Higher output alternator

[Randy]

What to do to give your car's electrical system a power-up. ... Your headlights dim when the stereo pulls too much power out of your car's electrical system. ... Every part of the electrical system suffers because of the amp's sudden demand on the limited supply of power, even the ...brake lights and turn signal cause your power to drop and your headlights to do the dance to the left turn signal.

What to do get a High output alternator or a second battery that will add extra weight, plus the storage and extra wires to run.

So what is the solution?

Have you done an alternator upgrade?

What has worked for you, are led lamps an option to help reduce the power load.

we need you feed back about this little talked about issue.
Stock is 35 amps, unless you have air conditioning. Then it's 45 amps.

Thanks in advance.


From the archives below

Higher output alternator

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Tom Burick on Friday, September 03, 1999 - 04:56 pm:

I have a 75 Civic 1200 and am installing a new audio system in it. the alternator output is only 35 amps. I don't think this is enough power, because my 86 CRX Si had a 35 amp alternator and it barely had enough power to supply the car. I damaged the alternator in that car twice running two small amps. What are my options for increasing alternator output? Can it be modified? Will another more powerful Honda alternator just drop right in? I am looking for an easy way to have increased alternator output without having to go through a lot of trouble or modification.

Charles Roberts on Saturday, October 02, 1999 - 09:36 pm:

Hey Tom,
I don't know if you want to go this route but, I did some minor case mods to an AC/DELCO small case one wire alternator and have 50 or 60amps. The installation was basically just grinding the alt case so the pulley (from the civic) would line up. with a little grinding to the top civic bracket to clear the fan (also from the civic)the whole project took me about an afternoon. I originally did this for the same reason you want to (try an 1100 watt HiFonics Zeus and Odin setup if you really want to kill electronics) and, for the short time I still had the system in the car it worked well. If you don't have them a second battery is a must and a 'stiffening capacitor' is a big help. Even if your talking only 100's of watts the extra battery will help (BE SURE YOU VENT IT OUTSIDE THE PASSENGER COMPARTMENT!). think about it like this; the battery is like a small pond, your volume is like a dam floodgate and the alternator is the (very) small stream that fills the pond. If you crank the volume (open the floodgates) you will drain the pond(battery) faster than the stream (alt) can fill it. and if you drain the battery constantly the alternator has to work constantly and they really were not meant to do that. keep in mind that a lead acid battery charges better if it is warm (try keeping a second battery under the hood) and deep cycle batteries were designed to get almost fully discharged before they get charged, they are not the best choice for a stereo battery even though it seems that way. I hope that any of this is helping you

Charles R.

Ryan Purkey on Tuesday, November 30, 1999 - 02:22 pm:

I know a small alternator shop in Springfield, OR that makes custom alternators. They've been sent work on all sorts: sound systems, antique cars, and even electromotive. I was looking through my notes, but I couldn't find where I had written what they do exactly. Charles suggestion sounds pretty close though, except I remember them quoting higher amp output, in the 100's. I was going to do this mod myself until my stereo got stolen. Doh!

Ryan Purkey on Friday, December 10, 1999 - 03:42 am:

Ok,
I found my notes on the alternators that PM Alternator can produce for the 1st generation Civic. They build two. The lower model starts at $175 and puts out 120amps, while the higher energy model is $275 and puts out 160 amps. I have a model number (CS130) and I think it was AC Delco. You could call AC Delco to see if that's an alternator that they produce or you can email and I'll get the specifics for everyone on what exactly PM does.

cvcc matt ( - 12.23.46.159) on Sunday, May 14, 2000 - 03:24 am:

I don't know the manufacturer but I got a 55 amp alternator for my 78 1.5 cvcc from a local parts store that bolted right up no mods needed at all. works just great. Good luck
Matt

Mad Mel (161.184.40.206) on Monday, February 19, 2001 - 12:24 am:

Hey Guys
Well pro car audio is my specialty and boy I know about alternators (seen a lot of smokers!). We have had custom 200Amp (hot rated) for spl systems. Had a 180Amp (cold rated) one built in a small Chrysler case put into a 91 Accord (2nd loudest car in eastern Canada 1999)with 12 12" in the back seat! (have pics if anyone would like to see the beast). That alternator was still a tight fit. That 120A one for $175.00 sounds a bit low on price (if it's new) for that power rating. It must be a cold rating. Many manufacturers rate them cold but when the rectifier gets heated to 200+ degrees under the hood the output drops significantly (especially with the 600 to 800 Amp transients of large sound systems). The best alternators for large power production have external rectification and regulation. This keeps the electronics mounted in a cool place away from the engine so they operate more efficiently.

Another thing that can help out a whim-ply alternator (more than a cap even!!) is "proper" power and ground connections, clean "UNGREASED" connections on the battery. Grease can be applied to the post after to keep out acid/water. If you use to small gauged wire it causes voltage drop reciprocal current spikes and that loads the alternator quite a bit. I never use anything smaller than 4 gage if I don't have to! This can be noticed by pulsing dash lighting when you are slamming on the system.

My next project will have an IASCA system in a 78 1200 with an 85 Prelude engine, so I can keep you posed what I will do. Delco alternators are usually cheapest and easiest to work with. Internal or external reg.

