[DeTomaso] Alternator found

[David D Fisher]

Should be ok,  the alternator self regulates, so if nothing is consuming, then it doesn't produce.   The only scenario I was concerned about is all the consumers on and a nearly dead battery.  That's probably the case where the alt puts out full power and for a sustained period, and all of that power goes through the ammeter, of course. 
 
I checked the stock wiring to the ammeter and its the same gauge as cable supplied with the new Alt so that part should be safe.   I'm not sure at what point the internals of the Ammeter melt down, but my experience is most heat occurs at corroded terminals where there is a resistance.   I have my dash apart already so connectors are cleaned and new star washers applied everywhere. 
 
I'd be curious if anyone has had an ammeter apart.  I am expecting a large chunk of metal with a coil around it that could probably easily handle the power of 200A @ 14V, but I could be wrong. 
 
Having written all this blah blah,  I just realized you were joking ;-)  ("lose all their smoke").  
 
 
 

________________________________
 From: Julian Kift <julian_kift at hotmail.com>
To: fisher95020 at yahoo.com; guson at home.se 
Cc: De Tomaso List <detomaso at realbig.com> 
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2012 2:07 PM
Subject: RE: [DeTomaso] Alternator found
  

 
So what's going to happen when you don't have any of those power consumers on and you wind the engine up to 5,000 rpm (15,000 rpm on the alternator)..... the Lucas wires are gonna glow and lose all there smoke!

 

> Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:51:46 -0700
> From: fisher95020 at yahoo.com
> To: guson at home.se
> CC: detomaso at realbig.com
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Alternator found
> 
> 3:1 is what they claim is the usual unless someone has lowered the ratio in the search for a couple of ponies  (power pulley, etc).
>  
> Max rpm is 20,000  
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: Tomas Gunnarsson <guson at home.se>
> To: fisher95020 at yahoo.com 
> Cc: detomaso at realbig.com 
> Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2012 1:42 PM
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Alternator found
> 
> 
> 3:1 overdrive sounds like a lot to me. What is the max rpm for the alternator? I'm more used to a 2:1-ish ratio. 
> 
> Tomas
> 
> <-----Ursprungligt Meddelande----->
> From: David D Fisher [fisher95020 at yahoo.com] 
> Sent: 12/9/2012 10:35:41 PM 
> To: Pantera mailing list 
> Subject: [DeTomaso] Alternator found 
> 
> My quest for a new alternator has ended, and at the risk of sounding like a product advertisement I'll share what I ended up with. 
>  
> You may recal, my primary issue was the at idle with all systems running,  I was draining the battery at the rate of about 75A continous. 
>  
> After some searching I found a company that specs output at idle (2400 rpm at the alternator, 800 rpm at the motor) as well as ideal operating RPM.
>  
> I just installed it last night in 1 wire mode (although you can wire the speedo light aka 3 wire mode if you want)
>  
> I turned on all my consumers  (cooling fans, lights and A/C)  and it was still charging with about 50 amps to spare at 800 rpm.  Bump the RPM to 2000 and it had much more than enough current than I can consume. 
>  
> I cant speak to the long term peformance, especially given the pathetic air flow its going to get up there behind the engine cover but I guess it's life is still considerably better than the poor baked starter.... Speaking of which, does anyone wrap their starter to try and reduce heat soak?
>  
> My Alt is a Powermaster 57141, purchased from Summit.   You can get Output v.s RPM curves from the Powermaster catalague and they ship the Alt with a test tag that tells what this actual unit did on the test bench (pretty impressive, see pic)
>  
> No problems with fitting on the car, except the high current connector on the back was dangerously close to my valve cover so I cut about 1/4 inch off the end. 
>  
> http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=37998
>  
> David
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