Anyone Running Dual-Alternators?

[BrianDye]

On my 92, I going 45, RPMs around 1500, having my headunit basically as loud as my speakers could take it, which is less than my subs, but with my 2 15" L7s and a 3600 peak, 1600 RMS amp, I could get the battery gauge down to like 9-10 volts, now with my 95, same setup, but aftermarket rear speakers, I cant get it down less than 13.5 lol stock alt, Duralast Gold battery, and a Kinetik battery in the back too

 

[Equnoxe]

(IZwack) yea its worst without it running i was thinking of getting 2 more optima but for 150 a piece and i don't have a lot of room anymore.

i company contacted me and said they didn't have/make or know of anyone that did ( ) so over the next few days im going to be fabbing up an adapter plate, and illl let you guys know the results.

 

[mpinto19k]

Your first mistake is using caps, caps are pointless and don't help at all!
I have 2 15" Revolution Design Sonance on a RD 1750.1 powered at 1 ohm plus a RD 85.4 running my comps I have no problems and all I have is yellow top up front.

Also DB Electrical and Mechman make great alts. There should be no reason for you to need dual alts. One 250 amp should do you more than fine.

 

[BrianDye]

I disagree about the caps, BRAND makes a big difference, and people think a .5 Farad cap is going to help when they have like 8 subs, it doesnt do jack.

As far as Equinox saying the batteries drain to fast, when the trucks off....
Um what do you expect lol, amps take the batteries juice like a spaceship takes gas.
Unless you have 10+ batteries, your gonna have problems without the truck running.

As for the 300amp alt's being too expensive, think of how much your gonna spend trying to fab something up, getting another alternator, different belt, etc etc.

You could buy the 300/350, and sell your old alt. on here for a decent ammount, and think of what you saved from fabbing, and boom theres half the alt paid for right there.

 

[mpinto19k]

I disagree about the caps, BRAND makes a big difference, and people think a .5 Farad cap is going to help when they have like 8 subs, it doesnt do jack.

As far as Equinox saying the batteries drain to fast, when the trucks off....
Um what do you expect lol, amps take the batteries juice like a spaceship takes gas.
Unless you have 10+ batteries, your gonna have problems without the truck running.

Caps can be a huge hinder on systems because of the discharge rate, basically they have no reserve and makes your alt work harder to try and recharge them, so at full tilt a cap is worthless. With 3 batteries (believe is what you said) you should have no issues at all. Something is wrong with the way it is set up.

 

[BrianDye]

basically they have no reserve and makes your alt work harder to try and recharge them

I stand corrected LOL. Didnt even think about that...

 

[Equnoxe]

ok just to clarify for everyone

i LOVE music and listen to my system at full for entire songs back to back. (or try)
the problem is there when its running (at driving speed of like 2-2.5K rpm)
and obviously worst when its not running (suprise?)
(i said its worst without it running )

the system is set up right
I needed the caps because when the voltage drops when the bass hits, you could hear mad distortion on the door speakers. i guess the mtx doesn't like that.
with the caps it all sounds perfect and clean. and the voltage stays level and doesn't "spike" up and down between hits. (gradually sinks)
oh and the caps are a 1.5 for the doors and a 3 for the subs.

the problem is that the alt cant maintain 14.8 (which is what it usually runs at according to the two digital gauges on the caps), its only staying at like 11 , (or low enough the amp goes into protect cuz its too low.
i need the system to be able to run full tilt for more then half a song.

another reason i want dual alt is to take out my ac, to make room for my hidden winch under the front bumper (which i will make a guide for eventually), and to give me the room on the left for the snorkel/turbo, and overall "cool" factor of having two alts lol.

my friend is a machinist (free fab lol) i already have the alt from my other ex, my belts cracked and could use replacement anyways lol.

i wasn't trying to be offensive in case anyone felt it, people tend to take me the wrong way.

-Andy

 

[BrianDye]

I think what alot of us thought is that you wanted another alt thinking it would help when the truck was off lol.

I dont think an amp should go into protect mode at 11 volts though.

mine stays at about 14.9v and on the hardest bass lines itl only go down to like 12.6v

 

[Equnoxe]

lol no,
it doesn't do it often, just when i have a song with SUPER low notes for a long time. usually it doesn't go into protect though.

 

[IZwack]

Maybe your current alternator is just on its way out. Cauz seriously, it should be able to keep up - the alternators used on the 7.3L turbo diesel isnt much different than whats on the Explorer and those things (130 amp) are driving 110v fuel injectors all the time when the engine is on.

 

[Equnoxe]

idk, when i turn the stereo off its goes up to 14.8 quite fast, and its not making any noises.

