Mechman Alternator Plug is Different..
#1
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Mechman Alternator Plug is Different..
So I bought & Installed an S Series 6 phase 170 amp MechMan alternator. The alt is properly grounded and powered by 1/0 cables, but the plug is different from my stock plug.
In one picture you can see the stock connector that has 4 connections that bolt to the back of the stock alternator & a pic of the back of the stock alt. In the other pic, you can see the MechMan alt with an oval sized tan plug with 2 prongs inside of it.
I sent an email to the company and figured I'd put up a thread here as well to see if anyone here has installed one & can speak on this. Any help would be appreciated!
In one picture you can see the stock connector that has 4 connections that bolt to the back of the stock alternator & a pic of the back of the stock alt. In the other pic, you can see the MechMan alt with an oval sized tan plug with 2 prongs inside of it.
I sent an email to the company and figured I'd put up a thread here as well to see if anyone here has installed one & can speak on this. Any help would be appreciated!
#2
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You need a matching pigtail. Looks similar to the Durango alt I put on mine. Go to the local JY, find a Durango, cut the pigtail off and splice it in.
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To start with it's the wrong application for that. Wasn't the proper application available? Unless it's unavailable, I would have exchanged it for the proper application to fit that harness. Now once you change this, you will have to mess with improper application/model/year numbers from now on with that alternator.
#6
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The newer alt is INTERNALLY regulated, so the diode on the original harness needs to go away, and the field wires get spliced onto the pigtail for the new alt.
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The original alt is externally regulated by a rectifier diode, encased inside that plastic piece. The 2 small pigtails on the outside are grounds, and the two small terminals in the middle are the field wires that go to the PCM.
The newer alt is INTERNALLY regulated, so the diode on the original harness needs to go away, and the field wires get spliced onto the pigtail for the new alt.
The newer alt is INTERNALLY regulated, so the diode on the original harness needs to go away, and the field wires get spliced onto the pigtail for the new alt.
How prone is that external diode to failure? Forcing a whole new pigtail to be spliced in?
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#8
::CF Administrator::
Bottom line is you need to know what you're doing when tackling a mod like this. I had to hunt several things to get mine right. 5-90 used to have a great resource with his site. Don't even know if it's still up, he kinda dropped off the face of the earth. Everything I needed to know, I got from his website. Damn shame.
Don't even know if his website is still up. Last I had heard, he had taken several people's money for cables...and never delivered. After a dry spell, Neal AKA Mean Lemons, took over on making cables...but 5-90's site had some GREAT reading on there. Again, sad loss.
#9
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Just went to his old site...it is unfortunately gone.
So sad. There was a WEALTH of info there.
So sad. There was a WEALTH of info there.
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I was actually curious about the diode in the factory setup? I can't help but think that this design to put part of the alternator system, ie the diode, in an external pigtail is absolutely ignorant. lol
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https://web.archive.org/web/20160915192323/http://www.kelleyswip.com:80/
Last edited by Tbone289; 11-17-2017 at 08:18 AM.
#14
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This was my curiosity. Because a diode is nothing but a one way check valve for juice. And when they go bad it will allow back flow and do exactly what you are asking here.
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The original alt is externally regulated by a rectifier diode, encased inside that plastic piece. The 2 small pigtails on the outside are grounds, and the two small terminals in the middle are the field wires that go to the PCM.
The newer alt is INTERNALLY regulated, so the diode on the original harness needs to go away, and the field wires get spliced onto the pigtail for the new alt.
The newer alt is INTERNALLY regulated, so the diode on the original harness needs to go away, and the field wires get spliced onto the pigtail for the new alt.
They also told me to tape off the outer 2 wires on the stock harness which I'm not so sure that's accurate. I believe they are grounds because if you look at the stock alternator, those 2 outer wires were attached to the outer basket and doing that means those wires are grounds!....?
What do you guys sell think??
Thanks!