alternator squealing under max load - 4 gauge rewire the solution?

[1Gina2G]

Alright everyone let me first say im not new to dealing with squaeling belts but this time i know its The alternator, 3 of 4 times the belt will squeal very loudly, hurts my ears standing outside the car. When it manages to start up without squealing, which is usually right after adjusting the belts tension, it will start squealing the very moment i switch on my headlights or radiator fans, more commonly the fans. Sometimes the noise will settle down after turning things off but the last time it did not. When it starts up loud i have not let it run for more then 10 seconds since its just so loud i doubt it would die down.

Ive got a new alternator, new PS and alternator belts and ive tried wiping the pulleys down along with taking off the crank pulley and putting it back on after seeing if was split, which its still good. The alternator is also charging at 14v with no load and 13.6 full load.

Ive noticed people rewire the alternator with 4 gauge to compensate for voltge drop problems, my dads actually an electrician and i asked his opinion on if the rewire could possibley help my load problem and he said it could but thinks the amperage is different on automotive wire compared to the wires for buildings he deals with. He did say that he thought the 4 6 gaue wires that go to the battery probably present more of a charging problems then the other 2 wires.

It is good to note that i have 7 aftermarket gauges installed and my radar detector along with the fans mentioned earlier. No radio in the car though. Batteries also new with all new fuses every where and checked.

Is it time for a rewire? Thanks in advanced everyone

 

[pushen 160]

Mine does the same thing changed everything belt dressing helps try different brands of belts and tighten that belt good makes it stop for a while or buy a racing alt. if you can't stand it any more the alt are not cheep.

 

[1Gina2G]

Well the alternator has been replaced and is new, the times it squeals is less then the old alternateor which was replaced soley from just dieing. I really suspect that 1. The factory wires are barely good enough already for the amperage, so 2. I have to much electronics so the alternators working too hard from the wires being to small.
If anyone has any input to this theory pleasse contribute! Thanks again

 

[wmrcs]

If you're going to rewire those you might as well go all out and do everything. All the grounds, and positives in 1/0 OFC. You can get pretty affordable 1/0 wire and it is twice as big as 4 gauge. It weighs a lot though so if you're going for every thousandth of a second you can get then I wouldn't go bigger. Sky High Car Audio sells very affordable 1/0 AWG wire.

 

[1Gina2G]

If you're going to rewire those you might as well go all out and do everything. All the grounds, and positives in 1/0 OFC. You can get pretty affordable 1/0 wire and it is twice as big as 4 gauge. It weighs a lot though so if you're going for every thousandth of a second you can get then I wouldn't go bigger. Sky High Car Audio sells very affordable 1/0 AWG wire.

Why would it matter if the main power & ground are big enough to do what they do? I've never heard of any one doing this, only wires ive ever read about improving is the fuel pump which ive done in 10 gauge and the 4 gauge alternator. Im not even sure where the other end of the positive wire goes to. I would do this if it good help out, but it seemed that the 2 gauge power is sufficent.

 

[wmrcs]

Just less resistance so more ease of power flow. If you have 2 gauge then that's decent sized. You would barely notice upgrading from 2 to 1/0 unless you monitored your voltage regularly.

 

[luv2rallye]

The factory wires are barely good enough already for the amperage, so 2. I have to much electronics so the alternators working too hard from the wires being to small.
If anyone has any input to this theory pleasse contribute! Thanks again

Well have you considered that perhaps your alt just doesn't have the amperage capacity that you need? If so, it won't matter how big of wires you put on. A too small of alt is going to put tremendous force on the belt when it's load is exceeded (enough to make any belt squeel). You say you have too much electronics - just how much? How many amps draw? You may need a 90A, or 120A, or even 150A alt if your draw demand is that large. Also when the alt max draw is exceeded you will get lower voltage right out of the alt (before it even goes through any cables).