My LD28 is fitted in to a LR Defender after much delays I have finally got it back on the road.
Well all was fine till the battery went flat this weekend prompting me to look at the alternator battery etc, so here is the short version of my work this morning and questions that puzzle me, based on that it all worked fine before the engine in out earlier this year.
1, Battery is good and only a few weeks old so no problems there.
2. Volts at battery and back of alternator only reach 12.38V
3. The plug for the alternator has historically been cut at point of implanting the the engine, there are 2 thick brown cables that are and have always been connected to the back of the alternator
4. there is a smaller cable with a spade connector which has been connected to one of (and here might be the answer) but I'm not sure which one of the 2 spade connectors available where the plug would have connected.
5. When this wire is connected in either position nothing changes to the charging.
6. I have read a fair amount on line that suggested that i also need an exciter cable running direct from one of these connectors to the battery, so I have tried that in both positions, firstly in the lower connector where nothing happened then in the top one where the alternator became difficult to turn squealing the belt and creating magnetism on the front of the crank voltage across battery went up to 12.6V still not any where near the 13-14V I'm expecting.
So am I barking up the wrong tree with the exciter cable?
anything else I should check?
I have a cold, it is raining and I have given up for the day. I have added a picture of the Alt and the connection plug.
Please help if you can.
Rob
whoever put it together didn't connect up the exciter wire. (they also only had one main feed coming off of the alternator. i fixed that too)