– Our high output alternators are equipped with an
overdrive pulley. This pulley is designed to
enhance low RPM charging for maximum output. The
diameter of the overdrive pulley will be less than
your factory pulley meaning sometimes, depending
on the vehicle your factory belt may now be too
long. You’ll need to purchase the next
shorter belt for your application, usually about
1" shorter compared your current belt. Your local
parts store can easily supply you with the belt
needed. Other areas of concern are the quality of
belt used and the cleanliness of the belt and
pulley system. Make sure each pulley on your
vehicle is grease or oil free and use a quality
belt like an
GOODYEAR Gatorback™ Poly-V Serpentine belt or
a
GOODYEAR V-Belt™,
depending on your application.
Regulator plug not plugged in, not seated
properly or pinched wire -
If you purchased a direct fit high output
alternator from us you’ll need to make sure the
small regulator plug on the back of the alternator
is properly plugged in for correct alternator
functionality. We’ve seen customers forget to plug
them in completely, jamb the plugs in backwards,
not plug them in all the way or pinch one of the
wires during installation causing a short. Make
sure the plug on your new alternator matches the
one from your old alternator. Most vehicles will
require this plug to properly be connected for the
alternator to charge at all or at the proper
voltage.
Note: If you’ve order a self-exciting unit from us
like the
Fitzall 220A+ alternator the regulator plug
may not be utilized and the plug on the
alternator will be filled with silicone. If your
alternator has the plug filled with silicone then
the only wire you will connect to the rear of the
unit is the battery positive cable.
Battery
warning light bulb in dash missing, blown or bad
connection -
Some vehicles completely rely on a light bulb in
your dash to activate or 'excite' the alternator
to charge at all. We’ve seen many cases where the
customers’ battery warning light bulb in the dash
was blown or missing causing a no charge
condition.
Customer
changed alternator pulley
-
Our high output alternators are equipped with an
overdrive pulley. This pulley is designed to
enhance low RPM charging for maximum output. We’ve
seen come customers change this overdrive pulley
out with a larger diameter pulley that they may
have already had. When alternator pulley diameter
is increased, charge output is decreased.
Vehicle
crankshaft pulley diameter too small
-
The automotive marketing machine is busy
advertising products for your vehicle you simply
do not need. One of them is the underdrive crank
shaft pulley. The crank shaft pulley, is the drive
pulley located at the bottom of your engine which
drives your accessories like A/C, power steering
and alternator etc. The underdrive pulley being a
smaller diameter is
designed to slow your driven accessories down in
efforts to ‘create’ engine horsepower.
Here is an article on that subject. When
crankshaft pulley diameter is decreased,
alternator output is severely decreased. The OEM
standard size of the crank shaft pulley is 6” in
diameter so measure to make sure your pulley is at
least this size for proper alternator output.
Main
vehicle charge wire too small or not upgraded
-
Almost all OEM wiring is going to be insufficient
to properly handle the addition of a heavily
loaded high output alternator. As an example your
Chevy Malibu may have been equipped from the
factory with a 105A alternator. The main charge
wire in the vehicle was also designed to transport
about 105A from your alternator to your fuse box,
main relays and ultimately your automotive
battery. Our high output alternator will likely
work and operate fine without upgrading any
wiring, but when amperage demands increase because
of an audio system or other high amp accessory;
the factory wire that was designed to carry 105A
is no longer going to cut it. We sell an
upgraded wire kit specifically to address the
insufficient OEM wire size. This is highly
recommended and is the first thing you should do
if you suspect your high output alternator is not
functioning properly or appears to have low
output.
Too many
grounds, insufficient grounds, or just bad wiring
- While we are not going to be able to diagnose
your vehicles custom wiring via email or
telephone, this is an easy area to severely
cripple your high output alternator. We’ve seen
numerous vehicles that look like they came
straight from Dr. Frankenstein’s lab of electrical
wiring. Insufficient wire size, bad connections,
wrong terminals, cold solder joints, no grounds,
too many grounds are just a few
of the problems that could cause your high output
alternator to not function correctly. Take your
vehicle to a reputable shop (probably not the one
that wired your vehicle up in the first place) and
have them start from scratch. Wiring issues can be
very difficult to isolate often because they
happen sporadically like when it’s hot or after
your vehicle has been running for a substantial
amount of time.
Bad, old,
weak, damaged or cheap battery -
We are not in the market to sell batteries. With
that said, we’ve had horrible luck with the
popular gel cell batteries like the yellow, red
and blue ones. Unless you need to mount a battery
on its side or need to take advantage of the
vibration resistance
(do you have an off road Baja truck?)
that the gel cells offer, a regular wet
battery works the best. The only thing to look for
is sufficient cold cranking amps, the higher the
more powerful the battery.
Alternator
possibly damaged during installation
- Newer high quality high output alternators can
be more sensitive to electrical spikes compared to
older or OEM alternators. This is because the
newer high output alternators include more
computer chip circuitry inside of them compared to
their analog predecessors. While the newer
circuitry enables superior performance to the
older models, this can make the high output
alternator more sensitive to incorrect
installation procedures. Please see
Technical Tip TT-648 regarding proper
alternator installation steps performed in the
proper order. If this procedure for removing and
replacing your alternator is not followed the ASVR
(All Silicon Voltage Regulator) regulator can be
damaged resulting in a no charge or partial charge
condition. Also the old
school test procedure of disconnecting the battery
while the vehicle is running to test alternator
output will surely damage the regulator.
