What module controls the alternator?

11 RAM 1500 3.7L PCM ECM ECU COMPUTER ENGINE CONTROL MODULE ALTERNATOR REPAIR

Step 1: Click on the buy it now button, select your return shipping preference and complete checkout. (Please make sure to read the Tech Notes below prior to purchase, thanks!)
Step 2: Package your ECU carefully so that it does not incur structural damage during shipment. Take it to the Post Office, FedEx, DHL or UPS and ship it to:

Your Part Source
4503 N Illinois St.
Swansea, IL 62226
Attn: R&R/(your eBay user name here)

Tech Notes

This repair is specifically for the alternator charging system issue in these vehicles. If you have a different issue please see our repair for those issues here.
Not all issues with tha alternator charging issue can be repaired. Please contact us before purchasing the service and provide us with the issues and trouble codes so we can review and make sure there is a good chance the ecu can be repaired.
We will use notes received from the customer and our state of the art vehicle simulator to put your ECU through over 25+ circuit tests. This will allow us to zero in on the issues and perform a thorough repair. After the rebuild the ECU will undergo the same tests to verify the repair! Your ECU case and pins will also be cleaned so it is ready for install when you receive it back! (Please make sure your connector is free of debris, oil, dirt etc etc so a good connection is made!)
Please note that sometimes the damage to an engine computer is unrepairable. In instances where our techs test, diagnose and attempt a repair but are unable to bring the ecu back there will be a diagnostic fee of $89.99. The remaining portion of your initial purchase price will be refunded.
If you contact us with your issues and trouble codes but it sounds like there is not a good chance of a successful repair we do stock tested/rebuilt ecu’s. We may have the ECU you need in stock and will go over options with you.

Warranty

This repair carries a one year warranty!
You will receive a detail of the repairs that took place. Those repairs are covered for one full year! You may also receive install notes detailing what you may need to repair or verify good prior to installing the repaired ECU. If it is determined those repairs did not take place and the same component(s) are blown it will not be covered under the warranty. In all cases where there is an issue rest assured we will work with you to get your vehicle up and running.

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Part Number

68059109 68059109AA 68059109AB 68059109AC 68059109AD P68059109AD R8059109AD 68062111 68062111AA 68062111AB 68062111AC 68062111AD P68062111AD R8062111AD 68064100 68064100AA 68064100AB 68064100AC 68064100AD 68064100AE 68064100AF 68064100AG 68064100AH 68064100AI P68064100AI R8064100AI 68064101 68064101AA 68064101AB 68064101AC 68064101AD 68064101AE 68064101AF 68064101AG 68064101AG 68064101AI P68064101AI R8064101AI

We can repair all 11 Dodge Ram 1500 3.7L model ECU’s! If you know your ECU is beyond repair email us with your part number and there is a good chance we have it in stock!

Shipping

USPS Priority — 2 to 3 day shipping (This is included with the listed shipping cost)
USPS Priority Express — 1 day shipping to most locations. If you live in a remote area this service may take 2 days. (There is an up-charge)
UPS Next Day Air Saver — Guaranteed 1 day service. (There is an up-charge)
Due to eBay’s strict shipping policies we list a 15 day handling period. We anticipate your ECU arriving much sooner and when it does we will repair it the same or next business day. Once repaired the ECU will ship by the next business morning.

Electronically Controlled Alternator

The production and distribution of electric energy on the board of a modern car already require computer control as well as adequate diagnostic instruments.

The Conventional Alternator

Apart from the rectifier and alternating voltage generated in three windings of the stator, the alternating current generator or the alternator has to be equipped with a voltage regulator. Its task is to maintain constant voltage between the minus terminal and the plus terminal of the alternator. In the traditional solution, working of such a control system is based on impulses. If the voltage on the alternator terminals exceeds the limit value (13.8 – 14.6V), the voltage regulator cuts off the excitation current that flows through the rotor winding. The voltage generated by the alternator starts to fall. The moment it reaches a value smaller than the limit value, the regulator again allows the current to flow through the rotor winding. The rotor generates the magnetic flux. The voltage on the working terminals of the alternator increases. The whole control process starts again and lasts non-stop in successive cycles from the moment the motor is started till it is switched off.

