Keep killing alternators, A15 motor in an MG

[rbastedo]

What's wrong?  Don't get me started on all the "wrong" electrical that Nissan did at the factory.

 

Edit: Not to say that I don't think connecting to the battery positive isn't fine, it is.  I was more talking about jumping straight to the alt output, which people do when trying to create a one wire alt...

 

If a few feet of wire will do the trick I have a nice battery POS lug back at the firewall.

I'll run that wire to the POS lug and I'll check the other circuit to be sure it goes to the charging lamp on the dash, that the bulb is good and it turns on / off with the ignition switch.

From the wiki link about how this should work I gather that the L terminal should be negative and that the bulb turning on with the ignition switch causes the alternator to switch that terminal to positive and this causes the lamp to go out (switch from + from ignition and - from alt TO + from ignition and + from alternator).

I'll double check this all works just like that.

[thisismatt]

Right.  Once the alt is excited it outputs a 12v potential to the lamp circuit, essentially canceling out the battery potential across the bulb.  This is also why the charge lamp may very dimly illuminate at night even if the system is working properly, since the voltage potential across the bulb may not be exactly the same from both sides due to voltage drop on either side.

[rbastedo]

I just took a look at the back of my alternator.

The connector is the same as the one in the diagram here but the S and L are reversed.

I've been going about this backwards it seems.

[rbastedo]

I rewired it, pulled a new wire to + battery lug on my 6 way fuse box for the S connector and a new wire from L to my dash bulb.
Pulled a new switched positive wire from my switched 6 way fuse box for the positive ignition side of the bulb.
Guess what?
It's working correctly now.
Turn key on, red lamp comes on.
Start car, red lamp goes off.
Proper battery charging ensues.

Thanks for helping me, DPO stuff can get you into crazy-land pretty quick.
The previous owner thought he was an electrician.

[rbastedo]

Now I am wondering when this switch of L & S happened.

It was like this on the last one I got, I always felt it wasn't working right but it was keeping my battery charged up until the end.

I do not remember seeing the red dash light for a while now, so it probably happened 2 or 3 replacements ago.

Is this different with the AC equipped 210 versus the non-AC?

The unit I have now is for the AC equipped car, I wanted it because it is rated higher Amps output.

[ggzilla]

The alternator wiring is the same in the Datsun with A/C and without A/C. The difference is 60A output vs 50A output.

 

It will likely still charge if the tee connector wires are reversed as both go to battery POS just one via the IGN and lamp.

[rbastedo]

I am sure that's true, although my dash lamp works right now and that's a plus.

Also I feel better having got rid of wiring that was done by someone else which I am sure didn't do exactly what it was supposed to do.

Now I need to get some nice looking wrapping material for my wiring so it's not so Fugly.