The alternator
I bought from you doesn’t fit.
We sell two types of high output alternators. Direct
fit units and our exclusive universal alternator
called the
Fitzall 220A+. If you’ve ordered a high output
alternator from us OTHER than the
Fitzall 220A+ the unit would be considered a
direct fit meaning no changes needed (besides a
possible belt change, see above). If you ordered the
Fitzall 220A+ alternator it was because a direct
fit unit is not available for your application and
you’ll need to make the necessary hardware to
physically mount the
Fitzall 220A+ alternator exactly where you wish.
Here are some examples
of the Fitzall 220A+ installed on customer vehicles.
Do you sell
brackets, spacers or hardware to mount the Fitzall on
my particular application?
Unfortunately the magnitude of creating an
installation kit for every single year, make, model
and engine size ever would make it impossible to offer
an installation kit for everyone. Most customers
depending on skill level and tools will be able
to complete the installation themselves. If not, take
your vehicle and the
Fitzall 220A+ to a mechanic that can accomplish
your project for you. Places like the dealer, Pep Boys
and Midas are examples of where NOT to go. They will
simply look at you and say ‘it don’t fit’.
Here are some examples
of the Fitzall 220A+ installed on customer vehicles.
I tested my
alternator and it only makes 30A.
First off, we would never knowingly sell a customer an
alternator that produces just 30A. If you are
using a clip on AMP meter these can be horribly
inaccurate based on wire temp, wire gauge and the
surrounding electronics. On the other hand, if you are able to accurately
measure amperage, 30A could be a perfectly normal
reading. As with any
alternator, high output or not; the alternator will
make the required amount of amperage to maintain a
voltage set point via the internal regulator, usually
about 14.5V depending on the vehicle. Simply put,
if the current total demand of your electrical system
is 30A; this is all you will see IF you are able to
accurately measure the amperage. Please do not
expect to see 220A output at idle with your clip on
Harbor Freight amp meter, this is not how any
alternator works. If there is any confusion about your
alternator output we will be happy to test it and send
it back with a proof of output sheet.
Do I need to
upgrade my battery to one of those yellow, red or blue
gel cells? I heard the high output alternator will
blow up my stock battery.
No. By design any high output alternator you purchase
from us does not have the ability to blow up or fry
your battery. A high output alternator by design has
upgraded amperage capacity; not increased voltage output
that could potentially damage your vehicles electrical system.
My stock
alternator pulley has 5 grooves and the alternator I
bought came with a 6 groove pulley.
Our 6 groove overdrive pulley is backwards compatible
with your 3, 4 and 5 groove serpentine belt.
There is a
noise coming from my alternator that sounds like a
whine, whistle or squeal.
Our high output alternators are equipped with an
overdrive pulley. This pulley is designed to enhance
low RPM charging for maximum output. The diameter of
the overdrive pulley will be less than your factory
pulley meaning sometimes, depending on the vehicle
your factory belt may now be too long which could
cause a noise. You’ll need to purchase the next
shorter belt for your application, usually about 1"
shorter compared your current belt if your current
belt is too long. Your local parts store can
easily supply you with the belt needed. Other areas of
concern are the quality of belt used and the
cleanliness of the belt and pulley system. Make sure
each pulley on your vehicle is grease or oil free and
use a quality belt like an
GOODYEAR Gatorback™ Poly-V Serpentine belt or
a
GOODYEAR V-Belt™,
depending on your application.
If the belt is the correct size and of good quality
but the noise is persistent, check surrounding
accessories like the idler pulley and automatic belt
tensioner.
Do your
alternators come with a voltage regulator or will I
have to buy that as an additional purchase?
All of our alternators are equipped with an internal
voltage regulator, no additional purchases are
required.
I am
installing your
Fitzall
220A+ alternator on a custom application; does it
matter which direction the alternator spins?
No, the alternator will operate in either clockwise or
counter clockwise rotation.
Any
further questions or technical support needs should be
emailed to
mike@powerbastards.com. Please include your order
number if you're an existing customer.
FAST SHIPPING
We use UPS for
shipping our products. Choose regular ground
shipping or Next Day if you need that part tomorrow!
Orders placed before 3:00PM EST M-F usually ship
out same day!
1 YEAR NO HASSLE WARRANTY
All merchandise
distributed by PowerBastards is subject to a one
year no hassle warranty. Should your high output
alternator fail within the one year period we will
replace or repair it free of charge.
No labor or inconvenience may be included in any
claims. Other outfits only give their alternators a
30 day 'off road use' warranty only or they
might offer a one year warranty but it's full of loop
holes that you never figure out until you melt their
alternator.
WIDEST SELECTION IN THE INDUSTRY
PowerBastards is changing the industry. We are
stocking more high output alternators and
accessories than anyone else. If you can't find
something for your particular application please
contact us via email or phone, custom jobs are just one of our
specialties.
24 HOUR ORDERING
Our online shopping cart is available for use 24
hours a day, 7 days a week. If you need to speak
with a sales associate please call our hotline
during the hours of 8am - 8pm Eastern Standard Time.
