[DeTomaso] Alternator Options

MikeLDrew at aol.com MikeLDrew at aol.com
Sun Nov 28 01:57:53 EST 2010


In a message dated 11/27/10 22 30 3, doug351c at gmail.com writes:


> I know of other Pantera owners who've installed
> 100A alternators and burned up their wiring harnesses.  
> 
>>>I wouldn't necessarily assume that it's causative however.   Can you 
draw a straight line between the alternator install and the wiring harness 
issue?   I doubt it--there were probably other factors involved.   My Pantera 
came to me with a burned wiring harness too, and a stock alternator.   

And that alternator didn't work worth a damn keeping the old battery going; 
I could sit at a red light at night, with the fans, headlights and A/C 
running, and if I didn't keep the rpm up, eventually it would kill the battery 
and the car would quit.   I'd then have to push it to the side of the road, 
turn everything off and wait for awhile for the battery to recover and the 
car to cool off so the fans would shut off.   Not fun!


> >Excess alternator
> capacity is not necessarily a good thing.
> 
>>>Very true--but more Panteras than not are running 100A alternators now, 
so I wouldn't consider that 'excess'.
> 
> >As long as your ammeter shows a positive reading, your alternator is 
> keeping
> up with the load and this is an average thing so at idle it's OK to read a
> negative as long as it reads positive with a few additional revs.
> 
>>>That depends on how long you drain the battery like that.   My ammeter 
reads slightly positive even at idle with the fans running.

Just because an alternator can produce 100A doesn't mean that it always 
does so.   (Somebody correct me if I'm wrong).   Depending on the demands of 
the electrical system, it can produce UP TO 100A.   If the demand isn't there, 
the alternator doesn't put out any more juice than a lower-amp unit.   So 
it's not going to automatically pump all sorts of power into your car.   But 
if you have heavy loads on the electrical system, it should have enough hump 
to keep you in the positive and keep from running your battery down.

SOBill or somebody with some serious electrical smarts, weigh in here and 
let me know if I'm all wet on this?

Mike



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