I have a pretty demanding car audio setup (4600W+ RMS!), so I need a beefy alternator. I did have a 200A High Output Saturn alternator, but it appears to be dead. I currently have a stock alternator back in place to charge the main battery, but since I have no power steering or A/C, I want to install a second alternator in their place to handle charging just the other two Kinetic car audio batteries in the trunk. I already made a makeshift bracket to mount a second alternator which I will drive from the unused part of my UDP.

Before I just buy what I had before --> Saturn 91-97 SC/SL Series 1.9L 200A - $169.99 (http://www.motorcityreman.com/91scse1.html), I found this on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALTERNATOR-Ford-Truck-Car-1-WIRE-High-Output-200-AMP-/260583990705?hash=item3cac0425b1&item=260583990705&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr#ht_1504wt_700

This looks to be simpler to wire up and slightly less expensive. It will come with a 4-grove pulley so that part should be okay (same as the saturn alt). Anyone see any reason why it wouldn't work? I just like that it is a 1-wire setup... less to go wrong.

I could also get this SE Voltage Regulator for Mitsubishi Eclipse (http://www.motorcityreman.com/sevoreformie.html) that basically converts the saturn alternator into a 1-wire setup, but I'm a little confused about how that is supposed to work and it's another $27.

Thoughts?

The same place that has the 200A alternator on ebay also has a 250A alternator listed for the same price here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-Mustang-1-Wire-High-Output-Alternator-250Amp-65-96-/250902560217?hash=item3a6af53dd9&item=250902560217&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr#ht_1689wt_700

I just spoke to the seller on the phone.. some foreign guy who was a little hard to understand, but he said it should work fine as long as the pulley diameter was small enough to spin it fast enough at idle. It also needs to spin the alt clockwise to cool properly. I need to take another look at it to check this aspect of everything.

EDIT: I just looked at the car and with the alt in the A/C condenser location, I think it will be spinning clockwise. Just out of curiousity, does anyone know if the stock alternator cooling fins are meant to spin CW or CCW... and can someone confirm that I'm correct? Also the circumference of the UDP is 16 inches (approximately 4.5" diameter). Will that work well?

I also found this alternator on Amazon that is similar to the other 200A ford 1-wire alternator:

http://www.amazon.com/Output-Alternator-Mustang-Connection-1965-1999/dp/B006I9GKK6/ref=sr_1_3?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1339547131&sr=1-3&keywords=250+amp+alternator

I just can't make up my mind, but I want to order something soon. The biggest drawback to any of these alternators versus the more expensive ($300+ car audio alternators) is the lack of idle charging current. These are all around 100A vs. 160A+ of the more expensive ones. These aren't going to hit 200-250A until around 2000 rpms.

If I were you I would run the external voltage reg from the dodge omni. Same reg all of us MS users use. Its cheap and works great. That would control your second alternator

The Saturn and ford alternators have built-in voltage regulators and the 1-wire alternators don't require any other connections other than the charging wire. The only advantage to an external regulator is that they can be placed away from heat and if they are built well they can handle more amperage. Can the Dodge Omni's regulator diodes and internals handle 250 Amps? I kind of doubt it.

I decided to give the 250A 1-wire ford alternator from powermaxusa on ebay a try. Just ordered it. I'll post back to let everyone know how it works.

Did the saturn alternator, bolt straight up to the factory bracket?

Originally posted by freakingbori617
Did the saturn alternator, bolt straight up to the factory bracket?

Yeah, well sorta... You just need a little extension to bolt it to the tensioner like this:



You'll also need to get a pigtail to wire it up. More info and pics here if you're interested: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/maintenance-repairs/411848-how-420a-saturn-alternator-install.html

It will also bolt up to the A/C, or maybe power steering (forget which), bracket. That's how I plan on mounting the 2nd alternator (with a little modification to allow tensioning of course). I'll try to post pics when it's complete.

Here are some pictures for anyone that is interested:

Forgot to add... With just the stock alternator, regular battery under the hood and two kinetik hc800 batteries, my voltage would dip to 10.5-11.5 V during bass notes. Now with the dual alternator setup and the same batteries, I don't drop below 12.5-13.0 V at idle. If I rev the engine to around 2000 rpm, it never drops below 13.0 volts.

For reference, I'm running two Orion H2 15" Subwoofers (Rated at 2500W peak/ 2000W RMS each) off of two Power Acoustik A3000DB amplifiers (rated at 3000W peak / 2300W RMS each).