Well, now there is power pulled from two points so to speak. Ryoken says the alt wire hooks to firewall buss. Alt current flows to the F/W buss and goes to the truck, if you left those wires on there, and back thru the 8 awg to the maxi fuse and then to the batt. That much current thru the 8 awg is going to result in a voltage drop before it gets to the maxi fuse. I would upgrade that wire to a 4 gauge or move everything off that F/W buss to the maxi.
CK5
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Good replacement battery?
- Thread starter nutt7
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Well, now there is power pulled from two points so to speak. Ryoken says the alt wire hooks to firewall buss. Alt current flows to the F/W buss and goes to the truck, if you left those wires on there, and back thru the 8 awg to the maxi fuse and then to the batt. That much current thru the 8 awg is going to result in a voltage drop before it gets to the maxi fuse. I would upgrade that wire to a 4 gauge or move everything off that F/W buss to the maxi.
wasted wages
1 ton status
The highest CCA battery that wally world or Sam's sells.....with the longest no charge warranty...... 60 / 72 month.....3 year full replacement
I cycle them out every two to three years....keep new batteries in the buggy all the time this way.....
I've done it for years..... never been turned down.
( it's amazing how "dead" a battery can get with the headlights left on for a week......
)
I cycle them out every two to three years....keep new batteries in the buggy all the time this way.....
I've done it for years..... never been turned down.
( it's amazing how "dead" a battery can get with the headlights left on for a week......
)
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4X4HIGH
Interstate battery and never look back. Also you need to make sure the alternator is large enough for the items that require lots of amps otherwise you'll continue to kill batteries no matter how good of a battery you install.
Thanks, I will check those out too...I think the alternator is up to the task...the battery has lasted quite a while.
If you have an amp a 100amp alternator IS NOT up to the task.
I'm a little confused now. The charge lead goes directly to the battery, not the buss. I do believe the buss is where the sensor wire is though. Earlier you said the sensor wire should be at the point where most of the power is distributed from...there is more current being pulled from the fuse box than the firewall buss, so is that the place I should relocate my load sensor wire? Through the fuse box are the fans, headlights, cab power (the one that goes to the firewall buss), and my amp power wire is at the post that feeds the fuse box.
BTW, thanks for the help so far.
4x4HIGH, Thanks I will make sure to keep the volume down during high current demands until I can find a better alternator. I don't seem to get any dimming lights when I crank it though. The 1/2 Farad cap might help with that though.
BTW, thanks for the help so far.
4x4HIGH, Thanks I will make sure to keep the volume down during high current demands until I can find a better alternator. I don't seem to get any dimming lights when I crank it though. The 1/2 Farad cap might help with that though.
The highest CCA battery that wally world or Sam's sells.....with the longest no charge warranty...... 60 / 72 month.....3 year full replacement
I cycle them out every two to three years....keep new batteries in the buggy all the time this way.....
I've done it for years..... never been turned down.
( it's amazing how "dead" a battery can get with the headlights left on for a week......
Haha! You cheater! So that means that the warranty resets with the fresh battery? Are you saying you have only purchased one battery in the last decade or so?!
honestly, I think our new friend is over-worrying this a bit, it may apply to other vehicles more often.. I certainly have to consider such things when designing boat DC stuff, with the long wire lengths, etc in them...
the alt feeds the bat.. so everything downstream is getting the alts output.. the alt reads voltage over at the buss.. the difference in voltage between that buss and the bat or starter, is maybe .1 of a volt.. maybe...
it's not like a starter trigger wire, that is fed thru the fuse block to the ign switch and back out to the solenoid and can lose a bit of voltage..... thus part of the hot start issues many experience... in other words, with the vehicle running and under load, if you check voltage at the bat, than that buss, it should be nearly identical...
if it was really an issue, you could always move the sense wire to the bat.. that's how a 1-wire alt effectively works..
the alt feeds the bat.. so everything downstream is getting the alts output.. the alt reads voltage over at the buss.. the difference in voltage between that buss and the bat or starter, is maybe .1 of a volt.. maybe...
it's not like a starter trigger wire, that is fed thru the fuse block to the ign switch and back out to the solenoid and can lose a bit of voltage..... thus part of the hot start issues many experience... in other words, with the vehicle running and under load, if you check voltage at the bat, than that buss, it should be nearly identical...
if it was really an issue, you could always move the sense wire to the bat.. that's how a 1-wire alt effectively works..
