Alright, my computer geekness has been in whitdrawl for a while since i have been working on my 7's. And it finally came back with a vengence. So..... I am putting a computer in my car, to function as a head unit/dvd player/vcd player/mp3 player/cd player/GPS navigation system/wardriving pc/ect..... To do this i need to run a 300 watt inverter for the computer, 400X2 amp for my subs, 200X4 watt amp to power the normal speakers, radar detector so i can still speed, 7" lcd screen, and i think thats about it. So, do you think the stock alt can handle it, or should i move up a wee bit, and what would be the best thing to get? Oh yeah, when i get this all done i will post pics... its bound to be interesting....

~Blitz

 

That sounds awesome. I would love to do something like that to my car. Only problem is the excess weight. I don't know about what alternator to use, but I would probably use a bigger one. Mine is straining to power everything when I have my lights, stereo, and front/rear wiper blades. I'm not sure what you should jump to. I think second gen alts bolt right in, but I don't know if that would be enough power for you. What type of power inverter are you planning on running?

~brian

 

I woulda upgraded the stock alt on just that Stereo alone...

Check around, the 86-88 Alt drops right in with a few washers for a spacer for a 20 amp increase.

If you wanna get creative with the wiring, the 89-91 or FD alternator will fit. The FD alt will need a pulley swap. Those increase you by 30 and 40 Amps respectively.

The stock alternator is 50 Amps.

When you upgrade the alternator, also run at least an 8 gauge wire from the main output of the alternator (usually a large screw terminal) to the positive battery cable. Put a fuse at the battery equal to the Alternator's output.

Another good thing to do is remove the stock Fusible link block. Upgrade it to the 2nd gen engine bay fuse block, or get one from a 323,626, or another Mazda... They should use similar brackets... Rewire to use 10-20 amp fuses in where the outer two fusible links go (Headlights and headlight motors) and a 40-50 amp one fof the stock middle fusible link (Goes to the passenger area fuse box under the dash.) Use any extra slots to power your own add on accessories.

Personally, for a mobile machine, I'd use either a Laptop with a busted screen (And an external LCD as the monitor.) or a SBC (Single board computer) with Suspensd to Disk function... The reasoning is so that I don't have to reboot every time I turn the car off, just suspend and it'll copy all RAM to a special partition on the hard drive. On resume it copies back from the drive to RAM and you're back where you left off. Additionally, Laptop hard drives are less susceptible to shock encountered on the road. Finally these smaller machines are less power hungry than the desktop brethern... No need for the inverter. I have a couple busted up HP Omnibook laptops that I may use for an in car computer. They take 12 Volts in.

 

Here's a cheap way to get to 80 amps...

The Classic Alternator Thread...

I'm going to see if I can't re-insert the pictures that were lost here in a minute...

 

Sweet, thanks guys... i have a spare t2 alt laying around.... though it has under drive pullies on it... Guess im going to have to yank that off, and slap it on my gsl.

 

@ Pele


Are the s4 n/a alts the same power as the TII ?

I dont think so ..but whats the amp diffrence?
I want to put my TII alt on my FB and get a FD alt for the TII,I dont want to do a hack job on my FB alt,cause it still has the lifetime warrenty.

 

I don't believe there is a difference between Turbo and N/A alts...

Dig this home skillets:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=172766

 

I am doing the same in my car to control the haltech and to allow my to have a built in MP3 player. I am going to use a DC computer power supply tho, I'm not converting. I am also using a Mini-ITX system.