Matty's first 1st Gen

I installed a 130 amp alternator from a buick lesabre as per dankus' instructions, and i first want to say it was a great swap, took very little time, and now my turn signals don't move the voltmeter at all, and with the heater, fog lights, head lights, windsheid wiper, and stereo, the volt meter stays a steady 14 volts. i'm just wondering, when i apply the brakes at idle, the gauge does go from 14 to about 12.5 or so, i did replace my fuseable links with a 2 fuse box, using 30 amp fuses and ran thicker gauge wire. I think that either the fuses are too small, or i'll have to run a relay from the brake lights directly to the battery. My question is if the rating of a fuse is a bit to small can it limmit current, or would it just blow. and any other experience with kind of situation. Thanks alot guys, Matt

skrewloose78

if the fuse is too small it will just blow. thats kinda of a wierd problem i would think that if all of those other items run at once didnt cause it to drop voltage the brake lights wouldnt pull enough current to drop it then. try checking to see how much current the brake lights are pulling or possibly a vaccum leak at the booster

LongDuck

Another possibility is that you might have a poor connection to one or several of the bulbs in the taillights that's causing a high-resistance circuit. This could cause your voltmeter to drop when you apply the brake pedal.

Check this by removing each of the rear taillight bulbs in a systematic way, pushing the brakes down as each bulb is out. When you pull out a bulb, and find that the voltmeter doesn't drop - it's that bulb, or the connector on the lamp assembly.

In my other car (Q45), the rear bulbs don't have a lot of room for cooling air to get to them, so the bulb bases often melt the lead solder on their 2-points which eventually causes a short in the rear bulb assembly. ECU reports a taillight out on the display, and it's just a matter of looking at them and replacing the bulb with the melted contacts.

Something to consider,

Matty's first 1st Gen

how about a relay to the headlamps?

rotarydankus again

ive relayed the lites on mine for the additional lite plus it cuts down on the pulsasation effect. the reasom the brake lit es pulse the gauge so badley is that they are on the same power distridution curcuit, its like when you pump gas and the guy on the other side is topping off you feel the pulse in your hose handle, same thing here , its normal if it bugs you relay the brake lites to the batt and it wont do it, since the brake lite is not a continous load i wouldnt sweat it, mine hits it hard cause the spoiler has a 25 led bar too.

Steve Shulz

Wow, what a cool swap. I take it you guys are happy with it??

Matty's first 1st Gen

very happy, for the 60 bucks for a fully rebuilt one, and 2 dollars for a junkyard pully, and harness, i can't be happier, 130 amps, compared to 50

rotarydankus again

it seriously supplies all the power ive ever needed , seeing as this was my 3rd seven to do, my 84 that is, when you doing this and any other off my cheap mods remember< DANKUS SALVAGE YARD RACING, btw
my official tally of my investment including the purchase price of car extra engines [2] and the eaton 720.00
i dont care how much money you make , cheap mods like these rule