Electric choke wired to alternator

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sbh126

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Any reason I couldnt plug my electric choke into my alternator as a power source? It seems like the easiest/closest place but I couldnt find any info on here about it. I was thinking since nobody else seems to be doing this maybe its a bad idea for some reason that I'm not seeing.
 
I am by no means an expert. But I dont think the ALT is good.
1. ALT does not give constent power level. At idel it gives less power outage. Your Elect choke needs 12 volts.
2. Your coil is much closer to the choke than alt. Easier to hide the wire with the factory wire loom. As you turn your key to the run position your choke will get power. From the alt, it will only get power after the motor starts.
I have my choke conntected to the coil and wire runs back to the firewall on the passenger side then long the intake from the back to the choke wire. I hope that makes since.
 
i asked the same question this morning and couldn't get a straight answer.
 
No, because there is always bat voltage on the alt hot wire!!!!
 
well if your talking the hot post i would say no... because the choke would always be on... post on alt is connected to battery...

if you were thinking the field wire i wouldn't know because of voltage like said above...

better to go with coil hot or any other ACC or Key on only hot...
 
wired mine up and in to the fuse box to keyed power. There is a terminal coming off you can plug right on too.
 
1. ALT does not give constent power level. At idel it gives less power outage. Your Elect choke needs 12 volts.

Yes, but picking a different power point will not change the varying voltage. The alternator B+ (output) terminal and the battery positive terminal are electrically common. Voltage varies across the entire electrical system with engine speed and load. If you need an always-live line-voltage feed, the alternator B+, the battery poz, the big terminal on the starter, and the biggest terminal on the starter relay are all electrically fine places to get it; base your choice on location, access, and other factors.

2. Your coil is much closer to the choke than alt

No good. The coil usually doesn't get line voltage. Remember, it's downstream of the ballast resistor. It sees roughly 7v. Also, the choke heater draws a fair amount of current; conceivably more than the coil primary circuit wants to handle efficiently. Moreover, hooking up accessories at the coil + will sap voltage from the ignition system, causing driveability and performance faults. Remember Gus Wilson!

The choke needs an ignition-switched line-voltage feed. The alternator B+ (and all the power points common with it, see above) are not ignition-switched, they're always-live, so none of them is a good choice. The customary power point for an electric choke is on the upstream/ignition switch side of the ballast resistor (compared to the downstream/coil side of the resistor). Easy to find which is which: unplug both wires from the ballast resistor and put a voltmeter across ground and one unplugged wire at a time. Turn the ignition switch on and watch the voltmeter. When you find the wire that goes to battery voltage when you turn on the ignition, that's the one you want to tap. I like to use Posi-Taps for this kind of operation.

Remember, the choke also wants a thermostatic ground modulator. If you hook the choke's ground wire directly to ground, the choke heater will come on as soon as the ignition is switched on. This means there's no adaptation of the choke opening time to engine temperature, and usually you'll have cold driveability problems (stalling). Also, if the engine takes awhile to start, or if for some reason you sit there with the ignition on but the engine not running, the choke heater will back the choke all the way off even though the engine's cold and needs the choke closed to start reliably. Some electric chokes have a thermal modulator built into the choke housing itself; these usually have only one wire connection (+feed). The 2-wire ones that contain only a thermostatic coil and a heating element need a thermal modulator. You can see the modulator, which is a little 1" black box with a copper mounting strap, in this photo of an electric choke retrofit kit:

echoke2.jpg
 
I ran mine to a fuse , hot when the key is is the on position, if you are using an edelbrock they tell you not to take it from coil or alternator .
 
Depends on what year your car is, or whether you are using the factory 70/ later alternator with two field connections. If you are using the later alternator, one field is normally green, goes to the regulator

The second field terminal IS SWITCHED IGNITION and is normally blue. That wire is EXACTLY what the factory split off for choke, and is the same "wire" that feeds the switched side of the ignition ballast.
 
