We have been doing diodes in car stereo for years. But this is new! I dig it!

@djtomtrain2015

7 ай бұрын

Right

On my 2007 Toyota Tacoma, I use a diode (in a mini-fuse configuration) in the sensing circuit to raise the alternator voltage from 13.7 (factory output) to 14.4 volts.

I did the same sort of thing, 40 years ago. I made an adjustable regulator . What you need to know is that the computers in the car have over voltage protection, not just the computers but higher voltage will end up killing something. As an example the Valentine 1 radar detectors regularly fail due to their 14.7 volt protection which kills it. As for the alternator, you might think it puts out 140 or whatever amps but it doesn't. It only outputs what it needs to and can only do that at mid range rpm. The output always drop at high rpm as it does at idle.

@4familyman

Жыл бұрын

I’ve been running my car on 16volts for 3 years and a lot of racing and street miles. No harm. I never said anything about amperage. You only need what you need. More amperage rating on alternator doesn’t do anything if your components don’t need it. BUT voltage is different. More voltage makes the fuel pump output more. The starter works better. The cooling fans and coils. Etc.

I do car audio as a hobby, my car came factory with a 70A alternator, due to my amplifier pulling so much current under max load (wired @ .5 ohm), i had DC Power build me a high output alternator (320A), and it provides its peak power just above idle, not mid power range as one commentor specified. Im still on a 12.6 system, switching to headway cells soon, my alternator charges 15.0 - 15.2ish, max effort (burp) the amp can drop the voltage significantly. Not sure how much amperage the amp draws since the clamp reading only went to 1000A.

Awesome video, this is gonna help a ton of people. I guess I need to look into doing this so I can stretch my fuel pumps and injectors a little further.

@4familyman

Жыл бұрын

Just be careful of running a 12v battery on how high you crank it up so you don’t cook it. But you could raise it to 16v for a pass, then turn it back down for cruising :)

Subbed from Sloppy bro! I'm not really in the game currently, (building a forever house and recovering my business from canadian covid lockdowns of over 2 years), but I absolutely dig the information and how creative y'all are with problem sleuthing out solutions!

@4familyman

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks bud! Check out some of our other videos. I do some interesting stuff with our cars. Twin turbo 4wd 3000GT. 4g63 swapped 3000gt. Race week. Sick week. No prep racing. Etc. :)

@stephenfrost545

2 жыл бұрын

@@4familyman I definitely will man! Ill be binging youtube today while doing a bunch of menial tasks. haha

@4familyman

Жыл бұрын

Nice!

Awesome!

@4familyman

Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

I'm trying to do this same thing with my 2019 Toyota Camry LE it has the ONBUS LINBUS electronics build which is where the ECU is built in the alternator housing and controls the voltage making it impossible for me to add a HO alternator without serious customization and destroying my warranty so I'm trying to increase the voltage by .6 to get from 13.8 to 14.4 which is the optimal voltage for most amplifiers I know I will have to start at the (ALT S) fuse but where do I go from there

Digital voltmeter that you can read inside the car so you can keep constant eye on your actual voltage

@4familyman

Жыл бұрын

That’s displayed on my Fueltech dash. You can see it in the in-car video.

Nice

@4familyman

Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Well crap, I couldn't get it to work with my aftermarket 185 amp alternator with reg in it. Idk if I got a bad batch of 5k potentiometers but I couldn't get them to reg voltage for nothing. I did get it to work with the diodes getting it all the way down to 11v from 14.5v on the - side of the diodes but alternator wasn't having it I guess.

Hey great video. Very useful information for me. however my problem is that I have an alternator that is putting out way to much than I need.it is giving over 16 volts DC but I only need about 13 volts. I'm afraid it will destroy my batteries so I didn't use the vehicle (1991 toyota toyota hilux pickup). What advice or ideas can you give me to fix this issue. Please and thank you very much.

