Boosting voltage

[Mattc43]

Hey guys I have a Dc power 270 alt and they say “don’t add diodes or it’ll increase wear and tear on the alternator and decrease its lifespan”. Is there a way around this? I’d really like to run yinlong over a headway bank and charge high if I can. I want to get the most power out of my amp. It’s a wolfram 9k I plan on running at a half ohm

[audiofanaticz]

Who says that? I've never heard it before.
My 3 DC Power alts are about 10 years old now. 1 had failed a couple years ago with a bad voltage regulator and I tore all 3 down and replaced all voltage regulators all brush housing assemblies and a rectifier on one of them. Since I'm running cmax now I also added 2 diodes per alt sense wire, I will add a 3rd probably yet when ever I work on it again. I have no issues but the alts are basically like new now so who knows on this decreased lifespan and said wear.

The only thing to really wear on an alternator are bearings and brushes from the alts spinning, this is going to wear no matter what.
Then things that can fail would be your rectifier and voltage regulator which normally fail due to excessive heat with no real air movement in the engine bay. So being parked at a competition revving your engine to 2000rpm and demoing non stop is hard on the alts since the vehicle is not moving brining in fresh air to the engine bay.

The proper way to increase charging voltage is to buy an external regulator, send your alternator in to have your internal regulator removed and wired for an external regulator, and then buy an external regulator.

XS Power had a some PCM thing years ago to increase alt voltage but it was discontinued, I know mechman had a thing with a resistor and a potentiometer to increase voltage years ago. I think Brand X has something iirc for this currently as well.

One thing to mention whether you go the brand x route or the diode route, you will want to change your sense wire from the charging stud of the alternator to an ignition switched 12 volt circuit. Adding diodes makes the alt thing the voltage is lower than it really is, but when the vehicle is off these diodes will still be pulling power continuously  from the alt charge stud when the vehicle is off. So it can very easily drain your battery to nothing in a few days. So swapping your sense wire to ignition switched will stop that from happening.

 

[Mattc43]

On 9/19/2022 at 4:55 AM, audiofanaticz said:

Who says that? I've never heard it before.
My 3 DC Power alts are about 10 years old now. 1 had failed a couple years ago with a bad voltage regulator and I tore all 3 down and replaced all voltage regulators all brush housing assemblies and a rectifier on one of them. Since I'm running cmax now I also added 2 diodes per alt sense wire, I will add a 3rd probably yet when ever I work on it again. I have no issues but the alts are basically like new now so who knows on this decreased lifespan and said wear.

The only thing to really wear on an alternator are bearings and brushes from the alts spinning, this is going to wear no matter what.
Then things that can fail would be your rectifier and voltage regulator which normally fail due to excessive heat with no real air movement in the engine bay. So being parked at a competition revving your engine to 2000rpm and demoing non stop is hard on the alts since the vehicle is not moving brining in fresh air to the engine bay.

The proper way to increase charging voltage is to buy an external regulator, send your alternator in to have your internal regulator removed and wired for an external regulator, and then buy an external regulator.

XS Power had a some PCM thing years ago to increase alt voltage but it was discontinued, I know mechman had a thing with a resistor and a potentiometer to increase voltage years ago. I think Brand X has something iirc for this currently as well.

One thing to mention whether you go the brand x route or the diode route, you will want to change your sense wire from the charging stud of the alternator to an ignition switched 12 volt circuit. Adding diodes makes the alt thing the voltage is lower than it really is, but when the vehicle is off these diodes will still be pulling power continuously  from the alt charge stud when the vehicle is off. So it can very easily drain your battery to nothing in a few days. So swapping your sense wire to ignition switched will stop that from happening.

 

Can’t thank you enough. Awesome response. My alternator is a b*tch to get in and out. I’d really prefer not to take it out. One of the customer service reps from Dc power told me diodes are bad for alternators. 

[Mattc43]

On 9/19/2022 at 4:55 AM, audiofanaticz said:

Who says that? I've never heard it before.
My 3 DC Power alts are about 10 years old now. 1 had failed a couple years ago with a bad voltage regulator and I tore all 3 down and replaced all voltage regulators all brush housing assemblies and a rectifier on one of them. Since I'm running cmax now I also added 2 diodes per alt sense wire, I will add a 3rd probably yet when ever I work on it again. I have no issues but the alts are basically like new now so who knows on this decreased lifespan and said wear.

The only thing to really wear on an alternator are bearings and brushes from the alts spinning, this is going to wear no matter what.
Then things that can fail would be your rectifier and voltage regulator which normally fail due to excessive heat with no real air movement in the engine bay. So being parked at a competition revving your engine to 2000rpm and demoing non stop is hard on the alts since the vehicle is not moving brining in fresh air to the engine bay.

The proper way to increase charging voltage is to buy an external regulator, send your alternator in to have your internal regulator removed and wired for an external regulator, and then buy an external regulator.

XS Power had a some PCM thing years ago to increase alt voltage but it was discontinued, I know mechman had a thing with a resistor and a potentiometer to increase voltage years ago. I think Brand X has something iirc for this currently as well.

One thing to mention whether you go the brand x route or the diode route, you will want to change your sense wire from the charging stud of the alternator to an ignition switched 12 volt circuit. Adding diodes makes the alt thing the voltage is lower than it really is, but when the vehicle is off these diodes will still be pulling power continuously  from the alt charge stud when the vehicle is off. So it can very easily drain your battery to nothing in a few days. So swapping your sense wire to ignition switched will stop that from happening.

 

So you’re saying I can still just add diodes to my sense wire and not have it sent in for the internal regulator to be removed?

[audiofanaticz]

Yes, but if you're adding more than one diode you will want to run your sense wire to an ignition switched source under the hood instead of using a ring terminal and going right off the alt charge stud because the diodes will always suck juice and the more diodes you put in series the more they will suck which is why you charge higher.

 

Heres a video of someone showing how. Actually a couple videos.

 

 

 

 

[Kyblack76]

They say "dont do that", because they dont want returns. That said, im doing the same thing on a 2018 4runner with oem alt. Been great for 4 years. 

[Kyblack76]

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. 

 

 

 

[snafu]

Additional output voltage = additional output current.  That's Ohm's Law as it applies to DC circuits.  Voltage * Current = Power.  More Power at the output stud = more power wasted as heat.  The heat is the enemy.

 

As DC Power is the manufacturer, they have a pretty good idea of the power capability of their alternators.  They're simply telling you - Hey Mr. Customer, we don't recommend that sort of behavior with our products as it will shorten the life of the unit.

 

They are correct.  By how much?  I guess you'll find out.