100 amp Alternator

any one know if a 100 amp 3 Wire Alternator is made for econolines ?

if you are going that high you may want to update existing wiring,

dix wrote:if you are going that high you may want to update existing wiring,

X2

[iPm commin 2 ya!!

I just put a one wire 80 amp in mine, is my wiring in danger? It seems fine now but????

it would be interesting to find out what every one else has done . My thinking was they built it for a 35 amp alt. I'VE been a bit gun shy about adding twice as much electric to a 40 year old wire. Lets see some of the other feed backs are.????

I am no export but....If your headlights draw 20 amps with the old altenator, they will still draw 20 amps with a 200 amp altenator. Haveing more amps in the altenator meens you can run more electronics without starving the battery. You won't send more juice down a wire unless you add more stuff onto that wire. A good example is people putting in high output headlights, and using the original harness to handle the extra amps that the new lights will draw when turned on. Now add to that the park lights so when the headlights are on so are the park lights. If the headlight curcuit is rated for all those extra amps then you will be ok. If not then you start melting wires. Adding a higher amp altenator should never be a problem with any make or model of vehicle. Please correct me if I missed soething with the way these old girls are factory wired. Again I am no export but I am allways willing to lurn soething new before I melt something old.

I agree with the above and using existing circuits.

The only issue I see is the power wire to the battery that transmits the 100 amps into charging current. That wire was made for 35+ a factor of safety. Maybe that wire needs to be changed to a larger wire.

This is mostly an opinion but the only wire that really might need upgrading ( as long as they are ok to start with) would be the one from the alt to the power junction/battery point. from there stuff only draws what it needs unless it's messed up. Now if you are going to do add-ons, Id hook another fuse panel to the main junction and feed those from that point.
Big W and Yahoo beat me to the draw but still the add=ons are what might kill ya if you keep adding stuff to the dash.

I agree with what digz and yahoo suggest as well. Again if you want more options in your van or truck like a kick ass sterio and pulse wipers and more lighting in the cab, then you need to add more altenator especially if you want to run electric cooling vans and so on. Use new fuse holders and add new wires to accomidate the new stuff. do not tie into the existing harness to power the new stuff. Run new power wires. But if your wires ar hard and brittle, they should also be changed out before the coating cracks and cuases a short which can lead to a fire.

The original wiring one these vans is rubbish. Especially now its getting on for 50 years old. Mine was so brittle when i removed it, i wouldn't even consider using any of the existing wiring.
Anyway as mentioned above, a higher power alternator won't affect the amount of current used by the lights and stuff, but the wire from the alternator to the battery needs to be capable of handling 100 amps, or whatever your alternator is.
Unless you are planning on running a lot of accessories then you don't actually need that much really.
I have a 3 wire 75 amp alternator on mine that is more than enough. The biggest power drain on my van is the electric fan, at 25amps on high speed, but even with all the lights on, wipers on, fan on etc it still never gets near to 75 amps....

thanks for all the good input guys .
i did install an electric fan. its not wired to the harness, and its on a relay and a 30 amp breaker. the old P.O. had installed a set of supper bright headlights. no stereo...yet. with all that and add the wipers and the heat fan at a stop light the fans slows down but headlights stay bright. i only have the alt light no volt gauge. so im not sure if im good. maybe 100 amp is over the top and 75 is good

neondv8...What kind of headlights did the PO install. just curious as I would like to up grade mine as well. Also does your van still have the original light switch, and is it handleing the higher amp lights ok? Not shutting off and on, do to over heating.

I would recommend that you fit a relay if you intend on fitting halogen headlights.
That way you can use the existing headlight switch still, but have a new wire to supply the headlights that is thicker and more up to the job. Very easy to do, and will prevent the light switch from melting and leaving you stranded...!!!

Yes a relay...most excellent idea indeed. Going to ad that to the list. I have helogen sealed beams right now, but not sure what kind of amp draw they have compared to original sealed beams.

I have a 200" out of a mustang (year unknown) installed by the PO. How can I tell what the output is of my alt? I have a one wire right now and I want to run my stereo (with amp and subs) interior lights, etc. Don't have an extra radiator fan yet, but it is in my plans. Other than that I'm not sure I will have too much else to add to the load. I might add a second battery for back up (or running accessories while the engine is off).

Any suggestions for a compatible 1-wire 75 or 100 amp alts?