aftermarket alternator?

[nathanVY]

So. the alternator in my VR blew up yesterday... smoke and all. Changed over to a reco one I got from the wreckers, and it's working good now.

But a mate was saying it could have gone because I'm running an amp and a sub and I should get a more powerful alternator.

If i keep running my new alternator will it just blow up? what alternator should I get if i do need a better one?

[Brett_jjj]

You can get higher amperage alternators,depending on how much you want to spend on one.The standard one is around 100 amps.Im not sure exactly how much higher amperage than the standard one you can get,but last I heard,they were heaps expensive.

[nathanVY]

was afraid of that. but will the reco one just go early cos it's being pushed harder? the one that blew was most likely the original so pretty old.

[Philthy]

What amp are you running? I'm almost willing to bet my car its not going to be powerful enough to cause any issues

[nathanVY]

What amp are you running? I'm almost willing to bet my car its not going to be powerful enough to cause any issues

IX404 with a 15"" sub (i think lol)

[Brett_jjj]

Some big stereo systems and some driving lights can load up the alternator enough to make it work harder that it has to.Thats when you want a higher amperage alternator.The alternators these days have a huge load on them anyway.Years ago,you could drive around all day with no alternator before the battery went flat.These days you would be lucky to get 15 minutes out of a fully charged battery,so they do a lot of work.

[nathanVY]

i have white headlights too. but i don't think theyre anything extreme.

[Brett_jjj]

Yours was probably just old.With most cars,the standard alternator will do just fine.

[nathanVY]

cool =] thanks for the advice.

[The1]

i doubt you'd have any power issues with stock

[Vee-ard]

standard alternators are 85amps, but you can get police spec 120 amp ones.

[nathanVY]

where from?

[Philthy]

With that amp there's no way in hell its straining your electrical system unless you have a million hektik neons hooked up as well.
Sounds to me like it was just old

[VrWagz1]

Highly doubt your amp is an issue. Jst sounds like you had a winding break down. It happens somtimes, jst unlucky for you i would say. If it continues to happen into the future then you may need to asses whats happenin but i would be suprised ifit happened again.

[wraith]

Don't forgot everything will get the extra juice as well so you have to make sure they can handle it.

[nathanVY]

Don't forgot everything will get the extra juice as well so you have to make sure they can handle it.

what do you mean?


just a thought, is it worth getting my old alternator re-coed and selling it? i think it wasn't too happy about the 44 degree heat we had the other day.

[wraith]

I mean if you went for some uber high amperage alternator could everything handle it. I think I have a 120 amp alternator in mine and assuming amp is properly grounded and installed with the right guage wire you won't have issues with straining the alternator unless you have something crazy like 5 amps, neons etc.

[wraith]

Oh as a side note. Without alternator VR's last 60 k max with lights on and fully charged new battery. Found that out the hard way.

[nathanVY]

Oh as a side note. Without alternator VR's last 60 k max with lights on and fully charged new battery. Found that out the hard way.

ha thanks, good to know. mine blew up pretty bad, the car wouldn't drive til I replaced it.

[Asmodai78]

i had to get a new one on a drive to syd from melb, we got to gundagai and the battery light came on, drove till the start of the M7 and every thing just died, i had the UHF running and being used, the radio going and a portable fridge.