Melted bolt on alternator!

[SolobaricX]

I have a 2006 Jeep commander which comes with a 160A factory alternator....good deal of power, but the jeep eats a good deal of that up with normal operation. So to get maximum efficiency I ran 1/0 guage from the alternator to the battery, battery to amp, and amp ground all 1/0 guage with crimpless compression terminals. Which by the way rock (had the copper lugs first and those ****). I must also mention I am running a kicker zx 1500.1 amp pushing a dual 4ohm 12" soloX wired down to a 2ohm load.

So one day I decide to look under my hood and see how my new setup is working...which I did myself of course....and bad news! Burned wire, barely hanging on for life and bolt was melted so badly it actually just broke right off. So I pulled the alternator out (which is a pain on this year model) and took a look. No damage other than the bolt that holds the terminal on, but the bolt is connected to the rectifier so there wasnt much I could do. Got a new alternator and put it in.

on last Sunday (About 1 1/2 months later) I decided to check and see how this setup was doing....bad news again....wire burned just like before, bolt metled just like before. So this time I just took it to an alternator repair shop and they fixed it for labor cost (12$) so that was bad ***!

Im thinking the alternator is able to actually generate that kind of power but its not able to actually transfer that much? I have thought I might need to wire up a car audio battery? Honestly as far as bass quality or quantity (HAHA) there is no shortage. So I never felt I needed an extra battery or a capacitor, although I have considered both.

But I simply cant go around pulling my alternator out every month and going without the car while I wait for it to be repaired (even though it was quick and easy fix for them).

ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED!

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[schackel 10+ year member]

bigger alt? does your volts drop at all?

 

[SolobaricX]

nah thats not really the problem.....i have a voltmeter hooked up and when Im blasting full tilt Im still at 12.5-13.5 volts.....Yes a bigger alternator that is meant for car audio would surely fix the problem but would break the bank...those suckas arent cheap...plus this is already 160A alternator which is more than most cars that are running systems....

 

[schackel 10+ year member]

yeah if you replaced some bulb in your car that get used with leds or hids you will save lots of amps

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

nah thats not really the problem.....i have a voltmeter hooked up and when Im blasting full tilt Im still at 12.5-13.5 volts.....Yes a bigger alternator that is meant for car audio would surely fix the problem but would break the bank...those suckas arent cheap...plus this is already 160A alternator which is more than most cars that are running systems....

Was the wire that melted 1/0? If so, was no other wire in the circuit/system damaged? Are you certain the bolt mounting the wire to the alt was tight so as to avoid arcing?

 

[SolobaricX]

yeh, and only directly near the alternator....I suppose it is possible that it loosened up after all the heat...but it was as tight as could be when I connected it. Still no one has answered my question of "would an extra battery help"

 

[ctt0002 10+ year member]

No another battery would not help. But i'm no expert

 

[Loud Dodge]

no, your problem is the fact your using 0 awg wire on your charging stud.... its causing a bottle nose effect, and its building power at the bolt... so. what I suggest, is taking and replacing the 0 awg with a 4 awg line. I had the same problem in my 2005 dodge dakota, we have the exact same denso unit alt.

some people are able to get away with running 0 awg. but they just get lucky, You are creating a max discharge right at a cheap bolt... so if you take and replace the 0 awg with 4 awg, but run more than one stand, you will be fine,

I run a single 4 awg line in my truck now, and it does just fine,

so again, this problem isn't the alt, nor the system but simply the wrong wire size for the alt.

 

[teen 10+ year member]

i think your problem is just that the bolt wasnt tight enough and it arced until it melted the stud.

i had this same problem on my jeep when i put my mean green in. fuckin $400 alternator and i melted the stud the first or second day. i was pissed.

luckily a friend of my dads owns a shop that specializes in car electrical systems and he was able to swap in a new stud for me and it worked like new. id suggest trying to find someone that can swap a new stud in for you..

 

[Loud Dodge]

no.... its the fact that in a typical electrical setup, current control is all by resistance, There is a reason why alternators don't have 0 awg wires on the charging studs....

because the 0 awg wire has less resistance than the charging stud, so at that point it becomes the weak link,,,

it is just like taking a piece of 18 awg wire and arcing it between the + and - stud of your battery, as it sits there it will get really hot, causing it to melt over time,

it works the same way, only that the weak link at that point is your charging stud

 

[SolobaricX]

ok, so I think after reading these posts I will run 2 strands of 4guage wire. The 1/0 guage definitely did incerase voltage when I replaced the original alternator power cable with it. So I dont want to simply run one 4ga and lose some of the voltage. Thanks for everyone's advice!

 

[lostdaytomorrow 10+ year member]

WTF never heard of this happening, bad luck bro. Need a higher quality alt.

 

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

That's weird because it happened to a few members on Termpro(can't find it but there was a thread about it) and also in my friend's Catera, execpt his actually melted the terminal on his Red Top.

I kind of agree with the bottleneck effect where heat builds up at the bolt because it has the most resistance in the whole chain but this has never happened to me before. Maybe just use good thick plated screw post and make **** sure it is tight?

 

[edzy 10+ year member]

Did you also replace the engine to chassis ground wire with 0/1? I would run a 0/1 right from the alt mounting bracket to chassis.

 

[SolobaricX]

I did not complete the big three...I just did the big 1...haha....just the alternator power wire...and I thought that it could be due to not running a ground wire of the same guage from mounting bracket to chassis.

What do you think about two 4ga wires?