130 amp alternator

[wardog]

How do can i find out the amps of my alternator? I bought a 130 amp but it seems to be smaller than what i got. Any help would be appreciated thanks oscar

 

[wardog]

Anybody know what can i use to check the amps of the alternator to make sure its a 130???

 

[IJ.]

An auto elec will have a test bench that he can load it up using an electric motor.

No "safe" way I can think of to test it on a car.

 

[NewWestSupras]

If it's smaller than a stock one, is it just underdriven? My 100 amp MR2 one is bigger than stock...

 

[Steve_N]

take it to Autozone, Advance etc. They will test it for you & tell you the amps its putting out.

 

[MarkIII4Me]

How do can i find out the amps of my alternator? I bought a 130 amp but it seems to be smaller than what i got. Any help would be appreciated thanks oscar

I'm guessing the 130amp alt was the ones being sold on ebay. I have the same one. There is no way in hell it puts out the claimed 130amps since it is 1/3 smaller than the oem alt. I would guess it would generate anywhere from 80-100amps depending on how it was wound. Still, a freshly rebuilt alt for under $100 is a great deal. I bought it just so I wouldn't have to clean my dirty old one up. You can always tweak it to up the juice a bit. I myself installed a 48mm pulley to pump more juice out at idle.

I took the alt to both autozone and advanced and both said they could only test the voltage that was being generated; not the amps. If you ever get it tested somewhere and get the actual amperage numbers, let me know; as I've been wondering the same thing.

 

[wardog]

Yeah i took it o autozone and they only checked the voltage and it was 14.xx . I talked to the person the techat Eagle Electric and he told me that it didnt matter how small or big the shell looked. It was the insides that count because all they do is re-wound them to 130 or 160 and install our voltage regulator and connector. Hey were did you get that smaller pulley at?

 

[MarkIII4Me]

I talked to the person the techat Eagle Electric and he told me that it didnt matter how small or big the shell looked. It was the insides that count because all they do is re-wound them to 130 or 160 and install our voltage regulator and connector.?

That is not entirely true. Yes, they re-wind the alternator with a longer coil which produces more power, but the physical size of the housing will limit the amount of extra wire they can add. Smaller housing = smaller coil = reduced power output in comparisson to a larger housing. I've been told in the past that rewinding an alt gives at most around a 25% increase in amperage output. So if you start with a more powerful factory alternator, the output will be all that more powerful after it is rewound. These tiny alternators that we bought off ebay may have only been 65amps to begin with. The rebuilders actually pushing 130 amps out of these tiny alternators, as advertised, is simply an impossibility. Still, I'd really be interested in seeing what they do push.

Hey were did you get that smaller pulley at?

I sourced a pulley for a 81-88 Mercury and had it machined down to work.
Check out my posts in this thread for all the info:

http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98079