# Voltage regulator/alternator wiring questions



## RunninLeMans (Apr 3, 2014)

I'm rewiring my LeMans with the Autowire kit, and mostly replicated the old wiring between alternator and voltage regulator, except I left off the 'generator light' wire because I have a volt meter now. So looking at the four wires on the regulator from the bottom up, the first is 'field', the second 'rectifier', both directly from the alternator, the third looks to be 'battery' through the ignition switch "B" post, and the fourth goes to the 'gen light', which has two wires, the other goes through a resistance wire to the "1" post on the ignition switch.

Do I need to have this fourth wire connected through a light for it to work? Does it need the resistor?

Also, what is the little dingleberry attached to the top of the regulator?

Last, what do y'all prefer to clean up wire bundles - wire looms or tape? I'm going to sort out all the bugs before final cleanup.

Thanks for any feedback....


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## RunninLeMans (Apr 3, 2014)

Apparently this wasn't a very interesting question... Or maybe just dumb, the two-wire (external regulated) alternator needs to be replaced with a single-wire (internally-regulated) alternator with the Autowire update kits, bypassing the old voltage regulator. I put the 'generator' light in anyway, it does indicate when the ignition is turned on.


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## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

RunninLeMans said:


> Apparently this wasn't a very interesting question... Or maybe just dumb, the two-wire (external regulated) alternator needs to be replaced with a single-wire (internally-regulated) alternator with the Autowire update kits, bypassing the old voltage regulator. I put the 'generator' light in anyway, it does indicate when the ignition is turned on.


Not that it was not interesting enough and certainly not a "dumb" question as that is the purpose of the forum. However, when it comes to electrical alterations or problems, some may be straight forward and we can be of help, while others are way past many of our experiences and expertise.

I would have thought that *Autowire* would have had a tech department and been able to advise or walk you through your situation.....apparently not. Guess *Autowire* is not a very good company to deal with and doesn't get a recommendation as to selecting their products, especially when it comes to wiring, re-wiring, or wiring updates if you purchased their stuff and they could help.:banghead: Companies like this seeming offer the goods only to take your cash and drop you like a stone. So based on your experience, *Autowire* gets a.....:nonod:


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## RunninLeMans (Apr 3, 2014)

Thanks, Jim. I did call them half a dozen times during the process and got mixed results. One guy told me I 'need' a single wire, internally-regulated alternator, after buying and installing it, I asked how to get my generator light to work, a different guy said you need a 3-wire internally-regulated alternator for the light to work, so now I'm pulling it and exchanging it. Overall they seemed impatient with questions (hey, electricity stuff is not intuitive for everyone) but did manage to solve my problems. Now that it's done, my car is better for it, but if I had to do it over again, I'd have sprung the extra money for the exact M&H kit.


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## 68 GTO 4spd (Apr 26, 2014)

I apologize I did not see this earlier....I had the old alt with the external reg as well.

I replaced it with these two things from Summit.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PWM-67297

and

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/AWW-27555

Works great and was plug and play easy, with the "Gen" light still working.


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