cs130 install questions - how to hook up wires (1 Viewer)

[Southeast Overland]

I need some help in how to run the wires from a stock harness in a 1976 Pig to a cs130. I suck at wiring so please bear with me. I just installed a National Luna dual battery kit (very nice) to power an Edgestar fridge plus all my accessories during a ~ 3,000 mi road trip I'm taking in August.

My old 50 amp stock alternator can't keep up, and I think my external voltage regulator is on the fritz causing an 'excessive charge' warning on the Nat'l Luna system - so I'm going to install a 105 amp cs130 that is internally regulated.

I've read everything I can find on MUD, plus a bunch off of MUD. It appears that the cs130 will mount to the stock 2F alt bracket pretty easily with a spacer on the long bolt (https://forum.ih8mud.com/3348915-post5.html) - the pulley can be reused from the 2F alt just fine. Since the cs130 is internally regulated I can unhook my external voltage regulator which is mounted just behind my driver's headlight (see pic below, circled in red), unhook the harness plug circled in purple and tape off, and tape off the currently unused plug circled in green, then toss the old voltage regulator in a box. Now run a 4 ga battery cable from the batt post on the cs130 to the positive terminal on my primary battery and no fuse is needed. No problems there but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Now here is where I'm confused. Some places (CS-130 Alternator Wiring - Land Cruiser Tech from IH8MUD.com) say I need to use some of the wires from the stock alt plug, while others say to tape off the stock alt plug (see second pic below) for a rainy day and all you need is the one wire from the poss on the start to the positive battery terminal. I've read plenty of places where you have to get this right or you can fry your stock wiring harness. So which is it??? I would much prefer to only have the one single wire to the primary battery - easy, simple, done.

Thanks for the help!

 

[BrianSanDiego]

Does this help?
CS130 Alternator wiring question - The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network

I don't know about the stock Landcruiser wiring, but I know I wouldn't run the big output wire through the stock wiring harness. With the high output alternator you will cook the stock ammeter or worse. I'd run a big power wire from the alternator straigt to the battery, with a "fuseable link" at the battery end. Then hook up the rest of the wires like the link above describes. Make sure you run the L terminal from, a dash light or through a resistor so you don't kill the new alternator. Like I said, I don't know much about the stock wiring specifically. There may be better ways to do it but those are the basics. Hope it maybe helps.
B.

Here found these pics somebody else drew. I can't take credit for the help or harm they may create.

 

[Southeast Overland]

I'm gonna use a 4 ga wire to directly connect the alr to the battery positive but read that I didn't need a fusible link there. I've seen several hooked up this way, but I still can't figure out about of I need to rewire a plug or not.

 

[BrianSanDiego]

Sorry, I don't know if the switched wire to the alternator goes through a lamp on the dash or not. Like I said, it needs some sort of resistance to not cook the alt. Maybe somebody else knows?
B.

 

[jim land]

look at you factory wiring diagram ,and be sure to bypass the ammetre because its not make to take 105a , and on the connector there is S.F.L.P , you only need to connect the "S" to the post in back of the alternator , and 4ga wire from post to battery , and the "L" to a 12v source (on and start) and dont forget to install a 82ohm 5 watt resistor or a charging light on that "L" wire the F and P are not use .

 

[pbgbottle]

i put a charging light in my install and it doesn't shut down ? do i need a bigger wattage light
pretty sure it is wired correctly 12si it does shut down when i put a load on the battery tho. like turn on my electric fan? it will kill the rig when the key is off .

 

[BrianSanDiego]

i put a charging light in my install and it doesn't shut down ? do i need a bigger wattage light
pretty sure it is wired correctly 12si it does shut down when i put a load on the battery tho. like turn on my electric fan? it will kill the rig when the key is off .

Heya' PBG, you've helped me a lot with clutch and tranny info, maybe I can help a little here.

The power going through the charge light to the "L" terminal on the alternator needs to be run from a switched ignition source. That is, its only "hot" when the ignition key is in the "run" position. That way power to light and alternator is turned off when the key is off. Otherwise there will be a constant drain on your battery when the ignition is off. Is your power source switched?

Also, your charging light would be fine as long as it has enough resistance. Either way, the light itself shouldn't affect whether the battery drains or not.

B.

 

[e rock]

Posting so I can find this again. I got my CS130 mounted (1F-style), but not wired up yet. None of the local stores have a pigtail in stock and I haven't made it the pick-n-pull yet.

I'm planning to just start from scratch, essentially following the simple directions from the chevy truck forum link above.

 

[Trollhole]

Steve if you want simple just order a 1 wire CS130 from Mr Alternator and be done with it. I think it was around 100 of so lat time I checked.

If you want to use a standard cs130 then tell the guys at Mr alternator that is what you want and how you can hook it up. They will give or sell you a pigtail that will fit it.

Best yet call them up and tell them what you have and what you want to do or just go by there. They have been doing this for like 30 years they know what is best for your situation.

 

[Southeast Overland]

Steve if you want simple just order a 1 wire CS130 from Mr Alternator and be done with it. I think it was around 100 of so lat time I checked.

If you want to use a standard cs130 then tell the guys at Mr alternator that is what you want and how you can hook it up. They will give or sell you a pigtail that will fit it.

