Quote:
Originally Posted by California98Civic
I don't think you risk overheating your alternator. I haven't in seven or eight years.
On the fuel savings, it is hard to test with our imprecise equipment and methods. I am confident it is worth about 3 mpg to me, but I cannot prove it in any rigorous sense of "proof."
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I didn't mean I risk overheating the alternator if it is spinning without producing electricity, I meant it might overheat if I enable it with a nearly dead battery because it would be running at maximum output for quite a while trying to recharge it. This battery can pull a lot of current when it is dead, much more than a stock size battery. It can push this (larger than factory) alternator hard enough that it can't get the battery above 12.5 volts with 110 amps of current going into it! That couldn't be good for the alternator to run it that way for long.
I did a test to see how much current this large alternator that came with my JDM D17A engine out of a Honda Stream can produce, and it looks like it can produce around 80 amps at idle and it peaks at around 110 amps or so. By comparison, the stock alternator could only produce about 45 amps at idle and it peaked at around 70 amps.