100a alternator wiring question.
- Thread starter fredrikg
- Start date
Dreadl0ck
Well-Known Member
You probably going to have to upgrade the wires to a bit beefier ones to handle the increased juice. Let me see if I have the instructions somewhere. I saved them when I replaced mine this winter.
Blir det powermeet i sommar? ;)
Blir det powermeet i sommar? ;)
the "increased juice" is just given if the car request that... but needing to note that with same equipment the car request for same juice no matter if you have 60 amps alt or 100 amps alt... NOW the difference will be which side of the charging system will provide that, bat or alt. With a powerfull alt, this will be the device able to feed everything keeping bat mostly out of the play, and thats the best you can do to keep safe the system. Originally our cars got 12 or 10 gauge wires on main charging wiring. So a next step up on wiring will be a nice upgrade beside bypass the bulkhead terminals to keep safe everything. Amm will be safe as far isolation is good and studs are clean, terminals clean and tight.
dunno about the rest of wiring to the alt.
dunno about the rest of wiring to the alt.
fredrikg
Active Member
Ye ofc i need beefier wires but i dont know where, Instructions would be awesome.
Nej det tror jag inte det blir. :sad10:
- - - Updated - - -
I think i should bypass the ammeter whats the easiest way to do it?
no need for that. If every added accesory is correctly sourced from alt side not the batt ( like factory did ), your ammeter will smell the load just quite often, when batt lost some juice, untill get it back, which with a higher capacity alt will be faster, so safer to the charging system
fredrikg
Active Member
Oh okay that sound good.
But how do you mean with bypassing bulkhead terminals do you mean the bulkhead wires going to the ammeter?
Do i need to get bigger wires to the ammeter?
this is what I did, with great success.
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,33574.0/all.html
some other ppl remove stock wires and run the bypass wire. Is not required if your one is still in working order and nice conditions.
Then lot of ppl will tell you THATS IS BULL$**T run a wire between alt and starter relay stud.
My car is a driver ( cheaaaaaaap gas locally ), with AC and never have got a problem with this.
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,33574.0/all.html
some other ppl remove stock wires and run the bypass wire. Is not required if your one is still in working order and nice conditions.
Then lot of ppl will tell you THATS IS BULL$**T run a wire between alt and starter relay stud.
My car is a driver ( cheaaaaaaap gas locally ), with AC and never have got a problem with this.
fredrikg
Active Member
Its sounds alot easier to bypass bulkhead and ammeter and then just add bigger wires from alt to starter relay stud then to the battery.
easier doesn't mean correct
Crackedback
Well-Known Member
It may not always run at 100 amps, but if it does with a factory harness... goodbye to your bulkhead connectors!
fredrikg
Active Member
True, but now i dont know how wich way to do it so you mean its bad to bypass the ammeter and bulkhead connectors and with beefier wires from alt to starter relay?
- - - Updated - - -
It may not always run at 100 amps, but if it does with a factory harness... goodbye to your bulkhead connectors!
Ye i figured that out, which way do you think is Best upgrade wise?
Last edited:
nm9stheham
Well-Known Member
It is simply not correct to say that the car will not pull any more amperage; the 100A alternator will be able to push more current into the battery whenever the battery is not at full charge, and the beefier alternator will tend to keep the system voltage higher under heavier loads (like with lights and blower on), and thus more current will indeed flow to the car's system loads. With the stock wiring, all the alternator output will go through one single bulkhead spade connection, which is the known weak point.
As a minimum upgrade, I would recommend running a, 8 or 10 gauge wire from the alternator output to the starter relay big stud. At least the battery charging current will mostly bypass the bulkhead connectors. Note that your ammeter will no longer correctly indicate battery charge/discharge.
Look here for a good diagram to help you understand this. The article around this diagram is very good reading.
http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml
As a minimum upgrade, I would recommend running a, 8 or 10 gauge wire from the alternator output to the starter relay big stud. At least the battery charging current will mostly bypass the bulkhead connectors. Note that your ammeter will no longer correctly indicate battery charge/discharge.
