Sierra to Falcon ALT upgrade PROBLEM - NOW ALL SORTED!

[Pezooki]

Pez you seem to have had a lot more trouble than I did.
I'm guessing the cast iron bracket is the culprit.. Oh well all good now.
Mine is 100A and is off an EF FALCON..I think the Fairmont uses a 110A version because it has more electrical crap onboard.

CORRECT.

On the plus side, it is very easy to source our 100A FALCON alternators... There were a lot more EF Falcons built than EF Fairmont Ghia's! If they ever die on us, finding a replacement is going to be super easy!

Pez

[BOGFROG]

Hey all just wondering how well this set up has been working in relation to loads etc ? I am looking at doing this mod but wanted to know if it was sufficient enough to run all this together: 4 IPF Roof lights,2 IPF Spotties, Warn 9000 Winch,12v Fridge, ARB Air Compressor as well as charge my second battery via dual battery isolator? Sometimes these things will be all on at the same time, just want to know if this will cope and not run my batteries flat? Anyone who's done this Mod your thought's would be greatly appreciated Thanks in advance Robb.

[Gwagensteve]

It's an alternator dude, not a nuclear power station.

The falcon alternator is good for 100A/110A peak.

Your winch consumes 400A peak.

Your additional lights consume 50A when they are all on.

The fridge- about 5A or so
The compressor - let's say 20A

That leaves 25A to run the whole rest of the car - assuming you have stock headlights, dash lights etc, you're probably going to max out the alternator before you winch.

Steve.

[want33s]

I run my 100A EF alt on a 11A V-belt.. Two 55W spotties on front of exo. Two 55W spotties on rear of exo. Four 55W rocklights under car as well as LED parkers/taillights and 55W headlights.
A 150A dual battery controller and 280CCA/1000CCA batts.

Never had a drama even with ALL lights and wipers and heater fan on.
Alt light doesn't come close to glowing.

Jas.

[BOGFROG]

It's an alternator dude, not a nuclear power station.

The falcon alternator is good for 100A/110A peak.

Your winch consumes 400A peak.

Your additional lights consume 50A when they are all on.

The fridge- about 5A or so
The compressor - let's say 20A

That leaves 25A to run the whole rest of the car - assuming you have stock headlights, dash lights etc, you're probably going to max out the alternator before you winch.

Steve.

Thanks Steve thats what I thought, may have to run my 12v Fridge and Roof lights off the second battery as lights will only be used for short stints at a time such as bog holes at night mainly! I may have to scale the roof lights down to 55watters instead of 100w or get those hid inserts? what do you think?

[Gwagensteve]

Just be realistic about how much you need on at once. I run 2X 100W high beams and 2X 100W IPF roof lights and that seems to be plenty of light to me- I can't imagine ever traveling fast enough to need another 400w of high beam.

Sure, HID's would massively reduce power consumption, and improve light output as well. not cheap though to buy three HID kits.

You're not going to need every light you have on while winching for example. The compressor cycling a bit for an airlocker won't be the end of the world either.

I think you'll generally be OK with the winch out of the equation, but I'd still be looking at where your lights are aimed etc to be sure you really need all those lights on at once.

Steve.

[BOGFROG]

I run my 100A EF alt on a 11A V-belt.. Two 55W spotties on front of exo. Two 55W spotties on rear of exo. Four 55W rocklights under car as well as LED parkers/taillights and 55W headlights.
A 150A dual battery controller and 280CCA/1000CCA batts.

Never had a drama even with ALL lights and wipers and heater fan on.
Alt light doesn't come close to glowing.

Jas.

All sounds good Jas but my killer is going to be the Winch when I winch with my standard Alt it just sucks the power out of everything ,lights dim etc...big power drain! any ideas? I want to be able to run all this at times what is my best solution?

[BOGFROG]

Just be realistic about how much you need on at once. I run 2X 100W high beams and 2X 100W IPF roof lights and that seems to be plenty of light to me- I can't imagine ever traveling fast enough to need another 400w of high beam.

Sure, HID's would massively reduce power consumption, and improve light output as well. not cheap though to buy three HID kits.

