I bought one of those shiney alternators from summit to replace the blown one in my 85 Berlinetta. When I bought it, I noticed there was no plug from the exciter wire, and when I asked one of the assiciates, (Hereafter refered to as imbeciles) he told me that the alternator was self-exciting. So I installed the thing and sure enough, the battery drains while the car is on. The positive return is on the correct terminal, and I'm sure of it. There is one other terminal on the alternator, and I'm wondering if there is something I should put on there. Should I cut the negative lead from the exciter wire and wrap it around it? I don't want to do anything stupid, so I figured I would ask you guys.

 

Any thoughts?

 

There are single wire alternators, so there's nothing "wrong" with your new one, just the wiring, possibly.

google search results

google search 2