OK Fellers, here's what I discovered. The wiring is too wimpy and that's causing the dash gauge to jump all over the place (I actually suggested this in an earlier post). I hooked my regulator power feed directly to the positive battery terminal and the pulsation completely ceased. The regulator has a 12 gauge power feed. I'm guessing the truck has 14 gauge?? So I need to install a relay kit (see link below).

https://store.alternatorparts.com/w3...-plug-kit.aspx

 

Do a big relay; feed it to a secondary fuse box; and put your field fuse on that fuse.

Then you've got a healthy feed for anything else you add (subwoofer? fog lights? etc.)

Just my suggestion - and what I'm doing (got the buss bar and one fuse; I need to add the relay and a second fuse block.)

RwP

 

I actually like that suggestion if I were planning to add anything, which I'm not. Had I, I would not have thought of that. I live a boring life and my cheap Pioneer radio with four speakers works good enuf for me. I listen to talk radio in my truck and never had a need for a subwoofer. No plans for fog lights or anything else for that matter.

Do you need a higher capacity alternator too for all that crap?

 

I ordered the relay kit. Ripoff price! Anyway, here's what I believe I need to do. Please give me your seal of approval (or disapproval) as I want to be sure I get it right. Remember, I'm an electronic retard!

I'll get a standard relay and that four-wire terminal (pix link below) with this kit.

1) Mount the relay somewhere
2) Four-wire terminal plugs into relay
3) Attach black wire (#1) on terminal to a good ground
4) Attach the yellow wire (#2) on terminal to a switched circuit (I can use the one I currently have attached to my external regulator coming from my radio or cigar lighter circuit).
5) Attach red wire (#3) on terminal to the positive field terminal on my alternator *
6) Attach red wire (#4) on terminal to the positive battery terminal

* This is the one I'm most unsure of. The field wires at my regulator are "plugged" so I would simply attach wire #3 on the terminal to the + alternator terminal since those field wires are plugged at the alternator??

https://store.alternatorparts.com/w3...-plug-kit.aspx

 

No, #3 says it goes to regulator power; so it goes to the power feed to the regulator.

The other wire from the regulator goes to the non-powered side of the field connectors.

The #3 can also go to the field coil; but I don't think it'll make much difference, since the original circuit had the field off the ASD circuit.

But.

It will NOT go to the output of the alternator! (You can use that for the battery 12V, but it should be fused, so it's better to run that to something else.)

RwP

 

Ahh, yes of course! Red #3 goes to the power feed in the regulator. DUH! Now you know why I ask. Thank you, Sir Ralph!

 

So then Ralph, the yellow wire going to a switched circuit simply turns on/off power to the battery terminal wire inside the relay? I know I'm using the wrong terminology but you know what I mean.

 

Yep; and that's a good way to say it.

It completes the circuit to the coil inside the relay; when the coil engages, it switches the NO (Normally Open) contact to the COM (common) point, and current can flow.

RwP

 

And the amount of power required to trigger the coil is a mere pittance? And this is how you can get around wimpy power sources. I learn new stuff every day. Thanks for the technical description.

 

Ayep.

In the case of the typical Bosch relay, it's nominally 80ohms, which is less than 0.2 amps.

(Math says that at 14V it's .175A; lower voltage, lower current.)

It's why I'm always recommending a relay harness for the headlights, for two reasons. One is to reduce the current over the headlight and dimmer switches. The OTHER is to improve the voltage to the headlights, by using a larger wire and shorter.

RwP