@fnordist

2 ай бұрын

fix your voltage regulator, check the diodes in the alternator, maybe damaged.

hey awesome video what size would work to for 15 volts

@4familyman

Жыл бұрын

Probably around 2k

Thanks for video the potentiometer is hooked up to battery and sense wire and sense wire has diodes at the end?

@4familyman

2 ай бұрын

No diodes needes when using the potentiometer which was the purpose of trying the potentiometer

@Chillobass

2 ай бұрын

@@4familyman thank you alot for your advice Gonna try it

@Chillobass

2 ай бұрын

Does the knob click on and off

@4familyman

2 ай бұрын

@@Chillobassyes kinda. It’s basically adjusting the resistance from 0 to whatever your potentiometer is rated for.

Love the ingenuity! 👌🏻 Do you think it'll work on any alt with the sensing wire?

@4familyman

2 жыл бұрын

Yes I do! And it’s an inexpensive experiment. Just don’t crank it up too much and cook your battery.

The net result is to lower feedback voltage to "trick" the regulator circuit. Diodes drop consistent voltage, resistors will divide voltage across all loads. You are better off with the fixed drop of a diode to stay consistent. The resistor divider method will change with resistance changes and/or temp changes.

@4familyman

2 жыл бұрын

The diodes changed wirh heat resistance also (I ran it that way for 3 years so quite a bit of experience), and now I can adjust on the fly slightly if needed.

@hydrocarbon8272

2 жыл бұрын

It might be a good idea to use a small adjustable voltage regulator and map what sense voltages creates X output. It will stay consistent and still be adjustable with a pot or switch (2-3 modes).

New sub here and just now seeing this. Did you have any problems with the FT on 12v system? My engine combo is similar to yours and cold/hot startup is giving me trouble. I believe my cranking voltage is messing with the ecu cuz startups are so unpredictable. Just when I think I have startup fueling figured out after stopping/starting easily 2 or 3 times in a row, the 4th try it won't start. Starts gargling and you can hear intake/exhaust events through exhaust and sometimes an occasional backfire all with cam and crank full sync. Sorry so long

@4familyman

Жыл бұрын

I never ran it on 12v lol. But I would look at your battery and engine grounds as a starting point. Make sure block and heads are grounded and great ground from battery to chassis. Then check your battery also. Might be dying already.

@rickybailey7123

14 күн бұрын

It's your cooling fan back feeding the injectors put a Diode where the power only goes 1 way and it will stop the back feeding the power unplug your cooling fans on start up and see if it does it if it works like cranks every time then you know that's your problem.Ive got Micro, squirt. Computer on my Turbo Toyota and it would backfire so loud it would blow the gaskets out of the manifold to head gasket sounded like a bomb going off. It was clicking my injectors, prefueling and firing on wasted spark. Ignition E85 and it was ear drum blowing loud well that was my problem and took me hours of time to figure it out maybe it will help you out there is so many things but at least u can unplug the fans and test turn back off crank back up many times !!

@jdubcbr600

14 күн бұрын

@rickybailey7123 turned out it was stock cam sensor location in front cover. I guess it's a common issue with Ft that the cam sensor needs to be closer than the cover allows.

@rickybailey7123

10 күн бұрын

@jdubcbr600 thanks for replying and the information bud 👍 glad u got it fixed stuff like that will keep me up at night worrying the hell out of my brain !!

I maybe interested in doing this but have some questions. why are you doing this? What are the benefits? also wouldn't this potentially break circuits?

@4familyman

2 жыл бұрын

If you have a 12v battery and you want to tweak up the alternator voltage to 14-14.5v you can. Which will help fuel pumps and fan performance. In my case, I have a 14v battery, that needs to charge at ~16v. Instead of buying an expensive ($3-600) 16v alternator, I bought a cheap potentiometer instead and used stock LS alternator to charge/run at 16v. Which really helps my fuel pumps, fan, starter and coils. Do NOT charge a 12v battery at 16v unless you want a melted battery.

