Re: [AMC-List] Fw: Chrome 140+ amp alternator??

[Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 29 Nov 2006, Mark Price wrote:

> You can put as big an alternator on the engine as will fit.
> The issues are size, wiring, need.

Damn right!, unless you really need the capacity, and have
massively rewired for it, it will be at least a waste, and at
worst, a burned-up wiring harness.

You stick a 100+ amp alternator in, it works fine, no problems
for a year or two.

Let's say one morning you find you left the lights on all night.
Battery is dead, dead, dead, won't turn over. You get a jump
start, starts up, you run fast-idle to charge up your battery
with your huge alternator.

15 minutes later you have smoke, and a melted harness.

The reason is, an alternator dumping 70, 80, 90, ... 140 amps
into the battery will melt the (approx.) 12-gauge wire the
factory installed with that original 37-amp Motorola. You need
4-gauge, or better, for 140 amps, and crimp connectors and such
o match. Those are NOT conservative numbers for the sake of
argument; they're actually on the small side.

For a 140 amp alternator, 12-guage is too small even as a
fusible link!



I have a 60 amp "one wire" in my Rambler and Hornet simply
because I could not find a smaller one! I'm running crimped and
soldered 10-gauge wire from the alt directly to the hot side
of the Ford-type starter solenoid. The Hornet has a terminal
strip with 14-gauge fusible link to the accessory feed.
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