MAD oo2 ELECTRICAL It all STARTS with knowledge of how things work! REMOTE VOLTAGE-SENSING IS THE KEY TO GOOD ELECTRICAL SYSTEM PERFORMANCE... It lets the voltage regulator make adjustments where proper voltage level will do the most good. Remote Voltage Sensing Is not a new Idea; in fact many factory original systems nave been using It for years (even with external voltage regulators back inthe 39603) All vokage regulators take an electrical system reading, and constantly monitor the voltage level ofthe system. For most temperatures and concitions, the textbook battery voltage level when topping off a fully charged battery is about 14.2valts (with a 12 valt system). ‘The voltage regulator will adjust alternator output in effort to maintain that 14.2 Volt level, under normal operating conditions. Therefore, most sletrcal system parts (lights, ignition, and accessories) are designed for best performance when operating at ‘about volts. ‘Electrical system performance drops off abruptly when voltage delivery to the parts is only slightly low—and so we really like to see those parts ‘operating at 14volts! ‘With involved wire harness construction used to deliver power to various parts of the lecrical systern, some of Ue wires will belong in length, Most often, the dash area with Switches and fuse box is far from the alternator. And under the hood, tne battery may be {at the opposite sige from alternator mounting, which will also require along wire, The Tong length of wires wil result with “voltage drop.” BASIC MAIN POWER SYSTEM (ypicalfactry wire harness design) BATTERY CHARGING WIRE BATTERY <—__ sometimes @ VERY LONG wire Junetion VOLTAGE REGULATOR “SENSING” TERMINAL to ACCESSORY "MAIN POWER.UPY considering todash area the spread ‘ut location of electrical system parts on the car, often the most efficient and practical layout is to route alternator power output to a centrally located “Junction.” And then {rom the junction, power will be cistriouted to various parts of the electrical system. ‘Also the electrical current used to charge the battery will be routed from the central ‘main junetion to the battery. The clagram above shows such a system; and itis @ System that was successfully used with many factory-bult wire harness layouts The key to good performance withthe layout describes above isto let the voltage regulator make adjustments to voltage level at the junction. (And then the voltage atthe battery ane other parts ofthe system wil fellow the voltage level maintained atthe junction.) The voltage regulator can maintain 14.2 volts at the Junction, even though the junction may be many feet of wire from the alternator. ‘But REMOTE VOLTAGE-SENSING must be enabled to make ft all happen. The diagram above shows this basic layout, and t wos successPlly used with many cars during the Muscle Car period. Certainly the Chevy design layout was this type during the Muscle Car period. (Altnough the particulars and location of eompanents did get moved around during tht period of years.) When using this factory wire harness layout, and up- ‘grading to modern and more powerful alternators; itis of critical importance fo let the voltage regulator read and adjust voltage at the junction, And we call this function "REMOTE VOLTAGE-SENSING.” ("REMOTE” because the voltage regulator takes care of voltage evel at a place away from the voltage regulator, alternator, and battery)‘The photo ‘above shows an ‘actual Smaln Junction,” hich we removed froma Chevy factory orginal wire harness. Note thatthe splice used for the factory "junction” was crimped and soldered; these factory spices are very reliable In our BASIC MAIN POWER diagram, we simply labeled this part “junction.” When working with an original harness, whieh isin good condition, capactty of the wiring and this junction is adequate for alternators of mocerste output. (Output as much as the Deleo 22S! 7éamp unt works fine, but REMOTE VOLTAGE SENSING must be properly wired.) However, as anyone can see, the junction isnot friendly for addition of accessories-The factory never intended to add main power-up wires for electric radlator fans or other high ‘current draw accessories to this junction, ‘The “junction” shown in the ‘above photo Is M.A.De's part HCN-1. Tiss the most sensible, compact, friendly to work with junction In the Industry: when up-grading to high powered alternators, a new heavy gauge cable can be routed from the alternator cirecly to the this Junction. The factory dash area main power-up wire ‘can be transferred to ths junction. Many accessories can be added to the junction. The battery charging wire of optional gauge size can be routed from ths junction to the battery. And fusible link wire shor circuit protection can be installed at all outgoing Ccreuits from the junction. When customizing the "BASIC MAIN POWER SYSTEM" shown in ‘our diagram, this part#CN-1 fs well suited for the job! The OLD and the NEW, both with REMOTE VOLTAGE-SENSING FEATURE old days, when our Chevy Muscle Cars were new, technology was more primitive than today. The ‘above phate shows a typical external voltage regulator used with most GM car alternator Systems from 1963 thru 1972 