little help with my alt please

[Freshman6969]

i think ray thought that you didn't use the post the copper lug was on. But extreme auto said that he messed his post on the alt up by using the wrong terminal like you might have so maybe you should look into that not saying its to late to fix but if your gonna change to the one they sent you might as well look at the post while you are there

that was my plan, it just popped into my head after scrolling through youtube and seeing all these people running such small amount of batts and around the power i have and a 270amp alt and keeping in the low 13's full tilt, made me think, well shit i did something wrong here

i mean my alts been in for awhile now, about the 2nd day after i got it, i might run to autozone and get it tested, if itll read that high, i know how some dont, maybe ill get lucky

right on maybe do the autozone first if you can that way when you fix you could see how much better it gets

just hoping there meter reads that high lol

[Jd1102]

im goin to class to be a mechanic and i want to say ours at class goes up to 500 amps. but also that doesn't mean theres will lol never hurts to check

[MECHMAN]

Most parts house testers can't pull enough load to properly test high output units.

You are charging if your voltage is above battery resting voltage, and 13.5-14v is for sure charging. The most common problem I see is inadequate ground, followed by weak power storage (batteries).

The voltage dropping when the vehicle warms up is normal, that is why we have the AVBM set with the alternator cold, it prevents overcharging.

You should have 1/0 cables directly from the alternator to the battery under the hood for charge and ground using the lugs we provided. We provide properly sized solid copper lugs to prevent problems with your ground and charge connections.

The ground should be run directly to the battery, not to the engine, body or frame, directly to the battery under the hood.

You posted in the thread by our friend from Panama, sounds like a similar problem and you will most likely find inadequate ground or a bad battery. Properly installing the ground resolved his issue.

This thread: http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/127374-something-wrong-with-my-mechman/page__st__60

Disconnect all of your batteries, fully charge them and load test them. Note the voltage after charging and after load test. Then let them sit disconnected overnight, check the voltage again. All should be within .1-.2v of eachother.

Be sure you have the unit properly grounded as instructed.

Edited December 19, 2011 by MECHMAN

[Freshman6969]

Most parts house testers can't pull enough load to properly test high output units.

You are charging if your voltage is above battery resting voltage, and 13.5-14v is for sure charging. The most common problem I see is inadequate ground, followed by weak power storage (batteries).

The voltage dropping when the vehicle warms up is normal, that is why we have the AVBM set with the alternator cold, it prevents overcharging.

You should have 1/0 cables directly from the alternator to the battery under the hood for charge and ground using the lugs we provided. We provide properly sized solid copper lugs to prevent problems with your ground and charge connections.

The ground should be run directly to the battery, not to the engine, body or frame, directly to the battery under the hood.

You posted in the thread by our friend from Panama, sounds like a similar problem and you will most likely find inadequate ground or a bad battery. Properly installing the ground resolved his issue.

This thread: http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/127374-something-wrong-with-my-mechman/page__st__60

Disconnect all of your batteries, fully charge them and load test them. Note the voltage after charging and after load test. Then let them sit disconnected overnight, check the voltage again. All should be within .1-.2v of eachother.

Be sure you have the unit properly grounded as instructed.

alright im pretty sure i got it down to a bad ground at this point, when i actully go and pull my alt and redo everything ill post here how it turned out, if im still having problems ill call

[MECHMAN]

Sounds good, if you need assistance call or email.

[brownm3]

Most parts house testers can't pull enough load to properly test high output units.

You are charging if your voltage is above battery resting voltage, and 13.5-14v is for sure charging. The most common problem I see is inadequate ground, followed by weak power storage (batteries).

The voltage dropping when the vehicle warms up is normal, that is why we have the AVBM set with the alternator cold, it prevents overcharging.

You should have 1/0 cables directly from the alternator to the battery under the hood for charge and ground using the lugs we provided. We provide properly sized solid copper lugs to prevent problems with your ground and charge connections.