Look here for a good diagram to help you understand this. The article around this diagram is very good reading.
http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml
fredrikg
Active Member
I just bypassed the ammeter, and I bought 6gauge wire today
So next step will be bigger wire to alt to starter relay stund then also from stund to battery is wise?
And ofc i will try to bypass the bulkhead connectors.
Thanks for the info also.
:icon_study: :eusa_whistle:
fredrikg
Active Member
Hehe what? :blob1:
on a 120 Volts system ( Europe is diferent Voltage rate so does the amperage but example works the same )
If you have a 15 amps breaker on your home you are able to plug on the AC wall outlet your cellphone Charger ( 1 amp ) and maybe a Hair Dryer ( which gets closer to 10 amps )...
That doesn't meant the cell phone charger will blow because it's a 15 amps breaker... 120 Volts are the same for both. Amperage is what the DEVICE demands to work.
SO on a car, you can get a 45, 60, 100 or even a thousands amps alternator, but car demand will be THE SAME. When alternator is not able to feed what the car demands, is when the batt begins to be emptied, hence the discharge reading on ammeter.
For a while the alternator is able to feed the car demand, the ammeter will be death centered. No Charge no Discharge. Batt is resting.
if you get a Charge reading is because battery is demanding power ( lost for whatever reason while alt wasn't working or wasn't enought to feed ) to get its electro chemical balance back to its rest position.
With a powerfull alt, you won't get worried anymore about a discharged batt, at least not heavily discharged.
this means the ammeter IS NOT AN ALTERNATOR GAUGE like factory has made us to believe, is really a BATTERY STATUS GAUGE... of course will tell you how the alternator is working, efficiently or not, but due the batt status.
Just get worried about healthy of the wiring system, including ammeter conections. Of course, bulkhead health is something to consider, and this is when the wiring bypass trough firewall comes into play. The terminals used on stock system weren't never enough, even less to hold the batt and the car demand TOGETHER... thats why the black wire terminals on bulkhead gets burnt first
ACTUALLY with a fully revised, correctly wired and checked charging system the only MANDATORY wire to bypass could be the alt to ammeter wire ( black ) but since you can get a discharged batt for whatever reason ( Stereo playing, lights on, Heater blower while car is off ), Batt wire bypass between ammeter and starter relay stud is a plus, to get back the power safer.
I have a Mopar 80 amps alt ( maybe more in fact ), with AC which I USE, halogen lamps, relays everywhere ( correctly sourced ), and my ammeter is 85% of the time deathly centered.
Once agan... cars is not just camshaft, pistons, burns out, Torque converters... is electricity too. Nobody wants to really understand how the electricity works, like really takes care about the mechanical parts
- - - Updated - - -
amperage and voltage has being allways compaired with water flow but I found a better way to show you.
let's say you have to push a car. Need X ammount of force... but then you find a hill, need a guy to help you out... you still aply same force to beat the inertia ( volts ) but 2 or 3 guys to push it ( amperage ).
well electricity is more less that.
If you have a 15 amps breaker on your home you are able to plug on the AC wall outlet your cellphone Charger ( 1 amp ) and maybe a Hair Dryer ( which gets closer to 10 amps )...
That doesn't meant the cell phone charger will blow because it's a 15 amps breaker... 120 Volts are the same for both. Amperage is what the DEVICE demands to work.
SO on a car, you can get a 45, 60, 100 or even a thousands amps alternator, but car demand will be THE SAME. When alternator is not able to feed what the car demands, is when the batt begins to be emptied, hence the discharge reading on ammeter.
For a while the alternator is able to feed the car demand, the ammeter will be death centered. No Charge no Discharge. Batt is resting.
if you get a Charge reading is because battery is demanding power ( lost for whatever reason while alt wasn't working or wasn't enought to feed ) to get its electro chemical balance back to its rest position.
