mdelorie Posted September 4, 2003 Report Share Posted September 4, 2003 blew another alternator today. Fortunetly it was just the regulator. 23 bucks for a new regulator! 184 for a new alternator! anyways, I fear this is going to keep happening every 6 months if I don't start hardening my electrical system. (I'm blaming my stereo). need some ideas. I'll likely start with a second battery in the trunk on a diode isolator. Throw some other stuff at me guys. I'm probably going to make this into a pretty big project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redfox340 Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 Are you running a serious stereo system? If so, you may want an electrical capacitor. OR a bigger amperage alternator. Bottom Line: you're draining WAY too much power while the car is running! - Erik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdelorie Posted September 5, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 Got a cap. Been thinking of adding another. Haven't been able to find a decent high-amp alternator anywhere around. got any sources? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gearhead43 Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 http://www.mralternator.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musthavemuzk Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 how much stereo? capacitors do nothing you would be better off buying a good battery. like a optima yellow top one of the stinger batteries adding a second batt will not do a whole lot if you cannot supply enough juice from the start. i borrowed a yellow top for a while this summer. did wonders for me in the lanes. still dropepd to 12 volts from 14 though. of course i am drawing 150-175 amps while in the lanes. not a whole lot daily but in the lanes i suck the electrical system dry and fast. plans are for some HO alt and my own yellow top. options for HO alt ohio generator. the do the job but in my humble they are spendy phoenix gold stinger HO Alt http://www.h-o-alternators.com/index.htm dominick at iraggi alts Dominick@tds.net i am sure there are others. those are the first to come to mind. a friend got a quote from dominick for a 225 amp alt for his 92 z-34 lumina. told him 300 bux. for a 300 amp alt it was 450. both would drop right in with no extra needed things. HO Alts also do many a drop in alts. they are based out of Iowa. you can get a quote online from HO Alts car audio forums that might be of some help for this. use the search function if you need to. as this is a common question. http://www.termpro.com http://www.soundillusions.net http://www.caraudio.com http://www.carsound.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi a few to check. there are many other though. just holla if i can help more Monty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdelorie Posted September 5, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 I'm running two 760 watt amps and a 1200 watt. I'm thinking the alternator is what I need..... damn, that's a hefty investment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musthavemuzk Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 it is a hefty investment but if you are truly into car audio then it needs to be a part of your system budget. daily i do about 1000 watts. real watts not when lightning strikes watts as some companies put on their amps to sell them. 400 to front speakers and 600 to sub i am not pushing the volume at all. no my style. i will save that for the lanes. i have yet to notice any light dimming. now if i were to push it i am sure i might see some. lemme guess you have either sony xplod or pioneer amps. seems that the 760 rating is familiar. too many options on the 1200. anyways locally i tried to get mine rebuilt for me. they could go as high as 140. before they were hesitant to give me any kind of info or yes we will. the price for the 140amp was gonna be about 100 dollars. i noticed youa re north of the border. so remember my prices are in USD one of my teammates got a 200 amp alt for just a few dollars over 200. i think it was a mr alt alternator. that is for a xcab ranger. about a 94 or 95 i think. Monty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89oldscutlass Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 2720 watts damm! What type and size subs are you running? The most I have run at one time was 2000 watts and I had four 12inch subs two 10 inch and two eights. I didnt have any probs you might want to cut back on your amps. I know mine was so loud you couldnt hardly set in wide open yours is got to be crazy. :shock: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdelorie Posted September 5, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 Well, if it's just components I need, then I'll rebuild it myself if I can find it.. what makes a high output, a high output? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdelorie Posted September 5, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 I've got two Sony 10" dual voice coil 1000 watters. a 760 per sub. then I've got a 15" Alpine Type R 1500 haven't had her tested yet... but she cranks pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musthavemuzk Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 not drastically knowledgable to know for sure what makes a HO alt a HO alt. i think he mentioned something about the regulator and stator needing to be quite heavy duty to provide the amps all the time. as some of the HO alts can push 125-150 amps at idle. this is for the 200-225 amp models. if they are built correctly and the pulley is reduced slightly to alow for the slow idles that most cars have. just curious as to why so many dif sizes of subs? daily i run an eclipse alum 88120 dvc with 600 and it is plenty for me in the lanes i run an elemental designs 15A with about 2500 watts. Monty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdelorie Posted September 5, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 Why I have two sizes? I run the tens for the punch, and the 105hz to 30hz-ish stuff then the 15 picks up the rest of the low end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89oldscutlass Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 I got tired of sinking more and more money into my system so now im down to just running 12s and a 600 watt amp I have another 600 watt amp four 10s and three 12s but im just going to divide the stuff up between the other 2 cars but you never know i might get a wild hair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musthavemuzk Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 OK i guess i just see things differently. to me subs play 50 or 60 and down. a good solid mid bass driver preferabley a 6 or 6.5 will pick up and go to say 200. or even a decent midrange 6 or 6.5 should be able to play down to the 50 or 60 range. but we all have out own likes and dislikes on how we want things to sound. that is part of being individuals. Monty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playboybenny Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 I have a 93 Olds cutlass supreme and to tell yah the truth i don't know how anyone runs any type of amplifier on these alternators i have a simply Infinity Basslink and it only has a 200 watt amplifier in it and its been killing my alternator, my voltage drops down from 13 to a good 10 or 9 when my car is at idle, everytime the bass hits, I tried a new battery, just went and got a name brand replacement AC Delco, i was using reman.. ones for awhile after going through about 5 of those in a year and a half I got sick of it.. if someone can tell me whats going on that i can't even run a dinky 200 watt amplifier in my car.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musthavemuzk Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 first i would ask if all was wired properly? by that i mean did you upgrade the batt to frame ground? is the power and ground connections for that basslink solid? when you do grounds you need to make sure you either scrape down to bare metal or use a wirewheel to remove paint and rust so the ground wire has solid metal to metal contact. then if you have some spray some spray silicone on it to help avoid corrosion and rust from forming on the bare metal. next i will ask if you have wire of sufficient size? 200 watts i would not go anything less than 10 gauge wires. preferably 8 gauge especially for longer runs to avoid voltage drop and unecessary heating of wires. this goes for the power and the ground wires for the bass link. now for the batt to frame ground go at least the same size as the other power and ground wires. no smaller. if so then i dunno. as i run well more than 200 watts and have only killed one alt. that was about 8 months after i got my cutty. and half of that was without a system. then only 800 watts when i did get something in it. and so far since my system redo and comp setup from this spring i have ran at minimum 400 watts and at most 1500 watts daily. and 2500 watts in the comp lanes. all of this on a stock alt and ac delco platinum battery. except for the 2 months i borrowed a yellow top optima battery. and so far things are still good. Monty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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