Re: Holiday Alternator Experiments….
My stock 130A alternator has served me well so far (343,000+ on the odo).
I kind of decided I don't need one, even though I make some pretty good use of 2000w inverter. We did learn we can't fully warm up our race car's motor using our electric coolant pre-heater (external with quick connects and its own pump) before the battery voltage would drop. But it turned out out we melted down an inverter internally anyways, so more alternator won't help me until the inverter is upgraded. And even then a 2nd aux battery would probably do the trick.
The only other time I wished it had more power is winching. Once I was moving jersey barriers at the track to make a course modification. Had to move each one about 30', all sitting on nice asphalt. About the 3rd one it the battery voltage would drop enough I would lose the ability to fast-idle, and at that point the winch solenoids also stopped engaging. I took about 10 minutes or recharge time to start winching again. Even with more alternator however, I think I'd just run into heat issues with the winch moving that much weight continuously. I've also since upgraded batteries so I strongly suspect my alternator will no longer limit me when winching.
The thing that really helped me decide not to upgrade is all of the high-amp alternators have a 1-year max warranty. If my 130A alt ever goes out, I can replace it with a Napa lifetime alternator for 1/3 the cost of a high-amp, and then I'll never have to worry about buying another.
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2000 E450 dually V10 wagon
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