I have 190 Amp from DC Power, great service and great product. I called them at least 3 times and each time they where never short or in a hurry to get me off the phone and very willing to help even after they had my money. I have had mine for 8 months with no problems.

 

very good info. i will be checking into it when i get some time. got home late tonight. maybe ill get off work on time tomorrow.

 

Thats the Beauty of there web site 24/7

 

I have a perfectly good alternator on my truck...and my original alternator(rebuilt by a reputable shop) sitting in a box on the shelf in the garage for a spare...but that polished alternator sure is tempting me! LOL

 

Good info guys. didnt know about the DC power alternators. On my CTS I'm reading 13.2 to 13.5 mostly low 13's is this a good reading I was thinking I should be up in the 14's? Thanks Guys just put my Cts on last week what a cool tool. BLADE35 thanks for the info on the charging system.

 

That's where my charging voltage runs, maybe a little higher after starting but dropping back to about 13.2 v.

 

I just ordered one myself, it will be here friday i have high hopes for it. I just went with the 185 amp, thats plenty for my use.

 

Given the relationship between trashed FICM's and bad alternators, you can now get your DC Power alternators through FICMrepair.com as well.

Drop us a note and we'll get you set up! I just picked up the 270 XP series for my Excursion and can't wait to get it in!

 

Wow - that is fantastic Ed!

 

no, the amp rating is what the unit is capable of, the batteries will
only accept what they need.

and if the output voltage of the alternator isn't high enough, you
will never charge the batteries properly. it is the charging voltage
that determines what the batteries can accept. imagine water flowing
downhill in a pipe. the higher the difference between the top and the
bottom of the hill, the more pressure in the pipe.

electricity is the same way. the difference of potential is what determines
the amperage flowing.

as for the DC alternators, i just had a ford remanufactured alternator
put in a month ago with my rebuild, so i'm not in the market, but when
my accounts recievable clears up, i'm ordering a 300 amp, and changing
it out. the other one can go in the garage as a spare.

i'm an electrician by trade, and went thru the specifications on DC's
equipment pretty closely. their stuff is second to none. seriously.
i'm a geek with this stuff... they are using square drawn copper wire
to cut down the eddy currents and get a higher gauss on the armature.

there stuff is temperature compensated as well, with "hot idle" specifications
as well. nobody else mentions all this minutae for a reason; there stuff
can't hold up to comparison.

https://www.dcpowerinc.com/dc-power-vs-competition

most "remanufactured" alternators are glass beaded, the diodes checked,
and the thing is thrown in a box by someone, and sent out the door.

you could have one diode blown in your rectifier, and be having pulsating
dc, half wave dc, or ac combined in your output. you could just have sucky
diodes that clip.... bunches of combinations.

the DC power stuff, especially the 300 amp units, are worth every penny,
in my opinion.

as for your batteries, the best battery charger i've ever seen under
$1,500 is this one.....

http://batteryminders.com/forms/manuals/12248.pdf

about $125 around on the net. they have completely desulphated
batteries that were so far gone they wouldn't even take a charge.

money well spent, IMHO. plugging the batteries in one night a week
for a few weeks will help a lot with keeping them from needing to be
replaced.

 

When I was talking to the Ford product engineer for the 6.0, he told me they were thinking about putting an alternator function monitor into a flash - that's how important the alternator is to these engines. I am just monitoring voltage, but it's a start.

Brian

 

hm. after my post above.... i went out and pulled the good fluke
out of the tool box.....

at the main fuse block, where it counts. batteries on the van are
outside frame rail, passenger side, ahead of axle, 15' of cable away
from main fuse block under hood.

static battery voltage, 12.47 VDC

low capture during cranking, 9.98 VDC

charging voltage, max 14.15 VDC at any speed.

AC component, 150 MV, frequency varies from 1khz
to 2.4 khz, depending on engine speed... peak to peak
voltage is very low, so diodes are good.....

but the charging voltage sucks. it was 14.5 when i put
the unit in a month ago. now it's 14.1

300 Amp SPX High Output Alternator for 2006
Ford E-Series Van 6.0L V8 Powerstroke Diesel

225 idle amps.... 14.8 VDC regulated charge voltage.

$500 with free anodizing in your choice of ford blue......

and they are located right off the 91 freeway, in
riverside..... guess what's gonna happen in the morning.....

 

I have two spare batteries mounted on the passenger frame rail in E-series boxes. Went with 2/0 cable to them from the alternator (250 amp).

 

What alternator did you instal a month ago???? OEM 110AMP?????

IMO the 14.1Volt isnt that bad but Good


You have a Stereo system with a bunch of amps and stuff Right???? I do to and that would kill an OEM 110AlternatorFast

No Issues with my DC Power unit


Have you cleaned all battery cables and connections especialy the grounds where they mount engine and frame??????
Maybe you Did ^^^IDK just throwing out there

Your 9.98volts battery during crank is getting lower

IIRC 9.5volt anything under and the PCM resets itself

I have seen mine drop to 10.6-12.0volts During crank

Some folks see that low volts like that and assume something is wrong but IMO thats a TRUE Load Test and voltage is OK

I have been thinking about setting up a Amp Meter Gauge on my truck in addition to monitoring Volts output

you willlike that DC Power unit they are Top of the Line best parts smaller pulley so it can keep up at Idel when you really need it after a Cold start in winter and the GP cycled longer before startup

Make shure to get the wire upgrade or you can make your Own

 

it's about all you really need, to be honest. if you know what the
charging system voltage is, that determines just about everything.

you can put a current transformer (CT) around the alternator output and
measure current flow, and that will tell you if the connections on
your batteries and cables are good to a certain extent, but for the
price of two hours of your time, you can go thru and just *check* every
termination to make sure they are clean and tight.

lead acid batteries are best kept at a nice even charge, and not taken
up and down quickly. AGM, flooded cells, spiral wound, applies equally
to all. high charge and discharge rates zorch them. so does heat and
vibration.

there are chargers like the batteryminders, and commercial units that
send various composite electrical power to batteries in the course of
charging them, that helps to transfer precipitated sulphur back into
solution.

commercial battery rooms, such as found in refineries and computer
data centers, have 2 volt batteries that are 24"x24"x30" tall, and you
bolt 60 of them in series to get 120 VDC. each cell is about 225 lbs.
the amperage that 60 of those batteries in series produces is about
3,000 amps, for about 4 hours. enough to get a refinery shut down
if they lose the utility power. "mission critical" doesn't even begin to
define how important they are. you lose your 120 VDC control power
in a refinery, the whole thing blows up, and then burns to the ground.

those are wet plate cells, old school if you will, that have special battery
caps to prevent electrolyte loss, and floating battery chargers to
equalize cell voltage, so they all match as closely as possible.
they are kept charged, cool, and vibration free... how long do they
last? i've seen racks of them in excellent condition after fifty years.

so, the new generation AGM and spiral wound batteries should with
a good alternator, and periodic float charging with a batteryminder,
last somewhere past five years, given the harsh environment of a truck.

i've used optima batteries, and oddesy batteries, and i'm partial to
oddesy batteries. they use virgin lead in manufacture, no recycled,
and it makes a difference.

and the ones for my van are $300 each, so i'm interested in having
them last a while......