Anything new on this?

@rigtec Help the guy out.

I'm putting in 2 High Band Radios, and LED Lighting. Plus DVD Players in the Headrests. need some extra power.

I'm running a 130A alternator in my truck, run an icom IC706, another dual band radio, have also run a TE systems 2m 200W amp with this setup, as well as a 1200 watt cb amp years ago, 130A is more than enough to run a couple dual band radios and some LED lighting.

Also, a 130A alternator is just barely capable of running the original Premier power welder for vehicles, and the reason why I bought an upgraded alternator. I'm pretty sure a welder pulls much more current than what you'll probably be running in your vehicle. And, unless you'll be sitting at idle with everything running full blast, including a/c on high, headlights on, interior lights on, all the while talking at a full 50 watts on 2m or 100 watts on hf ssb, I think you'll be just fine with 130 amps of power.

Of course, you could always add up your accessories amperage and see how much of an extra load you'll have on your system. AFAIK, most dual banders will pull a max of 12A (based on icom 5100a on 440 at full power), and most LED-based light bars will pull around 20A (based on Rigid 50" bar with 100 leds).

To give some sort of non-technical data of older models, the 4runners/trucks of the 80's came stock with 65A alternators and were barely enough to run halogen lights with extra stuff, the 5th gen has twice that current and should be fine for running a good deal of accessories. If you really need the extra current, then an upgraded alternator is what you'll need, Rigtec has links and pics and prices of one such unit.

Hi tigger (and all others who have participated in this subject!),

I haven't studied this thread in it's entirety, only the last couple of pages that I believed may be relevant. After I bought the 2012 limited 4Runner in April of that same year, I started examining the factory audio components very closely (non-JBL ((XM)) ). It seemed that no matter what I did using it's on-board tone shaping processor it just didn't sound the way that I thought a Toyota (any model) "Limited Edition" sound system should sound! The short version of this saga is this:

I saw that it demonstrated Very poor bass; as compared to my wife's '04 camery, 8 speaker JBL audio system. Granted... it's made by JBL and mine was not. But I mean my new truck's lack of bass was down right embarrassing; to say nothing of the cheap sounding mids and highs! So I started off by adding a self contained sub-woofer system which included one JL audio HD-750 mono-block and two tens.... no problem! But bass (IMHO) has that insatiable, addictive element which some can't get enough of; and being a recording and concert bass player didn't help one bit when it came down to my attempt to reproduce that genuine studio electric fender bass vibe!

But everything was just fine as far as the truck's electrical system (voltage) being stiff enough to handle whatever I was throwing at it. At this point I was only using (1) 750 watt (55 ampere) mono-block subwoofer amplifier, (1) set of PIAA 520 Halogen fog-lights (about ten amps total); so that's 55A plus 10A = 65A of aftermarket add-ons... still no problem. I added an OPT7 eight inch LED the bull-bar, just to fill in that funny looking space between the two 6 1/2" PIAA fogs; created when I was forced to move my now obscured front licence plate to a more visible location:



I think that LED's full load draw capacity averages 10A so that's 75 amps total aftermarket add-on power consumption. Everything still seemed fine, with just a slight pulsation from the lights if I ran all add-ons (bass amp pumping) simultaneously, along with the blower, wipers (front and rear), seat heaters, and the side-view mirror and rear window heater grid. So now I'm at the stock system load plus the aftermarket load (75A). As long as I wasn't using ALL of the aftermarket accessories at the same time (worst case scenario) everything would be just fine.

But let's not forget that some of the factory electrical utilities are running whenever you're driving so we can't discount these altogether. But it was when I added the second JL 750 watt (55 amps) that there was no ignoring the power shortage. Now I actually have 130 amperes of aftermarket accessories alone. And in post # 15 of an alternator upgrade thread, I tried to calculate just how much electrical power the 4Runner's factory electrical system could actually consume if a worst case scenario were allowed to manifest... Calculating (worst case scenario) factory electrical load post #15

I was hoping for those of you who have never seen this thread 4Runner alternator upgrade (gen 5) that you may read it and take something away from it that just may be helpful to you at some point, Sincerely,

rig

I've had my eye on this one for a while:
270XP

I think it is the one that @rigtec refers to in his excellent thread. Whether a particular rig needs the extra amperage is up to that rig's design requirements. I'm glad there has been good mention of the need to properly upgrade the wiring.

