Will a High Output Alternator Fry my car's Electrical System?

[adamwilson301 10+ year member]

lern to spel.

eye agrea wif yew

 

[Ali1 10+ year member]

i have nissan maxima 2000engine:VQ30DE

i need ~400 amp alternator for my car

what do you recommend me??

plz help me!

you'll be hardpressed to find someone who can even build a 400amp alternator for that particular vehicle....

what does your system consist of that draws this much amperes???

your best bet is to run a dual 250amp alternator setup with custom brackets... if thats even possible

 

[1rockford1 5,000+ posts]

with a ho alt of at least 200 amps really puting out a max of 150 or so with the stock wires and zero big 3 i should have no issue with current flow from alt and battery and to my amp?

 

[alfonsoleo 10+ year member]

i have heard of people switching out the pully on the alt. to a smaller one. Would that work?

 

[Big Red 10+ year member]

dis whoel topic could be done with one word " Isolater "

 

[grimreper912003 5,000+ posts]

This whole topic could be done with one word " Isolator "

fixed,

 

[ROY ROBLES 10+ year member]

cant we all just get along ???

 

[MkKin420 10+ year member]

You fuse for the wire, Correct? If you have a HO alt that puts out around 200 amps peak than you should use a wire capable of that and then some this is were 0 gauge comes in. So you would fuse for the 0 gauge cable, which can handle 300 amps, well over the maximum that the alt will put out, and you use say a 250-300 amp fuse. The fuse is not their to stop the device from drawing or putting out so much current, its to stop the circuit in the event of a short. Am I wrong?

 

[tussery]

all i have to say is that alternators can and will fry your car.. i had a brand new chrsyler 300M just put 2 JL 13W7, and 2 JL 1000/1, and a JL 300/4 in there had a HO alternator put in was a 200amp.. have a 1/0 gauge from the alterator to the battery... and this is what happened to my car when i got two miles down the road after having all the work done....

I look at this pic and it is like a "wheres waldo" pic

soon as i saw it i seen the problem... look where the fuse is mounted, on the back where you normally put the alarm sirein,, way further from the battery then the 18 inches max that all installers go by. The whole reason for that fuse is to pop when there is a short so it dont heat up and start a fire,, there looks to be about 3 feet of wire from the fuse to the battery. now with that i am sure there was a short in the 3 feet that wasnt fused,, which got hot, REAL HOT caught fire and well... you know the rest... IT WAS NOT THE ALTERNATOR IT WAS A SHORT IN THE MAIN AMP WIRE FROM THE BATTERY! The pic shows you right there you see the fuse and you see the red insulation on both sides then you see the thick copper with the insulation melter off in the middle fo the fire well there is where your short was.

 

[moh.vze.com 10+ year member]

That pic is scary.

 

[johnpeter]

've heard many people (including some mechanics) run off at the mouth about how getting a HO alternator will fry all the wires and destroy your car's electrical system and blow every bulb in your car...

Nothing could be further from the case..

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[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

Ha do realize that people on the internet will argue until the end of time so... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Steve Meade has what I believe three Ho alternators and he beats that shit all day long. Alma Gates' Bronco had 11 custom HO alternators and her truck didn't explode, and 99% of the people in this car audio hobby aren't even worthy enough to stand next to her.

Those two are good enough examples that HO alternators itself won't do a **** thing to your electrical system. A faulty install/hardware will.

 

[yadogg 10+ year member]

good stuff Yota, good for the noobs

agreed, thanks for helping a noob //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[reallyxxxxloud 10+ year member]

Let me get this right... If you are drawing more current continuously than your alt can supply then your battery will go flat. If you sub amp is pulling peak current draws bigger than your Alt supplies then the battery supplies all the extra current. If you are pulling more current with peaks than your battery can supply you should upgrade your battery to handle the demand. If your electrical system is drawing continuously up to 80% of your Alts supply then you will need to look at replacing your Alt. A minimum 20% should be left to recharge the battery. So as I see it how does running more current on a stock Alt destroy it - I'm of the thought it will just run your batteries flat. I'm always hearing my stereo killed my Factory alt.

Please explain how in detail or support my thoughts that once it hits its regulatored limits thats it.

CHEERS

 

[Brazito 10+ year member]

I'm more confused as to what to do now than I was previously.

Too many saying "do this", others saying "don't do that or this will happen".

Makes me want to go back to stock and **** it all.

Are there any experts? And not self proclaimed experts. I need my truck running not melting.