Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Can the voltage be turned up on our Alternators?

[Got Smoke?]

I was just wondering if the voltage can be turned up on our alternators? I'm trying to get more power out of a new "kicker" and my buddy was getting a lot more out of it with near 17 volts in his truck (gasser phurd), but when we checked the voltage at my battery its only doing 13. 9:{



Thoughts/Suggestions/HELP! desired!!

 

[emjay]

The voltage (or more accurately the current) is controlled by the PCM. You cannot easily change it. Besides, it is a bad idea because you will cook your battery and possibly a few other electric and/or electronic devices in your system. You can buy three-post 16 volt batteries, but I'm pretty sure that you will have to charge it with an external charger (at least the two additional cells between the 12 and 16 volt posts).

 

[fest3er]

To increase the system voltage, you could put a small resistor in series with the sensor lead going to the PCM, thus fooling the PCM into increasing the voltage. This, however, is not a good idea, as 17VDC is outside the normal expected operating range of most components in the truck.

If you want to increase the voltage for a particular piece of equipment, you could use a DC-DC converter before that component, thus increasing only its voltage. Sourcing and configuring such a device is beyond my skills, though.

Fest3er

 

[Got Smoke?]

Originally posted by fest3er

To increase the system voltage, you could put a small resistor in series with the sensor lead going to the PCM, thus fooling the PCM into increasing the voltage. This, however, is not a good idea, as 17VDC is outside the normal expected operating range of most components in the truck.



If you want to increase the voltage for a particular piece of equipment, you could use a DC-DC converter before that component, thus increasing only its voltage. Sourcing and configuring such a device is beyond my skills, though.



Fest3er

I was affraid someone would think I was wanting 17 volts like my friend. That is not the case, just 1 or 2 more volts would be fine with me. Is there any possibly way to do it safely?

 

[emjay]

I'll try to explain this in a nutshell. The battery draws current when the voltage across the battery is below the regulated voltage at the generator output. Once the battery becomes fully charged, it will draw nearly zero current because the voltage potential at the battery is the same as the regulated voltage. If a higher voltage is applied to the battery, the difference in potential will cause the battery to draw more current. Since the battery cannot be charged to the higher voltage, it just gets hot. It will eventually get cooked. The higher the voltage, the shorter the battery life.



Also, in order for a power amplifier to deliver hundreds of watts of power, the output voltage from the amp must be much higher than the nominal input voltage. That means that the power amplifier must have a boost or step-up DC/DC converter, and likely an inverting boost regulator in it. Raising the power supply input voltage should not have an effect on the output power(unless the DC/DC converters in the power amp are unregulated).



The nature of switching power supplies is that the output power equals the input power times efficiency. Power equals voltage times current (amps). That means that the higher the input voltage, the less current is required for a given power level. If there is sufficient inductance or resistance in the power leads, that could possibly limit the input current, causing a voltage drop. The best way to avoid this is to place large, low ESR (equivalent Series Resistance) or low impedance capacitors close to the power amplifier with large power and ground leads. One trick that is used in switching power supplies is to use several lower-value capacitors in parallel, because that approach provides a lower impedance that one big capacitor.

 

[The patriot]

I was going to do this a while back with my Texas star 1200.

I came to the conclusion that I would need a complete seperate and dedicated charging system with a dedicated battery for it.

In other words... . get a bigger amp.

Eric

 

[wcjp]

A capacitor(s) would help deliver clean uninterrupted power without intermittently dimming the lights.

 

[bmoeller]

I don't know if they are still available, but Jacobs Electronics does/did make a product that does what you are looking for. It is called Accuvolt. There are/were 3 models available.



Model- FR375W----- FR750W ------ FR1500W

Jacobs P/N- 510062 ------ 510063 ------- 510064



Output voltage- 13. 5-16. 25 volts- ALL (user adjustable)



Max Watts- 375 -------------750 ------------ 1500



Max Amps- 25 --------------50 -------------- 100



Watts and amps automatically controlled.



I couldn't find it on their site, it was in an old catalog that I have.



You can go to this- http://www.jacobselectronics.com/support/support_customerservice_info_request.htm or call 800-825-3345 to see if they still make them.



I had and Ultra-team ignition on my last gas truck before I sold the truck. It was GREAT!

 

[bmoeller]

I'm not familar with these, so I don't know if they are any good, but these are available- http://www.mean-green.com/products/alternator.html

 

[Bigramguy]

You could install one of these. No more PCM to worry about.