stupid move = fried alternator. help please

need some help, not paying attention this morning I hooked up my battery wrong for about 3 seconds. Everything seems to be fine after putting it in the water for a few minutes except for the alternator, pretty sure it is done for.

Is there anything else I need to check and I saw that many were suggesting db electrical alts. Does anyone know which one I would need for a 96 VLX ?

or after searching a bit more, is there some sort of fuse before the alternator that I fried ?

There may be a fusible link on the main lead coming off the alt. Also check the main circut breaker, generally located on the motor, just above the trani.

I had an alternator fried the same way. I had it rebuilt at an alternator shop and never had anymore problems with it.

My guess would be that you fried a diode in the alternator. A rebuild would fix it, and probably not be too expensive. (I did this when I let someone else connect the cables on their car while I was giving them a boost)

Reverse polarity almost always blows diode's as Art said. It can be repaired at any alternator repair shop. That is usually much cheaper than a new one, especially a marine. Reverse polarity will not hurt fuses or circut breakers.

well does anyone happen to know what alternator I have on a 1996 VLX ?

ok so I pulled it out this afternoon and was this alt in the first two pics.

http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/delcoremy.shtml

I am assuming this was not the original as it doesn't look like a marine alt. and it seemed to be a rebuild.

I ordered this to replace.

http://tinyurl.com/48sv7u


Also it looked like originally there was a 3 wire alt. so it was only using a tiny orange wire to connect somewhere to the battery (I couldn't see where it went) and the other two wires were just hanging there (purple and black).

I will definitely be adding a new wire from the alt. to the battery. I am assuming an 8 guage wire would be fine for this ? And do I still need to connect the orange wire back for it to work correctly ?



(Message edited by ttuclint on June 16, 2008)

Clint someone that knows more than me will probably respond, but you are going to want more than 8 gauge. You are putting 105A through it. 8 gauge is ok for 60A amplifiers, but you will want something bigger. Also, it will probably be a long run. Thinking 1/0 or even 00. The bigger the wire, the less resistance, the cooler it will be. The less complications you will have.

Well I know that right now it is only maybe a 16 gauge wire or smaller coming off the alt. what that connects to I have no idea, kind of scary i know.

It will only require a 4 or 5 foot cable as my battery is in the back.

I will eventually put in an isolater and a dual batt setup so maybe I do need to go ahead and run something good and thick.
I actually have some spare 4AWG from a car install that I could use.


(Message edited by ttuclint on June 16, 2008)

ok someone throw me a friggin bone here.

(Message edited by ttuclint on June 17, 2008)