Alternator wire identification..... help

NYSail

.
Jan 6, 2006
3,048
Beneteau 423 Mt. Sinai, NY
hello all..... so I am now the proud owner of a new alt. / regulator (balmar 150 series 6 / mc614). I am now trying to identify current wires preparing for installation. On the back of current alt there is a plug in harness..... with a red and blue wire coming out. The red is spliced with the what seems to be the introduced wire a larger gauge. This wire then leads to an in-line fuse..... then this wire disappears into a taped thick harness..... and that’s where I am. What could this be? Looks like an add on. D644C2AA-E6A2-401B-B85D-979A70995C27.jpeg081BD8D2-9AE7-46B7-8797-93592EA77660.jpeg

I was thinking about taking out the fuse to see what doesn’t work as an easy way to trace. Could I hurt anything doing this?

Thanks.......

Greg
 

capta

.
Jun 4, 2009
4,766
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
The 12 Volt Doctor's Alternator Book is a pretty handy little pdf.
 
Jun 15, 2012
694
BAVARIA C57 Greenport, NY
Greg

Yesterday I was installing an AT-165 and 614 in my boat. I assume your boat has a Yanmar engine. If so, the Red/Black wire is "Alternator Exciter" and the Blue/Black wire is "Alternator Alarm". The heavier red wire appears to be to be added to the Yanmar wire for some other purpose. You can test the wire by seeing if you get 12V on the Red/Black wire when you turn on the ignition. This connects to the Brown wire on the 614.
When I was installing I ran a new wire from the Blue/Black wire back to the 614. It is currently not connected and I need to find out if I can connect it to terminal 17 on the 614 to get an alternator problem reading at my helm.
 
Feb 6, 1998
11,665
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
hello all..... so I am now the proud owner of a new alt. / regulator (balmar 150 series 6 / mc614). I am now trying to identify current wires preparing for installation. On the back of current alt there is a plug in harness..... with a red and blue wire coming out. The red is spliced with the what seems to be the introduced wire a larger gauge. This wire then leads to an in-line fuse..... then this wire disappears into a taped thick harness..... and that’s where I am. What could this be? Looks like an add on. View attachment 150541View attachment 150542

I was thinking about taking out the fuse to see what doesn’t work as an easy way to trace. Could I hurt anything doing this?

Thanks.......

Greg

Red wire under your thumb should be 12V+ ignition feed. It will connect to MC-614's brown wire. You do not need to use the blue wire for the alt alarm/light. I only say "should be" because someone changed something. The factory Red/Black wire is a direct feed to the ignition switch and serves to provide 12V+ to the factory alternators R terminal..

If you just follow this & transpose field, B- & B+ to the 6-Series you'll be all set. It does not show the tach/stator circuit but that is very simple, if your engine drives the tach from the alts stator tap (yours looks like it does so follow the MC-614 manual on that)..
 
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NYSail

.
Jan 6, 2006
3,048
Beneteau 423 Mt. Sinai, NY
Red wire under your thumb should be 12V+ ignition feed. It will connect to MC-614's brown wire. You do not need to use the blue wire for the alt alarm/light. I only say "should be" because someone changed something. The factory Red/Black wire is a direct feed to the ignition switch and serves to provide 12V+ to the factory alternators R terminal..

If you just follow this & transpose field, B- & B+ to the 6-Series you'll be all set. It does not show the tach/stator circuit but that is very simple, if your engine drives the tach from the alts stator tap (yours looks like it does so follow the MC-614 manual on that)..
Thanks...... yes does not look overly complicated. The mc614 manual describes things pretty good. Just thrown off by the two red wires connected to harness. If I remove the fuse for the red under my thumb... I figure I can quickly figure out its purpose. The harness takes the other red and blue together.... today I will go to the panel and see what ends there. If I disconnect and try and start engine will I damage anything? And yes the top of alt has a blue wire which I assume is the tac.
Thanks
 
Feb 6, 1998
11,665
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
Thanks...... yes does not look overly complicated. The mc614 manual describes things pretty good. Just thrown off by the two red wires connected to harness. If I remove the fuse for the red under my thumb... I figure I can quickly figure out its purpose. The harness takes the other red and blue together.... today I will go to the panel and see what ends there. If I disconnect and try and start engine will I damage anything? And yes the top of alt has a blue wire which I assume is the tac.
Thanks
No need to start the engine. Just figure out where the RED goes that someone pulled off of the RED/BLACK "R" wire. Just make sure it is not a big load as that circuits is essentially low amperage. Plenty for the MC-614 ignition excite but not for too much more.. The RED/BLACK factory harness wire is a direct path back to the ignition switches ON position.
 
Jun 15, 2012
694
BAVARIA C57 Greenport, NY
A little off topic, can the "Max Charge Dash Lamp" terminal 17 on the 614 be used to interface with the M-200 Monitoring System factory installed on my boat?
 
Mar 9, 2012
47
Beneteau 381 PVR
My Universal 25XPB engine has 3 #10 red wires disappearing into a wire bundle. Trying to figure out which is the charging wire. It doesn't seem to go to panel. ????. Hard to see back of alternator because of head room to get a look. Which is the plus terminal
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,992
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
@dnimigon Do you have any experience with wire tracing equipment - Fox and hounds - tone generator?
It is a tool that produces a tone on the line you select and you got to the other inside of the wire bundle and sort through the lines till the one with the tone is identified.

Wire Tracer & Circuit Tester

You will want to disconnect your batteries from the circuit (remove the red wires at the battery and wrap the end with electrical tape) before you go testing the lines.
 

CYQK

.
Sep 11, 2009
576
beneteau first 42 kenora
Ben thinking about adding one of these wire testers to my tool box
where is a good source for one?
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,992
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Convenience - Amazon
Locally - a big box store. Or hardware store.

They are simple machines. Attach the little box (tone generator) then go to the other end of the wire bundle and start touching the wires with the probe. When you find the right one you’ll usually get an aural and visual signal from the probe. Just put batteries in the magic boxes and enjoy the way the work.