Alternator..how many amps can I run

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I do have the ammeter bypassed under the dash.

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I have all new wiring in my car now. I do have the ammeter bypassed under the dash. The terminals are bolted together and wrapped tightly in electrical tape.
The reason I was thinking about the 80 was I don't know if electric fans would be in the future or not.
If I stayed with the 60 would I have the dimming of lights and so forth?
I don't have the original regulator but I am sure they are easy enough to get!
So I guess the 80 would be overkill??!!

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Can I run a 80 amp alternator without modifying the electrical system on my '68 Coronet?

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Yes. The bulkhead is the weak link & I'd suggest Nacho's 2 wire parallel bypass of it (on the main in/out wires) which is effective and very simple/easy to do. You could even hook your ammeter back up. Feed any additions (stereo/elec pump etc) from relays on the ALT side. Nacho's right that if you keep the ammeter needle at 12 o'clock (or close to it) then the ammeter is fine. The bulkhead either clean the 4 terminals (2 pair of male/female) or do the 2 wire bypass. this keeps the excessive amperage out of the bulkhead

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propperly done you don't need to bypass the ammeter and add allmost any alt you want...

you can run a 1000 amps alt if you want but the output will be just what car demands.

the closer to the demand you can feed at iddle, the safer you'll get all the charging system even with an ammeter.

once again, as far is propperly wired.

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SORRY BUT THIS JUST AIN'T TRUE

All that needs to happen with your so called "1000 amp alternator"--or even a 100 amp is for the owner to

FORGET AND LEAVE THE LIGHTS ON when parked for say, an hour. The owner comes back, starts the car, and wants to drive off.

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SORRY BUT THIS JUST AIN'T TRUE

All that needs to happen with your so called "1000 amp alternator"--or even a 100 amp is for the owner to

FORGET AND LEAVE THE LIGHTS ON when parked for say, an hour. The owner comes back, starts the car, and wants to drive off.

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DEPEDING ON BATT RESERVE TIME OR CRANKING AMP, WHATEVER YOU CALLS...


bigger the batt more danger to come true that condition. That has been a tipical mistake installing bigger batts being an ammeter system.

of course everything needs to be rightly handled... AAAND, every accesory needs to be right hooked on ALT SIDE, not like every body makes, taking the power from batt side.

however IS TRUE you can't charge the batt back on car giving gas. If you are at home or close to a shop, get a charge there. If you are on the road, you can make it at iddle OR a temporally wire up to batt... depending also on amp output from alt

some good readings:

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,62772.0.html

on one of them it is explained what RapidRobert said about parallel wires

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On my Dart I used a Napa alternator, it's a mopar "78 amp" unit from a Volare I think, here is a pic showing the part # and the RPM/output relationship. The RPMs there are alternator rpms. I don't recall the ratios, but I think once the engine reaches about 1700-1800 RPM (if memory serves), the alternator is spinning enough to churn out all 79 amps.

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Cool chart. Too bad we don't have alternator output charts with engine rpms versus output for all the original Mopar, rebuilt Powermaster, Denso and CS140 alternators. All but the CS140 are notoriously weak at and just above engine idle rpm.

Mopar pulley with that alt is around 1.9 faster so you have now the conversion for it... around double

The CS140 altenator I ended up bolting right into my 1970 puts out up to 115 amps at low idle and potentially up to 200 amps above a fast idle with a nominal voltage of 14.4 volts. None of the other popular conversions mentioned even close to half this amount of idle output. Period!

is true... CS alts are more powerfull, specially at low RPMs, thats is because they are Delta winding kind stator, beside also wider, as I stated

Why did I install so much power? I added several power hungry electrical add-ons and needed the increased idle output, A/C, electric fuel pump, twin fans, power windows, headlight upgrades, line lock and MSD ignition. It's all fed from the engine compartment power distribution lugs, amp gauge is bypassed and the bulkhead modified. With everything on, it still has 14.4 volts at idle. Sweet!

if you hook correctly everything on alt side, no need for bypass ammeter HOWEVER on a highly equiped car would it be dangerous if alt gets damaged, so then the batt will feed everything through ammeter... assuming, once again everything is correctly hoooked on alt side. BUT need to note on a broken alt incident, ANYWAY it is recomended, ammeter or not, cut all the non needed equippment until get it fixed, so we could be on a similar deal with or without ammeter. Of course an electric fan setup can't be cut.

not saying one thing is better than the other or more true than the other one, just saying if you understand the system and you know how to handle, You can keep the original system on a quite stockish car... at the end is your choice!!! just learn and decide, and match your setup accordingly whith your REAL needs.

Power windows, line locks are something you don't need to consider since they are not constant power succkers, just at one moment. MSD doesn't sucks power like a whale sucks plantok either. Just ELECTRIC FANS, A/C ( just because the blower, so heater too ) and halogen/HID headlamps are the "constant" power suckers. Big powerplant stereos too. Rest is something you can forgett.
You can choose also change to a SHUNTED system, if wish an ammeter.
Will be great to get at least 60-80 amps ammeters though, like police cars got before the shunted kind ammeters
Just check all the topics I linked on the link I posted. Some of them links out to this same board. Very nice discussions

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