Ford Cortina MkII alternator retrofit

two-piece

light

There should be a contact on the *control unit* for the warning light IIRC.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com saying something like:

The external regulator should have a connection for the lamp.

Interesting, maybe he has the wrong regulator? It has four terminals: "I (ignition lead), A (large post on alternator), S (stator on alternator), F (field on alternator).

Anyone have any pointers to the inner workings of the GEN light, or is it just a lamp?

the warning light is usually a powered bulb that earths through the alternator to light, it also gives a voltage to 'start' the alternator charging. try putting it to the I connection, it cannot hurt anything in this case.

mrcheerful

Depends. If it's an older Lucas regulator the bulb is a crucial part of the regulator circuit and the wattage rating should be correct, or else it may over-/under-charge. If it's missing, then you get no charge at all. They're usually held in a red plastic holder, when all the other dashboard lights are in white plastic.

Most other regulator makers aren't so rubbish at designing a reliable circuit.

Think its value ain't that critical - it only has to excite the device. Some lamps have a resistor in parallel so the alternator will still charge if the bulb fails.

If it's a Lucas ACR, then the _value_ is critical.

If it's most '70s / '80s European stuff, then you need to have a bulb of some sort, but it's not fussy what. If it's French or modern, then it might not need anything.

I thought acr were regulator built in?

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "mrcheerful ." saying something like:

I think the OP is on about the Lucas AC with external reg. I don't know how critical the bulb value is on those.