You're not going to need every light you have on while winching for example. The compressor cycling a bit for an airlocker won't be the end of the world either.

I think you'll generally be OK with the winch out of the equation, but I'd still be looking at where your lights are aimed etc to be sure you really need all those lights on at once.

Steve.

Thanks Steve I will give this some more thought before I set it up But I think the winch will still be a problem regardless of what I do?

[Gwagensteve]

There's no sensible alternator that's going to allow you to winch and keep a battery charged. 100A is quite high output unless you go up to pretty specialised stuff like welding alternators or something water cooled. (yes, really)

THere are some very high output GM alternators - I think up to 175A or so is available, but even that won't keep up with your total demand is you insist on trying to run everything at once. (including winching)

You're always going to have to winch with a duty cycle - 50% on, 50% off, and maintain a high idle speed.

Ultimately, you're going to need to be realistic about how much stuff you can use at once.

I suppose you could run dual alternators.... or turn off a couple of lights.

Steve.

[MART]

I have a UNI power welding alternater rated at 220 amps , it still flattens the battery when winching but , it takes a while , you need to winch properly , take a bit more time to set up , if it is a short pull , run the cable out to winch of the first row of cable , or use a snatch block , this creates lees load on winch and uses less amps while winching , causing less drain on your battery , Cheers Paul.

[hugz]

since someone else conveniently bumped this thread.. what pulley can go on the fairmont alternator to allow it to run in a sierra? I have one of the alternators on hand but i dunno what to do for the pulley still

[want33s]

All sounds good Jas but my killer is going to be the Winch when I winch with my standard Alt it just sucks the power out of everything ,lights dim etc...big power drain! any ideas? I want to be able to run all this at times what is my best solution?

As others have said, you won't get an alternator to run EVERYTHING at once and still charge the battery/ies.
The idea is to have an alt big enough to run your ignition and lights and have a little power left over for recharging.

To stop your lights dimming etc run the winch off your second battery. Then the alt can recharge it as soon as engine is running again via the controller.

Think of the battery as a reserve tank that can be drained and refilled.
My second (winch) battery is an AGM 900CCA 100Ah sealed job that can get me out of most places by itself. It's very heavy but worth it.
Jas.

[germo]

BOGFROG

if your going to do alot of winching then you will need the second battery or big primary battery.
the alternator will never supply enough current to run a winch under load. its job is to charge your big cca battery for when its needed. then it delivers its 1000 cold cranking amps straight to your winch.
don't froget to use some big cable, because this will make a difference to performance especially as it gets hot!

you can use a suzuki alternator, it just won't replenish the battery as quick.

ashley

[Gwagensteve]

since someone else conveniently bumped this thread.. what pulley can go on the fairmont alternator to allow it to run in a sierra? I have one of the alternators on hand but i dunno what to do for the pulley still

I pulled the pulley off an EA bosch alternator from memory.

Steve.

[Moph]

Re pulleys, just go down to your local wrecker with your Zook and EF/EL alternator in hand, and ask to see their stuffed alternator pile. If they're anything like my local, they'll have 20-30 alts there that have been returned by customers under warranty, usually going for $5 each. Just pick through until you find one with the required pulley and matching shaft diameter.

No idea what mine was from, but it fitted like a dream!!

[want33s]

since someone else conveniently bumped this thread.. what pulley can go on the fairmont alternator to allow it to run in a sierra? I have one of the alternators on hand but i dunno what to do for the pulley still

Do you run a 'V' belt or a multi rib?
Mine is a V and I used a pulley off an old Bosch XA falcon alt with a small spacer.
Not 100% but I believe you can run the EF multi rib pulley with a Zook multi rib belt (even though they are different widths) if you get the spacing on the alt right.


Jas.

[Gwagensteve]

Not 100% but I believe you can run the EF multi rib pulley with a Zook multi rib belt (even though they are different widths) if you get the spacing on the alt right.

Sounds accruate - I've set up a car with falcon PS (polyvee) and an endless air compressor (really wide polyvee) to a jimny polyvee crank pulley and it's fine.

Steve.