Best yet call them up and tell them what you have and what you want to do or just go by there. They have been doing this for like 30 years they know what is best for your situation.

I ordered the alt yesterday and picked it up today. I'm trimming the alt mount (2f stock mount) a bit to get the cs130 to fit. I'm probably going to have to take this sucker by there and have them hook it up...

 

[Southeast Overland]

I drove down to Mr. Alternator this morning. It was nice and cool (~74 deg F) which made the drive very pleasant. 'Bird' helped me get my cs130 alt hooked up. He found the 'switch' wire and used a spade connector to hook it up to the cs130 plug/pig tail. He did that so I could always go back to a stock alt if I wanted without any modification - I really liked having that option.

What I'm not so sure about is he left the stock voltage regulator hooked up even though the new alt has an internal regulator. He said it shouldn't matter and the stock VR is just acting as a 'pass through.' We unhooked the stock VR as a test and he said the battery wasn't receiving any charge. Everything I've read here has said to remove the stock VR. Whatcha think?

Another thing I'm not so sure about is he used the stock batt connector to the stud on the back of the new alt. Everything I've ready here has said to run a 4 ga cable from the batt stud on the back of the alt to the poss on the battery. He said it won't be a problem, even though the new alt puts out 110 amps and the old alt puts out 50 amps (on a good day 20 years ago). Whatcha think?

Last thing with the alt install is the ammeter in the stock gauge cluster is not disconnected. Installer said it was not needed, and it did not peg to + when the motor was running, rather stayed right in the middle.

Thanks guys.

 

[Pin_Head]

If you remove the VR you would want to connect the key on power wire (black/yellow stripe) to the field wire (white/green) to run the alternator. Like he said, there is no reason to remove it.

If the power from the alternator is going to the battery directly (hopefully through a fusible link) then the alternator will only read zero to negative values (to the left), increasing with increasing load. Just ignore the amp meter and use an idiot light or a volt meter to tell if the charging system is working.

 

[BrianSanDiego]

I would at a minimum run a big wire from the Alt to the battery. When that alternator puts out max current (105 amps) I wouldn't want that running through my 30 amp guage. If you put a big (4-6awg) straight to the battery most of the current to the battery will bypass the ammeter and wiring harness.

The only time I think you would see that much current flow would be, is if you had a dead battery and the alternator was charging it. Like if you just got your rig jump started.

Its not that hard pull the wires off the ammeter and crimp them together, and run your #4 from alt to batt though... and a big piece-of-mind. IMHO

Anyway, long as your ammeter doesn't ever peg your should be OK.
B.

 

[Southeast Overland]

If you remove the VR you would want to connect the key on power wire (black/yellow stripe) to the field wire (white/green) to run the alternator. Like he said, there is no reason to remove it.

If the power from the alternator is going to the battery directly (hopefully through a fusible link) then the alternator will only read zero to negative values (to the left), increasing with increasing load. Just ignore the amp meter and use an idiot light or a volt meter to tell if the charging system is working.

Thanks - I'll leave the VR in for now. I'm getting squeezed for time before my 3,000 mile (insane) trip in this thing.

I thought about installing a volt meter but I just installed a National Luna dual battery system with their battery monitor gauge which shows volts...hopefully will be good with that.

I would at a minimum run a big wire from the Alt to the battery. When that alternator puts out max current (105 amps) I wouldn't want that running through my 30 amp guage. If you put a big (4-6awg) straight to the battery most of the current to the battery will bypass the ammeter and wiring harness.

The only time I think you would see that much current flow would be, is if you had a dead battery and the alternator was charging it. Like if you just got your rig jump started.

Its not that hard pull the wires off the ammeter and crimp them together, and run your #4 from alt to batt though... and a big piece-of-mind. IMHO

Anyway, long as your ammeter doesn't ever peg your should be OK.
B.

I have plenty of 4 ga wire and I'll run a short section from the alt batt post to the positive post on the battery. When I do this don't I need to remove the factory attachment to the batt post on the back of the alt.

This is a Pig so it is a mini PITA to do anything behind the dash. The ammeter was reading dead in the middle on my drive home this morning. I'll let it be and keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't peg.

Thanks very much guys. I HATE wiring and am not good at it - as you can tell - so I have to ask a bunch of questions.

 

[Pin_Head]

An interesting possibility would be to run both the original white/blue alternator wire and a new wire directly to the battery from the alternator B + output lug. This would split the current, with some running through the amp meter and some running directly to the battery. This way the original amp meter will work, but the reading would be a fraction (1/2 to 1/3) of the total current.

Once you get the hang of it you will find that wiring is easier than turning wrenches.

 

[Southeast Overland]

Thanks Pinhead.

I unhooked the stock alt lug and put a 4 gauge wire straight from the alt to the positive post on the battery. Seems to work fairly well. Took it for a test drive and she charges.

Wiring doesn't seem too bad and it's fun when I know that I'm doing it right, but at this point I need my hand held...

 

[mtweller]

Hey Guys,
Doing some research on replacing my alt w/ the CS130. I think some folks are looking at ampacity ratings for 120V AC vs 12v DC. 8ga wire should be sufficient for this alt to the battery IMO.

This table is found here:
Gauge Wire

Ramon