alternater cuts out
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Forum Name: General Discussion
Forum Discription: General Mobile Electronics Questions and Answers
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=51886
Printed Date: May 23, 2024 at 12:40 AM
Topic: alternater cuts out
Posted By: placid warrior
Subject: alternater cuts out
Date Posted: March 13, 2005 at 10:37 PM
i have my stock alternator and a while ago my alt light came on for about 10 min and then turned off (i was driving it and the volt meter was at a buds house) so i couldnt test it while the light was on, but it tested fine when the alt light was off (obviously it was working.) tonight was a pain cause my alt light was on and as i was driving the lights got dimmer and the car just died...called dad and got it boosted, i drove home with no lights (nice and dark) and managed to get home...about 5 min before i get home the alt light turns off. I let it run for awhile and it seems fine. anybody have any ideas what could cause this? bad regulator or wiring? i never changed the stock wiring but would it be fine to run a wire from the batt terminal on the alt and run it straight to the battery with a fuse in between? would this cause the alt light to stay on or screw other things up at all (or how about leaving the stock setup and adding an additional wire from the alt to the batt?) i thought about taking it in, but i cant see how they would find the problem if it works fine when i take it in. would replacing the brushes fix this at all maybe, or is it not really related to my problem?
Replies:
Posted By: placid warrior
Date Posted: March 14, 2005 at 12:16 AM
or does it have to hit the voltage regulator before it goes to the battery. Its an old skool car without the electronics junk...so it might not screw too much up.
Posted By: c3d
Date Posted: March 14, 2005 at 12:25 PM
happened to me too. Alternator needs to be replaced or rebuilt. If you replaced it, u can get ur core charge back, usually around 30-50 bucks. Your battery may have suffered severely as well, might want to get that checked out and/or replaced. And 3rd, your drawing too many amps off of it, and its overheating. thats why its starting to cut out. what do you have running for a sound system? 88 amps needed for every 1000 watts, plus about 30-40 to run your car.
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1987 Nissan 300ZX N/A
1994 Audi 90 Quattro CS
Posted By: placid warrior
Date Posted: March 14, 2005 at 12:39 PM
allright thanks. at the moment i have a 200 watt premier deck, with about 300W of speakers in the font (1pr 5-1/4" coaxials, 1pr 1.5" tweeters, 1pr 5-1/4" subs) , 2 - 300watt 6x9's in the rear and a 350W MTX class D amp with 2 - 10" subs (100W RMS x 400W peak) I also added an electric fan to the car recently. So I guess i'm more than likely drawing too many amps off it. Thanks for the help c3d, i appreciate it...i guess the only fix would be to upgrade the alt finally (except i cant afford it right now) 
Posted By: placid warrior
Date Posted: March 14, 2005 at 1:07 PM
went out and bought a cheap volt meter (my bud has the digital one) and since i cant tell exactly what voltage i'm putting out this is just a close estimate. with the car running it reads 12V, and 13 when i rev it. It reads the same with the lights and fan on. when i turn the stereo on it goes down to about 11.5V and 12.5 when reved up...and with the amp turned on it reads 11V and 12 when reved up. so i'm fine if i dont run any stereo, but thats a real bummer.
Posted By: placid warrior
Date Posted: March 14, 2005 at 1:21 PM
allrighty...i just called Lordco and priced out an alternator...the highest output alt that they make for my car is 100amp alt (without changing anything) after that i have to change mounting brackets and redo the alternator wiring. my question is if the 100 amp alt will handle the above system with an additional 350 watt MTX class D amp and 2 extra 10" subs for a total of about a 900 Watt system. seems to be cutting it too close with your statement above with 88 amps for every 1000W and 30-40 for regular acessories. that means i need about 119 amps...would this be fine if i used a stiffining cap to reduce the heavy draw from the alt? or is this just a wast and i should actually be looking into the higher amp alt and redoing the brackets and electrical?
Posted By: oonikfraleyoo
Date Posted: March 14, 2005 at 1:31 PM
Get the bigger alt. you should probly get 150 amps ------------- Nik
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Check it out.
