Location of diodes in the Alternator Restart system?

[Rick Erwin]

Originally Posted by Learjetter

Rick,
I found the "droids you were looking for!" :-)

Here's a photo of my ALT RESTART switch, as removed from my panel yesterday. A previous owner removed the ALT RESTART battery pack years ago, so during this recent annual, I opted to remove the switch, and will document the removal in the logbook.
Hope this helps!
-LJ

Learjetter, thank you for posting the pictures.

I did get access to the resistor and the diodes and checked them; they are good.

Even after bypassing the resistor, the switch, and the diodes, (by running a test wire from the dry cell batteries directly to the field terminal on the alternator) the same problem exists. As soon as the wire from the batteries touches the alternator's field terminal, the voltage drops to zero. There must be something in the alternator that's causing this behavior. BTW, the alternators work fine.

I'll tackle this problem again on Monday, and report back when I have anything significant to report.