Seems that all the Minitrucks use a what is known in the racing community as a “mini Denso” unit which is popular with folks building race cares due to the small size and light weight. This gives us a ready supply of rebuilt alternators with significantly more amperage capacity, and a far lower price than the stock ones for our trucks. If you go to eBay and search for: “mini denso race”, you will to get quite a few results in the $80 to $130 range, with outputs ranging from the stock 30-amps to 120-amps. Now a lot of them are one wire units that connect directly to th battery. But there also three and four wire versions, some of which come with the appropriate plug assembly. If the position of the leads on the back of the alternator don’t match yours, it is fairly easy to reclock,the alternator, and new plug assemblies are available if you need to rewire your truck. First reclocking: you take off the rear dust cover, remove the four bolts holding the two halves together, and rotate the back to any of the three other positions. The just reinstall the bolts, and dust cover and you’re done. There are basically three wiring schemes: First is the one wire, where the regulator senses the voltage at the aleternator, and regulates it to 14.6 volts. Second, is the three wire, where the main output connects to the battery, one 14ga wire comes from the on position of the ignition switch, and one 14ga wire hooks to the positive post at the battery, so the alternator senses the voltage at the battery, and the regulator adjusts the output to 14.6 Volts there. Third is a four wire hookup. This is the same as the three wire. But adds on more wire, that is the ground for an idiot light that will come on if the voltage at the battery is 11Volts or less when the ignition is on. All are easy to wire.
Update: Reclocking is a bit more complicated than I posted. You have to undo the four screws holding the field wires, and bend them up before you can separate the two halves of the body. Then you have to pry the stator winding assembly up, and out of the lower half of the body, so you can reclock it before putting everything back together. Really not hard if your mechanically adept. I’ll try to do a pictorial instruction post in the next couple of weeks. After, I finish the current project on the truck.
Hey guys, I'm totally new to my mini truck, although it's been kind of a pain in my ass lol (this is my second mini in 3 months) the first was to old and to much so I got rid of it and bought a 99 Suzuki carry db52t and I love it but already I'm having problems with my charging system. After an hour drive on a charged battery, with headlights and heat on, my battery is drained. I know my battery is old and I think it's toast but I want to upgrade my alternator anyway. I plan on running lights, winch, stereo, all the off road comforts. I'm more of an ATV mechanic than a vehicle mechanic but I want to learn and do all the upgrades myself. I need help to know which alternator I should buy, 1 wire, 3 wire or 4 wire. Which will be easiest to mate up to my 99 carry. If any of you guys can help me, I'd be forever grateful. Thanks guys
Easiest will be to match your existing unit. That said I went from the three wire (two on the plug, and the battery lead) to a 4-wire, when I upgraded the alternator on my Hijet. I went with the four wire, because I wanted the voltage regulator to be sensing, and working off of voltage at the battery, and not at the alternator. Rather than take out the stock charge wire, which winds past the starter on it’s way to the battery, I left it in place, and installed a new 4-gauge feed from the alternator to the battery. Electrically this leaves them in parallel, and saves a bunch of effort to figure out the starter wiring. I had to re-clock the 90-amp Mini-Denso unit I used, but that isn’t that difficult. And it was only about $115 off eBay.
Ok that's excellent, I'm gonna order a mini denso and see what I can do. Sounds a little intimadating but I'm going for it lol thanks a lot pal, it's very appreciated
I recommend you get a look at your alternator first. There are other possible alternators, and some of the newer trucks have the one with three mount points, and not the two of the “mini-Denso” alternators. You need to be sure you can mount what you get. I did an eBay search,and found this from beforward in Japan: As the stock alternator of your series of Carry. It is a Mitsubishi Electric unit, and the Mini-Denso, may or may not bolt in, and you will have to get the new harness connector if you do get it in. If you think you have the skill set, or an advisor who does, you may be able to make it work.
