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Can you adjust the target voltage for the VE stock alternator?

Mike Axiak

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I've just invested a bunch of money into lithium battery cells for a couple of my extreme car audio projects. The VE SSV S1 stock alternator being a smart alternator can adjust it's charging voltage depending on what's required and the type of battery connected. I'm wondering if there is a way to manually adjust the desired charging voltage to adapt to my lithiums as I'm aiming for approx 15V charge (yes this is completeley safe).

If anyone has any idea of where to look or has any auto spark hookups any help is appreciated!
 

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Mike Axiak

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How many did you buy?
LTO (Lithium Titanate)
I bought 48 cells to be setup into 8 banks of batteries, going to be used in several vehicles.
Just trying to make the stock VE alternator work for my current project while I save for a high output alternator. :)
 
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lmoengnr

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The charging parameters are controlled by the BCM, not sure if the BCM is 'hackable'.
 

Mike Axiak

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The charging parameters are controlled by the BCM, not sure if the BCM is 'hackable'.
If this is the case, surely someone with the correct tools could adjust the voltage in the parameters?
 

losh1971

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The charging parameters are controlled by the BCM, not sure if the BCM is 'hackable'.

Is there a battery temp sensor on the VE? If yes they can be tricked into thinking the temp is lower than what it really is. However the above is probably not applicable if the battery is in the boot as it would not really need a temp sensor if the latter is the case.
I do wonder though if the same or similar method could be applied to trick the BCM into thinking the battery volts are lower than what they are, thus increasing the voltage. Not saying I'd recommend it on a VE but we used to trick cars with battery temp sensors into having a cooler reading by soldering a small resistor into the battery temp sensor harness.

Another thing is the VE battery not Calcium? If that is the case I was of the understanding they run higher volts into them anyway as they need higher volts to actually charge properly.
 
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Mike Axiak

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Is there a battery temp sensor on the VE? If yes they can be tricked into thinking the temp is lower than what it really is. However the above is probably not applicable if the battery is in the boot as it would not really need a temp sensor if the latter is the case.
I do wonder though if the same or similar method could be applied to trick the BCM into thinking the battery volts are lower than what they are, thus increasing the voltage. Not saying I'd recommend it on a VE but we used to trick cars with battery temp sensors into having a cooler reading by soldering a small resistor into the battery temp sensor harness.

Another thing is the VE battery not Calcium? If that is the case I was of the understanding they run higher volts into them anyway as they need higher volts to actually charge properly.
I don't believe there is a temp sensor on the battery, being in the boot as you said.
Building on this however, I'm thinking there may be another way to fool the alternator into the current voltage/charge level of the battery because that is a value I can read in engineering mode. Interesting point!

Yes the stock batteries are calcium but I bought this car with a lead acid and the charging voltage has been adjusted (I'm not sure if it's from a shop or done through the BCM detecting the battery type) but the charging voltages are normal for a standard lead acid, 14.1-14.3 when charging.
 

07GTS

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they are a picky system to work with and ive made a few changes to mine but havnt had the ability to properly see if it has made any changes, also to note is if headlights are on then it will keep it at 14v so u dont kill the globes, otherwise they can charge at 15v no worries thats normal, there are so many parameters to contribute to the charging system im not sure if u can just get it to keep a 15v charge, only changes i can do are to engine side but there is also a BCM side also which i cant change, only sensor they have is on negative lead to ground it measures load/discharge but i dont think its a resistance to change its more pwm i think, biggest issue u will see is it wont have much loss from all the batterys so the system may think its really more of the time and not charge much until it sees some loss first
 

Mike Axiak

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they are a picky system to work with and ive made a few changes to mine but havnt had the ability to properly see if it has made any changes, also to note is if headlights are on then it will keep it at 14v so u dont kill the globes, otherwise they can charge at 15v no worries thats normal, there are so many parameters to contribute to the charging system im not sure if u can just get it to keep a 15v charge, only changes i can do are to engine side but there is also a BCM side also which i cant change, only sensor they have is on negative lead to ground it measures load/discharge but i dont think its a resistance to change its more pwm i think, biggest issue u will see is it wont have much loss from all the batterys so the system may think its really more of the time and not charge much until it sees some loss first
+1 to the idea of the ground sensor being for PWM, I've fiddled with that before. Yeah these smart alts are great in terms of knowing when to push power out, are you aware if the car changes the charge voltage for different batteries by itself or does someone have to set the target voltage?
 

07GTS

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as far as i know there isnt a target voltage as it all looks to be based on what engine/interior accessories are being used and what load is being used by them and its all configured from there, there is a detailed post on the hptuners forum it will give u an idea of whats adjustable but remember this is all ecu not bcm so changing the ecu settings may not be liked by the bcm so it may not actually work, good read tho https://forum.hptuners.com/showthread.php?72620-Alternator-parmeters-under-system-tab
 
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