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So I used a 12 circuit hot rod wiring kit for my car, it's a toyota 4age using carbs and a megajolt with Ford edis. Everything was fine until I hoked up the alternator. As per instructions I hooked up to the battery positive and then check for anything between the negatve post and the chassis. Nothing there indicating a short or drain. But as soon as I hook in the alternator, I should say as soon as I hook up the charge wire I get about 11 volts showing. The instructions a really clear about there not being any thing there before you hook up your negative side of the battery Any thoughts would be most appreciated and might even garner SkinnyG's burger recipe. That shows you just how desperate I am.......

David

Oh and I took out the original alternator and replaced with a reman. in case that was it, no difference.

Eleven volts and the negative terminal of the battery is not hooked up?

Bill

"Charge" aka "Field"? Just want to make sure we're talking the same language.
Speaking of just the charging system as a subcircuit paralleled off of the ignition circuit;
Sounds like you're putting it in "key on engine off" mode. Once you connect to the B+ terminal (key on) its applying potential thru a (magnetic) field (generating) coil then to ground. Without the ground terminal of the battery hooked up it means nothing but once you hook it up its ready to charge (driven by hamsters or gerbils or. ....) thru a completed circuit consisting of a battery and an electromagnetic coil. The completed circuit in "key on engine off" mode will eventually drain the battery or (even harder to figure out just what the heck is going on without coffee) can back feed power thru the distribution block to the ignition system so once its running it won't stop at "key off" command.

Side note, I've had similiar experiences with cooling fans. ..

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Correct, My meter shows eleven volts when I put it between the neg. post and the chassis and it is supposed to read 0.

When I said charge wire I meant the heavy wire that goes to the Batt. positive. The ign. switch is off, everything is off. Still I get 11 volts showing when I put my meter between the neg. post and the chassis. Am I missing something? David

i would hazard a guess, and say you have a positive grounded somewhere..

Toyota oh boyohboy last one of those I worked on had 6 possible charging systems for that specific year and model. ..
Have you checked how many amps its drawing to show 11 volts? 200 mA is about right for exciting a field coil iirc.

Here's a fairly non-gobblygookish presentation http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/h8.pdf specific to the post 83 Toyota charging system.

_________________
"There are times when a broken tool is better than a sound one, or a twisted personality more useful than a whole one.
For instance, a whole beer bottle isn't half the weapon that half a beer bottle is ..." Randall Garrett

I know but it only shows up when I hook up the alternator wire to the battery positive. All the other circuits give me a zero reading.......David (perplexed)Dahl

That's how it should read. You have everything connected to the Battery plus and then everything else is grounded through the frame. With the battery disconnected you are completing the circuit with the volt meter and thus reading 11 volts.

Something is conducting electricity among the stuff connected to the Positive terminal.

Sounds like things are normal.

I'll take a shot at this. If the IG switch is off and and you are getting an 11 volt reading between the NEG Term of the Battery and the Chassis, then something in the Alternator may be bad (broken). If your alternator has the connections, as described in the link provided by "oldejack", then I think I would start with page 17 and run through the bench tests that can be done with your handy VOM. Without the battery connected, there should not be a path to ground (chassis), or at least not one that will put the chassis at an 11 volt potential.
Walt

Thanks you guys, I'll try working through all this info and let you know what turns up. David

If you are using a digital voltmeter, they have a very high input impedance, on the order of 10Mohms. If your battery measures 12V and using your battery to ground is 11 Volts, then you have about 1.1mA of leakage. This is normal for automotive alternators.

If you have an old analog meter, try again using it. It has a lower impedence and will read a much lower voltage; <0.1volt if everything else is correct.

Or try placing a temporary 12V lamp between the Batt(-) and ground. An instrument light bulb or a brake light bulb will suffice. If the bulb will not light, then measure again using the digital meter. I'd bet that the voltage with the bulb in place drops to zero. If the bulb lights, then you most definitely have an issue.

My bet is that there is nothing wrong with your wiring (yet )

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Chuck.

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Thanks for the tip about the light. I put a test lamp between the negative post and the chassis and it did NOT light up. The battery shows 12.77 volts. Then between the negative post and the chassis I get a reading of 11.97 volts. When I put the probes on with the lamp in between I still get a reading of 11.97. I understand from your post that you think I should get a zero reading if the lamp is in between the meter and the chassis and battery. Is that correct?

Ok I think I understand now. I connected my test lamp between the neg. post and the chassis. (It does not light) Now when I measure the voltage between the neg. post and the chassis I get a reading of .01 volts. I assume that means I'm good to go with hooking up my ground cable. I may stick an inline fuse in just in case though.

Thanks to everyone for the help and especially rx7locost it really had me bogged down there.

Sounds good to me.

If you put a fuse between the batt (-) and chassis, when you go to energize the starter you will blow the fuse. The starter draws well over 100Amps. You can use a 30A fuse for just about all other troubleshooting. Not a bad idea when hooking up wires for the first time. Just remember to remove the fuse and connect a good ground cable before you try to energize the starter. I use a power supply with current limiting instead of a battery when checking out new wiring. It essentially does the same thing without having to replace a fuse if something turns out wrong.

_________________
Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766