voltage regulator wires?

Hey guys! was up bright and early to start removing stuff from my engine bay, and before unbolting the regulator i noticed 2 wires had been cut off (yellow/brown) and (green/brown). You can see in the pics that they have been connected together with a blue bullet connector!

1)Can anyone tell me what there for and if they should be put back in?

2)what are the other wires going into it?

3)a new wire loom is going in the car! how will i know what the wires are that aint original? there are wires that connect to each other that seem to go nowhere, wires cut off and taped up etc.

4) 2nd pic is the inside of reg! does it look ok?

1972 1275! oh and i have labled everything!

I'm not 100% familiar with Midgets external regulators. But from the looks of it someone has bypassed the wires for a later Lucas alternator. Posting a picture of your generator/alternator will help confirm this.


James

im confused about that regulator! been looking in the owners hand book and it should have a load of internal stuff in there!

heres pic of alternator.

lj

still cant work out whwts goung on! if i have a new alternator does the mean i dont need the voltage regulator?

Connecting those wires and gutting the reg usually means there was an internally regulated alt added. Looking at your pic of the alt. It appears to be a late model alt. I have no idea of the make or model. There are lots that interchange. If all was workink well why not leave it as is. Some folks elect to leave the reg and use it as a junction block for their wires. It has no internal parts so it actually does nothing other than hold wires on its terminals. I did that with my wifes 1970. I replaced her gen with a late model alt from a saturn.

Toby

Your car was originally fitted with a generator that required the voltage regulator. The new alternator requires nothing. The fat wires (and indeed most of the wires) can all be connected together. The exception is the "field wire" from the alternator.

Essentially, the fat wire from the alternator can, and probably should, go directly to the battery; all it does is keep the battery charged and it is self-regulating.

The current wire from the battery (actually originating at the starter switch) powers the car. This is most easily done by connecting all the fat wires together at the regulator, now no longer required.

The small wire from the alternator (the "field wire" ) goes to the ignition light on the dashboard, and then to the switch. When you switch on the car, power goes through the switch, to the light, and then to the alternator. When the alternator is charging, the power from the battery and alternator balance each other out, so there is no flow, thus the light does not burn while running. However, When your fan belt fails, the alternator does not charge, the balance is broken, power flows from the battery, the light burns, and you pull over and replace the fan belt with the one you keep in the boot (you do have one, don't you?).

There are lots of web articles about this. Google "MG generator to alternator conversion" and many writers, more articulate than I, will present this information in stunning clarity.

Alex

Thanks toby and alex! i just couldnt work out what was going on! So when i buy my new harness will it have those wires for the regulator or will they have already been connected together in the loom?

Your loom will be just what you have now. Your choices will be:

1. Go back to the original generator/voltage regulator set up (pleasing for the restoration purist, but otherwise expensive and pointless).

2. Keep the alternator and old voltage regulator as a junction box (my move on my Moggy: I just switched a couple of wires on the voltage regulator, so it looks original, but no longer functions).

3. Keep the alternator and remove the regulator, splicing the wires there together and discretely tucking them into your new wiring harness (my son's move on his 61 Sprite),

What Alex said, but you also have one more choice:

buy your new harness from Autosparks but talk with them about having it made for you with it set up for an alternator

and If you have already purchased your new harness you might still be able to return it. In any case, it will have come from the same place (Autosparks).

Norm

hey thanks for all the advice once again! hey norm i e-mailed autosparks and told them what i needed, so just waiting for a reply! although i am considering trying a rebind my loom with the extras i need! it did work when it was in.