Depends on what year your car is, or whether you are using the factory 70/ later alternator with two field connections. If you are using the later alternator, one field is normally green, goes to the regulator

The second field terminal IS SWITCHED IGNITION and is normally blue. That wire is EXACTLY what the factory split off for choke, and is the same "wire" that feeds the switched side of the ignition ballast.
yep...that's how i wired my friends...
 
Depends on what year your car is, or whether you are using the factory 70/ later alternator with two field connections. If you are using the later alternator, one field is normally green, goes to the regulator

The second field terminal IS SWITCHED IGNITION and is normally blue. That wire is EXACTLY what the factory split off for choke, and is the same "wire" that feeds the switched side of the ignition ballast.
The blue wire that goes to the coil can I tap into that?
 
The blue wire that goes to the coil can I tap into that?

WELL!!! This thread crawled back out of the "old"!! Colors change, I don't know what wire you mean. If you mean the one from the ballast to the coil, NO!!! That is not 12V, it goes THROUGH the ballast from 12 and is therefore less, AND hooking to the coil will further drop both coil and choke voltage.

Turn key to run. Probe ballast. Terminal with highest reading is what you want. I would fuse the lead to the coil, because nothing else in that circuit is.
 
I have my choke wired up to the alternator field wire. It gets 12 volts with the key on. It's worked great so far.
 
WELL!!! This thread crawled back out of the "old"!! Colors change, I don't know what wire you mean. If you mean the one from the ballast to the coil, NO!!! That is not 12V, it goes THROUGH the ballast from 12 and is therefore less, AND hooking to the coil will further drop both coil and choke voltage.

Turn key to run. Probe ballast. Terminal with highest reading is what you want. I would fuse the lead to the coil, because nothing else in that circuit is.
Ok.now a few people have talked about going from the alternator is that safe to do? My car is a 70 duster it has 2 field wires
 
The blue alternator field wire ONLY is same as "switched ignition" This actually branches off from the ballast input coming from the key. This is a common " branch" point depending on year/ model. The key feeds "run" voltage out through the bulkhead and right there in that area going to the ballast it branches off and feeds

The coil ballast resistor
The alternator blue field
The VR "IGN" terminal
Electric choke if equipped
Idle solenoid if equipped
On some, the distributor retard solenoid
On a few cars some smog doo-dads

NONE of that is fused from OEM
 
The blue alternator field wire ONLY is same as "switched ignition" This actually branches off from the ballast input coming from the key. This is a common " branch" point depending on year/ model. The key feeds "run" voltage out through the bulkhead and right there in that area going to the ballast it branches off and feeds

The coil ballast resistor
The alternator blue field
The VR "IGN" terminal
Electric choke if equipped
Idle solenoid if equipped
On some, the distributor retard solenoid
On a few cars some smog doo-dads

NONE of that is fused from OEM
Yep and now we are talking on 2 threads about it. Friend, you need help and I am not sure we can help you. Find a friend or mechanic in your area that can help. Everybody has to learn but you need some basic auto and electrical knowledge here. Hell, when I get over my head on my computer I ask my son and not 20 different people on the internet. Any one of us could probably come over to your house and fix your car within a few minutes but for some reason two different threads and dozens of posts and we're still not any closer than you were when you asked your first question.
 
The blue alternator field wire ONLY is same as "switched ignition" This actually branches off from the ballast input coming from the key. This is a common " branch" point depending on year/ model. The key feeds "run" voltage out through the bulkhead and right there in that area going to the ballast it branches off and feeds

The coil ballast resistor
The alternator blue field
The VR "IGN" terminal
Electric choke if equipped
Idle solenoid if equipped
On some, the distributor retard solenoid
On a few cars some smog doo-dads

NONE of that is fused from OEM
Ok thanks I will check it out
 
Yep and now we are talking on 2 threads about it. Friend, you need help and I am not sure we can help you. Find a friend or mechanic in your area that can help. Everybody has to learn but you need some basic auto and electrical knowledge here. Hell, when I get over my head on my computer I ask my son and not 20 different people on the internet. Any one of us could probably come over to your house and fix your car within a few minutes but for some reason two different threads and dozens of posts and we're still not any closer than you were when you asked your first question.

I'm guessin you quoted the wrong post?
 
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