Multifunctional Regulators

Along with the development of electronic systems in alternators, which also were modernized, multifunctional voltage regulators capable of fulfilling additional functions appeared on the market. Those new functions improved the vehicle’s electric supply system and protected its elements against damage. A multifunctional regulator can, for example, reduce starting resistance by delaying the moment the excitation current is turned on. The burnout of the battery charge lamp or a gap in its circuit doesn’t mean that the alternator stops working. In this case, an automatic excitation occurs. The multifunctional alternator also enables a so-called soft power boost, which manifests itself in a gentle excitation current boost during the load change. In this way, load changes affect the engine speed change in a much lesser degree. Other multifunctional regulators also enable an emergency control in the case of a broken conductor, used for the direct measurement of voltage on the battery terminals.

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Energy Management

Growing amount of electronic elements and electric equipment in cars resulted in a simultaneous increase of demand on electric energy. Such an uncontrolled requirement may lead to a situation when there is not enough energy to, for example, restart the engine. This is the reason why the car needs to be equipped with the electric energy management system. The main tasks of the device that manages this system are to monitor the state of battery charge, control receivers through data buses, reduce the current consumption by disabling functions and obtain a charging voltage that is optimum at this moment. All these things are done in order to avoid the situation when the battery is discharged too much and to ensure that the engine can be started at any given time.

Tasks of the computer in the energy management system are realized through different ‘so-called’ operation modules. The first one is responsible for diagnosing the battery. The second module deals with the quiescent current management by turning off (if it’s necessary) the receivers during the standstill, when the car engine is stopped. The third one, a dynamic module, is responsible for controlling the charging voltage and reduce the number of receivers that are turned on while the motor is working.

The battery diagnosis requires that certain parameters are determined by the energy management system computer. These are the battery’s temperature, voltage, current and working time. On the basis of these data, one defines the starting capacity at the moment and the current state of battery charge. These are the basic values required for managing energy consumption. The state of battery charge can be shown as a set of indicators or on a screen of a multifunctional display. If the engine is working and the receivers are turned on, the accumulator discharges. The moment its starting capacity reaches the limit level, there appears a request to restart the engine. In the situation when the car stands still, the energy management system ensures the quiescent current is small enough, so that one can start the motor even after a long time. If the state of battery charge is too low, the computer begins to turn off active receivers. This process follows according to a programmed order that is usually divided into a couple of stages. Each of them depends on the level of battery charge. The moment the motor is started, the dynamic system of energy management is turned on. Its task is to distribute the electric energy generated by the alternator among the individual systems according to their needs and to produce a charging current that is suitable for the battery.

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The Battery Voltage Regulation

The dynamic system of electric energy management requires the voltage generated by the accumulator to be regulated according to the requirements that occur in a given moment. Unfortunately, the conventional control system is completely unsuitable for this task. What we need is a system that gives us a lot more opportunities to control the voltage and the current generated in the stator windings of the alternator. The solution of this problem is to control the alternator by means of a signal sent to it by the computer of the electric energy management system. The computer’s module, which is responsible for controlling the accumulator, defines the voltage value required on the battery terminals on the basis of the temperature and the state of battery charge. Then the computer sends the information about the required voltage value to the alternator. This process can be carried through by means of an analog signal in the form of a current that have a particular value. In this case, the current reaches the rotor winding . One can also use a numerical signal for this purpose. In the latter situation, the alternator has to be equipped with an instrument capable of transforming the signal into an adequate reaction of the excitation system. In other words, it has to have its own controller. In order to enable communication between the computer and the controller, the producers of alternators use single-wire systems for data exchange operating within the framework of LIN(Local Interconnect Network) data bus or with a joint containing the Bit Synchronous Single-wire (BSS).

