"James Calder" <jCalder3@cfl.rr.com> wrote:
: A higher output alternator will not help your charge at idle. They still
: need to spin up at the same rpm's as the smaller ones to start a full
: charge. I have a 160 amp alternator and it doesn't help my idle charge
: problem.
: James C
That's true, especially with older alternators. Newer ones have
better abilities at idle than the older units did though, and I
believe there are some things that can be done with the windings
and such when building (or re-building) an alternator to increase
the output at idle. An "inexpensive" alternator, even though it
might be rated higher, probably needs to be spun to a higher RPM to
see the same charge that a more expensive alterator would
generate lower in the RPM range.
Something that helped out with my truck was using a smaller pulley
on the alternator to speed it up at idle. Its a tiny little thing -
I'm not sure who made it, I got it from John Burgan a few years ago.
It did a good job of curing my charging woes at idle that were
caused by the underdrive pullies I installed.
--
-Jon-
.-- Jon Steiger ---- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com --.
| 1970 Barracuda - 1990 Dakota 'vert - 1992 Ram 4x4 - 1996 Dakota |
| 1996 Intruder 1400 - 1996 Kolb FireFly - 2001 Ram QC 3500 CTD |
`------------------------------------ http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
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