Alternator upgrade

[TonyS9]

Check it with the high beam on, that will put a good load on the alternator wiring and maximise any volt drops in the harness.

A bigger battery won't necessarily produce more current when starting and certainly not when running.

13.8 sounds pretty ok, if you are getting 13V with the high beam on you are into problem terratory with half rate charging. Mainly you want to make sure the copper isn't corroded in the crimp connections (at the battery, engine, starter, chassis etc), and if it is, clean and expose some copper and the terminal and solder it or replace it.

The voltage at the battery represents the charging level, if you get a lot of voltage drop to the battery level it just won't charge quickly. Generally you need a good 20min run once a week or so, or consider a solar charger. The alarm and clock can draw a little power, but not much.

The alternator drops the voltage as the temperature in the engine bay increases to avoid damaging the battery.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Chooch84

My actual issue is with the fan kicking in so hard that it drops the engine revs, I believe this might be down to the chips I've got installed not fueling correctly prior to the fan switching on. Thank you for the help!

Thay would do it! Usually what happens on the standard ECU is is tells the fan to start running and simultaneously raises the engine speed to cope. Chacnes are that's been lost/deleted on the "tuning" chips.

[Chooch84]

Originally Posted by TonyS9

13.8 sounds pretty ok, if you are getting 13V with the high beam on you are into problem terratory with half rate charging. Mainly you want to make sure the copper isn't corroded in the crimp connections (at the battery, engine, starter, chassis etc), and if it is, clean and expose some copper and the terminal and solder it or replace it.

The voltage at the battery represents the charging level, if you get a lot of voltage drop to the battery level it just won't charge quickly. Generally you need a good 20min run once a week or so, or consider a solar charger. The alarm and clock can draw a little power, but not much.

I'm going through the wiring, so I'll be uprating the power cables around the engine bay. I've got a solar charger, but the car is parked in the shade. I might set it up in the shade just to see what kind of power it produces.

[Chooch84]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Thay would do it! Usually what happens on the standard ECU is is tells the fan to start running and simultaneously raises the engine speed to cope. Chacnes are that's been lost/deleted on the "tuning" chips.

I thought that was the case, I'll have a think about what I can do to rectify the situation...

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Chooch84

I'm going through the wiring, so I'll be uprating the power cables around the engine bay. I've got a solar charger, but the car is parked in the shade. I might set it up in the shade just to see what kind of power it produces.

Solar chargers aren't all they're cracked up to be. I've tried a 4.5W jobby, allegedly it should have been good enough but wasn't. When i worked it out with the amount of sunshine we actually get here, it would have needed a 10 or 15W thing instead.

Originally Posted by Chooch84

I thought that was the case, I'll have a think about what I can do to rectify the situation...

If you can find a normally open solenoid valve and plumb it in so it works in parallel with the EICV but it wired to the fan so when the fan kicks in, it opens up and gives the engine more air, that would do it. However you'd need to experiment with the size of the bore going into the solenoid valve so it didn't bring the revs up unnecessarily high.

[Chooch84]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Solar chargers aren't all they're cracked up to be. I've tried a 4.5W jobby, allegedly it should have been good enough but wasn't. When i worked it out with the amount of sunshine we actually get here, it would have needed a 10 or 15W thing instead.





If you can find a normally open solenoid valve and plumb it in so it works in parallel with the EICV but it wired to the fan so when the fan kicks in, it opens up and gives the engine more air, that would do it. However you'd need to experiment with the size of the bore going into the solenoid valve so it didn't bring the revs up unnecessarily high.

With regards to the Solar charger, I might as well look into getting some hamsters, a hamster wheel and a bicycle dynamo, as I've got a 4.5watt jobby...

Th solenoid ideal is not a bad temporary solution! Thank you!