Hi enginerd4ni,

Yes, that "Nations Starter & Alternator 270-XP" is the one that I installed in my truck... It's everything that it's promised to be and more! For those of you who have attempted to order the 270xp from DC Power Engineering or Nations Starter & Alternator, only to find that their parts catalog only goes up to the 2009 4Runner, that is a neglectful mistake on the company's part; I called them last week and spoke to the owner (Adam) and made him aware of the problem. The part# for ALL 5'th generation 4Runner's is: NSA-11517-270XP, this will drop right in the factory generator's mounting spot, Best to you!

rig

Hi enginerd4ni,

I've decided to post a 'community member endorsement' here so you'll have a little more than just my opinion and flapping gums to give you an idea about the quality of this product. A 270-XP forum member statement This item is very expensive; $630 dollars plus, so I think you should do your homework to see what it's all about, which I've done myself before dropping that kind of loot for a new alternator. But... There are sooo many hopped-up stock alternators out there 'claiming' to develop 200, 300, 390 amps out there, how are you supposed to know which will work the best? If you knew what has to happen to double or triple an alternator's output, then you could fully appreciate what the makers of the 270-XP have done.

Most of these... 'alternator hopper-uppers' believe that you can just overwind the stator, the rotor, install a cheap regulator from China and ship it out. What most of them don't do though is increase the alternator's end-frame and heatsink surface area; if you increase the generator's output you must increase the unit's cooling system capacity, heatsink area, cooling fan's size or pitch, air ventilation system and it's ability to reject heat or you're going to cook it! I'll leave you with just one more link that (I believe) has a volume of important information: https://www.dcpowerinc.com/articles/truth-about-idle

rig, cheers!

Now that’s an awesome alternator!

Is this a good upgrade for running a 12V 6 hp Warn 9.5XP Winch? That winch supposedly draws up to 480 amps at maximum pull weight. Specs here:
https://www.shrockworks.com/Warn-95X...-pr-16219.html

I might do this. Do I want, need or benefit from a 2nd battery for the winch if I did?

I'm going to read the wiring upgrade listed above next.

So many mods, so little time.

A second battery is definitely a benefit when winching if you're doing long pulls

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Agree

Just make sure the ACR or combine-switch you are using is capable of pulling the current though it if you go that route.

It won't be the full load, but its going to be significant if ur pulling 480 amps... and its going to be even worse if your winch is connected to the house battery (opposite the alternator) as you will have winch and charge currents passing though the ACR/Switch/Relay.

Some great alternator upgrade info in this thread, DC Power Engineering 270A Alternator Group Buy
I can say I've not had a want for power at all since installing it and the big-3 upgrade.

Thanks for the feedback you guys. I'll check out those links and read up on the three upgrades.

So the oem 4awg wire from alternator to battery is not fused on my 2016..

Also I did the big 3 upgrade, 2/0 ground from battery to frame and frame to engine, and 2/0 from battery to alternator.

I got rid of the oem alternator and got a mechman 260amp alternator with a smaller pulley so it outputs that 260 at 1200rpm.

I also added a diode to my fuse labeled agm I think, it boosted my alternator output voltage from 13.5 on a good day to 14.5

In the engine bay I have 2 lifpo4 100amp zoom batteries one in stock location, one next to the firewall on the passenger side (it's almost a better location for a battery than stock.

In the back I have 4 more of those lithium 100amp batteries. And 4 1/0 awg cables run from the engine compartment to the back batteries for charging.

Next to those I have (8) 15" skar audio zvx v2 subs powered by (2) sundown audio 5000w amp and (2) four channel 800 watt sundown audio amps for my mid bass, mid range and tweeters.

I like the mechman alternator but it was a 4 week wait for them to make it, and I'm pulling my hair out looking for a place to squeeze in a second alternator.. maybe mounted on the bottom side of the motor, or extending of the other alternator and adding a second pulley to the first and a short belt from one alternator to the second.. I'll keep you updated if I figure out the second alternator

260 amp was the highest mechman recommended on a daily driver, they told me the 400amp would cause really rough idle and I would feel the alternator drag on the motor power, and since this motor is so slow already...