Upgraded alternator?

twitchee2

twitchee2

Member
Has anyone ever looked into upgrading their alternator?? Ive done quite a few electrical mods and im starting to think this might be something good to look into. I have close to 450w of extra lights, Stereo, In the midst of a e-fan swap i have some other plans down the road for integrated power outlets and things here and there. I would rather have wayyy to much head room then be cutting it close. So has anyone ever thought about this? What alternator would you use? What about mounting? anyway. lets talk about it.
 
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twitchee2 said:
Has anyone ever looked into upgrading their alternator?? Ive done quite a few electrical mods and im starting to think this might be something good to look into. I have close to 450w of extra lights, Stereo, In the midst of a e-fan swap i have some other plans down the road for integrated power outlets and things here and there. I would rather have wayyy to much head room then be cutting it close. So has anyone ever thought about this? What alternator would you use? What about mounting? anyway. lets talk about it.
Click to expand...

Ultimate alternator upgrade thread:

CS-144 alternator install - YotaTech Forums



Stock alt is about 40amps at idle. The GM CS-144 is about 100amps at idle and a whopping 150amps at full whack. Great upgrade!
 
nice i like that cs144 mod. i saw the DC ones and they are close if not more then $400. not looking to spend that much. I wonder if the alt off a tundra or 4th gen will fit.
 
I dont know too much about this, cuz I dont drain that much power, but I was reading a post by Glen Yoshida over at RM4wd.org

and he knows his stuff, he was saying,


Re: high output alternator
by Glen on Sat Jun 12, 2010 7:35 pm

It's unlikely you need a larger alternator. How many RMS watts are you running?

What you need is a stiffening cap. One with a low ESR and 1 Farad or bigger. The lights dimming is because your system can't deliver the juice fast enough and that's one of the things capacitors are good at.

Something like this Stinger 1 Farad Cap. You wire them in parallel with the battery close to the amp.

If you do get an alternator make sure it provides good current at idle. Many high output alternators push out more at high RPMs at the sacrifice of the low RPMs. This can become problematic when you run things like rock lights while parked and idling.


the original post is here

alright so lately ive been looking into getting a new alternator because my lights are strobing from my subs and i have so much other stuff connected to my battery.

i found this one which seems pretty good and its a direct bolt on.


heres the link to their website: Mean-Green Industries

does anyone know of any others that are high output, reasonably priced, and are direct bolt on?

sounds like you may not need a high output alternator as much as you might think.
 
Caps are actually pretty useless. They are like a band aid. They cover up a bigger problem. That problem is that you don't have enough power being made to cover up your electric draw.

Have you thought about just doing the big 3 and getting another battery?

I think you can get your current alternator rewound in a way that produces more amps. Not sure of the cost.

Excessive Amperage, Mean Green, and Mechman all make alternators that produce a lot more amps that the stock one.
 
Rockdawg84 said:
here is a nice install. with the double pulley it lets you install a york for On board Air. This whole build is amazing for a 3rd Gen.

Pirate4x4.Com Bulletin Board - View Single Post - My new trail/street rig build- '97 4runner

Pirate4x4.Com Bulletin Board - View Single Post - My new trail/street rig build- '97 4runner

here is a link to his OBA build

My 3.4 York mount is just the old one from my T100...
T100 On-board-air
Click to expand...
OHHHHH now that looks really nice. Im going to have to look into and see how much that set up was. i think i have a hookup on a york too...
 
Yes my DC alt was almost over 400 430 actually and it even came powder coated and also it was just a bolt in application since the case had been custom machined for my 3.4 if you ask me it was well worth the 430 to have a constant 14.8 volts no matter what im doing. And a rewound alternator will still put out around 40 amps at idle rewound makes their power at higher rpm's. But yeah as someone stated above do the big 3 it will help tremendosly
 
Yes ive thought about the big 3. what do you really gain with that, im not exactly sure. Im thinking about this mod just as a preventive mod. just so i have extra head room. Ive read about the big 3 but in a nut shell what does it really do? Just give you better contact to push more amps off the battery more easily(less resistance)?
 
Less resistance. Exactly. Get the most out of your battery, alternator, etc.

If you decide to do it make sure to use 1/0 gauge.
 
ive got some 2 gauge lay around. What 3 do i upgrade? bat > body, Which block to chasis wire do i need to use? and 3rd is bat > alt? is that all correct?
 
Ok Number 1 is your main power cable from your alt to the battery positive

Number 2 is your ground from the frame you should see it right under the battery alternator area on top of the frame rail

Number 3 would be the block to body ground located on the back of the motor between the firewall and block

Also if you have room in the rear you could add an extra battery check out xspower they make some great stuff. But if you do add an extra battery try to run atleast 2 runs of 1/0 to the back 1 for positive 1 for negetive.
 
I think upgrading those wires is more worth while right to start off. I have the bigger of the 2 stock sized batteries so ill have to wait and see if lights start dimming at all. thanks for all the input so far. not sure when im gonna get to this, in the middle of putting the shop together. we have a 1400 sq ft garage / moms horse barn. Just finished putting down some epoxy stuff on floor to seal it up. next up is a couple walls and a lot of dry wall.....yay cant wait for it to be done tho.
 
When considering a switch to a beefier alternator, consider this:

When I switched to a bigger alternator, I was happy with the additional power delivered when doing long pulls with the winch, but it still made little difference in overall winch performance due to the fact that heat was still the limiting factor in power loss.

I also noted, to my horror, that the spun up alternators do not tolerate deep water like the stock ones. My first 4ft river crossing after installing the new alternator found me limping to the nearest NAPA running on dual batteries only... to replace the alternator. The voltage regulators on the spun up alternators WILL fry... whereas the stock alternator will merely shut down until dried out.

If you drive hard off road... may wanna think twice.
 
now that is something to really consider, espeically because this e fan swap was started up of the water crossing the flew up my fan...granted that was a freak thing in a 2ft MAX water dept. Im gonna start with bigger wires and go from there. cheaper and something i will need to do with a bigger alt anyway.
 
cs144

hello,

so i'm looking to upgrade my alternator as well, has anyone put in this alternator? (see link)

CS144 Series 250 Amp Extreme Duty Dual Rectifier Alternator

worried about the external rectifier and the depth. i'll have to post the build when it gets all done in the next few weeks but i need this 250A in stock position and dual 200A international with custom brackets over the power steering pump.

thanks
 
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