External Regulators: Know when to hold'em and when to fold'em!
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- Опубліковано 10 жов 2024
- www.mechman.co...
The mystery box that can cause all kinds of problems if not fully understood and used correctly. The video will cover 99% of customers but in short, if you THINK you need an external regulator....you don't. If you KNOW you do, then you do!
Feel free to contact us whichever is best for you:
Tony@Mechman.com
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Not all alternators are installed in cars. Many of them are installed in boats and RV's for the purpose of recharging the large house battery bank. In that case, a smart external regulator like the Wakespeed WS500 that can reduce the alternator output to control overheating and charge to the proper voltage for different types of batteries such as LFP is very important.
Absolutely correct. We NEVER recommend the standard/entry level external regulator we have with to a marine application customer.
Most externally regulated alts have a plug that is black and square ish and usually have a green ans black wire, also guys don't run your ecu above 15v or u r going to have a bad time
Thank you for the reply/back up! People WANT to run 15+ volts until they realize that means their vehicle will run at 15+ volts. Also, the external regulators we use in older Dodge/Mopar or 16+ volt applications are a tan in color. Can be either rear or side plug orientation.
@@mechmanalternators I run dual external at 16.5 then victron energy 12/12 30amp chargers to supply my truck with its voltage for the stock, it is so much easier having a alt do the thinking for u when u can, but I don't want my alts rueat full bore while I am driving, the plug and play options y'all have for easing voltage r great and solid, fuq all the diode adding
That’s why you run two one for car one for battery bank
@@FATHERSOFBASS I need more than two I already have two 390's on my year suburban I have tried two ho one stock for a triple and any configuration that would work I haven't found it to be reliable enough to stay together while u drive hours down the highway to a show, my duals work perfectly and I am confident in there ability to perform and belts and idlers staying together, with the two 12-12boxes I have they charge at 18 amps each very low demand they r very efficient so I am losing only about 400 watts and gaining dependability and confidence 100% I run about 40k watts and so far with the amount of lithium I have and at 350 amps of idle charge it is solid
What exactly are you referring to when you say you have other options to keep the voltage up somewhere around 5:30-5:50 in the video
When adjusting the voltage, should I be at idle rpm or have a rev at the time?
I was looking at your guys website and couldn't find an alternator for my Pontiac sunfire 2000 2.2L and was wondering if you guys would build one as a custom request?
www.mechman.com/alternators/chevrolet/cavalier/2-2l-ohc/1996-2002/240-amp-alternator-for-2-2l-gm-sohc-with-bracket/
Dope
I'm curious about these other options about how to get my voltage up in my 02 grand cherokee 4.7. I bought one of these adjustable units because my PCM is making my voltage be between 9 volts and 11 volts and very rarely will reach 12.5 volts when over 3k rpm. Please help as I would like a better option than this external adjustable regulator. Also the wiring it in is not intimidating as I am an automotive technician of about 20 years and do quite a bit of wiring.
And I have already tested the pcm with a labscope and it's definitely failing but only for the regulator. Also just took my second new alt off to install a 320 amp alternator and need this to bump up closer to a charge of 14.5
How can you tell if your regulator has went out?
I have dual Alts and one runs the truck and the other is for my amp the one for my amp is a external regulated and I have it charging at 15.2 is that ok I have I a agm 110ah and a bank of six super caps all installed professionally is this wrong ?
For the most part, 12v AGM batteries don't like to be charged over 15 volts. They can be but you're not gaining much if anything and also shortening the life of the battery. A good 14.6-14.9 volts is generally the sweet spot for AGM.
As for the SuperCaps, you'll just need to refer to the manufacturer of those to see the prefered charging range.
@@mechmanalternators cool thanks but I do notice when I charge at 14.8 to 15.2 I know it don’t seem like much but it’s a gain of 5000 watts it’s a day and night difference
@@pork.t.v9462 So four tenths of a volt makes 5000 extra power? You might want to check that math. 4/10th's of a volt would be like 160 extra watts if the alternator is putting out 400 amps.
Feel free to check for yourself: www.rapidtables.com/calc/electric/Volt_to_Watt_Calculator.html
@@mechmanalternators these amps at 12v do 4000 at 15.5v do 8600 I’m sure of it like I said it’s night and day difference and it’s a 320 running my stock and a 370 running the amps thanks for ur feed back
@@pork.t.v9462 If that is something you are getting from a wattage draw reading, it's not likely because of your AGM battery running at 15.5 volts, it's because of your capacitor bank. If you have a 6 pack of capacitors, they are running in series. This is going to give you a voltage 15 volts if they are 2.5v caps and 16.2 volts if they are 2.7v capacitors. You see a huge wattage increase because your capacitors are more completely charged at over 15 volts.
Supercapacitors and Ultracapacitors have a completely different discharge curve than batteries.
A fully charged lead acid battery rests at 12.6-12.8 volts and when it drops to 11 volts, it's essentially dead.
A fully charged 6 cell capacitor bank using 2.5v cells is fully charged at 15 volts, but, it's voltage drop and state of charge drop more linear. When it's at 75%, it will be closer to 11.6 volts. It will hold full voltage for maybe the first 5% of discharge, then the voltage and charge drop pretty well at the same rate until voltage and state of charge are both zero.
What that means is you are never going to use all of the available current in your capacitor bank because the current output will be limited to the voltage drop. You are using about 30% of the available energy in the supercapacitor because you don't draw it down below probably about 10.5 volts. When your charging system is only charging it to 13.8 volts, it's not fully charging your capacitor bank, and at partial charge, you don't have that flat voltage line from 100% charge to 90% charge, you are only sitting at about 90% charged so the amount of current provided by a 6 cell capacitor bank is minimal. You would actually do better with 5 2.7v supercapacitors than you would with 6 because you can take advantage of the flat voltage curve that exists at the 95-100% charged area of the supercap. You won't much out of a 6 cell cap bank when you don't get it to 100%. Try taking 1 cell out and running your voltage at 15.5 volts and see what wattage you are pushing. It's probably higher than with 6 at 13.5 volts. You might find that going with 6 cells is better than 6, and going with a 2 parelell by 5 series supercapacitor is even better, and you are able to keep your voltage lower which is better for your batteries.
Alternator output is not directly correlated with the output voltage. Resistance is part of the equation too. AGMs have a lower resistance than lead acid batteries so while you can say they don't *like* higher voltages, also, they don't *need* higher voltages because they can accept more amperage at a lower voltage. An AGM charging at 13.8 volts will take 50ah of power 2 or 3 times as fast as a lead acid battery of the same capacity being charged at 14.5 volts. Your supercapacitors will take all 240 amps at 13.5 volts because the resistance is so much lower in a supercapacitor that it absorbs current exponentially faster than Lead acid or AGM batteries. A race to full charge between an AGM and a supercapacitor would be like a drag race between a drunk guy on a bike going against a top fuel drag car. And discharge rate is the same thing. Your caps get drained first, then the lead acid and AGMs take care of what's left or just do their best to recharge the capacitors.
how did you wire up two batteries to the one alt?
what can i do for a 2000 honda accord 2.3 with the weird charging system to increase volts for charging agm batteries ?
Get a different car.
@@mechmanalternators so you dont know anything ? cant even do a 200 amp like the mechanic down the street ? figured youd at least be able to make 240....
@@FUBuddy We can make anything, but that's not our customer base. If you have a local person that can make a 200-amp unit, support your local business and put the money in his pocket.
@@mechmanalternators already did, i was looking for more power.
I feel the same way stay away if you can