FRESH START: Alternator Wiring Upgrade Configuration

[BoxerFanatic]

Please tell me this is coming soon, and as a pre-picked kit that I can get shipped to me.

The chaffed and brittle wiring for my alternator is begging for replacement, and my battery falls below the charge level it needs to start the car on a roughly weekly basis, before I need to charge the battery up again.

If the alternator, or the voltage regulator are the problem, I would like to upgrade to the high output alternator... so if I am going to get the wiring upgraded, I want to do it right, and do it once.

[svxcess]

My configuration is a little more involved and involves an alteration of the original circuit.

I found that this works well and gets rid of those original two alternator wires altogether. I am not recommending that this should be done, although it is working extremely well without any problems


I am using Littelfuse Mega Fuses for alternator/ battery protection (somewhere between 125A-175A). The fuse holder will be attached to a removable aluminum bracket at the front of the main fuse box by the battery. It hangs from the main battery box and is held on by the fuse box cover. After much research on various fuse types and circuit breakers, the Mega-Fuse seemed to be the most reliable.

Once I get it installed, I will add more photos. I did some test fitting already and everything fits very well.

.

[svxcess]

A little more information on this product: See the attachment for the Mega Fuse Characteristics and the fuse chart as well.


.

[svxcess]

.
My alternator wiring modification has given me no problems at all without a fuse in the circuit. The 4 gauge power wire is securely fastened and protected by its location from any sort of normal mishap.

However, in case of a severe front end collision, there is the possibility that the integrity of that wire may be comprimised. If the power wire became cut or broken, the battery could instantly send between 800-1000A through that wire directly to frame or engine ground, which is bad.

I finally added a 175A Mega-Fuse into the charging wire circuit, close to the battery. If something does short, the fuse will immediately blow, interrupting the battery current and protecting its components. I will start with a 175A fuse and use it for a month. If all goes well, I will drop down to 150A, 125A and maybe as low as 100A.

The connections were power-crimped, soldered and insulated with adhesive shrnk-wrap

In case of an accident which caused a fire, the insurance company could not deny the claim as every due safety precaution was researched and taken.

I know this addition makes Trevor very happy. I feel more relieved to know that my electrical system is safer than it was yesterday.
.

[Trevor]

.
Excellent set up to cover a high-output alternator and very nicely done.

I am sure you will be able to reduce the fuse rating in order to gain absolute maximum protection. Please report back when your worthwhile experiments in this regard are completed. You have put in a lot of valuable effort into finding the best possible available components.

N.B. Make sure everything goes in the How-to section and replaces the very dodgy so called, "alternator upgrade" stuff.

[svxcess]

.

I thik so as well. According to the time/current characteristics of this fuse, I could go down to 100A easily. If the alternator were to put out its maximum current of 160A, the fuse would handle that "spike" for 10000 seconds before blowing. Going up to 125A would let it handle that same current output for more than 1000 seconds (16 minutes plus) This is the black line at the left

The black line towards the right of the chart show the 1000A range of current the battery is capable of. If the wire were to short to ground, the 100A would blow the quickest (at 6/100 of a second) while the 125A would blow at 1/10 second. The 175A would blow the slowest at 1/3 of a second

According to this chart, I think a 125A would be the most desirable.

The high-output alternator is capable of producing continuous power, without ill effects, at 80% of its 160A rating. That is 128A (more than enough for our electrical demands)

.

[svxcess]

Originally Posted by Trevor

N.B. Make sure everything goes in the how too section and replaces the very dodgy so called, "alternator upgrade" Stuff.

I have the complete documentation and procedure, including many photos and links to materials in a Word Document. Too large to upload to the network.

Maniac Electric Motors (makers of the SVX high-output alternator) have added my previous version, without the fuse, to their website as a model of how to do additional heavy gauge wiring and fusing. They have my latest one and are converting it to a .pdf file for easier loading. Once they put it on their website, I can download it and post post a direct link to it as well. I will send a copy to Earl to put in the How-To documents.

For those who don't want to do the new configuration (single power wire) mod that I did, the document will still address the fuse issue of the original "upgrade", as well as links for better cable and connectors.

The only thing not in there is the replacing of the 2 white wires that run inside the black plastic channel. Just a matter of cutting them back and adding new lengths and connectors to replace the aging, brittle ones. This still keeps the original electrical design and adds the heavier additional wires that a H/O alternator requires.

.

[svxcess]

'

The NEW alternator wiring configuration V.4 is now online at Maniac Electric Motors. It is a.pdf file which you can open and then save a copy on your computer for future reference.

http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/yhst-...adeWireSVX.pdf


I will make sure that Earl knows to put this into the How-To Documents as a newer version.

.