volts dropping at idle
volts dropping at idle put on a 150amp alt by powermaster, and now my volts drop and/or jump around when at idle, as soon as i press the gas the volts stop jumping around...im guessing a crappy connection somewhere and im thinking its at the + battery terminal...any other ideas?...the cable running from the alternator to the battery is 2gauge...
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 717
Likes: 0
From: Georgetown, DE
The alternator is probably just not a good match for your car. It's just not maintaining power at low RPM. I can't see a loose/bad connection causing this. You don't have an underdrive pulley installed, do you?
at idle it puts out around 90amps and at 2,500 rpms its just over 160amps...they way i have everything connected to the batery is just rigged right now, hopefully when i get a chance to fix it, it will correct the problem, just wanna see what others have run into with the same problem, also the alt is for a 98-02 camaro 5.7...but is there really any difference between the two
I suspect the problem is, to make enough current for the
accessory baseline load you have to pretty much max
the field current at low RPM. All regulators will have a
built in current limit and you may be up against it until
RPM can take over the work and the field current backs
off.
I got an Advance alternator for the beater the other day
and it had an actual test sheet with it. Niceto have, but
see it has squat for output below 1000RPM or so.
A couple of hundred more idle RPM might be what you
want.
accessory baseline load you have to pretty much max
the field current at low RPM. All regulators will have a
built in current limit and you may be up against it until
RPM can take over the work and the field current backs
off.
I got an Advance alternator for the beater the other day
and it had an actual test sheet with it. Niceto have, but
see it has squat for output below 1000RPM or so.
A couple of hundred more idle RPM might be what you
want.
