Mechman Alt Quality?... Better than OEM?

[Marve_Lous]

Honda made it standard way before anyone else. I know by at least the mid 90s they already had the voltage regulators (ELD). Alot of newer cars have adopted it, car makers do it because it slightly pads the MPG ratings.
Depends. On my Honda that trick would work but id never see above 13.8 even with the ELD on full tilt (usually with the ELD on i'd be 13.3-13.8 range while driving with no music on). Moment I threw in the Singer Alt which had the ELD bypass built in I was immediately seeing 14.8V

I don't see the point in Mechman selling an expensive aftermarket electrical upgrade and then basically saying "yeah sorry it's only going to run at 80% potential because we don't want to bypass the PCM"

Singer the only HO Alt company to have the ELD bypass?

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Thanks for the help. I’ll be inquiring about their HO’s tonight or tomorrow.

IF you are worried about charging to 14.8 or whatever I can't imagine Mechman can't provide internally regulated or sell you an external regulator.

He has been around a long time and while I've never used his stuff I've also never seen any complaints about his product either. I'm loyal to Excessive Amperage. I feel Nate has always done me right and I've been happy with the performance and life I have got out of his alts.

As others have said Mike Singer is pretty new to the business but I haven't seen anybody complain about his alternators. I have bought some amps from him back when he was just an enthusiast and got what I paid for so can at least vouch that he seems an honest seller.

Lastly, if you're shopping quotes might reach out to Ohio Generator. They're probably the longest established custom alternator shop used among car audio folks and I see a lot of their stuff in the lanes still and everybody I talk to who runs them always seems happy and talks good about them.

You're definitely future-proofing your electrical system by buying a HO alternator first, and I'd suggest that a 240A alternator from one of the companies listed on this thread will wildly outperform a """"240A""" alternator you buy from a dealership or parts store if measured side by side.

 

[metalheadjoe 10+ year member]

To piggyback on OP:

What kind of life can a person expect from an HO alternator? I'd heard they don't last as long; any truth to that? Is that simply because they are typically driven harder?

Some HO alts carry LIMITED lifetime warranties; has anyone had to cash in on one? How was the process? Was it easy, or did the manufacturer try to blame user error?

 

[mastershake575]

Singer the only HO Alt company to have the ELD bypass?

When I inquired a few years back he was the only one (mechman, DC, and one other said no).

IF you are worried about charging to 14.8 or whatever I can't imagine Mechman can't provide internally regulated or sell you an external regulator.

I contacted them for Toyota and Honda and they said no internal regulator and they don't sell an external one. There's even a steve meade video where his mechman alt wasn't seeing the full power and he had to get a bypass harness from Singer to bypass the PCM

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

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[mastershake575]

I need a bigger alternator but don't have and extra $600-$800 to throw down on one. So, I found this one that I think I'm going to try.

Not sure where you getting $600-800. Mechman makes one for your car for as cheap as $399 and for the same price as this no-name alt + wiring kit you could probably get a Singer 275A alt.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

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[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

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[mastershake575]

Mechman wants $400 for a 240. I tried to get a quote from Singer, but they would never e-mail me back. I just think people are paying for the Mechman and Singer name.

LOL at paying for name, your literally not going to get high quality work for any cheaper (Singer literally works out of his garage, your not going to an alternator business that has lower overhead then him).

90% of these ebay style alts that claim high amperage for half the price are half ass re-builds with poor regulators, chinese diodes, and amperage claims that are no where near real world numbers. Another great trick is they use a smaller pulley to increase idle amps but to save money they don't upgrade the bearings which means alt is going to burnout fast. Crazy, in the real world you actually get what you pay for ?

Boss audio claims 4000 watts maximum but what are the actual real world numbers ? (less than 1200 ?). Brands like DC, Mechman, and Singer actually back there products and give you both hot and cold numbers in REAL WORLD scenarios

Not exactly a "no name" alternator. This is the company. They've been around for 40 years and Made in the USA.

That literally doesn't change anything that I have stated. If you want to risk the most important aspect of your build on a company offering something with no car audio reviews/benchmarks and deceiving pricing just because "uhhh must be paying for name, uhhh made in USA" then that's 100% on you. If this company was so badass with 40+ years experience and greatest bang for your buck then everyone would alrady be running them

Don't come on here crying when your voltage tanks and your system isn't as loud as you wanted just because you wanted to save a 100 dollars......

 

[Firewalker]

Singer can also be contacted on Facebook as well. Sometimes he is busy so it takes a couple days. Also Ohio Generator as someone said is good as well. I messaged them for the heck of it once around 3 years ago and I had a reply in 8 hours. IIRC he said 425 shipped for mine with it peaking at around 330 amps iirc.

Singer Alternators

Singer Alternators. 8,076 likes · 7 talking about this. For all your high output alternator needs you can visit us at www.singeralternators.com

www.facebook.com

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

To piggyback on OP:

What kind of life can a person expect from an HO alternator? I'd heard they don't last as long; any truth to that? Is that simply because they are typically driven harder?

My DC power alt is like 8 years old now and not a single issue. I decided to spend more money and go with them cause they seemed to have the best quality as well as full billet cases. I didn't want to ever have to pull the alternator again cause it is a PITA to get to.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

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[Firewalker]

The wire kit is just a big 3 kit nothing special. And when I looked at it, it didn't look like 1/0 to me. But pictures can be deceiving if you are really intent on buying that wire kit I wouldn't do it until I contacted them and asked them what size wire.

 

[mastershake575]

A mechman 370 would be over $600. So, that would be $250 more for the name

Are you on drugs ? The mechman 320A is $499, that's only 130 bucks more than the purepower 320A. You want to cheap out less than 150 buck on the most important aspect of your entire build then that's on you

The alternator that I showed you isn't sold on Ebay or Amazon.

I said ebay style. There all the same (cheap re-wounds with chinese diodes and stock bearings)

I showed you hot and cold numbers.

No i'm talking about a real benchmark, not hypothetical max numbers. This is what a real company does

• OUTPUT VOLTAGE:14.8
• IDLE AMPERAGE:200
• HOT IDLE AMPERAGE @ 200° F:180
• MAX AMPERAGE:270
• HOT MAX AMPERAGE @ 200° F:250

I mean hell Singer literally sends you an official benchmark sheet with your package because he individually stress test each unit. So much for "uhh your just paying for the name"

 

[Firewalker]

I looked up an alternator for mine and this is on their page...If I am doing a HO Alternator I want something better then OEM Brushes and Bearings. There are local places that do ten times the job on a rebuilding an alternator at stock amperage then what this high output place is using for theirs. Mine was built by a friends family business so I know what what in it and all of it was upgraded parts to handle the 250 amps it was going to put out and has done so since day one.

• OEM SKF high heat bearings
• OEM brushes and brush holder for extreme long life