BlueRidgeMark

Yep. Buying automotive electrical parts on eBay is a big gamble. If it's a name brand product, and the seller has a lot of good rep, maybe, but aftermarket is just a crap shoot.


Having an alt rebuilt by a local shop is a good way to go, if you can afford the wait. It's usually a week or two. (Assuming you've done your homework and found a shop with a good reputation.)


Now if we can just get you to stop with the .... .... nonsense, and use periods like you're supposed to...

LawDog9

Which brand did you get? How has it held up so far and what ampage did you get? I have a 95 XJ and would like to upgrade to a bigger ampage than the 90 amp. Any suggestions? Looking for direct bolt it with no grinding. I will also upgrade wiring with the upgrade as well.

ihscoutlover

While you might find direct bolt ins, you still have to upgrade the wiring some. The stock wiring is not adequate to begin with and you risk melting or catching your rig on fire if you don't upgrade the wiring back to the battery and somewhere inline with the gauge. There are several write ups here and on NAXJAs site.

yarom

The product had no brand but the seller had good reputation and feedback. Probably a company that rewinds used units and reconditions them. The unit works well and provides good power. I have upgraded all the electrical wiring to 0gauge...

BlueRidgeMark

You wasted a bunch of money. I like a bit of overkill, but 0 gauge is just ridiculous. Waaaaay more than is needed.

yarom

You don't know what other needs my rig has. Thank you for your opinion nonetheless...

rayar3

Ha! Now to add to this my build sheet says 124 amp alt for my 2000. Was that standard or an upgrade? My Jeep was a fleet/municipal SE non police package.

salad

124A was standard on late model XJs with air conditioning.

I gotta admit I'm kinda curious what you need 0AWG wire for. That's a lot of current.

5-90

I did a lot of number crunching when I decided what sizes to carry...

4AWG will serve up through 150A, 1AWG up through 275A. These are alternator ratings - accessories are considered separate circuits, and winches are special cases. And, I use fine-strand wire, which gives a greater effective ratio of conductor to nominal volume.

OEM wiring is 6AWG - using coarse strands (which makes the wiring stiffer and more difficult to handle, and allows more "air" in the overall conductor volume.

Just sayin'...

DFlintstone

We are fortunate to have you here, "Bad Clam". So..what would be my "copper looses") (%) , passing 5 amps @12v DC through 10G to my hydro unit 300 feet away? (both legs, of course). Whoops, right guy, wrong forum!

I'm seeing about a 1 volt drop. Seems high. (haven't checked amps at both ends).

BlueRidgeMark

I'm pretty sure you aren't pulling the kind of amperage to justify 0 gauge. Off the top of my head, that would be in the 300, maybe 400 amp range, given the distances involved.

yarom

Two batteries, two PDCs, front winch and power for rear winch, 2500 power inverter, 5 VHF radios, 400w of lights, GoLight, stereo amp, heated seats - the list goes on..

Demonoid369

Still not pulling it lol still have too big of wiring.

5-90

The winch? Sure. To/from the battery(ies.)

The alternator circuit? Not so much. Ditto the OEM PDC, and how much are you running off of the second?

400W of lighting comes out to ~36A or so, I don't know about the GoLight or your stereo setup, and I don't know what heated seats draw - probably fused for, what, 30A or so?

I won't argue that some 0AWG wiring would have been necessary, but everything else could have been run on a lighter gage to save you time, money, and effort - that's all.

(I've nothing against overkill as a design principle, but "overkill" should be balanced against "practicality" - of whatever sort.)