madels, Of the four terminals at the voltage regulator, oneof the terminals serve as the “voltage-sensing” terminal, and it was wired to the "main Junction." ‘The photo above shows Construction inside of the old external voltage regulator. The orignal parts were ‘mechanical, with two major funetions builtin (2) The "vibrating point type" voltage regulator is at the foreground in the photo, Tes ‘2 magnetic winding ana moveable arm with contact points assembly, and it was ‘sed to control current to the alternator field winding. (The points opened and closed many times per secon, thus it was often called the vibrating pola type regulator) Full current flowed to te alternator fleld when the points ware closed, ‘making 2 strong magnetic field at tne alternator, which increases output. Its Interesting to note that when the points were open in this system, current to the ‘alternator field was never entirely cisconnectes.. When the contact points were ‘open, 2 small amount of current stil flowed to the alternator feld through ‘resistors mounted at the underneath side of the regulator assembly. No doubt this {action with the resistors smoothed out the operation and reduced erosion of the voltage limiter contact points. Ané the system also needed to maintain atleast 3 ‘small amount of alternator output to keep the “ald relay” turned ON, (2) The second magnetic winging with movable arm ané contact points was a “double throw" relay. There are stationary contact points above and below the contact at the movable arm. ‘Spring pull moved the arm to close one set of points, which cirected a small amount of current to the alternator fel, resulting with a small amount of altemater output. When the alternator begins to make this small amount of outout, current from the alternator ‘Stator powared up the magnetic winding, which pulled the movable arm to close the other Set of contact points, As this other set of contacts closee, the regulator was connected to main battery power source at the “junction” inthe wire harness. When the system was fst activated, 2 small amount of current flowad from the ignition ‘snitch to the voltage regulator through a 20 to 15 ohm resistance wire Dullt into the dash harness. (Ang ifthe car nad a warning light atthe dash, the warning light was wired In parallel with the resistance wire.) This was our ignition Switched ON/OFF and warning light Srcuit with the ole externally regulated alternator system. And through the “field relay” in the old external voltage regulator, we had REMOTE VOLTAGE-SENSING from the main “junction” in the wire harness. ‘Not all systems had the REMOTE VOLTAGE-SENSING option. Some of us in workshops years ago, used to install this “eld relay" function, using an ‘ordinary relay, to create our own version of the REMOTE VOLTAGE-SENSING function. The MOPAR, two-wire voltage regulator system, Both the early mechanical and later electron, did not have the remote voltage-sensing feature. And especialy with powerful alternators and involved wiring, as with Dodge motor home chassis, the remate voltage-sensing Teature is the best way to make a system behave properly ‘We also had ta install our own main power distibution system, as the factory system with [AMP gauge at the dash was too lightly bullt for an electrical system so powerful as a motor home needed. (Reacers with more interest In the MOPAR system should read our “B= PASSING OLD AMP GAUGE” pages, at this tech section.) Go for the best!1 #1118423 GR. 2.500 REGULATOR ‘Thenklully nowadays, the voltage regulator will typically be @ small, electronic unit, inside of the alternator. ‘The function Is more reliable, more accurate, and more consistent than ‘the old mechanical units ‘The voltage regulator in the photo above is used with the Delco 1051 and 1251 alternators. Notice that the voltage regulator above nas two fat blade male terminals (see Arrows), There is actually @thiré terminal of Unis volage regulate, which i the ground at ‘one ofthe three mounting screws. One of the two flat blade terminals Is wired to an ignition switened ON/OFF source, and ths circuit ean also be used to operate a dash ‘mounted warning lignt (The warning light isan option, not @ requirement) ‘The other of the two voltage regulator termina the voltage-sensing terminal, and through this terminal the voltage regulator will moniter electrical system voltage and make ‘adjustments to the alternator output in effort to Keep system voltage at about 14.2 vols |When using the "main junction” power distribution wiring system, itis very important that the valtage-sensing terminal ofthe regulator is wired to the junction. And when installing the SI series alternators as a retro-it Up-grade, with a factory type harness using @ main “junction” for powar distibuton, it s of great importance to make use of this REMOTE VOLTAGE-SENSING feature built into the regulator. In te next web pages we have photographed a demonstration of the remote voltage system function and performance. A let of photos are used in the next part—and rt much reading. Its really quite Interesting to see this system work To the REMOTE VOLTAGE-SENSING feature in action, cick hereto continue