to someone rebuilding a classic, they are probably pretty rare.