The ground should be run directly to the battery, not to the engine, body or frame, directly to the battery under the hood.

You posted in the thread by our friend from Panama, sounds like a similar problem and you will most likely find inadequate ground or a bad battery. Properly installing the ground resolved his issue.

This thread: http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/127374-something-wrong-with-my-mechman/page__st__60

Disconnect all of your batteries, fully charge them and load test them. Note the voltage after charging and after load test. Then let them sit disconnected overnight, check the voltage again. All should be within .1-.2v of eachother.

Be sure you have the unit properly grounded as instructed.

Ok so my alt is definitely charging properly because my resting voltage sits in the range 13.5 – 14v. But if I read this correctly the proper ground for the big 3 should be to ground the alt to the battery under the hood and not the body? Everything I have read and be told has been to ground it to frame or body.

Any explanation or benefits as to why the alt should be grounded to the negative battery vs the frame? Please educate me that way if someone asks me I can pass it along. Sorry to thread jack OP

[MECHMAN]

Most parts house testers can't pull enough load to properly test high output units.

You are charging if your voltage is above battery resting voltage, and 13.5-14v is for sure charging. The most common problem I see is inadequate ground, followed by weak power storage (batteries).

The voltage dropping when the vehicle warms up is normal, that is why we have the AVBM set with the alternator cold, it prevents overcharging.

You should have 1/0 cables directly from the alternator to the battery under the hood for charge and ground using the lugs we provided. We provide properly sized solid copper lugs to prevent problems with your ground and charge connections.

The ground should be run directly to the battery, not to the engine, body or frame, directly to the battery under the hood.

You posted in the thread by our friend from Panama, sounds like a similar problem and you will most likely find inadequate ground or a bad battery. Properly installing the ground resolved his issue.

This thread: http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/127374-something-wrong-with-my-mechman/page__st__60

Disconnect all of your batteries, fully charge them and load test them. Note the voltage after charging and after load test. Then let them sit disconnected overnight, check the voltage again. All should be within .1-.2v of eachother.

Be sure you have the unit properly grounded as instructed.

Ok so my alt is definitely charging properly because my resting voltage sits in the range 13.5 – 14v. But if I read this correctly the proper ground for the big 3 should be to ground the alt to the battery under the hood and not the body? Everything I have read and be told has been to ground it to frame or body.

Any explanation or benefits as to why the alt should be grounded to the negative battery vs the frame? Please educate me that way if someone asks me I can pass it along. Sorry to thread jack OP

Let's think for a minute, and I'm not trying to be a jerk so forgive me if it comes off that way-

Electricity follows the path of least resistance.

The alternator charges the battery and requires a charge cable and a ground.

The path of least resistance is not through the engine, it's connect it directly to the battery for the charge and the ground.

There's no point in adding grounds to your engine, the alternator doesn't charge the engine and nothing has been done to increase the current of anything attached to the engine except the alternator. So why ground the engine to the battery and the alternator to the engine? More resistance and less effective than running your ground directly to the battery. It's proven to work, many who have done what was known as the "Big 3" have done this and seen an improvement.

Inadequate ground is a common cause for failure in high output alternators too.

[Rebel4055]

I don't mean to thread jack but should this be common practice on any setup where you upgrade the wiring? Or just follow the "big 3" like people have?

[tonytone4143]

This Is good info!!!

[MECHMAN]

I don't mean to thread jack but should this be common practice on any setup where you upgrade the wiring? Or just follow the "big 3" like people have?

This applies to the charging system side of things, for your audio you will want to ground the battery to the body of the vehicle, and if it's not a unibody, the frame too. But as long as the alternator is grounded directly to the primary battery I am happy.

This Is good info!!!

Thanks.

I try to share what we have learned to help the community. It's not just selling alternators for us, we are all automotive enthusiasts here at Mechman and we want the best performance out of every modification we make.