This wiring diagram shows the alternator and external voltage regulator wiring for a 351 Pleasurecraft engine from 1976.Some of the aftermarket regulators had different colors on the wires. Ignore the light on the brown wire, it wasn't used  

I guess one question should be ......do you have a Pleasurecraft 351, or maybe a Commander or Escort 351 in the boat The info below and the previous diagram pertain to a Pleasurecraft (or Waukesha) engine

Here is a non artist's rendition of how the wires hook to the back of a Prestolite alternator on a 76 Pleasurecraft 351 and a picture of a voltage regulator. The 3 blade connector was standard on the engine, so yours has been "modified" over the years if that connector on the regulator has nothing to plug into in the wiring harness.

The single wire with the ring connector on the end is purple, maybe yours is red?

If you get it wired up right, your charging issue should be resolved.

Since you have an ammeter, your big Orange wire goes from the alternator up to the ammeter, to the ignition switch and then back to the solenoid. See the wiring diagram earlier in this thread

PS.................I hope the name on the side of the boat is spelled better than you spell it 

I got your PM about the engine being an Escort conversion with a Motorcraft alternator so the diagram above isn't gonna be right.

I'm not sure I've ever seen an Escort wiring diagram

I sent a PM to somebody named Pete with an Escort so that he'll look at this thread and he can probably give you some info or pictures 

Nathan has one of those White Escorts.

Maybe along with Pete, Orlando76 could also give him some alternator/regulator info since he has an Escort too

I have the old Motorcraft D4FF-10316-AA And it's wired exactly like the older wiring diagram Ken posted above. I see there are electronic type replacements.

The Motorcraft alternator should have those same connections

The big wire on the right of the picture is the 10 gauge output going to the ammeter.

The I terminal is fed from the ignition switch

Since you put in a DUI distributor the power for the I terminal would come from the same wire that feeds the distributor 
 

Is the replacement you put in the same as pictured?  Was you old regulator putting out the high volts and amps or is it the new one? 

If only this picture showed the wires going into the I A S F connections and the wire colors, Nathan's life would probably be a lot easier

Another inch lower with the camera Pete 

How's this Ken? 

Now you need to hope that Pete will look at the back of his alternator and see what wires are connected to what terminals. Maybe even another picture will appear 

There's a good chance that there's nothing hooked to the S terminal on the his alternator.

There's a lot of confusing info on Motorcraft regulators/alternators depending on the year(s) they were used.

And.........that S terminal going to the choke just might be right.(providing 12 volts to the choke coil)

Have you tried the new regualtor yet? You said you were heading down to the lake to see how it works.

I'll take a look at the backside of my alternator and get back. 

Brown on the field and black on the ground.

Nathan,

Does this new version have the same terminal designations as the old one I have pictured and Ken has described or does it just have wire pigtails? A piture of what you have sure would help. 

Again, have you tried the new one yet?  If so, what are the results? 

Yes, I did miss you guys (and this site) when it was down.............I actually had to start hanging with my wife (and talking to her) in the evening.........instead of being on CCF.  

I am glad things are getting back to "normal" 

Burb                   Your wife is probably glad it's back too  

That picture of Pete's alternator is pretty good. He even took it off the mounts to get a good shot I think he probably knew I'd harass him if he didn't get a good picture

Now we just have to see if the wire from the S terminal on the regulator goes to the choke on Pete's boat.

Now that's teamwork 

What should we tackle next Pete?

What's the voltage at the battery?

Another thought: get an Ohm reading  of the electric choke. I'll get mine and report back.

The 1 wire is self excited at about 1000 rpm or so and the 3 wire needs to have excitation provided

Plenty of people have done the "Delco swap" Depending on the bracketry, minor mods might be involved

If you were to look at DB Electrical part numbers ADR0106 and ADR0334 you'd see a 3 wire and a 1 wire and their prices

I could post some pictures of both with the wiring hookup shown later if you're thinking about that route.

