Upgraded Alternator Discussion - Your Experiences

[CatchMoTrout]

Hi All,

My 93 FZ-J80 has been struggling to charge my battery recently and I am at the crossroads of going OEM replacement on my alternator or upgrading to a sequoia alternator to get 130 amps of current.

My use case for my truck will be overlanding and wheeling semi-difficult forest service trails, and I already have a winch on the truck. It's highly likely I add some lighting and new speakers, but no fridges, subwoofers, or anything with high current draw other than recovering.

If you have done the conversion, was the install complicated and or worth it? And how has your rig been since?

There are a lot of forum posts on here about the conversion bracket from Delta, but not a ton of input from real world use case on their experiences.

Appreciate ya'll, cheers!

 

[Marco Lau]

I ran a 150 amp alternator for my 91, mainly to run my elec. fan setup and other accessories you mentioned above. Other than brackets, etc, you will need to upgrade the big 3 cables as well as fuse. The delta website has a really clear diagram to follow on the 1fz.

 

[Broski]

IMO there’s no need for that upgrade!
I like the KISS plan keep it simple stupid
I run the stock alternator with the group 31 AMG battery.
It runs the ARB fridge, on board air, 10K winch + the light bar, and all the OEM stuff.
Never an issue can run the ARB fridge for 2 to 3 days in camp and still start the truck.

 

[Marco Lau]

IMO there’s no need for that upgrade!
I like the KISS plan keep it simple stupid
I run the stock alternator with the group 31 AMG battery.
It runs the ARB fridge, on board air, 10K winch + the light bar, and all the OEM stuff.
Never an issue can run the ARB fridge for 2 to 3 days in camp and still start the truck.

My 31 AGM battery would not last 3 days with the fridge plug in....and i have had 3 of them. This upgrade is not for everybody....but one of the most useful upgrade for me at the very min.

 

[ChaseTruck]

We’ve had Sequoia units go bad in the ‘93 - overcharging. Perhaps my faults somewhere along the line, quite frankly. I’m not around the truck all the time, so I didn’t investigate, just swap for new. If I could find the stock brackets, I’d switch back to stock. I’ve seen it run the occasional winch pull just fine, and in the end, that’s all I want.

 

[80t0ylc]

Hi All,

My 93 FZ-J80 has been struggling to charge my battery recently and I am at the crossroads of going OEM replacement on my alternator or upgrading to a sequoia alternator to get 130 amps of current.

My use case for my truck will be overlanding and wheeling semi-difficult forest service trails, and I already have a winch on the truck. It's highly likely I add some lighting and new speakers, but no fridges, subwoofers, or anything with high current draw other than recovering.

If you have done the conversion, was the install complicated and or worth it? And how has your rig been since?

There are a lot of forum posts on here about the conversion bracket from Delta, but not a ton of input from real world use case on their experiences.

Appreciate ya'll, cheers!

Before you upgrade or change your alternator, you might try replacing the brushes. I imagine your 93 has well over 100K miles, they do wear out.
Edit: brushes are a lot cheaper than an alternator. And I replaced mine without taking the alternator out of the truck.

 

[CatchMoTrout]

Before you upgrade or change your alternator, you might try replacing the brushes. I imagine your 93 has well over 100K miles, they do wear out.
Edit: brushes are a lot cheaper than an alternator. And I replaced mine without taking the alternator out of the truck.

I'll look into this. Thank you sir.

 

[CatchMoTrout]

We’ve had Sequoia units go bad in the ‘93 - overcharging. Perhaps my faults somewhere along the line, quite frankly. I’m not around the truck all the time, so I didn’t investigate, just swap for new. If I could find the stock brackets, I’d switch back to stock. I’ve seen it run the occasional winch pull just fine, and in the end, that’s all I want.

Did you have a circuit breaker installed during this? I've heard it's possible to overload if the Alternator start acting bad, and can end up frying things. Which an inline circuit breaker could be a failsafe for.

 

[tmxmotorsports]

Doing the big 3 wire upgrade will help.

 

[Broski]

Doing the big 3 wire upgrade will help.

I would do this upgrade

 

[Broski]

My 31 AGM battery would not last 3 days with the fridge plug in....and i have had 3 of them. This upgrade is not for everybody....but one of the most useful upgrade for me at the very min.

In reality the alternator has nothing to do with how long the battery lasts in camp I use the fridge blanket/insulator and don't run any lights off the car.

 

[80t0ylc]

Doing the big 3 wire upgrade will help.

Please provide a link for this. Some of us haven't heard about a "big 3 wire upgrade". TIA

 

[landtank]

We’ve had Sequoia units go bad in the ‘93 - overcharging. Perhaps my faults somewhere along the line, quite frankly. I’m not around the truck all the time, so I didn’t investigate, just swap for new. If I could find the stock brackets, I’d switch back to stock. I’ve seen it run the occasional winch pull just fine, and in the end, that’s all I want.

did you upgrade the wiring or just drop in a higher amp Alt?