With a powerfull alt, you won't get worried anymore about a discharged batt, at least not heavily discharged.
this means the ammeter IS NOT AN ALTERNATOR GAUGE like factory has made us to believe, is really a BATTERY STATUS GAUGE... of course will tell you how the alternator is working, efficiently or not, but due the batt status.
Just get worried about healthy of the wiring system, including ammeter conections. Of course, bulkhead health is something to consider, and this is when the wiring bypass trough firewall comes into play. The terminals used on stock system weren't never enough, even less to hold the batt and the car demand TOGETHER... thats why the black wire terminals on bulkhead gets burnt first
ACTUALLY with a fully revised, correctly wired and checked charging system the only MANDATORY wire to bypass could be the alt to ammeter wire ( black ) but since you can get a discharged batt for whatever reason ( Stereo playing, lights on, Heater blower while car is off ), Batt wire bypass between ammeter and starter relay stud is a plus, to get back the power safer.
I have a Mopar 80 amps alt ( maybe more in fact ), with AC which I USE, halogen lamps, relays everywhere ( correctly sourced ), and my ammeter is 85% of the time deathly centered.
Once agan... cars is not just camshaft, pistons, burns out, Torque converters... is electricity too. Nobody wants to really understand how the electricity works, like really takes care about the mechanical parts
- - - Updated - - -
amperage and voltage has being allways compaired with water flow but I found a better way to show you.
let's say you have to push a car. Need X ammount of force... but then you find a hill, need a guy to help you out... you still aply same force to beat the inertia ( volts ) but 2 or 3 guys to push it ( amperage ).
well electricity is more less that.
fredrikg
Active Member
Thanks alot man alot of really good information i think i have understood pretty much of the the problems and the upgrades i need to do.
ye thats true people just care about the driveline.
the tipical wire between alt and starter stud all what it makes is SHARE the car demand load between two existant weak terminals instead the one existant to feed the main splice, because, guess what? the main splice is STILL inside the car.
It works? so far so good, is better, but still not the right way to do it.
will safe the heavy loads through terminals to get back the battery to normal status ? yes, but sacrifying the reading on ammeter. So you won't know really what is happening.
add a voltimeter will help ? yes, but Voltimeter is just a proportional reading of the charge status, not really THE charge status
- - - Updated - - -
Please don't missunderstand my purpouse on this. I'm not trying to tell you what you have to make, its at your own, but with more info you'll decide whats better for you...
I just try to beat the wrong information about this.
- - - Updated - - -
one thing more... NO ONE ACCESORY must be sourced from battery on full load ammeter cars... THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS why everything melts out! Because lot of UNNECESARY strees will be going through ammeter and red wire bulkhead terminals. The ammeter will translate this like batt is ALLWAYS being charged where really is feeding the added device sourced from batt
It works? so far so good, is better, but still not the right way to do it.
will safe the heavy loads through terminals to get back the battery to normal status ? yes, but sacrifying the reading on ammeter. So you won't know really what is happening.
add a voltimeter will help ? yes, but Voltimeter is just a proportional reading of the charge status, not really THE charge status
- - - Updated - - -
Thanks alot man alot of really good information i think i have understood pretty much of the the problems and the upgrades i need to do.
ye thats true people just care about the driveline.
Please don't missunderstand my purpouse on this. I'm not trying to tell you what you have to make, its at your own, but with more info you'll decide whats better for you...
I just try to beat the wrong information about this.
- - - Updated - - -
one thing more... NO ONE ACCESORY must be sourced from battery on full load ammeter cars... THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS why everything melts out! Because lot of UNNECESARY strees will be going through ammeter and red wire bulkhead terminals. The ammeter will translate this like batt is ALLWAYS being charged where really is feeding the added device sourced from batt
fredrikg
Active Member
This method seems to work for most peoples i will try it atleast,it cant get worse anyways it should be a pretty big upgrade?
Dont wanna sound like a ******** now.
Similar threads
