H/O Alt problems Need advice/troubleshoot

[brian84corvette 10+ year member]

post pix of your alternator installed in your viechle - and more importantly the wiring going to it from the factory harness to the plug that plugs in to your alt... my guess is that there is a sence voltage charge wire thats not hooked up to what it needs to be

 

[akillj 10+ year member]

Ok a few facts for you.
The overdrive pulley is smaller than stock yes, but the stock alt was designed with that pulley. The singer alt you bought still could have too big of a pulley on it (due to your 600rpm idle)

If you haven't put a charger on your batteries before installation or after, yes your batteries could be discharged to the point where they no longer rest at 2.1v per cell.

When you clamp an alternator (you must do so with a DC clamp, not AC) you'll only get the output from the alt that meets the vehicle's needs. Quite often the vehicle never needs the full output and people say that their alt isn't putting out rated amperage.

^ This is the point i've been trying to make. Well said.

 

[drockstar 10+ year member]

Dunno if it's the same for you but the 320a Mechman for my truck may not charge below 800 rpm. They actually have that disclaimer on their site.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I already contacted Mike Singer and got a few suggestions from him, gonna do a few tests and minor fixes to narrow it down even more. Not gonna be for awhile though, my schedule just got kicked into overdrive.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

So update

been on a busy work schedule so i had no time to do anything at all or make any change.

however, my voltages are fluctuating. Its at a stable 13.0 most of the times, sometimes its stays 13.8 and very rare does it go down under 12.6 at idle anymore... Main guess is toyota's ECU and computer is retarded... However with the system on full blast, i still get voltage drops down to 11.9-12.2 on idle, around the same i get with my stock alt.

 

[brian84corvette 10+ year member]

did you get anything sorted yet with the alt ? i know mine got better with 50 miles on it to properly seat the brushes or whatever... once 50 miles on the new alt it worked even stronger than when i first got it hooked up right...

my guess is still a strange charge or sense charge voltage wire not hooked up to the right terminal slot on the plug.

side note - your sig says you dont have enough mids / highs yet - i can never say enough good about selenium 8w4p pro audio speakers. ive got 2 in my burb and they are just as loud and clean as you can possibly stand to turn them up to. take power like champs - but get going around 80/100w each and are retarded loud by 200w each. verry vocal. super strong from 100 to 4k hz range - with nice soft tapered slopes

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I'm not buying anything yet until i get this alt thing sorted out. I also have a busy schedule, not gonna get to fix this alt problem for awhile. I'll be going real easy on the system until I do though.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Forgot to update. Did an easy fix, tweaked my idle control adjuster to idle at 900 rpms instead of 600, no problems at all for months now except getting 10 less total miles on a full tank.