Mechman Alt with adjustable voltage

[Robert8252]

Sounds like your belt might be either way too tight or too loose. It could be slipping at higher rpm and causing the issue or too tight and causing the alt to try and work to hard at the high RPMs. Your alt is spinning a lot more RPM then your actual engine RPM so 2,000 is more like 3,000 I think. I know that's off but a ideal of what I'm talking about.

[kickass audio]

i just had a fellow student in my class look at the belt tension and he thinks its way to loose so im going to get a smaller belt or see if i can adjust the tension on the tensioner.

[Skullz]

Once you added the 1/0 it really kicked into gear on what it takes to spin it and now you just have to get the belt to stop slipping, once you get it as tight as you can and if it isn't helping you might have the get another idler pulley and fab some brackets to wrap more of the belt around it.

[kickass audio]

good call, yea thats what i was thinking. my friend said that most belt tensioners have an adjustment built on them where i can make the belt tighter or looser without taking anything off. but he didnt see that on my car. does anybody know if my 1998 oldsmobile 88 ls has this feature on the tensioner? Thanks

[MECHMAN]

to add onto this... when the engine is at 2000 or more rpm while the engine is hot the belt starts to squeal and i cant pinpoint where its squealing at on the belt loom but it is a 40 inch belt and its very tight on my engine as well as the pulley. the lights in my car at 2k rpm will start to flicker a little bit and then as i give it more speed it will flicker even more severely and then at 2500 the battery voltage light comes on and my lights are very dim and the belt is squealing from 2500 rpm and above. if i drop the speed down below 2000 the belt squeals at random but the pulley does not move at all when it occurs and then the lights will brighten up and the voltage will be back where its supposed to charge at.

Your belt is slipping. That is why it squeels, and that is why you have low voltage at high rpms with our unit AND your stock unit. Replace your spring tensioner (they loose their "springyness" over time) and go with a shorter belt to increase belt tension.

[kickass audio]

ok but heres the thing, your alternator is extremely loud. i know that high output alts have a whining sound when they are working but this is so loud that it is grinding. i didn't get the chance today to take the belt off and look at the alternator to see if a bearing went on it but when its at idle and it IS charging, it is so damn loud that you can hear it inside the car and it sounds like my engine is a diesel truck. plus i also noticed that when you rev the engine up the squealing stops completely and you cannot hear the diesel engine sound of the alternator. if i get enough time today, ill take the alt out and have it tested but again, i have to fight with the weather for it. but this all happened after i did the big 3 which doesn't make any sense at all, i didnt touch the belt at all when i ran the wires, all i did was disconnect the battery while i ran the wires and hooked everything back up. it just doesnt make sense as to why all of a sudden that it will squeal a little bit and stop working at high rpm's. when i first put it in i revved the hell out of the engine all to 4000 rpm and it didnt slip, surge the voltage, or give me any problems and the alternator was totally quiet the entire time. all you could hear the first day i put it in was the fan around it running and the slight whine of it charging my system but i knew that all high powered alts do that but since i ran the 0 gauge for the big 3 its given me soo many problems.

[MECHMAN]

We have already had this discussion on the phone- Like I said then, improperly installing the unit with the stock charge cable and no ground cable may have damaged the unit. Also, running the unit with the improper belt and extreme belt slip, has also put a lot of heat into the unit. Take the unit off and send it to us- we will inspect it and tell you what (if anything) is wrong.

thanks

Matt

[kickass audio]

well as much as im terribly sorry for all the crap i started with you matt i got my new alt from you today for my envoy. lets hope that once my truck gets its small problems fixed that i can put it in and it will work fine. i dont think that this one will have damage unless ups dropped it from a second story window because its packed a lot more than the first one. but thank you so much for youre fast responses. you are still better than irragi and plus even tho my first one broke, im proud to say that it worked like a beast when it did work. lol. i didnt even have more than a half volt of voltage drop, and thats only on a single xs power s3400 batt. but keep up the great work matt im sure you will stay busy and in business for a long time!!