Death of an Alternator

Ryan from Ohio · Post by **Ryan from Ohio** » Thu May 05, 2005 3:17 am

I called it on Sunday...

This morning on my way to work it happened... Thats when I officially declared her dead.

I did manage to drive all the way to work on battery power. Right about 1 mile before work my instrument cluster fell out. Thats when I knew I didnt have far to go.

I have the second battery on the charger now...

All this off two channels on a KAR 400.4 and a 900.1D running at 750 WRMS... Second battery also...

And people claim to be running 1500-3000 WRMS on a stock electrical system... NOT GOING TO HAPPEN- EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

spkrman · Post by **spkrman** » Thu May 05, 2005 4:51 am

Basstronics wrote:I called it on Sunday...

This morning on my way to work it happened... Thats when I officially declared her dead.

I did manage to drive all the way to work on battery power. Right about 1 mile before work my instrument cluster fell out. Thats when I knew I didnt have far to go.

I have the second battery on the charger now...

All this off two channels on a KAR 400.4 and a 900.1D running at 750 WRMS... Second battery also...

And people claim to be running 1500-3000 WRMS on a stock electrical system... NOT GOING TO HAPPEN- EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1500-3000 is a big difference

You can run *any* amount of power on a stock alt so long as you allow for recharging... which apparantly you didnt?

But... yes... stock alts die, particularly when you pull alot of current all the time. I'd assume that you use much power since your setup doesnt really get that loud - thats what happens. Instead of, for example, me using 100 watts to do a 140 (does a 142 off the high's amp, only 150-200 watts), you are using 900 watts to do a 135... so even if you arent at "full" volume you are still pulling quite a bit of power, whereas I could pretty much run the sub off the deck and get decently loud.

Its not really how big your amp is that dictates whether your alt blows or not, its how you use it :)

Yet another reason why its imperitive to build/buy a proper box.

Ryan from Ohio · Post by **Ryan from Ohio** » Thu May 05, 2005 5:40 am

Its what amplifiers you run and at what Ohm your running them at.

Thats what dictates amp draw.

It has nothing to do with SPL scores or different subs etc etc.

Comparing your system to mine is about as irrelevant as it gets, especially when referenced back to a dB...

Thank you, come again.

William from NOLA · Post by **William from NOLA** » Thu May 05, 2005 6:33 am

I know EXACTLY how you feel, Basstronics. At least you didn't have a HO alt that just decided to quit on you. My battery completely died on me and I was stranded... at 12:30 in the morning.

Justin from Detroit1 · Thu May 05, 2005 6:37 am

How the hell does his SPL score effect his alt dieing? That's the dumbest thing I've heard today.

sinister audio · Post by **sinister audio** » Thu May 05, 2005 6:42 am

ya and factory alternators with stock everything go out all the time by them selves. if you have 2 batteries that could y it was hard on it its got double the amount to charge. it was time for a high output any way

Justin from Detroit1 · Thu May 05, 2005 6:46 am

Remember at the comp, Ryan, when your distribution block read 16v?

sinister audio · Post by **sinister audio** » Thu May 05, 2005 6:50 am

i had mine reading 15.7 before. i had the alternator wire on the outside of the battery clamp then the power wire to the cap then it was the battery clamp, well it was trying to charge the cap up constantly and it would get that high. i switched it around and then it worked fine

kevinberry1 · Post by **kevinberry1** » Thu May 05, 2005 6:57 am

Maybe speakrman was trying to say that you can avoid putting additional strain on the alternator by running a more efficient setup. I think the SPL talk was just a way to provide evidence for his point.(giving him the benefit-of-the-doubt here)

:)

Post by **GlassWolf** » Thu May 05, 2005 8:26 am

in a properly operating electrical system in a car, as long as the engine is running, the alternator should be supplying all of the current, and the battery should be in a charge state, since the battery voltage is lower than the voltage of the alternator set by the voltage regulator. If you draw more current than the alternator can supply (already a bad sign, and this is what kills the alternator) then the battery tries to compensate until the battery's voltage begins to drop as well.
If you're going to play the stereo with the engine running, you need to be able to supply the current to feed the amplifiers, regardless of how much power they draw, or what your SPL is, or anything else. It's simply supply and demand. In this case, being able to supply the current the amplifiers along with the car's own systems demand.