The big 3 caused more harm then good?

[sw3ll3r3 10+ year member]

Okay so yesterday I took the time to install the big 3, just to find out that it did more harm then good. My volts drop lower than ever, my upgraded 240 amp alternator isn't seeming to help anything now. Without the big three I could run the system full blast while driving causally and be just fine, it would keep it at about 14 Volts, or a little over. Now it does not come close. When I am idle and demoing with the big three I usually rev to 2500 rpm and my truck stays about 14.4. Now it stays at like 13.8-14v. Why is this? To me it feels like a waste of time, money, and effort.

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[disturbed471985 5,000+ posts]

recheck everything... I dnt see how upgrading your power and ground wires to a larger size would hurt your voltage. In fact it would help. Check wires but seeing u have an upgraded alt then I would start there after wire check.. Alt brand??

 

[sw3ll3r3 10+ year member]

Like I said the alternator has been upgraded. So factory, but on steroids. We took the factor alternator (140 amps) and had it upgraded to 240, the biggest you can do without custom making it. So I can assure you it'd not the alt. Like I said before the upgrade it did fine.

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

Grounds are bad. is my guess

all connections must be sanded to bare metal, and bolted washer preferred.

Something is wrong with your connections.

Also did you just add 1/0 to the existing power and ground wires, or replace the stock wires?

 

[oxsign 5,000+ posts]

Like I said the alternator has been upgraded. So factory, but on steroids. We took the factor alternator (140 amps) and had it upgraded to 240, the biggest you can do without custom making it. So I can assure you it'd not the alt. Like I said before the upgrade it did fine.

This scares me a bit. Who did the work? Sound like a bad ground connection to me. As said above go back and double check everything.

 

[Xrojas13 10+ year member]

Grounds are bad. is my guess
all connections must be sanded to bare metal, and bolted washer preferred.

Something is wrong with your connections.

Also did you just add 1/0 to the existing power and ground wires, or replace the stock wires?

Would it help if u kept the factory wires and upgraded cables

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

Would it help if u kept the factory wires and upgraded cables

of coarse //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

More wire is more power transfer, doesn't matter if they are mismatched, I always leave the stock wiring and just add to it.

 

[cfox10 10+ year member]

Would it help if u kept the factory wires and upgraded cables

*sigh*

 

[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

Always leave all of the factory wiring in stock, and simply ADD to it. The BIG 3, when done right, will not hurt anything. The fact that you were running a "240a" alt on factory wires to begin with is bad news. Luckily they are short runs though.

Check your grounds and all your connections, you did something wrong.

 

[Xrojas13 10+ year member]

Double checking cause I got a little lazy

 

[t-money 10+ year member]

Did you remove the stock wiring and ground? IF you leave the stock wiring and ground and add the big 3, there's no way it should make things worse

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

Did you remove the stock wiring and ground? IF you leave the stock wiring and ground and add the big 3, there's no way it should make things worse

Right? My initial response to the thread title was "unpossible"

 

[sw3ll3r3 10+ year member]

Macs electrics did the upgrade on the alternator? Why does that scare you, all they did was put a bigger stator in it, replace all bearing, and check the diodes? Pretty simple stuff.. I did not replace any wires just added to them. I didn't do anything wrong, trust be triple checked. My step dad is a electrician for nucor steel, a massive steel plant nation wide. He checked everything. I removed all the big three a moment a go and drove around and tested it, volts stayed up about 14 the whole time unless I was at idle at a red light. Problem fixed.

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

still unpossible. Something is wrong, and it's one of 2 things, the cable itself, or the connections. and I'd say with about 90% confidence it's a grounding issue.

 

[sw3ll3r3 10+ year member]

Well the grounds with the stock wires work great. The ground with the extra cable on the same grounds doesn't work well what so ever. So it seems to be the upgrade its self. How is it impossible? I see it with my own eyes. It clearly performs way worse. If it were to help I feel like I'd see the difference.