I'm gonna take my time because I want it right the first try lol so today, before I remove my alternator, I'm cleaning all grounds up and adding an extra from battery to top bolt on alternator. I'm very new to working on vehicles but I know the basics with working on ATV's all my life. I listen to a Canadian tire mechanic, after he changed me $50 and basically told me nothing, I ended up spending another$130 on a battery ffs! I took my truck out last night to stress test the charging system and a 2 hour drive with lights and heat on, my battery was very low, not low enough that it won't start my truck but a lot lower than it was when I put it in. I also noticed that even with a brand new battery, my headlights are dim. Does that sound like I may have a short somewhere. With a brand new battery, shouldn't my headlights be nice and bright? And again , thank you so much for your help
Thanks Fred, your input is very appreciated. So maybe you can help with this. I just come in from working on my carry and reground all grounds and checked fuses. In the relay fuse box there is a 70a fuse that's bolted in on both sides. Well it seems to have bad burn marks on the fuse link inside it so I checked the fuse for current and when I touch the burnt parts of the fuse link, it reads no current. The fuse isn't blown because the fuse link is still connected but would that 70a fuse have anything to do with my charging system ?
So I was doing some deep digging, found something that might work, 2 prong for the factory plug and battery stud. Any thoughts!!!. https://www.vegasrodparts.com/mobile/Product.aspx?ProductCode=TSP-ES1004BK
You can find them for less on Amazon, and eBay. I wouldn’t go above a 90-Amp unit, as the units are small, and don’t have much surface to dissipate heat. There are several different wiring setups out there. Varying from one to four wires. One heavy gauge wire goes from the post on the alternator to the battery, and carries the current to charge the battery, and power the electrical feature of the vehicle.. This wire is always there. Generally there are two more wires, one to run the idiot light, and one to charge the windings. The last wire is less frequent and runs from the plug on the alternator, to the positive post of the battery, and is used to allow the voltage regulator to sense the voltage, and thus charge, at the battery. A “single wire’ Alternator has only the lead to the battery. (On the Hijets it goes to teh starter first, and then continues on to the battery) It is intended for race vehicles, the field is constantly on unless you have a battery disconnect switch. It will drain the battery any time the engine isn’t running, and it sense the voltage of the system at the alternator, and adjusts there. But since all of these you will find in the mini-Denso format started as stock units, they will still have the two prong plug, but it isn’t hooked up internally. The three wire alternator is the stock configuration, and has a plug with two terminals, for connections to the ignition, and idiot light. This is the most common setup. A four wire alternator has a three prong plug, and connects to the ignition switch to energize the fields, the idiot light, and the positive post of the battery. To install this set up you will need to change out the stock plug, and add the wire to the battery. The run length front he alternator to the battery, is pretty long on a Hijet, since the wire goes to the starter first and then goes to the battery from there. Ideally there should be a wire from the post on the alternator, to the battery directly, and then a separate wire running from the battery to the starter lug. The factory goes to the starter and then the battery, because it saves them about 8-feet of wire per vehicle, and that turns into thousands of tons of copper over the millions of vehicles they make. And, these are economy vehicles designed for a very competitive market. So, any cast cutting you can do, without effecting sales is done. When I upgraded my alternator, I installed a 4-wire unit. I added a #4 copper from the alternator to the battery in parallel with the stock wiring which goes to the starter first, and I added a run of 10–gauge from the battery to the plug on the alternator as the sensing wire. I upsized the battery at the same time, and doubled the Cold Cranking Amps. I bought the three wire plug and alternator from the same guy on eBay, who was the actual rebuilder, and let him know what I was doing, to be sure I got the right parts, and get his input on my plan. I think it was $119 with shipping for the alternator and new plug. That was 4 or 5 years ago, so pricing could be anywhere, and the shop I dealt with may or may not still be there. And, if it seems I’m talking down to you, remember that I write these not just for the person asking questions, but for anyone seeking the knowledge. There are a lot of folks on here who have never wrenched on anything before in their life, and are starting from zero knowledge of anything under the hood.