 

[jd4242]

the problem is that the alt cant maintain 14.8 (which is what it usually runs at according to the two digital gauges on the caps), its only staying at like 11 , (or low enough the amp goes into protect cuz its too low.
i need the system to be able to run full tilt for more then half a song.

another reason i want dual alt is to take out my ac, to make room for my hidden winch under the front bumper (which i will make a guide for eventually), and to give me the room on the left for the snorkel/turbo, and overall "cool" factor of having two alts lol.

my friend is a machinist (free fab lol) i already have the alt from my other ex, my belts cracked and could use replacement anyways lol.



each one of my amps take 4 yes 4-25 watt fuses and i have 3 amps,yea i know they dont draw all that but i know they draw a hell of alot and with my alt there is no way for it to keep up mine will drop down near 10 volts and having 3 batteries would do nothing because one alt would not be able to fully charge all them.i want two alts also so if you do get a bracket made let me know i would be interested it getting one tooo and it would be cool,check out my thread about the none ac box it gives you way more room
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=252644

 

[Equnoxe]

thats sick
my American bass takes 4-40's but i only have 1 of them (anyone know why 40 amp standard size fuses are so hard to find??)

I will for sure, and thx for showing me that, it will help when i go to do that project.

 

[jd4242]

thats sick
my American bass takes 4-40's but i only have 1 of them (anyone know why 40 amp standard size fuses are so hard to find??)

I will for sure, and thx for showing me that, it will help when i go to do that project.

WHAT 4-40 that's freakn crazy!! yea that box mod is great and took 15 min to do,just shoot me a pm if you figure out that bracket,really shouldn't be to hard

 

[DoraSport]

You need a high output alt. I'm currently running 4 jl w3v3's each set are bridged to 1 ohm, with two jl 1000.1 amps that run 1000 watts rms at .5 ohm to 4 ohm and they drew crazy amounts of power and dimmed my interior lights, i switched to a 200 amp alt and an optima battery, not even the slightest flicker at full volume and idle now. Hey equnoxe atleast with the hid's you never have to worry about power draw, they don't flex even when all the other lights do.

 

[jd4242]

You need a high output alt. I'm currently running 4 jl w3v3's each set are bridged to 1 ohm, with two jl 1000.1 amps that run 1000 watts rms at .5 ohm to 4 ohm and they drew crazy amounts of power and dimmed my interior lights, i switched to a 200 amp alt and an optima battery, not even the slightest flicker at full volume and idle now. Hey equnoxe atleast with the hid's you never have to worry about power draw, they don't flex even when all the other lights do.

I have two 1920watts and one 980 and one 300 and two efans under the hood with 2nd gen headlight bulb swap.I have a 210 amp alt and a huge battery not ment for my truck and when all that's running it will all most stall my truck out.but I rarely turn my music up but I'm wanting to do a light rack and put in a 110 converter also so I want more power

 

[Equnoxe]

, well i took the Alt and AC off tonight and i measured all the holes and clearance issues. its looking like its just goin to be a nice thick peace of plate with holes for the ac, bolt the plate to the ac holes, then on the back of that one, have holes with nuts welded to it for the alt to bolt up.

that's a crude explanation, of course there is going to be some very extensive measuring to make sure its straight amongst other things., and i will have to make some kind of risers to allow for the rounded shape of the alt.

anyways just thought id let you guys know. oh and ill also try and draw something up so you can also see and give any suggestions.

 

[Equnoxe]

don't have my plasma cutter anymore, so this is on hold until i can find a new one

 

[jd4242]

don't have my plasma cutter anymore, so this is on hold until i can find a new one

well the way im going to try and looks to be the easiest is too use a stock alt and put two 1/2 square bars on where the ac mounted,one on the top and one on the bottom.mount those to the power steering bracket with bolts then sit the alt on top of the bars and mark where it need to be mounted for the belts then drill and tap holes in the bars.i havent measure the distances of the holes on the alt to see if the bars or holes in the power steering are the same and i havent measured how high it needs to sit to clear the bracket,because on the roundness of the alt.but its just an idea and a ruff pic.the green holes are where the alt would mount to the bars and the red holes are where the bars would be mounted to the bracket.ruff pic and idea maybe get out there mon and take measurements to see if it would work,this is an old pic and is not my engine setup up now so yes that is a stock alt in the pic,i have an 210 alt now and new fans and engine

 

[Equnoxe]

that's pretty much what i was going to do, i have a lot of 1/4 plate so i was going to make two plates (one that lines up with the AC holes, and one that lines up with the Alt holes, then line them up, add more plate between them for the difference in shape/size then weld it together, also going to weld nuts on the back to bolt the alt to the plate, after the plate was bolted to the block.

if that makes sense

I like your idea better though, it looks to be a lot easier (especially now that I only have a chop saw lol)


nice engine bay BTW