Club 80-90 Forums

On my van I have a bosch 90AMP alternator.
I have battery condition LCD indicators, so can see when voltage being applied to either starter battery & leisure batterys. Generally getting 14.3V, so I know the alternator pumping ok
I have never got around to testing the actual ammeter output of the Alternator.
As a rough rule of thumb what would a 90 AMP alternator be putting in through the system Amp wise, for the first few mins when you cranked the starter battery?

Probably nothing as the power is being drawn from the battery not the alternator. It won't be turning fast enough to be giving out any useful voltage during starting

It only puts out whats needed, but around 30A after a cold start.

And the more equipment you have on the more the charge increases?

nesty wrote:And the more equipment you have on the more the charge increases?

Yes the alternator output should cover everything switched on and also be able to recharge the battery.
Output would drop as the battery bulk charges quickly and the manifold heater switches off as the engine warms up, until you start switching things on.

bigherb wrote:

nesty wrote:And the more equipment you have on the more the charge increases?

Yes the alternator output should cover everything switched on and also be able to recharge the battery.
Output would drop as the battery bulk charges quickly and the manifold heater switches off as the engine warms up, until you start switching things on.

Ok thanks. I am doing a wiring check at the moment.
One of my strip fuses (50A) broken on the charging split relay circuit. I wasn't gettting any power to the Leisure traction battery.
Though a clean break I think it's more of a case of me moving the wiring around and it was probably a bit brittle (been in there since 2008), rather then overload.
Soon find out when I put in the new fuse in the week.