Split charging

[FredTransit]

i keep my van in the house you see

........don't we all? We are thinking of moving to an empty warehouse so all of them can be in the front room. Heating bills may be scary though.....

[MrMPuk]

Forget heating, just make all your clothes out of quilted duvets!

[FredTransit]

Forget heating, just make all your clothes out of quilted duvets!

Hahahaha! RFLAO! Michelin man convention anybody?

[MrMPuk]

[Luke]

back to the origanal question for a minute!! what about a sierra ghia inj altenator they were higher output and just having 1 bigger battery

[spondootre]

That might be a better option, i'll have to try and get the specs for the alternator that's on it now and see how much i'll gain from a sierra upgrade. Can I just get the haynes manual for a sierra with the same size engine? Or is it different?

cheers
Malc

[Transit-Tricky]

Not sure about petrols, but the diesel Mk3 is quoted as having the following alternator variants:

up to 1998 55 amps or 70 amps
1998 on 95 amps

I am still checking whether I can swap my 1992 alternator for a 95 amp variant (if it fits & uses same drive belt). Does anyone know? I want to upgrade so I can run two batteries in parallel and give my Di one mother of a kick on very cold mornings

TT

[spondootre]

Just phoned ford locally and they say there is a 70amp and a 90amp version of the alternator for my petrol van but it's not clear which one I have already but I would guess a 70!! i'll take it off later and have a look. The brand new one is £130+Vat.........Anyone know a good recon place??

Cheers
Malc

[MrMPuk]

To be honest unless your alternator is nackered or you are doing lots of short journeys the standard one should be able to cope with most the stuff you would throw at it especially if you have dual batterys.

[Terry]

I would say you need to think about exactly what you want.
Will you be running all the extra electricals while on the move, or only
when parked up ?
If its only parked up, then its an auxilliary battery & split charge relay,
if its on the move then an uprated alternator/ twin battery is what you need.

[stevew]

If you need an extra battery and an uprated alternator to keep up with your fancy lighting and stereo then you'll be flattening the battery in five minutes if you keep it all on when stopped!
If your lights dim when you turn on the heater then it's far more likely that you have a dodgy connection somewhere that's gone high resistance or that someone has used some wiring that's afr too thin.
Of course the first thing is to check the output volts from your alternator both with everything on and everything off. There shouldn't be more than 0.5V difference. On my van it varies between 14.1V and 14.4V.
Steve

[24vMk2]

Going back to the battery tray, its easy

Petrols have their battery on the N/S
Diesels on the O/S

Just order the other one to what you have got, thats what I did to my Mk3

[FredTransit]

Going back to the battery tray, its easy

Petrols have their battery on the N/S
Diesels on the O/S

Just order the other one to what you have got, thats what I did to my Mk3

I didn't know that! Our only factory diesel is an SVO spec with twin batteries from new as part of the package.

[spondootre]

Well i've got a brand new alternator on there now. It seems that someone has been tinkering with it in the past because the alternator that was fitted to it was from a Land Rover along with all the pullys which had also been changed to double pullys with 2 belts. So to cut a long story short i've fitted a new alternator but left the double pully set up on there. there's not more light dimming going on so I think i'll start adding equipment and when and if it's needed i'll add another battery. Although I can't put it on the other side of the engine bay because there is some big silver electrical box in the way!! but I could just pu it under the drivers seat couldn't I??

Cheers
Malc

[Luke]

Although I can't put it on the other side of the engine bay because there is some big silver electrical box in the way!! but I could just put it under the drivers seat couldn't I??

you could but for starting the shorter the lead the better!! what about moving the silver electrical box under the seat? what is it anyway??