Important: Improvements on Saturn Alternator Swap

[92nolatist]

Im looking to route the wires to the stock location in the fuse box; I want to keep things clean. Im having a hell of a time trying to find 4ga wire though, no one carries it anywhere.

 

[Blurred Talon]

Alright so I've got my stock alternator wiring all pulled out and now I'm ready to start planning how to run the wiring for the self exciting alternator.
Here's what I think I need.
1 wire running from the Alternator terminal to the positive battery terminal.
From the positive to the distribution box.
From the distribution box to the fuse box (alt choke, battery + input, etc).

Is that correct?

 

[92nolatist]

Welp, got the saturn alt with the self exciting reg bolted and wired up; have great voltage above idle, BUT at idle (750 rpms) it will charge but only at 12.50-12.70 with NO accessories on; even less voltage with shit on. I have the smallest pulley, 2 inch I believe. Have I done anything wrong that I haven't picked up on???

 

[awdwhip]

Try a higher idle and see what happens. Then report back.

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[92nolatist]

Putting the idle up to 1000 makes the alt charge at 14.4 Thats with nothing on, its at 14.2 with a ton of accessories on. This is good news because I thought my NEW alt was SOL, so now what can I do? An even smaller pulley?? Because I would rather not keep my idle at 1000 (during the winter I dont mind it that high).

Also, heres something else to wrap your mind around; our stock crank pulley has two different sized belt pulleys but that thing shit the bed long ago, I have a fluidamper now that has two of the same sized belt pulleys (the alt belt pulley was made bigger on the fluidamper) causing the alt to spin even slower than it normally would with the stock damper. This could be the cause of my charging problem at 750 rpms even though I have a 2 inch pulley on the alt.

 

[awdwhip]

Sounds like you diagnosed your own problem.

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[97gst_spyder]

Bump the idle up to 850rpms, and test.

 

[92nolatist]

^^^ Read my post above.

Should I get a smaller alt pulley though???

 

[97gst_spyder]

I run the stock pulley on my Saturn alt. No issues at 850 rpm. 14.5-14.7v with headlights on.

 

[92nolatist]

Hmmm, I might have a shitty alternator then..... Ill call motor city reman this week and see what they think.

 

[97gst_spyder]

Mine is the 103amp Advance reman.

 

[bwhite]

Two things. What ever happened to the pulleys turboglenn? Also what ever happened to the resistor inline the sense wire so we can just run the wire right to the back of the alternator?

 

[Blurred Talon]

Alright so I've got my stock alternator wiring all pulled out and now I'm ready to start planning how to run the wiring for the self exciting alternator.
Here's what I think I need.
1 wire running from the Alternator terminal to the positive battery terminal.
From the positive to the distribution box.
From the distribution box to the fuse box (alt choke, battery + input, etc).

Is that correct?

Any?

 

[turboglenn]

About the pulleys, I've made my own smaller ones and had issues making them from aluminum (wear on the ribs) and i too have low volts at 750-800RPM idle, so i just bumped my idle to 1k RPM, doesn't hurt anything and makes the water pump flow better sitting still too. I think that's the best and easiest way to solve the low volts from the larger pulley size on the saturn alts.. perosnallyi don't like the one wire units but they do work. you can just get much better volatage and steadier charge from running one with a field and source wire connected when done how i describe in this thread.. I have only ruined one since my swap to them years ago and to this day i start with 14.4 -14.6 at idle when fresh started, then once warm and even at night with all eccesories on i'm seeing no lower than mid 13's for volts

can't complain a bit, with mitsu alts, i could predict and show people that after every trip past 8k RPM the alt would consistantly loose .1 volt or so (or at most after 3 trips to the 8k + RPM range it would certainly loose .1v, the saturn alt spinning slower in general i think is a benefir to us higher revving guys and ithink the added 200 RPM needed at idle for perfect voltage is very little to give up in the trade off for reliable good charging source without having them fail once a year minimum (i went through 3 in one year before i decided ot make the swap, even under warranty it just wasn't worth having to change them out constantly and still get a poor charge result in the end)

 

[92nolatist]

So what you're saying is that if I get a 3 wire saturn alternator, I can have better voltage at 750 rpm? If so, I'll definitely go that route because I dont like idling at 1k.

 

[turboglenn]

So what you're saying is that if I get a 3 wire saturn alternator, I can have better voltage at 750 rpm? If so, I'll definitely go that route because I dont like idling at 1k.

I can't promise you that because theres too many variables. What i can say is that a 3 wire unit has a deidicatred set of sensing wires, and depending on where you feed them from you can adjust the voltage output to a certain extent

Well,i've got a batch of alt brackets made, just need in storage to test fit all of them one final time before putting onthe adjustment tang for the adjsuter bolt and thenpick the size for the spacer.. can't wait to get these done, been a long project

 

[bwhite]

What about the inline resistor? That sounds like with the right one this is the ticket.

 

[turboglenn]

A resistor (the ceramic kind) or even a potentiometer mounted on a heat sink will allow you to dial things in, just if you get carried away you'll burn things up, plus you must remember the alt has a inimum shaft speed it MUST reach to make its minimum voltage which is our amin issue on DSM's (unless you just set your idle to 1000 RPM like i did, now i get 13.6 at idle at night, 14.4 - 14.6 during the day )

 

[97gst_spyder]

Im ready for the bracket.....

 

[turboglenn]

Im ready for the bracket.....

Cool i got three , i just need i storage once they open after the holidayus so i can pay and get into my spare 6 bolt i use for mock ups, then i can size rthe spacers, and do the final trimmings, i'll PM ya

 

[awdwhip]

What kind of bracket are we talking about.

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[____Kurt____]

I'm curious as well. Assumption: for the actual alternator so no grinding/hacking/modding is needed for fitment?

 

[kaganader]

I'm anxiously ready for the bracket...

 

[DECODER22]

I was wondering if any of the 1g guys with the sat alt upgrade in stock location have issues in the rain. My belt seems to slip in the rain and the tension is tight. I am wondering if this is due to the Saturn alternator pulley being wider

 

[turboglenn]

The bracket is just for adjustment so that the top bolt actually sits in a groove for tensioning intead of being below it like it is when usin the mitsu bracket. the lower part ofthe mounting still needs the grinding done on it but it's so minimal when my first one went bad they took it as a core just fine without complaint

I'll beback home tomorrow and hopefully can get a pic up of them, just something i've been working on due to being a little leary of how the adjustment bolt fits when putting on the saturn alt