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alternator whine...

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well, after fusing my battery into a solid piece of lead by running with my alt pumping out 17-18V for too long, I put in a very new looking XT6 alternator.

and a different battery of course :)

 

runs and charges fine... but....

 

If I count my "devices" as follows:

 

headlights

rad fans

off-road lights: outer top set

off-road lights: inner top set

H3 amber fogs (from a Mercedes)

 

if I have over 2 of the above "devices" running at the same time, the alt starts to squeal. shut them off so there's just 2, and the squeal goes away...

 

is this squeal the SOD for the alt?

Time to go bigger Mick. Thats the sound over heavy loading.. Too much time doing that and you can kiss another alt goodbye.

 

 

PS.. I'm sure of course you check belt tension already:-p

PS.. I'm sure of course you check belt tension already:-p

 

lol, I was just covering the obvious so the wiser could come in make a technical analysis :-p :lol:

I'd have to agree with calebz; higher output ALT .... or less lights? ;)

 

Maybe you could force the lights to use battery power isolated off your main power circut when they are one. Then switch the battery back online after you are done with the lights to recharge it. You'd be pulling mad amp draw from a battery and not your alternator.

  • Author
I'd have to agree with calebz; higher output ALT .... or less lights? ;)

 

Maybe you could force the lights to use battery power isolated off your main power circut when they are one. Then switch the battery back online after you are done with the lights to recharge it. You'd be pulling mad amp draw from a battery and not your alternator.

 

interesting thought there... I am powering these off my second battery... right now my isolator solenoid is switch on the IGN, but I could change it to have a manual over-ride too.

 

I have a 150 amp waiting in the wings, plus a 200 amp isolator.. just waiting for the impending engine install to do them....

 

there's an auto-electric guy just around the corner from my house... I should see what kind of a deal he can get me on group XT6 alt rebuilds :) I think I have 3 dead ones laying around now, plus a dead 135 amp too....

 

and yes, it's definitely not belt whine..... :-\

If you take the car to the tech I would have him check the current draw for each of the light systems you have and make list so you will have a reference to go by for the extra loads. He should have a amp clamp to do that.

  • Author

I threw another xt6 alt in, and all is fine now...with all the lights on and the fan on, it drops to about 12.4-12.6V without anything running it's at about 14.5V.

 

so now I've got 3 dead xt6 alts sitting in my garage... this last one was so "new" looking too.....

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