HO Alt vs Dual OEM alt setup

[sbarber82 10+ year member]

I am one of the people that have been ripped off by Tenney Alternators and am in the market for a new alt. I am thinking of going with a setup DC offers that uses my stock alt and one of their OEM 185 amp alternators. This setup will produce 260-270 amps at idle, and over 320 amps of max output.

Or I can go with a single 340 amp HO alt.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of going with a dual setup?

What would you go with?

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[sbarber82 10+ year member]

anyone?

 

[bumpasauras 10+ year member]

In my experience I have never had a reliable "high output alt" they work great for 6 months to a year then they crap out and leave you vehicle out of service until u either order a replacement or go back with a stock alt. what has worked well for me is running multiple oem alts . For 1 having 2 alts gives u insurance against being stranded from a single alt failure. Only real drawback is the bracket you have to fab or buy after market. I am a welder/fabricator so the bracket is no prob for me to make. the best setup I have ever come accross for the money is building a bracket that will accept an alt off of a 398 catapiller 12 cylinder diesel moter. They are rated at 220 amps at 2400 rpm so when u run them at the higher rpm that gas moters run at the put out an easy 350-400 amps. Now I work in the oil field so it's easy to come across these alts for me but it shows you what can be done with a lil forthought.

If you want say 200-250 amps you can run a duel set up and isolate the charging system where the big alt off say a caddie 200-240 amps charges the amp batteries and the oem handles the rest. This IMHO is ideal because u can run your amp batts dead and still start your car without isolators (which I have never had good luck with)

So a duel setup is a harder install but more reliable.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

I would much rather have say 2 200 amp alts than say 1 350-400 amp alt. These smaller alts put out much more at idle, and tend to just work better. These huge alts tend to be finicky. See, if I was running say 1000w. I would always choose smaller multiples over a large single.

 

[bumpasauras 10+ year member]

Also I see that u drive Gm product so the 200 amp caddie alt should drop right in, and brackets are readily available so u could do 2 and have 400 amps on hand to set up however u wanted isolated or run together. Only drawback on running them together is having to run isolators if u want to be able to run your amp batts dead and still start your car.

 

[bumpasauras 10+ year member]

Buck is on the money . I have had several name brand HO alts and none of them last a 1/4 as long as oem alts.

 

[bumpasauras 10+ year member]

What I wanna try is a 500 amp 24volt alt of a 2 1/2 ton military truck run through a really good voltage regulator so u could run 16 volts all the time.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Buck is on the money . I have had several name brand HO alts and none of them last a 1/4 as long as oem alts.

I have this re-done 180 amp alt. The company is called ASE, it's local. He took my factory alt and did whatever he did to it. I have beat the living shit out of this alt. I'm talking tone burps, low bass

 

[sbarber82 10+ year member]

Thanks for the advise guys! I was looking at the setup DC has for my truck which comes with a 185amp OEM alt, bracket,belt, and all necessary hardware for $530. If I knew someone that could get me a bracket and correct belt for running the stock alt and the caddy alt someone mentioned I would go that route and prob pay less than the DC setup. Anyone know a guy?

 

[sbarber82 10+ year member]

Check out this setup for 569.00

Dual Alt GM Trucks

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

What kind of engine do you have?

 

[sbarber82 10+ year member]

vortec 5.3l 2009 silverado

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Dude, you can fit like 4 alts on that engine. I would do multiple smaller alts for sure.

 

[sbarber82 10+ year member]

I know I have a ton of room but I don't want to kill my funds when a dual setup will be enough. Do you think the deal from DC or the one I posted is a good deal?? '

 

[SounDrive Pro Seller]

I'm pretty sure dual alts hurt your gas mileage due to extra resistance on the belt. The same way that turning off your A/C improves your gas mileage.

But if the vehicle isn't a daily driver, there's quite a few benefits.