got my mean green alt!

[IgnoreMe 5,000+ posts]

nice looking alternator. although i dont know too much about alternators, this thing looks beefy. i WAS gonna get it benched and post the results on here however:

autozone: only has a fail/pass test and it passed

kregan: has a fail/pass and a voltage output reading, but no amperage reading

so, sooner or later ill get it benched but so far so good. stock belt, big 3, brand new everstart maxx 700cca group 65 battery. cold voltage is up at 14.6v, as the alternator gets hotter and hotter, voltage dropped to about 14v and seemed to stay put. followed the mean green alternator instructions which stated to let the car idle for 10-15 min for voltage to stabilize and well, im satisfied as hell, compared to other peoples experiences with HO alternators. not to mention mean greens customer service was top notch. the REAL test however of course comes with time.

i will TRY to remember this thread in a couple months, and then a year later, and post up what the reliability has been...i sure hope i dont jinx myself but so far so good, im satisfied after being scared shitless in dropping the cash on an HO alt after all the horror stories. final cost was $392.00 shipped to my door.

Click to read more...

 

[casper97ta 10+ year member]

I'm in the same boat. I've been wanting to buy a new HO alt. but i cant decide which one to take a chance on. I dont want to have to send one back 2 or 3 times. Mean Green seemed to be the best choice. Keep us updated.

 

[IgnoreMe 5,000+ posts]

I'm in the same boat. I've been wanting to buy a new HO alt. but i cant decide which one to take a chance on. I dont want to have to send one back 2 or 3 times. Mean Green seemed to be the best choice. Keep us updated.

yea i was looking around for months and months on end and finally the last couple of weeks started actually posting questions. i came to the conclusion...if your gonna do it, do it right the first time. so my two choices were mean green and H-O alternators. decided to save a little bit of money and go with the mean green. so did i do it right the first time? i dont know, i sure hope so though. it works as advertised SO far, but like i said time is the real test.

 

[ccotenj 10+ year member]

who did you end up ordering it from george? did you just get it directly from them?

 

[IgnoreMe 5,000+ posts]

yea i ended up going direct after reading bad stories about jvwhitney. paid 42 bucks more, but hey, at least i know i got it straight from the source

 

[funkyab 10+ year member]

I got a tsunami digital distribution block that reads volts and amps. Was a easy solution to always have an idea of my alts output.

 

[walkychalky 10+ year member]

jus ordered a mean green yesterday because im having problems with my EA alt. I Havent heard anything bad about them yet so i hope all is well

 

[IgnoreMe 5,000+ posts]

ok finally tested it out...

im super impressed. went for a drive playing full bore for quite a bit last night and this morning. voltage was at 14.23v @ idle after i stopped and popped the hood.

biggest thing i noticed. when i had my stock alternator, at idle i would dim BAD, at cruise i would dim pretty bad too. looking at my volt meter in my dash the needle would drop between 1/8" and 1/4" depending on the frequency played at full tilt. at night dimming out the ***.

with the mean green my volt meter needle barley and i mean BARLEY drops at full bore....@ idle! using various songs from lil john and young jeezy. lights dim slightly of course since the voltage is dropping, but the dimming is barley even noticeable @ idle.

@ ~2k rpm, there is basically 0 visual voltage drop on from the volt meter needle. im sure there is some (and i will check it out later with a dmm to get an actual reading) but visually the needle stays right where it is as if i wasn't even playing music. system is noticeably louder as well. with the stock alt, it would be loud at first then when the voltage would drop a noticeable decrease would show itself. with the HO alt, it just stays the same volume through out the song (its nice to be able to listen to a "bass" track and not have the bass kinda "wean" off, if you will)

all in all im super impressed and feel like this is a super worthwhile investment. for every system i have from now on a quality HO alt will always be an upgrade that i will keep near the top of the list. even my friend who was talking shit about buying a $400 alt admitted that now he wants one as well lol.

notice: i have not completed the engine block to chassis ground step in the Big 3 yet. a nice fat ground might give a me even more improvement

 

[casper97ta 10+ year member]

That's Great. thanks for the review George. Mean Green it is for me too now. A lot of people recommend them and I havent heard a bad thing said. The price is a little high, but you get what you pay for.

 

[IgnoreMe 5,000+ posts]

That's Great. thanks for the review George. Mean Green it is for me too now. A lot of people recommend them and I havent heard a bad thing said. The price is a little high, but you get what you pay for.

yea the price is high imo as well, but like you said ive yet to hear a bad thing about them in initial quality, reliability, or customer service. i hope i wont be the first to post something about reliability down the line however lol. since reading all the HO alt horror, i set my expectations so freaking low, even if it took a shit i wont be disappointed lol.

edit: walkychalky: be sure to post up your initial experiences with it as well. it helps others in making decisions considering ive seen plenty of people with DOA alts from other companies

double edit: i also just switched out my belt to a good year gator back. it was .7" shorter then the stock one and it fit perfectly, just a little bit tighter than the stock belt. bought it since the alt of course came with a smaller pulley. however i have a automatic tensioner and the stock belt worked just fine (i just needed a new belt anyways so i figured i would inform people that dont have auto tensioners that about 1" will help you out if you need a shorter belt at the end of the day)

 

[walkychalky 10+ year member]

yea the price is high imo as well, but like you said ive yet to hear a bad thing about them in initial quality, reliability, or customer service. i hope i wont be the first to post something about reliability down the line however lol. since reading all the HO alt horror, i set my expectations so freaking low, even if it took a shit i wont be disappointed lol.
edit: walkychalky: be sure to post up your initial experiences with it as well. it helps others in making decisions considering ive seen plenty of people with DOA alts from other companies

double edit: i also just switched out my belt to a good year gator back. it was .7" shorter then the stock one and it fit perfectly, just a little bit tighter than the stock belt. bought it since the alt of course came with a smaller pulley. however i have a automatic tensioner and the stock belt worked just fine (i just needed a new belt anyways so i figured i would inform people that dont have auto tensioners that about 1" will help you out if you need a shorter belt at the end of the day)

i will....how long did it take to get urs??

 

[IgnoreMe 5,000+ posts]

4 or 5 days i think

 

[walkychalky 10+ year member]

4 or 5 days i think

cool. looks like theyre shipping it out today so it should be here by friday or so then. But my alt in my jeep is in a really awkward spot and i dont really feel like installing the new one myself because it was a pain last time. Anyone know about how much it would cost to have an auto shop do it??

 

[alex3kicker 10+ year member]

Can I get a link to their site please? Thanks

 

[walkychalky 10+ year member]

Can I get a link to their site please? Thanks

http://www.mean-green.com