Diagnostic

In the case of an alternator equipped with a conventional voltage regulator, one only has to connect a common voltmeter to the alternator terminals in order to check the state of the battery charging system. In cars with alternators controlled by more or less advanced computer controlled communication systems, using a multimeter to measure the voltage may lead to absolutely wrong conclusions. For instance, in the situation when the computer reduces the power demand or turns off the alternator, the multimeter indicates a voltage value that may suggest the battery is out of order. Moreover, an excessive voltage (above 15V) can be equally misleading for an inexperienced diagnostician and doesn’t necessarily mean that the voltage regulator is damaged. The accumulators working with the energy management systems easily withstand such a high level of voltage which was triggered by the computer to, for example, cover quickly the energy shortage that has occurred. One can check the electronically controlled alternator by means of a diagnostic computer. It is preferred to use one that is dedicated to a particular make of vehicle or a special tester.

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An example of such tester is the VC-11R developed by MOTOPLAT.

After it is connected to the power supply and the computer, the VC-11R shows the control system (LIN or BBS) and a so-called rotor solidity, for example of the percentage of the maximum excitation current flow through the rotor winding. It also indicates what voltage is required by the primary control program and the voltage the alternator generates.

In addition, the tester enables to control the voltage in order to verify whether the car battery works correctly. With this end in view, the diagnostician forces the alternator to generate different levels of the required voltage (12.5V, 13.5V and 15.5V) and observes its reaction.

The instrument that can be used to check in this way a much wider range of electronically controlled alternators is the VC-07 USB, a tester that is commonly encountered in workshops. The VC-07 USB can recognize three BSS versions and 14 different protocols sent through the LIN data bus.

The alternator
by Pico Technology

The alternator, as the name implies, produces an alternating current (AC) output, which is rectified to direct current (DC) to provide the correct type of voltage to replenish the battery, to keep it at full charge.

The field current, approximately six to eight amps, energizes the rotor which then induces an electric current in the stator as it rotates. The rating of the alternator tends to be vehicle-specific, as a base model has less electrical demand than a vehicle with typical top-of-the-range accessories, such as electric front and rear heated screens, heated mirrors, additional lighting, heated and electrical adjusted seats, etc.

The alternator stator has three internal windings wound 120 degrees between phases and it requires nine diodes in ‘bridge’ configuration to rectify the output. The voltage is controlled by a solid-state regulator that maintains the output in the range stated in the notes above. The output current is determined by the requirement at the time. For example, a battery that has just been subject to prolonged cranking draws a higher output from the alternator than when the battery is fully charged.

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A good charging system has the following characteristics:
A fall in battery voltage should be accompanied by an increase in charging current and vice versa.

The regulated voltage can be measured with a multimeter, but this reading can appear correct even if the alternator has a diode fault that reduces the output by 33%. The only true way to monitor the alternator output is to observe the output voltage and current waveforms using an oscilloscope.

Alternator wiring diagram with a nine-diode system

Ford Focus: ‘Smart’ alternator

Some vehicle manufacturers may use a ‘smart’ alternator that varies the alternator voltage based on other conditions.

For example, Ford uses what is termed a ‘smart charge’ system. With a conventional charging system, the battery is charged at a voltage that is determined by the voltage regulator, with the entire electrical load being drawn from the alternator-fed battery.

Smart charging enables the voltage supply from the alternator to vary depending on the temperature of the battery’s electrolyte. A cold battery responds better to a higher voltage than a hot battery, which responds better to a slightly lower voltage. The temperature of the electrolyte is calculated by monitoring the air intake temperature when the engine was last stopped and the current intake air temperature. From these two measurements, the battery’s temperature can be calculated and the appropriate charge sent to the battery.

The alternator has two connections to the Engine Management Module (ECM), to monitor and control the output. This monitoring also allows the Idle Speed Control Valve (ISCV) to be operated when high electrical demands are made when the engine is at idle. The ECM also controls the engine run relay, which only allows circuits with a high current demand to be activated when the alternator is charging. Until then, the components remain inactive.

The ECM is now responsible for switching off the dashboard-mounted ‘charging light’. When starting the engine with a conventional alternator, the unit is activated as soon as the ignition is switched on, but a ‘smart charging’ system will only initiate the alternator once the engine has started. This action avoids an unnecessary waste of voltage on a vehicle with a discharged battery and also avoids the extra effort involved in cranking an engine with an operational alternator.