Last December I removed my AC compressor, which had been acting as a pulley only, for 15 years, and replaced it with a '120 amp NipponDenso' alternator.
120 amp, is in quotes, as it maxed out at 109 amps, and its 50 amp rating at hot idle, in drive, foot on the brake, is a woeful 32 amps. It is a ND clone alternator, assembled in Malaysia, bought new at Autozone. I think they shaved a few dollars in copper windings of rotor and stator.
I was hoping its dual internal fans would outperform the lifetime warranty reman 50/120 chrysler alternator which failed. Oreilly's had decided they had no record of me ever having bought such an alternator, so I just moved on.
That reman alternator just had poor brush alignment. I fixed that, added some spit and polish to improve heat transfer from diodes and reduce resistance, and returned it to service, and the ND sat on a shelf for 9 months.
A few more hundred rpm and the ND outperforms the chrysler 50/120 amp alternator, until about 1800 rpm though. The chrysler can meet 50 amp at hot idle foot on brake in drive, and 120 amps max, but at about 3200 rpm, where I rarely go.
Since aligning the pulleys in December, I never hooked it to the battery or to a voltage regulator as I did not require the extra DC juice, still don;t really, but I found the round tuit.
Last couple days I decided to change that, hooking it directly to me engine battery and the Chrysler 50/120 to my House battery bank.
Both alternators are separately regulated with an adjustable voltage regulator. The OEM voltage regulator in engine computer is bypassed, and the ECM tricked into not flashing the check engine light with a 50 watt 10 ohm resistor in between the original wires going to field terminals on the externally regulated alternator.
On my dash, I have two digital two decimal voltmeters and two voltage adjustment knobs.
Basically, Nearly anytime my engine is running, I can charge my deep cycling batteries as fast as safely possible, to get them to as high a state of charge as possible when I drive, which greatly extends their lifespans, as opposed to slower charging and starting the next discharge cycle from lower states of charge and drawing them deeper.
The original voltage regulator inside ECM drops from high 14's to mid 13s quickly, and a new battery will accept about 2/3 less amperage with 13.7v reaching battery terminals compared to 14.7v.
I can also turn a switch and charge both battery banks from one or the other, or just cycle one bank or the other.
I'm not quite done, its just functional at this point, not yet refined.
The ultimate goal is the ability to idle my engine, with both alternators and two battery banks powering a 2KW+ inverter at near full load, for as long as there is fuel in the tank, even though I do not require such an ability at this point in time.
Some additional forced alternator cooling would likely be required if 2KW is needed for more than 10 to 15 minutes, but the thermocouples attached to their casings, will decide.
Chuckle! He's thoroughly wordy, with a wealth of information. Our resident Sparky Technical writer electrical Guru. Thanks wr68! This was good one. 2KW is nothing to sneeze at. And that's without additional Solar. The '88 Bvan is house battery equipped. Pretty cool mods. Electrical is always a challenge. You explain it well. Always have to read it more than once. Good job!
More stories! Love yer Show!
BBC Blue 1990 Chevy G30 L19 7.4 EXT Church Van, maternity division
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WRC68 is the most electrical intelligent man I never met ....
SUNSHINE VANS-VAN DIEGO ADRENALIN BY THE GALLON & CHASIN RACIN ONE FOR THE DIRT & ONE FOR THE STREETS '93 CHEVY G30 454 4X4 SPORTVAN EXT 146" WB '92 CHEVY G30 454 BEAUVILLE EXT 146" WB
Where we were at the end of March when it arrived from Oregon and where we are today. About 2/3 done. Couldn't find lights I liked so we came up with our own. Chevy valve covers made into light. They work great!
It got detailed along with the van to go to the Council of council in Feb 2011. Thats when my van made Hot Rod mag.
Originally Posted by Just4fun1991 [quote
Was this the issue that your van made it into Hot Rod magazine?
The pic was taken in Feb ... what paper mag IDK .. I know my pic's showed up on the online mag
Last edited by frscke1; August 04th 2021 4:13 pm.
SUNSHINE VANS-VAN DIEGO ADRENALIN BY THE GALLON & CHASIN RACIN ONE FOR THE DIRT & ONE FOR THE STREETS '93 CHEVY G30 454 4X4 SPORTVAN EXT 146" WB '92 CHEVY G30 454 BEAUVILLE EXT 146" WB
Chevy valve covers made into light. They work great!
LOVE IT ! ! auto art ....
SUNSHINE VANS-VAN DIEGO ADRENALIN BY THE GALLON & CHASIN RACIN ONE FOR THE DIRT & ONE FOR THE STREETS '93 CHEVY G30 454 4X4 SPORTVAN EXT 146" WB '92 CHEVY G30 454 BEAUVILLE EXT 146" WB