Roughly how long is an alternator/ high ouput alternator supposed to last?

[LiL PiNoY]

How long has it lasted you, brands will be helpful. I have a 200 amp ohio generator alternator for 3 years now and fear it will be going out soon.

[Tarball]

depends on alot of factors.

Application is the primary in my opinion - if you have more demand than alternator then expect for a shorter life.

[03 Xtreme Fosgate]

^^^^ agreed.. I've a Stinger 230a for a lil over 4 years now and it's still holding up pretty good but I'm about to be going from a 1500W system to about a 3500-4K system so I'll probably be looking getting a mechman alt soon

[MECHMAN]

Depends on the family of alternator and it's internals. Not all HO alternators are created equally. Also, the harder you work the alternator, the faster the brushes wear out, but brushes are cheap.

Pretty much all of our HO alternators should last about 100,000 miles if properly installed and used normally. We use massive rectifiers with a lot of cooling, and that is where you get the durability. Cheaper HO units use small case housings with small cooling fans and tiny rectifiers- asking for premature failure. Many HO companies that actually use a large case housing, use a stock rectifier, which is not up to the task of handling the additional current, and fails prematurely.