Hitachi alternator wire ID

[[2574]]

This is an hoary old chestnut of a question which seems to come up again and again in various fora but I've not managed to find any definitive guidance. Below is a picture of the rear of my 80A Hitachi alternator mounted on a Yanmar 4JH. I am doing an upgrade to Balmar alternator, externally regulated. The main positive and negative wires are obvious but you'll see four other wires:

Solid red (thicker wire - power supply for excite?)
Red with two silver bands (thinner wire - warning panel lamp connection? But note it seems to go to the same terminal as the 12v power supply for excite)
Blue/black with silver bands (tachometer pulse wire?)
Orange with two silver bands (i think this is for internal regulator)

If I could get a positive ID on these wires I'd be half way to understanding the connections to the Balmar alternator/regulator

I'd be grateful for any learned guidance from the experts hereabouts.

 

[VicS]

This is an hoary old chestnut of a question which seems to come up again and again in various fora but I've not managed to find any definitive guidance. Below is a picture of the rear of my 80A Hitachi alternator mounted on a Yanmar 4JH. I am doing an upgrade to Balmar alternator, externally regulated. The main positive and negative wires are obvious but you'll see four other wires:

Solid red (thicker wire - power supply for excite?)
Red with two silver bands (thinner wire - warning panel lamp connection? But note it seems to go to the same terminal as the 12v power supply for excite)
Blue/black with silver bands (tachometer pulse wire?)
Orange with two silver bands (i think this is for internal regulator)

If I could get a positive ID on these wires I'd be half way to understanding the connections to the Balmar alternator/regulator

I'd be grateful for any learned guidance from the experts hereabouts.

There are wiring diagrams in your Operation manual

The tacho signal is the yellow or orange wire ( perhaps labelled terminal P)

The no charge /ignition warning light is the blue/black wire on terminal L

The red/black wire to terminal R is a direct excitation feed from the ignition switch....... The red wire connected to it is the feed to an electric fuel pump if you have one



This diagram, snipped from the 2009 edition of the manual, includes a 2nd alternator ( item 30) and the fuel pump ( item 34).
There may be some slight differences in the colour codes compared with your engine.

.

 

[[2574]]

There are wiring diagrams in your Operation manual

The tacho signal is the yellow or orange wire ( perhaps labelled terminal P)

The no charge /ignition warning light is the blue/black wire on terminal L

The red/black wire to terminal R is a direct excitation feed from the ignition switch....... The red wire connected to it is the feed to an electric fuel pump if you have one

View attachment 125192

This diagram, snipped from the 2009 edition of the manual, includes a 2nd alternator ( item 30) and the fuel pump ( item 34).
There may be some slight differences in the colour codes compared with your engine.

.

Thanks Vic. For some reason wiring diagrams provide little enlightenment for me whereas your narrative is very helpful, thanks.

 

[JohnB40]

Indeed, thanks Vic .... from Canada ... but born a long time ago in Old Basing.
Vic/Robih ... I have the external regulator MC-614 and Balmar 60-series alternator I'm trying to connect to Yanmar 4JH4ae.
One question is with that blue/black no charge/ignition warning light wire from the instrument panel. Does it connect to the D+ terminal on the alternator or to the connection labelled number 17 on the regulator which is called "dash lamp" in Balmar's installation guide?
Second question is with that yellow/orange tacho signal wire from/to the instrument panel ... does it connect to the "tacho out" terminal on regulator, no 13 on my instructions?
Thanks
JohnB40

 

[VicS]

Indeed, thanks Vic .... from Canada ... but born a long time ago in Old Basing.
Vic/Robih ... I have the external regulator MC-614 and Balmar 60-series alternator I'm trying to connect to Yanmar 4JH4ae.
One question is with that blue/black no charge/ignition warning light wire from the instrument panel. Does it connect to the D+ terminal on the alternator or to the connection labelled number 17 on the regulator which is called "dash lamp" in Balmar's installation guide?
Second question is with that yellow/orange tacho signal wire from/to the instrument panel ... does it connect to the "tacho out" terminal on regulator, no 13 on my instructions?
Thanks
JohnB40

I know no more than what is in the instructions

Qu1
I would connect the the no-charge warning light ( blue/black wire to the D+ terminal. Terminal 17 on the regulator is for a panel light ,or audible alarm , to indicate various conditions:-

Qu 2
I assume the orange wire will connect to the "Tacho Out" terminal 17. I see no alternative , but I don't know if the calibration will need adjusting


Maybe others will know better

.

 

[JohnB40]

Thanks VicS
Gives me the confidence to carry on with this. I "think" I now know how to wire it up. One problem was sorting out so many of the Beneteau wires that looked like they would complicate things, or at least should be understood, but when tracing the other ends they went nowhere.
I have seen somewhere the Yanmar tach may need adjusting, but I at least hope to get things working.
Cheers
JohnB40

 

[VicS]

Thanks VicS
Gives me the confidence to carry on with this. I "think" I now know how to wire it up. One problem was sorting out so many of the Beneteau wires that looked like they would complicate things, or at least should be understood, but when tracing the other ends they went nowhere.
I have seen somewhere the Yanmar tach may need adjusting, but I at least hope to get things working.
Cheers
JohnB40

I forgot to mention that there will be a redundant red/black wire which was the direct excitation feed from the ignition switch to the Hitachi . Maybe you can make use of it as the ignition feed to the new regulator ?? I've closed the installation instructions now but seem to remember one was necessary, Otherwise insulate and tuck out of the way.

 

[JohnB40]

Thanks again VicS
Yes, I think that red/black Hitachi wire is the one that will connect back to the ignition on/off. I'm very slow and check things many times (OCD??) but I think I'm getting there.
Cheers
JohnB40

 

[JohnB40]

Thought I had it!! The battery isolator RCE/100-1E-2IG (rather than usual battery "switch") is I believe my last problem.
So I removed the Hitachi Alt and installed the Balmar Alt with the external regulator. All is connected (looks good!). Wires 4 and 6 for internal regulator carefully tucked away. Red power wire 2 from external regulator (10 amp fuse) to Isolator out terminal, and sense wire 9 to same place to sense house battery voltage. So both connections are on battery side. All looks OK.
The start battery and house batteries were at 13+volts on battery side of the 2 Isolator out terminals, and 0.8 V on alternator cable into isolator, before connecting the Balmar external regulator.
But connect that up and do "pre-flight test", and wires 2 and 9 show only 10 volts. The battery cables out of the Isolator now only10V. The charge cable from alternator into Isolator now shows 3+ volts(?), as does the small connector in top corner of this battery Isolator!!! (So Isolator has 3 big cable connections and this small connector up in the corner).
It's possible that this small connector on the Isolator should be pulled off but unsure? Followed so many wires but this one disappears into a loom with many many others. Comments on-line are unclear.
Any help appreciated, though appreciate this is getting a bit hard to visualise!
Thanks
Ian

 

[JohnB40]

Whoops. Please ignore the above. All is well and just a few things left to adjust/calibrate.
Embarrassed to say my hand held multimeter had a "broken" wire inside one of the plastic probes that was intermittent in leading me astray ... why did I not check that???? Also the wiring diagram in the Beneteau manual is not quite how the isolator has actually been wired up.
Thanks again for previous help. Surprising what we can do if just keep fiddling and thinking/stewing.
JohnB40