Charles R. (64.170.157.248) on Monday, February 19, 2001 - 10:41 pm:

What class?

Mad Mel (161.184.40.107) on Monday, February 19, 2001 - 11:02 pm:

Well it's up in the air right now for class. I will start the custom interior then decide what will work best as I go. I have 2 300ish watt PPI amps and a 900ish watt HCCA Orion. This stuff might put me into to high a power class to be competitive. Been an installer for almost 15 years so it's a real H57 of equipment I have collected. The amp racks will be designed so I can upgrade to what ever amps my new shop will carry, probably Pheonix Gold or U.S. Amps. But have to start somewhere. Might even just sell the car and system when I am done demoing it for this season and build another for the spring!!! Know anyone selling an RTA with both IASCA and SPL Mikes?

Mad Mel (161.184.41.242) on Sunday, February 25, 2001 - 11:16 am:

I found a couple high output alternator builders for you guys
USA
Dave's D.C. Electric (909)509 5617 davesdc
Ohio Generator (330)454 2753 no e-mail

I cannot find any in Canada, sorry guys. I usually go to a company that specializes in rebuilding alternators and explain what I want. They can then measure everything and order in the case half's that will work and the guts that will perform. This can get you the results you want without paying 100+ bucks more for a name and a chrome plated case...unless chrome is more important ; ) This is where external rectification and regulation can be inquired about. That is complicated stuff, one wire Delco units do the job 90% of the time.

Feb 2001 issue of "Car Sound" has an excellent article on alternators. It covers the issue of stiffening caps not being the answer to not enough power...carsound.com might have something as well

[LALAMAHINA]

I'm using a 82-83 60 amp Accord alternater, that 25 amps more than stock.

You just have to make sure you get the rotation correct. Upper mounted alternaters are clock-wise while side mounts are counter-clock.

I found low idle as the most common problem for flickering lights.

[Randy]

You just have to make sure you get the rotation correct. Upper mounted alternaters are clock-wise while side mounts are counter-clock.

LALAMAHINA,

Thanks what do you mean by upper mounted alternators?

Are you referring to the mounting bracket like below.

Accord Alternator 60A



Civic Alternator 45A

[LALAMAHINA]

Upper mount.


Side mount.


I guess this would only refer to the cast iron blocks that use the upper alternater/AC compressor bracket.

What I did was take the alternater harness from the donor car (83 Accord) and just spliced it into my wagon harness.

[Randy]

LALAMAHINA

So those pictures are on a Civic CVCC?
To be honest I never really thought about it.

The alternator on the 1200 Civic is on the back side under the distributor.


Humm
I suppose it would work if the pulleys are the same and I cut that back bracket off the casting.

[LALAMAHINA]

It doesn't matter what way the alternator is spun for charging.

Are you sure? RockAuto has listing for both clock & counter clock alternator. (Don't get Whoooosh! )

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php ... 87&jsn=472

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php ... 74&jsn=474

That would make things a lot easier if all I need to do is change the fan blade direction.

Randy, it looks like you could use the cast iron block alternators with a curves bracket. I would just sleeve the bolt used to mount the alternator. Then you'd just have to see if it aligns with your crank. I found that there are different thicknesses in the spacers under the fan blades that can be matched with the pulley to align.

[EvoCivic]

An alternator produces an AC voltage so makes no difference which way you spin it. The AC current is fed through a voltage rectifier to produce a DC output that then goes through a voltage regulator to get the voltage you want. As Don said, the only difference is going to be the fan, whether it sucks or blows.

[sobe_death]

I'm using a 96 Civic alternator that I wired in without worrying about the ELD controller that the later cars use. There is a voltage sensing wire, a charge light wire, and the battery lead that are retained. It works just fine and I have consistent 14.2V+. For the pulley, I cut the center out of the 96+ alternator pulley and welded it in to the '79 1200 pulley, then adjusted the position of the sheaves using spacers and shims on the alternator body.

[BillyEno]

On the Lemons Racer, we replaced the stock alternator with a big GM alternator to make sure we had enough power for the headlights during a true 24 hour race. That failed twice, shearing the bolt to the block in one race, and the bracket (less catastrophically) in another.

For the latest race we switched to a "Mini Alternator"

s-l500.jpg (34.76 KiB) Viewed 1223 times

They call them hot rod or mini alternators, this is a 40A example. I think they are actually tractor alternators, or very similar.

I then put on a replacement pulley that is similar in diameter to the stock 1200 pulley

http://store.alternatorparts.com/qs2011 ... ulley.aspx

Pulley.png (41.96 KiB) Viewed 1223 times

It used the stock bracket, with spacers as appropriate to line up the belt and bracket. I believe it is using a slightly different length belt than stock.

We had no problems with charging during the 13+ hours of racing, and everything survived.

IMG_2360.jpg (135.75 KiB) Viewed 1223 times

IMG_2361.jpg (188.09 KiB) Viewed 1223 times

The extra bracket between the top bracket bolt and the bolt that goes to the block is to better support and reinforce the bottom attachment where we had problems with the heavier alternator. It is probably not necessary in most applications.

Billy

[sobe_death]

That's nice! I tried using one of those and it promptly destroyed the brushes inside. Guess it didn't like being spun backwards...