Hurry up Pete, you should have it by now 

Probably right around 10 ohms and it draws about 1 amp when energized

My choke coil reads at 11.5 Ohms across the coil and 11.7 to the engine block. Check yours both ways just to make sure the coil isn't shunted to ground. 

The resistance on your choke coil is low. Ken calculated 10 and I was getting arond 11. 

Ken didn't calculate 10, he just gave that as an approximate value.

I've seen then anywhere from 7 to 13 ohms and they all worked.

It isn't gonna have any affect on his charging voltage.

Here's a picture of hooking up a 1 wire Delco

If you can count you'll say "but there are 2 wires" 

They don't count the ground wire for some reason. You don't really need the ground wire because the case is grounded to the engine through the mounting bolts and a lot of people don't use it but it's pretty easy to put it on.

Hooking up a 3 wire Delco (with 4 wires counting the ground)

Same Black ground wire hookup and Orange output wire hookup

The Red wire is the sensing wire for the internal regulator and in your situation hooking it to the output terminal works well.

The black wire next to it that's hooked to the green wire is the 12 volt excitation for the alternator. The Green wire color is just because that's what I pulled out of the drawer 

The 1 wire alternator is "self exciting". When you start the engine and rev it to a little over 1000 rpm's, the alternator is now excited and starts charging.Once it's charging, it will keep charging till you turn the engine off. Then on the next start, you rev it to 1000 or so and it's charging again. You can come down to idle speed and it'll keep charging as long as you revved it enough to excite itself.

The 3 wire needs 12 volts from a keyed ignition source to make it's regulator start charging. No revving it up is necessary.

The 3 wire can sense system voltage anywhere in the electrical system depending on where you hook the wire to.

In your case with a boat that doesn't have any big electrical loads, sensing right at the output terminal works well.

And.......since any of these alternators are a lot more powerful than your original the easiest way to protect your boat wiring which won't really handle much more than the original alternator's 37 or 40 or so amps is to put a 40 amp fuse right at the alternator output.

You won't use all the amps the alternator can put out if you get a 100 amp alternator, you're basically limiting it to 40 amps.

Some people just slap on a 100 or more amp alternator with no fuse at the output and can under the right circumstances melt wiring, make all kinda' sparks under the engine box and that's never a good thing

Here's a picture of a fuse setup that would work. The wiring to the fuse should be at least as big as the 10 gauge alternator output wire.

If you want to use all 100 or so amps, then to be protected you'd need some larger wiring all the way from the alternator to the ammeter in the dash and back to the engine again and you'd need the same size ground wiring.

The simplest but still effective setup would be the 1 wire alternator with a 40 amp fuse on it's output and the rest of your boat wiring could handle that.

Like with most things in life, there's more than one way to do do it, so maybe you'll get some other opinions.

What worked? The electric choke or the Escort charging system with 7 to 13 Ohms at the choke coil?

Those things that read anywhere from 7 to 13 ohms.........they're what worked.

And the choke coil is gonna have no effect on his charging voltage, like I said in the same quote,so he'll still have his charging system issue 

Ken,

What is the resistance of the choke coil doing for the regulator circuit? 

I guess you should tell me, you're the one who brought up the choke coil to begin with  

Ken,

Yes I did bring it up after checking the alternator/regulator wiring on the Escort and finding the connection to the choke coil.  I don't know what the resistance in the circuit is doing and it sounds like you don't have any idea ether! 

I guess I don't know what you're thinking but it's(the s terminal) just a handy place to grab 12 volts and feed it to the choke  

No feed to the alternator at all from that wire

Ken,

My thinking is why did they what resistance on the REGULATOR. BTW, the "I" terminal on the start relay is closer than the regulator so, that's an even HANDIER spot to pick up 12 volts.

We might set a record for number of quotes in one post here Pete

You need to think about when the "I" terminal actually has any power supplied to it and then decide if that's what you want powering? your choke Pete

Edit.........I guess you're still figuring it out Pete, but for anybody else that's reading, the "I" terminal only has power when the key is in Start and no power in Run, so it's not of any use for powering the choke or providing voltage to the "S" terminal when the engine is running.