Cool, now I'm understanding your system wiring. The cab is hooked to F/W buss. 8 awg from maxi to F/W buss. 8 awg is big enough for the cab as you have moved headlight draw to the maxi. Lights are the bigest draw on the cab. If it were mine, I would upgrade charge wire to 6 or maybe 4 and move it to maxi. Larger wire will have you ready for larger alt without having to upgrade any wiring. Move sense wire to maxi. Alt will now know what the voltage is where it gets sent to all the loads. Thats the best you can do. Crank the tunes and see if you can bust the rearview mirror loose!!
I appreciate that. I was JUST thinking about how I have never noticed a voltage difference greater than a few tenths from anywhere in the truck. I will check mine though, just for fun. If the voltages are comparable, it looks like the alternator would be my best bet for my next electrical upgrade.
Thanks! The charge wire will have to stay put since the post on the maxi fuse box is too short for another wire. I will check the voltage difference at the firewall and fuse box while its under load to determine if I should move the sensor wire.
You're probably right. I engineer electric systems for 40-50 foot 3/4 million dollar work boats for fire depts, Navy and Coast Guard so I tend to get a little anal about it sometimes. Thanks for not chewing me up about it. I appreciate it.
It should work fine that way. Like Ryoken says, the drop will be tenths of volts. Kinda odd that the fans would draw down your lights. Is that just at idle? I wonder what size alt the Aerostar has.
a marine guy, my sympathies... 
my sh*t all needs to be ABYC compliant.... I basically work on 30 to 60 Dancers and Sportfishs all day...
my sh*t all needs to be ABYC compliant.... I basically work on 30 to 60 Dancers and Sportfishs all day...
yup, when peoples lives are on the line, ya tend to do things right.... 
gotta keep the CG boy's happy and I like to sleep at night...
now, when I worked for Hinckley, I wanted to strangle their electrical engineers....
OP... ya may wanna see what kinda amps your drawing with everything on to see how bad your working that alt....
gotta keep the CG boy's happy and I like to sleep at night...now, when I worked for Hinckley, I wanted to strangle their electrical engineers....
OP... ya may wanna see what kinda amps your drawing with everything on to see how bad your working that alt....
we called em champagne sippers... big big bucks.... all jet drive and such... the company was ghey tho...
Draws down lights at any speed and it seems equally dim between idle and driving.
Using an ammeter is something I am NOT too familiar with. My electronics teacher back in the day always yelled at us to be careful not to ruin our DMMs doing it, so I never got used to it!
BTW, I only have a semi-decent two probe DMM, so I think that amount of amps is WAY too much for it. How else might I do this? Rent a tool? Do I need one of those induction types?
Champagne sippers fits. They look like big bucks. It's writen all over them. I know the jet thing. They make for a unique handling boat. Most of our larger fire boats and pilot boats are jet. Lots of twin Cat C9s and Hamilton 322s. Some Cummins and a few John Deeres.
Those Windstar fans, any idea how much the draw? You wouldn't think they would be that much in a mini-van.
Those Windstar fans, any idea how much the draw? You wouldn't think they would be that much in a mini-van.
you'll want an amp clamp that handles that load, think mine is a 600 amp iirc... you should be able to find something in the $50 to 100 range, not sure about a rental..
iirc, start up on the windstars is pretty high, like 60 or so amps... continuous is probably 20 to 25...
'
iirc, start up on the windstars is pretty high, like 60 or so amps... continuous is probably 20 to 25...
'
