Churnd

Using WATRD's advice, I added another wire running from my alternator to my battery. Since I bought my 140 amp alt from Mr. Alternator, I hadn't really noticed much of a difference over the stocker... with the voltage at idle reading 13.7 volts. So I went out and bought some 8 guage stranded wire and ran it in parallel with the stock wire from the alternator to the battery. I was a little worried about it at first since WATRD's rig is a 3.4 and mine's a 3.0... but hey, there's gotta be a first for everything, right? So I wired it up, fired it up, and waited for something to start smoking or quit working. A minute went by and everything looked good. So I got out with my voltmeter and took a measurement on the battery... 13.94 volts! Definitely an improvement over stock. I can tell the difference when I'm driving, as the voltmeter on the dashboard doesnt dip rhythmetically when I have the turn signal on anymore, and everything else seems to be enjoying the extra voltage. Here's some pics:

FattyCBR

Looks good. I would cover your positive terminal with a piece of rubber so you don't risk arcing off it accidentally.

WATRD

Cool I am glad it worked for you.

Churnd

Ok I've got a problem.

I'll tell you guys what I did, what I think I did wrong, and then maybe you can give me some feedback.

I added that wire from the alt to the battery. I had some left over so I upgraded the 10 guage wire running from the battery to my aux fuse box to the 8 guage. I drove it around a little Sunday and it ran fine. Drove it around a little more tonite with the headlights on and noticed it was having trouble keeping up at idle. The voltmeter on the dash was dipping more than it used to with the stock wire.

Here's what I think it could be:
[list=1][*]I didn't upgrade the ground wires off the battery, so maybe I need to do that.[*]I shouldn't have upgraded the wire going to the aux fuse box.[/list=1]

Anybody?

WATRD

Something is funny here...

If all you did was add more current carrying capacity, the symptoms don't match.

I would try tearing the new aux fuse box wire out and putting it back the way it was, but unless you crimped it somwhere and are getting a short, the symptoms don't match what you have done...

Any idea what your alternator is putting out at idle? Is the belt slipping?

Churnd

Look at the picture of the battery I posted above. I couldn't use the regular type of connectors to crimp onto the wire because they weren't big enough. I had to go to Lowes and get some 6AWG connectors that have no plastic coating on them whatsoever. Do you think that's where the problem lies?

WATRD

I doubt that is your problem, unless they are shorting against something.

Did you check the belt?

Churnd

The belt is tight and the connections look a-ok. I'm dumbfounded.

The only other possibility I can think of is the aux fuse box. The only thing I have hooked up to it right now is the electric fan, and since it was powered off of 10 guage wire before, maybe that was limiting the amount of current it could draw. But I don't really go for that because the wire bumps down to 12 guage coming off of the box.

914runner

How much wire did you use? I have anout 4 fett of some 8 gauge stereo power wire do you think thats long enough? Also how long is the ground lead, I think ill upgrade it too because it looks tiny! Is the power wire the same size as the ground wire?
Thanks

Churnd

4 feet probably won't be enough if you run it in front of the radiator out of the way of the belts like you should. You'll need at least 6 or 7 feet. Upgrading the ground wires certainly couldn't hurt. I might be doing it also.

Firefyter-Emt

Check your connections, sounds just like a "no contact" problem.. BTW, I would add heat shrink to the terminals (I would also solder them, myself..)

Churnd

This is all screwed up. I went back over everything tonite. Took it all apart and double checked all the crimps, and just as I thought they were all "tug-tight". I also wrapped a good bit of electrical tape around each one to make sure there were no shorts. I even added an additional 10 guage wire to ground off the battery to see if that would help anything. Nothing worked.

Eventually I gave up, ripped it all out, and converted it back to stock. Now it works better than it did after it started screwing up, but not quite as good as it did before it started screwing up. I do not understand at all. This makes me think that 140A alternator I got from Mr. Alternator isn't all it cracked up to be.

WATRD

I am wondering that myself. It would be interesting to put it on a meter and find out what it really puts out. I keep reading pages saying that the stock alternator can only be rewound to 110Amps and even that is difficult, so I can't help but scratch my head at the 140 number...

Churnd

How do I do that?

WATRD

Odds are pretty good that you don't have the equipment laying around to do the testing, so your best bet would be to find a shop that can properly load test the alternator.

The process consists of several tests at several RPM's and several load levels. From that, they produce a graph that shows the output at idle, then a curve up to the peak output. It's like a dyno run for your alternator

snowblind

I'm interestd in getting a HO alternator because I'm going to put in a taurus fan. Do you plan to take the mralternator alternator to a shop and have it tested? if you do, can you please PM me the results (and post them here)? I'm decided between mralt, mean-grean, and excessiveamperage right now (I'd like a drop-in replacement).

Brad