Posted By: placid warrior
Date Posted: March 14, 2005 at 1:54 PM
allright, i'll inquire about it and see what it'll run me...any ideas what would have to be changed with the wiring? allright, they have 120 amp alternators, which operate at 2400 RPM, but they also have 200 amp alternaters for 500.00 (or 700.00 if u want chrome, lol) its made by Power Master. I'm thinking of going with this alternator (i can get it for cheaper when i buy it with an account) so I'll be saving up for it. i'm still wondering what i would change with the wiring though. I will be mounting the alt on the other side of my engine as there is more room there so i would at least have to extend the wires, is there anything that would need additional rewiring? thanks for all your help so far.
Posted By: placid warrior
Date Posted: March 14, 2005 at 2:44 PM
https://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=PWM%2D8%2D57140&N=4294925143+4294908331&autoview=sku i could order the 140 amp powermaster alt from summit and it would be about 260 bucks cdn with it shipped. should i just go with the 140 amp then? anyone know of a good place for 150+ amp alternators for about or under 200 bucks that will ship to canada (or is in canada)?
Posted By: c3d
Date Posted: March 15, 2005 at 7:21 PM
well, about a week ago, i asked my local alternator to rebuild my alternator for my new 300zx so i dont run into this problem that you are having, that i had with my celica. He is building me a 200-240amp alternator for 400$cdn. The thing you have to remember is that when they say they can build you a 140amp alternator, you have to remember that that is at max rpm, which will burn it out if it is constantly being maxed out, which is what happened to your old alternator, so if you need 120-140 amp alternator to run ur car, with the sound system, remember that at idle, it will probably only put out 90-100 amps tops. so you wanna go overboard to make sure you dont run into this problem. I only need 140 amps for my car, incase i wanna upgrade even more, so im getting more than i need. as well as replacing the battery with a deep cycle battery, which is better for sound systems. So there is a lot to consider to make sure you are getting what you need, so that you dont run into future problems. i know you think that its ez to build a nice sounding sound system, because it is, but there is more to it than just that.
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1987 Nissan 300ZX N/A
1994 Audi 90 Quattro CS
Posted By: placid warrior
Date Posted: March 16, 2005 at 12:56 PM
thanks for the info, helps out alot. I guess i'll be looking around for a 200 amp alt then. I just read today on a ford forum that some of the ford vans, particularily the ones that have the motorized wheel chair lifts will have up to a 200 amp alternator, so i think i'll make some phone calls to verify that, and maybe i can get a used one. Your absolutely right that i think its ez to build a nice sounding system, but i do admit that i know almost nothing (almost cause i learned a bit already from this forum) and cant attempt a proper sub and amp setup without help...so this forum is a godsend, and i appreciate everyone sharing their knowledge, and hopefully i will be able to share the same in the future. Thanks again guys.
Posted By: c3d
Date Posted: March 16, 2005 at 4:44 PM
no problem, i learned the same way you did, now im going to Mobile Dynamics in fall. I have learned alot, mostly through my own problems, but also through other peoples. Check out this website ( https://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/learningcenter/S-G1ac6zgAY0B/car/ ) for LOTS of info and common problems on all sound system components. I read through all of it, and applied it to my own sound system, and I got so much more performance out of it. But for advice, if your having problems with your sound system in the future, check and test all grounds for resistance, if you get too much resistance, about 1ohm i think it is, then find a better ground. ------------- 1987 Nissan 300ZX N/A
1994 Audi 90 Quattro CS
Posted By: placid warrior
Date Posted: March 16, 2005 at 8:04 PM
allright i'll check the resistance. thanks again for your help. looks like a great site so far...gonna have to go through it more later tonight.
Posted By: c3d
Date Posted: March 16, 2005 at 8:11 PM
yeah, took me a few hours to read it all, there is alot of information in there
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1987 Nissan 300ZX N/A
1994 Audi 90 Quattro CS
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