Use a leece neilville 680 more amps n a big rectifier big amps

so you dont have to bypass ECM in order to get to does voltages ? + can you run 16V just fine, i have a 320amp ALT 14.4V bu i need 16V for my lithium, How can i do that without causing any problems on my 2012 Honda accord.

@4familyman

5 ай бұрын

No issues with my car but I had aftermarket ecu. your stock ecu will probably not be happy. if you have a 16v battery, you actually need to charge it at 18v. I ran a 14v battery, charging at 16v. (stock 12v battery charges at 14v)

Hi sir so you remove the diodes and then install the potentiometer? Or combined diodes and potentiometer?

@4familyman

Жыл бұрын

Removed the diodes I was using and installed potentiometer

Where exactly did u wire it on the alternator, the pigtail connector or the post on the alternator?

@4familyman

Жыл бұрын

To the "S" "sensing" wire on the 4 wire pigtail. The Post goes to your battery for charging. What we are doing is just manipulating what the regulator is seeing, so it outputs more voltage out of the post. :D

Educational good stuff

@4familyman

Жыл бұрын

I’m sure there are many ways to do this but it’s working so far for me :)

Also last thing. Did you use diodes with the potentiometer?

@4familyman

Жыл бұрын

I replaced my diode setup with the potentiometer

Did you t the sense wire? Like just hook it in the middle of the sense?

@4familyman

Жыл бұрын

Yes I used sensing wire. All the info is in vid

Do you still have to have voltage to the exciter plug for the alternator?

@4familyman

7 ай бұрын

Depends on the alternator but in my case, I had a resistor wired in place of dash light to excite.

@HanginHoopsRacing

6 ай бұрын

@@4familyman I got it to work after trying many different things I have a wire with a resistor to the exciter plug then the potentiometer wired to the sensor plug and now I’m charging at 16.5 volts. Thanks for the video! Car seems much happier on the higher voltage. Any issues long term wise? The car will be doing sick week in January so lots of long drives

For car audio I need charge at 15.5. What do suggest? Also what wire did you hook where?

@4familyman

Жыл бұрын

It’s all in the vid :)

@spencez8537

Жыл бұрын

@FamilyMan Racing yeah I seen, fun fact they sell these for upwards of 120$ which is crazy

what size is that hoosier pulley ?

@4familyman

2 жыл бұрын

~3.5”

Good thing about the switch, you could turn it all the way down and kindve use it as a kill switch if it makes it where the car won’t run. And only you would know what the switch would do.

@4familyman

Жыл бұрын

I adjusted the battery offset for injectors. It runs now if voltage drops. I have a proper battery kill switch in back of car, per NHRA rules. :)

Will this work on the stock ecu, stock wiring?

@4familyman

10 ай бұрын

You would need to splice into S sensing line regardless of stock wiring.

@matt6951

10 ай бұрын

@@4familyman good deal, I have the same battery, I'm about to push this 525 pump to the moon lol I've been wanting to test a 12v to 24v step up transformer triggered by boost or tps.. but this will do for now.

To what part of the alternator did you connect the wire?

@4familyman

10 ай бұрын

The “S” sensing wire on the 4 pin connector

@niuvarduque242

10 ай бұрын

@@4familyman do I need to disconnect the “S” sensing wire from the 4 pin connector and connect the S wire that comes out from the Potentiometer or can I connect the wire that comes from the Potentiometer with the S wires without disconnecting the 4 pin connector like a jumper to the S wire or parallel connection ? Can you send me a picture of the connection in the alternator please?

@4familyman

10 ай бұрын

@@niuvarduque242 can’t be parallel. Has to be inline. So could cut S line and splice in the potentiometer

My fuel pump is about to be streaming from all the voltage.

@4familyman

2 жыл бұрын

Don’t overcook a 12v battery! Lol. Get you a 14v XS Power though! Starter, fans and fuel pumps love it! As do coils I’m sure too.