Rectifier.... What about the purple wire?

[joshuagurley]

Hi, <br /> I recently replaced the rectifier on my force 50.<br />I believe its an 85 but Im not sure cause someone stole it from me once. I got it back minus the number plate. Amazing really. I saw it drive by my house on another boat and chased it down! Any info on the date would be great.<br /> But more importantly it seems to run fine for 15 or 20 minutes then it loses power. If it cools down it runs ok for a little longer. It seems to be cooling/ peeing fine. I got a suspicion that Ive got the rectifier wired wrong and Im slowly cooking a coil.<br />Heres a picture of what I got now...<br /> http://www.gurleyauctions.com/images/rectifier.jpg <br />It make no sense to me. I just put it back the way it was. <br />Ive got a gray(tach?)wire and a ground wire going to ground on the rectifier<br />The battery lead goes to an ac(top left in pic)<br />One coil wire plus a purple(generator?) goes to the positive on the rectifier(top right in pic)<br />The other coil wire goes to the last AC on the rectifier(bottom right in pic)<br /> Could this be the problem? Do I need new coils now?<br />I'm going to decarb today as well after reading about it on this site.<br /> Thanks very much for any help you can privide.<br /> Joshua

 

[RRitt]

Re: Rectifier.... What about the purple wire?

in your picture, <br /><br />you have ground connected to the correct terminal.<br /><br />In your picture there are three wires which appear to be solid red. You are going to need to manually trace the two "AC" wires and confirm that they go to stator and not battery.<br /><br />Diagonally across from the ground terminal is the positive terminal. It should have a notched corner. This terminal should connect to battery +. All other electrical feeds should be connected via the keyswitch or battery output. <br /><br />The purple wire does not look right. Connecting electronics, ignition, etc. directly to the rectifier significantly increases your risk of damaging them if your battery connections become corroded. I do not think Chrysler would have done that. Chysler engineers did not cut $0.05 corners while placing hundreds of dollars worth of electronics in jeopardy. That was more mercury's style. But you say that the engine year is pre-mercury. On my 1988 85HP motor the purple wire does not attach to rectifier bridge. It attaches to the terminal block. You should double chaeck that one.

 

[joshuagurley]

Re: Rectifier.... What about the purple wire?

Ok, Ive got the the rectifier wired right. Battery lead to the positive on the rectifier, coil wires to the AC. Black and gray are ground.<br />Starts and runs but I dont know where to put the purple wire still.<br /> Any suggestions?

 

[joshuagurley]

Re: Rectifier.... What about the purple wire?

Im afraid I may have a more serius problem now.<br />Running it on the hose I noticed water comming out the exhaust on the bottom as well as leaking out of one of the bolts for the lower end next to the Vent plug.<br /> Is that OK? <br />It also doesnt push a lot of water through at Idle. Only when I rev it up a bit.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Rectifier.... What about the purple wire?

thats ok, there are several small drain holes that will "leak" water. Put her in the lake and run it.<br /><br />These motors don't circulate water well when running on muffs.<br />The like to be in a tank of water.

 

[RRitt]

Re: Rectifier.... What about the purple wire?

my engine has a sticker near terminal block that gives color and connection point for every wire. Have you checked to see if your engine has a similar diagram? If so, it should list the purple wire and where to connect it. If not then you are going to need to get out the wiring diagram and figure out what the purple wire does.

 

[joshuagurley]

Re: Rectifier.... What about the purple wire?

Thats a relief. Thanks Roscoe.<br /><br />There are color codes on my terminal block but they dont tell me where to go. Purple is listed as "generator" but there is already a wire attached.<br /> Oh well, I guess she will just have to wait for me to save up for a manual.<br /> Any one else got any ideas?<br /> Thanks again!

 

[RRitt]

Re: Rectifier.... What about the purple wire?

they should be listed in the same order as they are connected. look at the other wires and see if they are. Then look at the purple slot and see if a wire is missing.

 

[chris.olson]

Re: Rectifier.... What about the purple wire?

The purple wire does not look right.

This is a very old thread. But I will tell you what that purple wire labeled "generator" is for on the older Chrysler/Force battery ignition electrical systems so it is here for future reference.

It is connected to one leg of the stator on the alternator, connects to the terminal block and runs thru the harness to the under-dash terminal block. It puts out unrectified half-sine AC voltage, same as the "W" terminal on automotive alternators. The frequency of the signal is directly proportional to engine rpm - 8 pole alternator is 4 pulses/revolution with single-phase stator.

It can be used for tachometer signal on tachometers designed to be connected to the alternator. Or an over-speed alarm. Voltage on this wire at rated engine rpm is 9.3-10.0V.

The white wire comes from the negative side of the #1 cylinder coil and is labeled "tachometer". It is a 1 pulse/revolution signal, designed to be used with conventional 12V tachometers that measure 1 pulse/rev.

You will find that most conventional automotive tachometers designed for 4, 6 or 8 cylinder four-stroke engines will work connected to that purple wire, with the tach set to 8-cylinder configuration.