I think I need a bigger altenator

[S-14boy]

I currently have a set up in my 240SX with an Alpine CDA9835, and JL Audio Amps. My amps pull about 60amps for the sub and 30amps for the mids. I know I'm taxing the charging system. I have a yellow top and have up graded all oem grounds and ran a 4ga from the alt to the battery. But I dont think my altenator is fully charging my battery because I have to keep putting it on a charger, its not droping below 12v but isnt giving its full amount of amperage. Does anyone know what I can do for an alternator, I would preffer a bigger alternator and not just have mine rewound.

[Simmsled]

Does your car not start? Do your lights dim? Why are you putting the battery on a charger?

[Silvia2b]

I know mine is definately too small. I'm interested in a larger size too. Same deal I have a Red Top, upgraded grounds, 2 gauge power & grounds, and 1 farad Cap to my Diamond amps with 180 amps of total current draw capability. I have to charge by Battery with a heavy duty charger at least once a month or I get lower and lower voltage at the battery. Anybody have an idea how to get a larger alternator? Other than a Stinger or rewound/rebuilt? Can we borrow a 130amp alternator from a pathfinder or something? What is the largest Nissan equipped car? Q45?

[Simmsled]

Well, the easiest way to upgrade your alternator is to have it re-wound to a higher amperage. There are shops that can do this, just check em out on the internet. I suggest google it.

BTW, you will pay dearly for alternator upgrades. It is NOT cheap.

If you have an old alternator, you will experience problems. I bought an alternator at Autozone. It is a stock replacement and It failed. This happened a couple times and I finally got a good one from them. The nice thing about it is that they were all under warranty.

IMPORTANT INFORMATIONyour system will NEVER draw the amount of amperage that your fuses add up to be while operating properly. The only reason it would pull that amount of energy is if there were a short in your amplifier's circuitry.

I have a number of 240 amps if you add up my fuses on my amplifiers. I have a 1 farad Streetwires cap in there. My battery is the big yellow one from Walmart. I use 2 individual 4 awg wires, one for each amp. The only problem that I have ever had has been a little light dimming at full volume at night when my headlights and fog lights were on.

Do you guys play the stereo loud all the time?Do you play it loud when the car is off?Do you only make short trips when you drive?

Driving conditions definitely make a huge difference.

Silvia, do you have an in-car realtime volt meter to monitor?

All things being equal, you should be able to get away using the stock alternator if it is working properly. Just know that the more accessories you use in the car, ie. headlights, air conditioning, etc..., will drain your system faster. Air Conditioning is not a good thing to have on if you are playing your stereo at maximum volume.

So, if you drive with the stereo on full all the time, you WILL drain your battery and it will be harder on your alternator to charge your battery back to normal if you have more than about 1000rms watts in your system. Remedy... give your charging system and your ears a little slack and turn it down once in a while, or get a re-wound alternator and pay a bunch of money.

[Rex]

First, make sure your alternator is working as it should to begin with, as your S14's alty is at least 6 1/2 years old. Either way, you seem to want to replace it, but maybe a new OEM one will meet your needs. Oddly enough, the SE's alty puts out 90amps, versus the non-SE's 80 amps.

If that's not enough, you must be booming allthe time, search around, but either a re-wound one or an aftermarket, both of which will cost you dearly. One last option is to fab up a bracket and just add a second one, but that's both a fab and wiring nightmare.

One other option, is the Z-car guys have been using GM alty's for years - http://www.zcarcreations.com/howto/delcoalt.htm.

[mrflip69]

Did you replace your starter battery with the yellow top? Yellow tops are strictly accessory batteries... try switching it with a redtop. You use deep cycles for the stereo, etc... , not to start your car! I've got a setup running about 80 amps on the stock alt. and the battery seems fine and the lights don't dim.

[S-14boy]

Today I went out and bought a Red Top, so Im gonna throw that in. The problem i started having was on start up, it felt like it was having a hard time turning the motor over if I let it sit for a day, but fine once it was running. I had a quote done by the guys we use to rewind alternators and they want $650 to do mine, I was just hoping there was a cheaper way of doing the alt.

[Silvia2b]

I think since my car is like almost 10 years old, I just need one that is in better condition. This was and East Coast (New Jersey) car so I can only imagine that the alternator got a hefty workout.

No! I do not really play loud at all when driving. In fact i am very conscious about hearing protection, I need to use my ears, hearing as a pilot to pay attention to Air Traffic Control and respond. I like clean pure music, Not loud. I don't even play it loud when I sit in the vehicle. I usually only play at higher volumes, as a demonstration for my customers. Then sometimes i'll do it with the car turned off, only starting it if the demo last longer than one or two songs. I have just one 10" sub in a sealed enclosure, not vented, or bandpass.

The 150 amp ANL fuse at the Battery obviously limits the amount of total current consumption. I would bet the max current pulled by the system is near 100amps and only for short times.

I know that this year it has been particularly bad, and the Red top is only 2.5 years old. The vehicle always starts, just I notice dimmer lights on the way home at night. I think part of if has been the weather, it has been rather odd this, very foggy, and cold, uncharitaristic of Portland. Last summer the AC was used every Day, when the temperature was in the 90, and up.

