New member with new to me truck,. Should be in my sig if I set it up right.  This is my second Cummins with the first being a 92 D250.  I like working on and upgrading my pickups.  Lot of new things to learn on the vehicle and about posting and such.   I really like the information in this forum on alt AC noise Tc  lockup, makes sense the way you guys explain it with no bs.  Before I read this I had started changing battery cables and such, now I will improve it even more. My neg cable on the drivers side looked ok, but when I opened it up was corroded pretty bad inside.  I am sure most factory ones are similar after 18 years.  

Welcome to the forum. Just jump right in when you're ready. 

Welcome to the website. 

 

The one to talk for sure is @W-T the ground wire guru. There is a few others that done the ground wire mod as well. @dripley shame on you. You told me last night you did the ground wire mod and worked good for you. You are not going to share with the newbie here. 

Yep, Dripleys A/C voltage dropped after the mod. Pretty significant too.

 

I think he's getting ready to build another restaraunt.

 

Welcome to the forum BTW.

Edited April 25, 20186 yr by JAG1

Well shame on me. I guess why I did not mention it is that electrical advice and the chicken man are not normally mentioned in the same sentence. But here goes @Dodge2k. The thread below is what I used when I did I this.

 

 

This is A good read on the subject. @W-T did quite alot due to what he runs on his rig . Mine has nowhere near the power requirements so what did is less involved.

 

What I did was start at the alternator by removing the #6 B+ charge cable from the alternator to the PDC. I also removed the blk w/tan stripe ground wire from the passenger battery to the splice buried in wiring harness near the VP,  just cut the wire at the splice and cut the other end at the y splice near the battery.

 

I then cut the 4 wires on the other side of the splice and removed it. I crimped and soldered on a 1/4 ring terminal for 12 to 10  gauge wire on the 4 wires. I used a section of the larger blk w/ tan tracker wire that I removed from the battery and made wire with ring terminals on each end and bolted one end along with 4 wires now joined in ring terminal to the timing case cover with the bolt specified in the thread. And attached the other end of the single larger wire to drivers battery neg terminal.

 

Next I made up a #4 gauge wire with ring terminals to run from the alternator charge post to the B+ on the passanger battery. I had some new battery cable laying around for this wire.

 

I removed every thing from the harness including the wire loom all the way to the VP. I used a utility knife with a new blade to cut the tape off at the joints. I was very careful doing this so as not to cut into any of the wires. The tape that's on there will pretty much fall apart even if it is not cut all the way thru. After it was all removed I began the reassembly. 

 

Two things I have not done yet are replacing the PCM ground, I just reconnected the existing wire with all its splices and I have not run a ground to both battery B- posts. I ran out of daylight.

 

But just this alone took my A.C. voltage from a marginal .035 down to .010. I was quite surprised. This is a very worthwhile mod to do. And my thanks go out to @W-Tfor the in site and also to @IBMobile for dumbing down to my level. Thanks guys.

 

One other thing I did, and this will make @Mopar1973Man and @JAG1 happy, was connect my AD fuel pump to the PDC terminal vacated by the old charge wire. I had it connected to the alternator.

 

That leaves me with one question. Does the B+ from the driver battery power the PDC?

Thanks guys.  When I finish my track bar (synergy  adjustable on the way) I plan to get after more wiring.  I am testing adding a picture if that is ok.  Should be of my corroded neg cable.  I just want to see how it looks when posted.  Testing 123

10 hours ago, dripley said:

That leaves me with one question. Does the B+ from the driver battery power the PDC?

Yes, that wire from the positive terminal of the left battery to the PDC is where all the power to run the electrical components, except the starter motor, comes through.   

@dripley @IBMobile I just did this ground/alternator charge wire mod. Have not hooked up cables to battery yet wanted to make sure I'm on the right track. Question, the wire that ran from alternator to pdc is now at passenger battery how important is it to put an line fuse like it was in PDC. And another question in PDC where alternator wire used to be, do I just leave that blank or use it like @dripley power lift pump from there or something else and it will be protected by a fuse which can be changed to a different size. @IBMobile I know you mentioned something about not using a fuse because Volvo doesn't but I forgot which thread that was in, and I remember @Mopar1973Man saying something about frying things if there is no fuse between alternator and battery. 

On the other hand I'm happy to take time and redo that wireing with cheaseeee glue connections,  thanks again to @W-T for his knowledge on this electrical stuff that potentially caused headache to many prior to discovering this mess. 

 

Edit: Sorry to OP didn't mean to 

Edited May 7, 20186 yr by Dieselfuture

17 minutes ago, Dieselfuture said:

I remember @Mopar1973Man saying something about frying things if there is no fuse between alternator and battery.

 

Funny... After talking with @W-T about it. Only the 2nd Gens have an alternator fuse. 1st Gen and 3rd Gen don't have an alternator fuse. The only thing I was thinking of is a fool hooking up jumper cables to the truck backwards. It would blow the diodes out of the alternator.

2 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

 

Funny... After talking with @W-T about it. Only the 2nd Gens have an alternator fuse. 1st Gen and 3rd Gen don't have an alternator fuse. The only thing I was thinking of is a fool hooking up jumper cables to the truck backwards. It would blow the diodes out of the alternator.

So if I'm not drunk when rescuing I should be good just to leave that stud in pdc empty or use it for something else? If that's the case I'm all done then   

14 minutes ago, Dieselfuture said:

I should be good just to leave that stud in pdc empty or use it for something else?

 

You can leave it empty. No problem.

I left mine empty but like @dripley you can use that empty terminal to power something else now.

That terminal is rated for 140 amps so a high amp draw idem can be powered from there. 

Sounds to me like you're done too. I am curious what ac voltage you see when done. Mine dropped from .035 to .010.

When I checked mine the previous owner added a 4 ga from pass battery to alt.  Should I still remove the one to the PDC.  It would look cleaner.  Thanks

 

1 hour ago, Dodge2k said:

When I checked mine the previous owner added a 4 ga from pass battery to alt.  Should I still remove the one to the PDC.  It would look cleaner.  Thanks

Not knowing what the po has done I am not sure what to tell you. I removed the #6 from the alt to the PDC and replaced it with a #4 from the alt to the passenger battery. If I am right removing the charge wire from the harness takes all the B+voltage away from the signal wires in the harness and that is part of the benefit. You already have the 2 batteries connected with the wire across the radiator that connects both together so I see no benefit of leaving the # 6 to the PDC. Looks wise I dont know how you can see it if it is still in the wiring harness. When I took mine out I wrapped the remaining wires in a new, smaller wire loom. Other that size it looks pretty much the same. But again I have no idea what the po has done and am not the electrical genius here.