question on adding another alt

[needmobass 0]

hello all, i have some questions regarding alt power.

I currently have a 270a mechman, now my first question is do they have to be the same amprage, or can the other one be bigger or smaller?

Second is do they have to be the same brand? Like can i use my stock 136a alt or a dc alt with mine or singer alt ?

Would all that extra power mess with trucks electrical (05 dodge ram 4.7 ltr v8). If so, how would i be able to add another alt

Have some voltage drop from 14.1 (when first starting truck) down to 12.1 at full tilt, running 2 crescendo bc3500s to 2 btls dual 2 ohms wired to 2 ohms and 1100.4, 3 runs of cca 0 ga positive and 3 negative to 5 interstate workoholic batteries. I dont know what to do so here i am asking for some help.

Any and all advise and comments are truly appreciated Thanks.

[Sencheezy 689]

hello all, i have some questions regarding alt power.

I currently have a 270a mechman, now my first question

is do they have to be the same amprage, or can the other one be bigger or smaller? No, they do not have to be the same

Second is do they have to be the same brand? Like can i use my stock 136a alt or a dc alt with mine or singer alt ? Yes, you can use stock in conjuction with H/O.

Would all that extra power mess with trucks electrical (05 dodge ram 4.7 ltr v8). If so, how would i be able to add another alt. No, once you are using your system though, you may loose MPG, remember, it takes power to make power, keep that in mind when adding more electrical.

Have some voltage drop from 14.1 (when first starting truck) down to 12.1 at full tilt, running 2 crescendo bc3500s to 2 btls dual 2 ohms wired to 2 ohms and 1100.4, 3 runs of cca 0 ga positive and 3 negative to 5 interstate workoholic batteries. I dont know what to do so here i am asking for some help.

Are you running off of the single Mechman? How much amperage is it rated at? And I'm not a huge fan of Mechman, just my opinion, maybe add your factory alt and/or upgrade to a more powerful H/o alt. What is the voltage of your batteries at rest? Also, at what voltage is your alt charging at?

Any and all advise and comments are truly appreciated Thanks.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Sencheezy

[needmobass 0]

The alt is like 150 at idle and 300 at peak, and the batteries rest at 12.7, i know they are not the best batts, but i would rather do another alt now and wait to save up for some xs batts later

[Sencheezy 689]

Could post a few pictures for us to see how you are connecting them, or try to explain exactly how your system is wired.

For example, pos from alt to pos batt, ground from alt, to ground of batt, etc...

[needmobass 0]

1 pos from alt to pos in rear 2 pos from front batt to pos rear and of course from alt to front batt

all grounds from rear to front batt

Edited May 18, 2012 by needmobass

[needmobass 0]

dont know how to post pics

[Sencheezy 689]

no worries man. Do you have an Android? If so, you can download the photobucket app. Stupid easy from there. Just upload pics via photobucket app, log into photobucket online, then coppy the "direct" link, or the 2nd option from the the top once you hover over said photo. Ok, once you have copied the direct link, come back here, and click the icon that looks like a classic photo(image), and simply paste. If you don't have photobucket, I highly recommend it, just for simplicity reasons plus, you may begin to use often.

1. download photobucket app
   
2. copy direct link on photobucket.com
   
3. paste into said thread by clicking "image" icon
   
4. repeat as desired
   

[needmobass 0]

no android just sony cyber shot will that do it

[jonbearsmt 919]

there seems to be another issue here....

i will tell you for a fact.. if you have bad or weak batteries... 1 you will kill a alternator... and 2 you will not get good performance from any alternator

invest in some batteries first. an alternator is a charger in a way.. it is NOT a replacement for reserve

[Sencheezy 689]

Connect Sony via usb to computer. Than on photobucket account, upload from the sony. You don't even have to transfer the files to the computer. Your camera will become a usable drive, since its using a sd card of some sort, you will just point the photobucket to the sony.

[needmobass 0]

Bigjon, so i should do batteries first, then get alt ?

what batteries would you recomend for the bc 3500s (budget of maybe $500 or so ) i know xs are the best but cant afford 2 d3100 right now.

I see in your sig you run deka batts , where would i find them.

sencheezy, ill give photobucket a try tommorow

[shizzzon 461]

u need a battery charger. 12.7v isnt bad but they can be slightly topped off to 12.9-13.1v

Once all batts are fully charged separately, then put em back on an alt.

an alt is a maintainer, not a charger.

If you got discharged batts, an alt will supply massive current compared to a charger.

What happens is this-

Open a can of coke and pour it in a glass.

the fizz will reach the top... wait.. then when it settles down, the glass is only 70% full..

that's how an alt would maintain batteries that are discharged. It cant fully charge a batt when discharged, but a charger can.

Once the batts are charged, the alternator can maintain maximum charge capacity.

Even people who have a lot of alts n batteries still need to manually charge their batts every once in a while to keep the batts in top notch performance.