alternator what size?

[sandi]

I have been asking around about the factory alternator. I want to know what size it is. I have a 96 exp sport. Its a V6. I dont know if that helps. The reason i want to know is i have 2 amps driving 3 subs and 4 other door speakers. I wanted to upgrade my sub amp to an amp that will let me drive about 700 watts continuous power to the subs and a car stereo salesman said that i couldnt handle a bigger amp. I have a 325 watt amp now plus a 150 watt on other speakers. Oh my explorer is all electric. He said i would have to buy capacitors for the amps and a whole bunch of other junk. Big Bucks. I was just wandering if he might have been trying to make a big sale or was he telling the truth about my factory alternator. Any help would be appreciated. I would have put this in the audio section but i figured you guys knew the engine compartment better. Thanks

 

[Maniak]

We have a 1992 with a 4.0l OHV.. Stock alternator size for this year/motor is a 95 Amp alternator.. I finally had to replace our stock one last Sunday.. but I don't mind.. it lasted 202k miles..

We have 750 Watts RMS worth of amps in our Explorer and the only time I noticed any type of voltage fade was with the A/C on high stopped at a light with the turn signal on.. The may have partly been caused by the alternator going out. I haven't noticed any dips this week (but I haven't been looking for them either)..

Keep in mind that 95 amp is what the alternator is rated at.. not what it is going to put out at idle.. I don't think you will get anywhere near the 95 amps until you are around 2500 rpms..

 

[sandi]

Thanks Maniak!!!!
I appreciate your reply. It helps alot. I feel real sure that i wont be overloading my alternator with what i have now. I failed to mention that i havent noticed any problems with overloading now. I will eventually go to a bigger amps and i will need to change to a bigger alternator. But for now i will leave it alone. Again, Thanks.

 

[Goober]

Sandi, you might want to post this question to the 'Explorer audio' thread so folks on that board can see it and maybe give you some pointers. I think the capacitors there were talking about has something to do with the power drain during the bass hitting. Todays altenators have built in regulators which increase power output to recharge the battery should it start going low. The caps will help keep the charge flow to a steady stream, without them it will be like a stop and go kinda thing. I believe the guy was telling you some semi-truths, but also trying to get you to buy more stuff. If your unsure of an opinion, always ask plenty of questions and ask around. Good luck.