> There are two alternator wires which go to the regulator. Both are
positive.
>>Not so. Alternator wires are ALTERNATIVE leads. Both go to the
rectifier/regulator. All those I've seen to date are yellow. On the Rotax
diagram they have the little "tilde" symbol.<<
I am no expert on this but perhaps I can explain how I see it. As far as I
can tell the two alternator yellow leads produce AC which is rectified by
the regulator before going through the rest of the regulator circuitry. As
all the AC power produced by the yellow alternator wires enters the
regulator then its DC output can be seen as though the regulator and
alternator combined are a DC generator. As such this 'generator' has to have
a return back to the regulator case capable of handling it maximum output.
With that in mind the use of 10 gauge cable as a minimum size is probably a
wise precaution. Certainly if I had 20gauge cable I would look at upgrading
to 10gauge just for piece of mind (new regulators are not cheap).
Nigel Charles
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