[C320-list] alternator question

[Jeff Hare]

The Tach wire is only used on non-Yanmar 3gm engines.  Yanmar 3gm's use an inductive pickup at the back of the engine for the tach.

When you turn on/off the ignition switch, you are turning on and off the Field voltage.  That's the alternator's on/off switch.  As far as I know, it's perfectly ok to shut off the ignition switch with the engine running.  It shuts off the alternator.  It does not interrupt the connection to the battery, so no damage there.

I *believe* that you could safely shut off the ignition switch with the engine running, then go down and turn off the battery switch with no ill effects.  But I'd have to double check.

-Jeff 


-----Original Message-----
From: C320-list [mailto:c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com] On Behalf Of dmcnamara3 at woh.rr.com
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2016 1:05 PM
To: c320-list at lists.catalina320.com
Subject: [C320-list] alternator question

thanks for the in depth reply.  So I should look for a loose connection between the B+ to the starter solenoid and the B- to the grounding point as the culprit.  What effect does the tach wire and charge light wire have?  Is it true that if I turn the ignition switch off while the engine is running I could produce the same blown diode results?