Hi everyone and thanks for your help.
sorry if I've posted in the wrong category - please advise if i have.

I have a 5KVA inverter that is driven from a modified alternator. The windings look like they have been tapped to supply an AC load to the inverter. (this is my best guess).

The cable harness that connects the alternator and the inverter consists of 6 separate wires (3 yellow, red, black, and white).
The red feeds 12v (i think) to power the inverter electronics, black - ground and white is the field wire.

Now the three yellow wires which i assume are three separate phases are identical and have no reference as to where they should be wired to the inverter. on the alternator side there are six wires (soldered to the windings) which are paired up and and terminating in a 3 gang terminal block.

so my question is does it matter which yellow wire is terminated at the inverter?
also what sort of voltage/current should be produced in the field wire?

I have been tempted to put a meter across the wires when its up and running but dont know if i should do that until i know what sort of pixies i'm dealing with first.


any ways thanks for looking

 

The three Yellow wires will give AC voltage out, and doesn't matter which way they are connected to the inverter, it may give out upto 50V,,

the field White winding will be DC controlled probably 12-24V.

 

The three Yellow wires will give AC voltage out, and doesn't matter which way they are connected to the inverter, it may give out upto 50V,,

the field White winding will be DC controlled probably 12-24V.

magic! cheers dave will be having a play this afternoon.

If i may be so bold then to ask is this an AC-AC Transformer rather than an Inverter?

 

An Alternator is just a 3Phase generator that uses a DC field winding (rotor), so your output voltage is controlled by the amount of DC voltage on the field.