 

[Broski]

Please provide a link for this. Some of us haven't heard about a "big 3 wire upgrade". TIA

Thread 'FZJ80 Heavy Duty Battery Cable Sets'

Apr 29, 2011

With the change to the forum and archiving of the old small business storefront threads, here is a link to the new thread: Heavy Duty Battery Cable Kits (FJ40, FJ55, FJ60/62, FZJ70/75, FJ80, FZJ80, UZJ100) - https://forum.ih8mud.com/classifieds/heavy-duty-battery-cable-kits-fj40-fj55-fj60-62-fzj70-75-fj80-fzj80-uzj100.564/

I have been offering this kit for FJ60/FJ62 and FJ80 and have put together a similar kit for the FZJ80's. The kit costs $145.00 shipped (within US). International shipping is available (please PM me).

The kit includes 5 cables and battery terminal...

• Fourrunner
• Replies: 179
• Forum: Small Business Storefront

• 

 

[Marco Lau]

In reality the alternator has nothing to do with how long the battery lasts in camp I use the fridge blanket/insulator and don't run any lights off the car.

it is when you are only getting 12-13 volt from the factory 80 amp alternator, as in my case, my elec. fans were pulling 30amp on avg. 20-30 amp for EFI, injectors, ignition etc. to keep the car running. Throw in a 12v fridge, lights, accessories, etc. My 80 amp alternator is no longer adequate in charging my battery due to additional amperage being drawn when the engine is running I think the 90 amp unit is adequate for running lights and fridge at camp and wheeling during the day. If you park at camp for more than 2-3 days without running engine, you risk running your battery dry, unless your fridge has a low battery warning cutoff. ( Mine cuts off when battery is below 11.7volt ) With the 150 amp alternator, i no longer get the E1 error in my fridge (low battery warning) I also have a big blanket/insulator for my dual zone 12v fridge...

 

[tmxmotorsports]

Thread 'FZJ80 Heavy Duty Battery Cable Sets'

Apr 29, 2011

With the change to the forum and archiving of the old small business storefront threads, here is a link to the new thread: Heavy Duty Battery Cable Kits (FJ40, FJ55, FJ60/62, FZJ70/75, FJ80, FZJ80, UZJ100) - https://forum.ih8mud.com/classifieds/heavy-duty-battery-cable-kits-fj40-fj55-fj60-62-fzj70-75-fj80-fzj80-uzj100.564/

I have been offering this kit for FJ60/FJ62 and FJ80 and have put together a similar kit for the FZJ80's. The kit costs $145.00 shipped (within US). International shipping is available (please PM me).

The kit includes 5 cables and battery terminal...

• Fourrunner
• Replies: 179
• Forum: Small Business Storefront

• 

Was gonna respond but im computer/ internet dumb don't know how to do all that lol

 

[Broski]

it is when you are only getting 12-13 volt from the factory 80 amp alternator, as in my case, my elec. fans were pulling 30amp on avg. 20-30 amp for EFI, injectors, ignition etc. to keep the car running. Throw in a 12v fridge, lights, accessories, etc. My 80 amp alternator is no longer adequate in charging my battery due to additional amperage being drawn when the engine is running I think the 90 amp unit is adequate for running lights and fridge at camp and wheeling during the day. If you park at camp for more than 2-3 days without running engine, you risk running your battery dry, unless your fridge has a low battery warning cutoff. ( Mine cuts off when battery is below 11.7volt ) With the 150 amp alternator, i no longer get the E1 error in my fridge (low battery warning) I also have a big blanket/insulator for my dual zone 12v fridge...View attachment 4173287

Brings me right back to the KISS plan

 

[CalnSam]

i got the kit from landtank, the wiring upgrade was nice, and paired well with the fusable link relocation from lcp. i saw on landtanks site that he has changed the kit since, but i would assume the new components are even better

 

[george_tlc]

Since I'm not running electric fans, don't have a 1000W stereo etc...

I personally preferred to invest in an aux battery that deals with all the camping loads. I've moved to a 100AH lifepo4 battery versus any of the lead acid/agm chemistry units. Add a decent charge controller and you are good to go, add solar if you wish as a secondary charging scheme. With the charge controller, even with the battery at 0 AH you can set the max charge current so you aren't hitting your alternator on the head. I typically set max charge at <40A. That leaves lots of alternator capacity to run the engine stuff and still be able to bring the lifepo4 back to 100% in less than 3 hours of driving.

The advantages of the lifepo4 chemistry is that even discharging to essentially 0 AH, doesn't kill the battery and it can be recharged back to 100AH and that cycle can be repeated in theory 1000's of times.

A lead acid/agm really shouldn't be discharged below about 50%. So, even a honking 100AH battery becomes a 50AH battery and will still show wear and tear with a 'conservative' 50% depth of discharge.

cheers,
george.

 

[ChaseTruck]

did you upgrade the wiring or just drop in a higher amp Alt?

Did you have a circuit breaker installed during this? I've heard it's possible to overload if the Alternator start acting bad, and can end up frying things. Which an inline circuit breaker could be a failsafe for.

Just dropped in the amp, about 12 years ago, when the stock one produced the Christmas tree lighting. No change to wiring, no circuit breaker. Worked fine for quite a while (7-8 years or so) without issues. Can’t think of a specific event related to that alt starting to produce higher voltage, needed the truck fixed quickly, so, parts cannon to the rescue. By now I’m too lazy to bother, or search Mud. Just reporting my experience, anyone else’s results may vary.