MECHMAN

Our Owner Matt personally cooking for some of the early guests from this past summers Mechman / XS Power Show in Knoxville TN. Experience the Mechman difference! http://www.Mechman.com

With regards to your upgrade, there are different ways to look at it. Proper wiring is important to ensure that your electrical system will charge properly and, most importantly, safely. We have had situations in the past where people neglect to upgrade their connection cables and with a HO alternator in place of the old OEM, this could possibly lead to melted cables, damaged batteries, and fire. So, when planning your set up, you have to consider 1. how much power you need to handle 2. how many watts your battery will support as a primary or secondary source and 3. how many amperes are needed to handle that load. Our alternators come in different amperages and are designed to work with large audio systems and vehicle accesory set ups. For your 1999 Oldsmobile Alero, we offer a 270 amp alternator as well as a 320 amp model. With any alternator that produces 220 amps or more we recommend using zero gauge (1/0) cable. We do utilize our resources at XS Power for cable and batteries. They are reliable and last long. If you have any other specific questions, please do not hesitate to message us here or you can reach me directly at [email protected]. Thanks.

Your fuse should always be greater than your max amperage. Our Mechman alternators are underrated, so if you had one of our 270amp alternators you would need close to a 300 amp fuse. A little cushion goes a long way in preserving your electrical system and stereo components / accessories. I hope this helps. Michael [email protected]

Depends on how many batteries you are going to run. What kind of vehicle is it going in? Sometimes you are limited on alternator amperage depending on how much room there is in the engine compartment, or what type of belt is used to drive the alternator. If it only has a 4 groove or v belt driving the alternator, you are going to be limited to 150-200 amps, and will just have to run more batteries.

We get asked this question all the time, so I thought I would post it here for general info. Here is the question we got from someone: Dear mechmanalternators, Can you please explain to me what six phase means & whats the job of the rectifiers? Im a lil new to this & trying to get as much info as I can...I would like to go with yall as my company ive seen alot of great things from yall & well respected people have chosen yall over the rest like steve meade so that says alot about your company & products in my book. Our response: A standard alternator is generally 3 phase. This means that there are three “legs” of the stator that fire in succession as the alternator spins, A-B-C-A-B-C-A-B-C producing alternating current. 6 phase alternators have two 3 phase stators inside the alternator that are slightly out of phase of one another. The two stators fire in succession like this: A-a-B-b-C-c (the second stator is in lower case) Because they are slightly out of phase with one another, there is a cancellation of electromagnetic harmonics that makes the alternator run more smoothly and more efficiently. This allows for cooler operation, more output from a smaller overall housing, and MUCH better durability. The rectifiers turns the AC current coming out of the stator into DC current. DC current is what is used in an automobile. By passing trough the diodes, half of the AC current is burned off in the form of heat as it is “rectified” into DC current. That heat is what eventually kills alternators. By having (2) rectifier plates, there is much more surface area to dissipate the heat. This is especially important in a high output alternator- as the more amperage the alternator makes, the more heat is generated. Also, by having (12) or (16) diodes (depending on which 6 phase alternator you are talking about) instead of just (6) or ( diodes in a 3 phase alternator, the heat and electrical load can be distributed more evenly throughout the rear of the alternator housing. Hope that info is useful. Matthew Young (865)522-6166 ext 204 [email protected]

You can also install a power programmer to increase your engine idle speed to 800 rpm. They give you more horsepower and better gas mileage as well. Going to an 800 rpm idle speed usually boosts idle output by 20% - 30%

14 volt batteries are the way to go. They need to be charged at 16.5 -16.8 volts, which typically will work with most vehicle's stock electrical. There is no efficient way to use "step up" transformers to run a dual voltage setup. If I were you, I would just run all D1400 batteries in the vehicle, and install our AVBM module to increase the charging voltage of the stinger alternator to the necessary 16.5 - 16.8 volts. 16 volt batteries need to be charged at 18.9 - 19.2 volts to be properly charged- that is way to high for your vehicle, and even most amps.

That alternator already has twin internal fans. The best way to make it run cooler would be to cut a hole in the hood with a scoop to provide fresh air, or to possible make a duct to go from the front of the vehicle to the rear of the alternator were it takes in air to cool the rectifier.

If you want a digital the AutoMeter digital voltmeter works great. It's not cheap, $80, but looks great and is accurate.

Better to keep thinking and learning, I learn something new here every day about automotive electrical.

Yes, run the 1/0 now if you are planning for the future. That prevents you from paying for everything twice and doing the work twice. It will cost a little more now but the end result will be better for you.

Fuses! The safest way to do this is to fuse the charge cable from the alternator to the battery as close to the battery as possible, all power cables going to secondary batteries close to the primary battery and secondary battery, and your amps. That way if any power cable grounds out you just need to fix the cable and replace fuses, not call the fire department and replace your ride. Some people think that they will gain DB's going with no fuses, this is false if you can provide the same current to the batteries and amps, so be sure you have adequate cable size and numbers to provide the amperage you require for best performance.