Location of diodes in the Alternator Restart system?

[Rick Erwin]

Originally Posted by wslade2

Ammeter should be hooked in “series”. one probe of the meter hooked to one end of wire and other probe hooked to the other end. Just think of it like cutting the wire and putting the meter in the line, like two leads of a light socket. If you’re able to select, start high on the amperage and work down. I don’t buy very expensive meters and most of those have a 10 amp capacity. It’ll say on the meter. They usually use a fuse and if apply too much current they’ll blow the fuse and end reading zero. If zero reading, check fuse in meter in case it’s blown. You should get some kind of reading. If not back to testing every connection and solder joint

wslade2, thank you again. That is how I thought the multi-meter should be hooked up to read amperage. That's how I thought I'd done it successfully in the past, and YouTube verified that. What I didn't check is the fuse in the multi-meter. Perhaps I can get to that tomorrow, as I'd still like to know.

Well, today I had some level of success. After doing three different iterations of an under-load test at each junction in the restart system, (for some unknown reason), the system started showing voltage at the field terminals. I don't know why, which is frustrating, because the problem could return anytime.

The decisive test will be to run the engines and perform the Alternator Restart Test to see if the 1.75-ish volts at each alternator are enough to excite the fields and restore power to a cold electrical system.

Rick