High Output Alternator?

1Fastboy

Did some searching and only found a handful of posts. Question is what have you done to to upgrade your electrical supply? If your like me your taxing the heck out of that little thing under the hood and your system is starving for amps and you don't care because the bass is pounding and your HID's are burning bright.

Anyone running a aftermarket HIGH OUTPUT ALT? I found 1 source so far that offers the "best" but at a cost. DC power engineering has an HP series for a 92' civic that runs 180 amps. Now for my 89' wag I haven't called them up yet but to my knowledge the only difference is in the pulley for the 2 years mentioned, mounting points should be the same....

Any one have some ideas on fitment years/compatibility or a competitive High output options for alts?

503Wagon

id actually like to hear about this....im planning on running some serious lights and would rather run a bigger alternator than a couple spare batteries.

Charb

503Wagon wrote:

id actually like to hear about this....im planning on running some serious lights and would rather run a bigger alternator than a couple spare batteries.

Do both.

You should have seen how weak that car was before the alternator I put in it. That Optima is stupid nice to have too though.

1Fastboy

Maybe another question is how do you calculate the total amp requirements of your vehicle? Say its a warm summer night and it just started raining. Hypothetically speaking of course, you are running your low and hi beams because you wanna blind everyone,stereo and AC along with all other axillary equipment you may need running. Obviously your not going to be running all of it at the same time but there are times where you might run most.

I know that running a second battery on a battery isolator is a wise choice. like most 4x4 enthusiasm they run a second battery and upgrade their alternator to make up for the demands. winch,floods, etc..
any ideas on how to calculate?

as for me I plan to run a second battery (2 yellow tops or comparable),isolator and high output alt.

Abide

i ran one of these in my old 6th gen accord coupe. it kept up with 1500+ watts RMS out of two class AB hybrid amps(super audio quality but not nearly as efficient as class D stuff takes way more power.)

it sucked idling honestly and it wailed like a banshee till i got a smaller belt put on (the pulley is tiny.) but it kept up with all the draw i was pulling just fine. price wasnt bad either

http://storesense1.mysuperpageshosting. ... bok?no=774

Blackout_wagon

you can also swap the pulley from the obd0 alt with the new obd1 alt .. problem solved . i have herd of people doing this . ill check in to it more i have both here in the shop and ill check

driftin90

holy shittzles. that's a cost alright. wish there was a cheaper alternative. wonder if someone just makes a pulley to spin it faster. figuring i may have to buck up and run a larger wire to my battery first to solve my problems

Abide

wiring upgrades are never a bad place to start!

1Fastboy

Abide wrote:

i ran one of these in my old 6th gen accord coupe. it kept up with 1500+ watts RMS out of two class AB hybrid amps(super audio quality but not nearly as efficient as class D stuff takes way more power.)

it sucked idling honestly and it wailed like a banshee till i got a smaller belt put on (the pulley is tiny.) but it kept up with all the draw i was pulling just fine. price wasnt bad either

http://storesense1.mysuperpageshosting. ... bok?no=774

Like you said it sucked at idle.."The original alternator has only 65 amp capability.

The Load Boss Performance Alternator Provides:

Output Rated @ 70-75 amps at 800-1000 rpm and 170 amps at 1800-2000 rpm. "

Abide

yeah, this was in my accord though which probably had a higher stock rating. I had an optima yellow in there as well

806wagon

Hi my name is David iam 806wagon on the forum I have a alternator made by Vital power on my 90 civic wagon it's a 300 amp. I use it for my system it's a addictive audio 2000 watt running two jl audio w7 13s. And I also have another battery in trunk where spare use to be. If u need there number hit me up is 1(806) 930 9974. Ps I can get it all I work for an audio shop.

1Fastboy

I'll be buying one soon so I'm Looking into 2 different brands. Hoping I’ll have one purchased sometime next week.

Option 1, expensive looks well made and has allot of promise. lots of info.
https://www.dcpowerinc.com

Option 2, close to half the price, custom made to order not as much info as DCpower.
http://www.vitalpowercells.com/

Yogster

Hi Everyone, Just my two cents here.

A high output/amp alternator should be the first upgrade made to your electrical system anytime you increase the electrical demand on your car. Failing to do so will eventually cause damage to some if not all of your electrical components. Also something else that most people don't even think about is the ignition system. Your ignition system takes a good amount of power. Once you start adding stuff like audio amps or extra lights your battery and alternator will struggle to provide enough output for everything. The ignition system will become starved resulting in a weaker spark which translates into decreased engine performance.

When you upgrade the alternator it is highly recommended that you also increase the size of the main power distribution cables and grounding cables so that the power can flow more freely.

Lastly, avoid those cheap rewound alternators if you can. I have used them and while they do work, they do not work as well as they advertise, usually half the advertised rating. Also avoid alternators with smaller pulleys (I think they call them overdrive). The overdrive pulley will wear out the alternator much more quickly and there is also a increased risk of causing damage to your electrical systems due to high voltage over charging. Remember, you want high amps, not high voltage.

DCPower is local to me and while I have never used one of their alternators one of the top audio shops in the world who I have worked with before "The Audio Shoppe" uses them all the time.

1Fastboy

Thanks Yogster! excellent recommendations for sure. I'm actually in the process now of making the changes you suggested. Just waiting for some goodies to arrive so I can get it going.!

1Fastboy

Still waiting for for my DC alt....I hate waiting.

1Fastboy

Still a couple weeks out. STILL WAITING. Darnit..

driftin90

1Fastboy wrote:

Still a couple weeks out. STILL WAITING. Darnit..

any updates?

1Fastboy

driftin90 wrote:

1Fastboy wrote:

Still a couple weeks out. STILL WAITING. Darnit..

any updates?

driftin90 wrote:

1Fastboy wrote:

Still a couple weeks out. STILL WAITING. Darnit..

any updates?

Indeed! it finally came in.. I had to change my original order from D15 Alt to one for a B18 since I got a swap in the works. So DC is apparently very busy I ordered this thing late February. I'm afraid its going to be some time before l get it powered up, But i will update when it goes in. In comparison to the 92 Amps of the OEM unit this thing is a fair upgrade. 130Amps at idle, 180 max output.

Billet aluminum with huge cut outs for cooling, Black anodized and engraved pulley. NICE!*****

Plug in a slightly different location. ( makes more sense I think)


A bit more copper used it out weighs the OEM unit by about 2 Lbs.



Comparison to a OEM B18 Alt. Its a bit smaller in width so I'm curious as to if its going to be necessary to notch the frame when I drop in with the B18.

Its a bit smaller in length so I'm curious as to if its going to be necessary to notch the frame when i drop in the B18.

949

i looked on thier web site and could not find one for the 91 civic.

1sleeperwagon

So my question. Maybe you covered but I didn't see it. I putting the OBD II alt on my wagon and having a hard time finding the plugin for it. I have a coulple of companys that I can get it from online only. other than hacking some other harness on a junk yard car. Has anybody done this and if so. How did it work for you. I know the color combo to repin. I just want to know if anybody has.

Thank alt. looks BA by the way.