I am updating the electrical on my truck and am at the charging system. After reading a bit of tech I found that a 5408 3A diode would be the best. I shot up to radio shack and they did not have any 5408's but they did have 5404 3A and a 6A05 6A. I figured for $3 a bag. I would grab some of each. Both are overkill compared with the 1 amp that came with my 6al2. Here are specifications on the 5400 series Here are specifications on the 6A series The difference is that the 5404 has 400volts of blocking voltage where as the 6a05 only has 50. The 6a has 400 amp peak surge current while the 5404 has 200. I do want to install an idiot light and plan on running the sensing wire on the main alternator to the horn and the secondary alternator to the aux junction block. I am currently using two 63 amp Delco-Remy 10-SI Series both running on the same 1 Amp diode using my stock wiring. In the spring I will transplanting to la larger engine and upgrading to two 94 amp Delco-Remy 12-SI Series using two diodes. I will be switching the wiring over to to the two diode, two idiot light, two gauge, and two sensing wire design over the next 2 weeks. The "batt" terminal on the main alternator has a 10 gauge wire with a fusible link going to the Hot at all times terminal on a cutoff switch a little over 8 feet long. That hot at all times terminal has a 9 feet 2 gauge going to the Battery. When the switch is turned ON a 7 foot 2 gauge wire is powered as well as a 3 foot 10 gauge coil wire. The sensing wire will be roughly 10 feet long going to the fuse block and be 12 feet long. The "batt" terminal on the aux alternator has a 10 gauge wire with a fusible link going to the aux cutoff switch hot at all times (switch OFF) terminal a little over 9 feet long. That feeds an 8 feet long 2 gauge wire going directly to the battery and a 2 foot wire going to a junction block off the hot at all times terminal. When the aux switch is turned ON a 6" jumper wire will connect the main cutoff switch and aux battery for jumping the truck. The sensing wire will be 6 feet long going to the Junction block. The junction block is hot at all times off the aux battery. The aux switch does not connect to the junction block or main battery when off it is simply for jumping the main battery off the aux if I ever have a dead main battery when it is 5 degrees out. The two charging systems are completely separate except that both exciter wires will be going to the key. I don't see how this would cause a issue with the diode in any way. If it will somehow please advise. The main gauge will be powered when the main switch is turned on using the coil terminal. The aux gauge will be powered when the key is on. The gauge lights will be powered off the sensing wire spliced after the diode. The rest of the sensing wire will go to the fuse block/junction block. The lights will be on whenever the truck is running. If the diode fails the light will shut off letting me know the diode is dead or the bulb simply burnt out. Which diode would I be better off using?
the spec sheets were copied too small to read...but really, it should work ok with either diode. There's not much current on that wire. I got lost trying to understand your verbal schematic, that's why they usually draw them.
I found I need to install a switch for the aux gauge so the main gauge is powered off the key. The Main cut off has 4 terminals. I have indicator lights off the smaller ones. The little circles between the gauge and light are idiot lights. I need to run the idiot lights to the aux gauge switch and the main cutoff switch with the light being the resistance. I did not want to complicate the drawing further though. I did add some indicator lights to show when the main cutoff switches are turned on.
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