HD alternator

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ms329

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I am considering a HD altrnator for my 96 w 5.0 , is 130 AMP enough? I know its what they run in Police Cruisers. I plan on putting on some off road lighting and thought the extra amp's couldn't hurt

 

Seabronc

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It depends on how much stuff you are adding, it is possible you might need a larger one. You need to think about what is the condition under which you will have the maximum demand on the system.

Are you going to be running everything you have at the same time? You need to know what the current demand is. Your alternator needs to be large enough to supply the maximum load or you will run your battery down. Once the engine is running, the battery has served it's purpose and the alternator takes over the job. If it is not large enough you will be drawing from the battery not recharging it.

If you are adding a light bar, you may need more than one circuit to operate it. Never add them to an existing circuit. Here you need to know how many and what is the wattage of the lights to determine the size circuit you need.

Large BOOM BOX stereo systems also draw a bunch of current and you need to know what that is also.

So what I'm saying is there is no way to answer your question with out knowing what you are adding, the engine RPM when the equipment is going to be run (it may require some pulley size considerations), etc.

For example, if you are going to be running a stereo and whatever when the engine is off, you might want to consider adding an isolated second battery system.

I hope I've made it clear that if you want a system that is well designed and will not give you problems, it takes some design thought. Answer those questions and we can make a relatively accurate assessment.

Good luck,

:)>-

 
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