I think this alternator is just tired it still puts out almost 14 volts at 3000 rpm. I don't have a volt meter installed in the Car, but plan to add one. I just used my fluke and the LED light up one on my old capactior. My newer Monster Cable cap is just plain no display. The power cable at each amp is 4 gauge, 2 gauge from the Battery back to the trunk, 4 gauge grounds for the amps and 2 for the cap. I also add/upgraded the ground at the battery, and alternator. I checked the current consumption of all accesories at rest, and no significant draws anywhere, the battery never goes dead just gets weaker and weaker towards the end of each month. Then I charge it for like 30 minutes in the shop at work and the voltage stays good for like two weeks and starts dropping

I have an SE, and the 90 amp model alternator. I'll have to look in to the GM style used in those Z's. They make 240amp alternators for the larger GM trucks. I really can't afford to pay that much for a re-wound, that is more than what it would cost for a Stinger, at dealer cost. I don't want to add an extra alternator, too much work, and equipment to make it work right.

I think that is about it. keep the ideas flowing.

[GaNITE]

First off, as long as the engine is running, all of the power for the accessories is delivered by the alternator. The battery is actually a load on the charging system. The only time that the battery would supply power with the engine running is when the current capacity of the alternator is exceeded or when engine is at a very low idle. If you want to see if your alternator is producing current, turn on your headlights when you're parked and the engine idling with the headlights shining on a wall (at night). Notice how bright they are. Then turn the engine off. The lights should get dimmer when you turn the engine off. If the lights get brighter when you kill the engine, the alternator was not charging sufficiently. When doing this test, the lights should be the only load (turn the stereo, a/c and other accessories off). With a heavy load, an otherwise good alternator may not be able to produce sufficient amounts of current at idle. Large, one Farad, capacitors only help to maintain the charging voltage for a tiny fraction of a second under high current demand situations. They do a fine job of filling small dips in voltage and may help reduce your lights from dimming but they won't really solve your current supply problems if your alternator can't keep up. NOTE: Capacitors DO NOT increase the charging system's voltage.

My advice is to replace that thing(alternator) ASAP. It'll be the only thing to remedy your situation. As far as $600 to re-wind.....it should cost half that. tell the guy who quoted you to stick that price and your decrepit alternator up his ***. Try "egr products". I needed a bigger alt for my monte carlo once and they sent me a rewound(at 200amperes) stock alt for around 280 (shipping and all) If that don't work try companies like Ohio Generator or even see about squeezing in a good ol' Q45 alt....they put out 110a('cause of the BOSE) i have a stock alt in my '93 q with a jl 450x4 and 1000x1. my lights dimmed at first but a 15 farad alumapro C.A.P fixed that little problem.

Hope i helped someone my first post on this site....

[Rex]

Nice first post

And you're right the price for the re-wind is "pricey", too pricey for my liking anyway, but be careful comparing a rewind for a Monte to a 240. There were/are plenty of upgrade/aftermarket alty's for GM, Honda & Ford, as those were the main brands competing in the 80's & 90's.

[Simmsled]

Alternator. New one. Case closed. Alrighty!

[Silvia2b]

Yeah, thanks for the suggestions. Welcome to NICOI already know I need a new alternator. Not a re-wound factory style, just a BIGGER one . The problem I have isn't that dimming lights while driving, (infact this doesn't happen at all. It is that the alternator is too small, and not efficient enough for my uses. So what other nissans have larger alternators, then the 90 amp model in my car?

[PhopsonNY]

I am running JL audios 450/4 and the 500/1 so I needed a new alternator too. Still have to get a yellow top and a cap.

From what I know also, the stock alternators cannot fully charge the optima batteries especially the yellow tops.

Check out these guys...

http://www.4alterstart.com/

They got me a 150amp alternator for my 1990 s13 for about $275.00 shipped.

I have had it installed for about a month so far without any problems.

good luck

[Jesda]

You should get a new alternator.

<- Just being an ***.

[180crafter]

I am running JL audios 450/4 and the 500/1 so I needed a new alternator too. Still have to get a yellow top and a cap.

From what I know also, the stock alternators cannot fully charge the optima batteries especially the yellow tops.

Check out these guys...

http://www.4alterstart.com/

They got me a 150amp alternator for my 1990 s13 for about $275.00 shipped.

I have had it installed for about a month so far without any problems.

good luck

Do they make one for the SR20DET?

[PhopsonNY]

I do not know that they have info on the SR... as they probably only handle usdm.

You can call them to find out.

I understand the SR alternator and s14 altenator are almost interchangable.. bolthole needs to be modified or something.Please reseach this yourslelf tho.

Maybe if you get an upgraded s14 alt, you will have what you need.

[DominickJ30]

There is a bunch of group buys for HO alternators on sounddomain.

http://forum.sounddomain.com/u...m;f=5

Dominick Iriaggi makes some bad *** alternators and you can get one for a good price too.