To Alternate or not?

[bighoss40]

I have never ran an alternator, just a big healthy battery. Have never had a problem with starting or running. Just looking for everybody elses opinion. Anybody else run without one?

[dave386]

I used to run them but dont anymore. Dont know anyone else who runs them anymore either.

[derbyman521]

i ran one the when it cost me a race i stoped running them for a while but now i am running one again. If you run one just make sure you use something to protect the wire so it soesnt melt and catch fire

[willy342]

i have never alternated. and i run an electric fan on my radiator...and also sometimes a tranny cooler fan.

but most of the heats im in only last 10 or 20 minutes.

now if i were to run in some of these marathon heats like at mayhem,,,or at some of these team shows,,,,then id seriously have to consider running one.

[redneckracing12]

Feb 27, 2012 6:20:47 GMT -5 @willy342 said:

i have never alternated. and i run an electric fan on my radiator...and also sometimes a tranny cooler fan.

but most of the heats im in only last 10 or 20 minutes.

now if i were to run in some of these marathon heats like at mayhem,,,or at some of these team shows,,,,then id seriously have to consider running one.

x2

[chevpower90]

x3 i think if you start getting around 45 min you would start to lose juice for restarts when i run a electric fan i only hook it to one battery and leave the other for starting and ignition

[nms35]

If you hook it up right you shouldn't have an issue with it. I started running one last year and never had any problems with it.

[doinit729style]

Ive always ran one and always will, I think they help out a good bit, but hey everyone has there own opinion and like what they like haha.

[Comet Cyclone]

I will and have always run one.I can't see any legitimate reason not to.....However I see plenty of cons to running without one.If I bust one than big deal...If they get that far into my front end I didn't build my front end right and my water pump or power steering is most likely gone anyways So I'd better have bigger things to worry about.For ford guys There's brackets to mount them on the heads or passenger side on the bottom of the engine.

Reasons to Run an Alternator:

1.Battery drains cause lower overall battery voltage as heat goes on.Every fraction of a volt helps starting power.Voltage is what makes a starter turn faster.A faster starter helps start a hot engine... I used to run a dry block fe390 24v and it would start every time.

2.Higher voltage also creates a stronger spark.Stronger sparks helps keeps that hot engine going for longer.Also hot starts yet again.

3.Faster spinning fans with higher voltage.

alternators put out about 14.1 volts

So with an alternator running at 14.1v your getting about 11% more rpms out of your fans when your alternator is charging.A fully charged 12v battery should be roughly 12.6v

I'd rather overbuild a car than under build...For those of you who say you have 20 min heats what happens if the other guy brought an icecube engine to the show...It's becoming more and more common today.So you might wish you had it.(I built myself an icecube ford this year for stock style shows...) My heats are no longer than 10 minutes I'm in it to win it.Not for the money but local bragging rights.Isn't that why were on the forums???

You don't need anything fancy like a 200amp alternator so stock alternators should be plentiful for you guys that run year after year with new cars.

[prettie]

why not run an alternator, you will get better spark at 14.5 volts than a dieing 12.5 and plus you can run a fan of any kind without worry of killing your battery, and extra juice is never a issue, just tie and cover your wires in heater hose you will never have trouble then, JMO

[ynotracing]

have always ran one since 98 and never had a issue even with my big semi batts still like the extra ins.

[kerbkicker76]

i don't run one

[Comet Cyclone]

I thought I put the nail in the coffin with my post...

It's beyond me why anyone would want to run without one....

You don't run your daily driver that way and put the charger on it when you get home....

Also the discharge cycles hurts the overall lifetime of a battery.


Can someone tell me a legitimate reason not to run an alternator?
Besides anything that I've stated such as it getting bent and breaking belt...Lots of more other important things to worry about besides an alternator breaking such as power steering or a harmonic balancer /pulley witch would be easier to break in a nose up situation....I usually have issues with this stuff more often than an alternator I've even broke water pumps before.

[chevpower90]

not trying to start anything but the reason i dont run one is cause its 1 more thing to fail and i like my simple belt around the water pump and belt around the power steering pump water pump setup and to the build rules in my area you would run out of car long before an hour feature and my engines usually never die in a show
now if i was to run one i think i would use a 2 battery setup with master disconnects kind of like having a backup system in the car incase something failed but i see your side of it to i have ran with and without them just that were i run i dont see that big of advantage if we all built our cars the same it would be a boring show

[Comet Cyclone]

Isn't that what fuse links are used for? I use them for everything now.I run multiple fuel pumps with check valves and T's.I would run the important belts on the inside and space the alternator to run on the outer belt so that will be the first to go.

So I agree its one less thing to go wrong but.... what will it hurt with fuse links?