Winch electrical upgrades. . .
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Postmaster
Joined: Jul 2003
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From: Pittsburgh
Winch electrical upgrades. . .
Allright, have a couple questions on upgrading for winch use.
1: Is there a factory HO alternator that is a fairly easy swap onto an '85 with a 300? I'm looking for 120 amps+
2: If not, what's the story about the HO GM single wire alternators? Anyone done it?
3: I know I need more battery. Would there be an advantage to running a deep cycle marine VS. a conventional battery?
4: Looking for a dual battery charging sytem. One that charges both off the same system but isolates the outputs so one battery for truck function, second for accessories, any cheap way or am i stuck with a kit?
5:Anyone make a 1000 CCA battery besides Optima? I like their stuff, but $$$
Think that's all for now. . .
Justin
1: Is there a factory HO alternator that is a fairly easy swap onto an '85 with a 300? I'm looking for 120 amps+
2: If not, what's the story about the HO GM single wire alternators? Anyone done it?
3: I know I need more battery. Would there be an advantage to running a deep cycle marine VS. a conventional battery?
4: Looking for a dual battery charging sytem. One that charges both off the same system but isolates the outputs so one battery for truck function, second for accessories, any cheap way or am i stuck with a kit?
5:Anyone make a 1000 CCA battery besides Optima? I like their stuff, but $$$
Think that's all for now. . .
Justin
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Joined: Jan 2002
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From: GANS
1: I bought the factory upgrade alternator for mine, it puts out around 85 amps.. about $80 dollars..
3: deep cycle is ok for heavy winching, but you'd definatly have to use the isolater system for it.
4: ivan can probably help you there
5: I got a 1000CCA battery from my local advance auto.. like $80 with a 6 year warantee..
3: deep cycle is ok for heavy winching, but you'd definatly have to use the isolater system for it.
4: ivan can probably help you there
5: I got a 1000CCA battery from my local advance auto.. like $80 with a 6 year warantee..
Posting Guru
Joined: Feb 2002
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From: Cleveland, WI USA
Check out a few of the RV places for the isolator. I looked into getting one for my horse trailer so I could run a seperate battery on the trailer. The isolator will allow the alternator to charge both batteries, but won't allow the trailer to drain the truck battery.
Check out this link for the isolator.
You can run a deep cycle, but I'm not sure about charging from the alternator. I was under the impression that the regulator (that reads the battery power level) gets confused by the deep cycle battery and won't fully charge it. Check the electrical forum to confirm this, though.
For the larger CCA batteries, check out either BatteriesPlus (or similar chain) or a tractor supply place. Those tractors take some big honkin' batteries.
Hope this helps.
Kevin K.
Check out this link for the isolator.
You can run a deep cycle, but I'm not sure about charging from the alternator. I was under the impression that the regulator (that reads the battery power level) gets confused by the deep cycle battery and won't fully charge it. Check the electrical forum to confirm this, though.
For the larger CCA batteries, check out either BatteriesPlus (or similar chain) or a tractor supply place. Those tractors take some big honkin' batteries.
Hope this helps.
Kevin K.
Lead Driver
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 9,236
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From: Senoia, GA
back when my ramsey still worked i had a pretty nice dual battery system setup that i liked! i have a 95 amp isolator, 120 amp alternator, and a marine cycle battery for the second battery. If i had to do it over again i would use a high rated continous duty solenoid! you can switch b/t the 2 batteries and they won't drain into each other like a solenoid. i would not recommend a deep cycle (it's all i had at the time and i am too cheap to buy a new one) b/c a deep cycle battery is designed to use for a trolling motor or for lighting which draws continous power at a slow rate....a winch however will pull a large amount of power at a very quick rate! stick to a regular car battery but get the 3 year warranty so that if it fails you can get a new one for free... 
here are some pretty sweet batteries like optimas http://www.odysseybatteries.com/atvbattery.htm
also take a look at this http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billav...tery_setup.htm
-cutts-
i'll dig up all my old battery info for ya to look through
here are some pretty sweet batteries like optimas http://www.odysseybatteries.com/atvbattery.htm
also take a look at this http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billav...tery_setup.htm
-cutts-
i'll dig up all my old battery info for ya to look through
Posting Guru
Joined: Jan 2003
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From: House Springs, MO
Hey Hoxii go to autozone and get a 1000 CCA battery with a 7 year warranty. $75 will get you one. A 6.9 or 7.3 diesel altenator puts out 100 amps. That's my next conversion.
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Lead Driver
Joined: May 2000
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From: Senoia, GA
well i got mine for an f350 ambulance package but they had 460's in them! i dunno if you will be able to bolt it in to a small block alt housing cause the casing is a lot bigger
-cutts-
EDIT....mine is a 100 amp not 120 but i think you can get them! the new powerstrokes use 215 amp but you gotta swap the serpentine belt pulley to a v-groove
-cutts-
EDIT....mine is a 100 amp not 120 but i think you can get them! the new powerstrokes use 215 amp but you gotta swap the serpentine belt pulley to a v-groove
Last edited by fishmanndotcom; Aug 1, 2004 at 12:51 AM.
Senior User
Joined: Mar 2004
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From: Mountains of NE CA
For the Alt check out mean-green.com. For MORE battery you can run two 1000cca batteries in parallel and no need for isolator. You will have to change the batteries together which is more expense but you would have 2000cca at your disposal. And like fishy said stick with regular auto batteries especially if you run them in parallel. BTW running batteries in Parallel means hooking together negative to negative and positive to positive for 12v and total amp capabilities of both batteries.
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Postmaster
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From: Pittsburgh
I'd be better off and dollars ahead to just buy an isolator and a 1000CCA battery and use my old one as a start battery. I'll look into the powerstroke alt. For some reason or another my 65A came with a dual V-belt pulley, oughta be just about right for 200A.
Justin
Justin
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From: Pittsburgh
Question: I got on partsamerica.com and was looking up HO alternators. Just out of curiosity i punched in '85 F-350 with a 300 and i gave me two options for a 100A alternator. One was $35 and the other was $70. Both were remans, both from teh same company, both with the same description, but two different PN's. Anyone have ay idea what the difference might be? I also looked up the 100A for the '85 F150 and it only gave me the $70 option. Any ideas?
Justin
Justin