Woodworking kind of quad alternators

Status
Not open for further replies.

CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
I wanted quad 250 amp alternators in my Chevy Silverado. All the quad alternator brackets I found we're cheaply made to expensive and didn't allow access to the power steering pump, so I decided to make my own.

I picked up a power steering pump bracket for my 5.3 liter from the junk yard since I had to make the brackets to fit the power steering pump bracket.

I then made templates of 1/4" hardboard to mount the 4 alternators to.
Front template
IMG_20180810_123827318.jpg
Rear Template
IMG_20180810_123849182.jpg

I then test fit the hardboard alternator brackets on my Chevy Silverado. I had to move the PCM forward twords the radiator and re-route 1 ground wire for lower alternator clearance. Amazingly I only had to trim 1/4" off the length of the brackets so it would clear the fuse box.
IMG_20180902_153813873.jpg

Then used the 1/4 hardboard templates and my wood working router, a 3/8" carbide flush cut bit to copy the templates in 1/4" 6055-T6 aluminum plate. Here's what the aluminum brackets look like after routing.
IMG_20180903_005125.jpg

Here's a pic of what it looks like installed on the 5.3l motor. With 4 AD244 lage case 250 amp alternators, Gates 06~10 Ford f350 1251 (125 5/8") off the shelf heavy duty belt.
IMG_20180917_182627179.jpg

Here's a pic of the 4 alternators all wired up with runs of 1/0 welding cable and wiring harness. To a single battery which is really nothing more than a distribution block now, with a little stored reserve power.
IMG_20180919_160931138.jpg.

Picture of the 6055-T6 6 spot 2/0 guage battery terminals made here in Illinois. Very nicely made - you won't find these at autozone :)
IMG_20180906_215320624.jpg

With a little more than 1000 amps of potential power my truck radio amplifiers are much happier now and there are no more dimming lights while rockin out.

I plan on ditching the lead acid batteries adding a bank of 3 or 4 AGM batteries and a power inverter so I can run power tools off the truck and power the house in an emergency power outage (I'm still shopping for a 10k inverter - any recommendations?). I'm also looking at adding a 12,000 lb winch to the front. Still deciding on a snow plow and salt box. I don't think we get enough snow here in southern IL to justify the cost of a plow and salt box though.

All in all adding 3 extra alternators under the hood was a lot easier than I thought it would be and I'm very happy with the end results. Heck I can even check the power steering fluid level too, plus I saved a lot of money doing it all myself.

Questions / comments are welcome - Thanks
 
Last edited:

sawman101

Bruce Swanson
Corporate Member
I'm always amazed at the things you think of Jeff, you're a genius! I really miss your contributions to the forum, so it's great to hear from you.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
Hey Jeff, good to hear from you again. I'm sorry but I'm a poor mechanic and I'm missing the point of you doing this project! I see 3 alternators, not 4 (quad or quadruple).
 

bowman

Board of Directors, Webmaster
Neal
Staff member
Corporate Member
"Here's a pic of what it looks like installed on the 5.3l motor. With 4 AD244 lage case 250 amp alternators, Gates 06~10 Ford f350 1251 (125 5/8") off the shelf heavy duty belt.
IMG_20180917_182627179.jpg."

Number 4 is below the top right alternator. He is using all 4 to power his truck audio system.
 
Last edited:

JimD

Jim
Senior User
Hopefully the sound system comments are tongue-in-cheek. But I like the installation, it looks clean. For power to remote sites it seems like a good setup - or backup power.

With respect to inverter, you probably know that there are modified sine wave and pure sine wave inverters. Some loads do not like the modified. I have a little one and my TV and cable box work OK off it. "theinverterstore.com" has a 10,000 Watt modified but it outputs only 120V. For the bigger house loads you need 220V. I don't know if you can buy inverters like that or not.
 

CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
Hey Jeff, good to hear from you again. I'm sorry but I'm a poor mechanic and I'm missing the point of you doing this project! I see 3 alternators, not 4 (quad or quadruple).

#3 is underneath #2 & #4 left to right. Follow the belt and you see it tucked away underneath. I tend to over engineer most everything... When in doubt quadruple the stout (applies to beer also).
 
Last edited:

CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
Hopefully the sound system comments are tongue-in-cheek. But I like the installation, it looks clean. For power to remote sites it seems like a good setup - or backup power.

With respect to inverter, you probably know that there are modified sine wave and pure sine wave inverters. Some loads do not like the modified. I have a little one and my TV and cable box work OK off it. "theinverterstore.com" has a 10,000 Watt modified but it outputs only 120V. For the bigger house loads you need 220V. I don't know if you can buy inverters like that or not.

I'm used to the sound system comments so it's ok. Currently I'm running 5600 watts peak and 14 speakers but I don't listen to nearly that many while driving. Unless some punk pulls up beside me a stop light bumping rap. Then I'll crank it up and put his lil rap bumper to shame with some good old classic rock. I need to be careful though, I got pulled over by the police in town for noise ordance violation. The officer was pretty cool about it all after he seen I was an old guy. I promised him I would keep it down while in town and didn't recive anything but a warning.

For the inverter I'm really just looking to power some 110 circuits in the house. I've switched all the lighting over to LEDs and the only thing I have that's 220 is the centeral air, which we could do without until the power comes back on.

BTW Dollar tree has LED bulbs for $1.00 each - I highly recommend them, after changing out every light bulb in the house / shop / coop, I seen a nice reduction in my monthly electric bill ---> https://www.dollartree.com/Sunbeam-Warm-White-9-Watt-Medium-Base-LED-light-Bulbs/p409433/index.pro
 
Last edited:

CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
Nicely done. MADE IN THE USA!!!

Yeah man! Even the 1/4" 6055-T6 plate is Koler made in the USA. When building the alternators I tried to buy made in USA parts but unfortunately the pigtails are made in China :( I got 10 pigtails for $20 shipped from China, still have 6 left.
 

Charles Lent

Charley
Corporate Member
But sitting at idle and hitting a very loud bass note might stall the engine. Just a thought, that's a huge load possibility on your motor.

Charley
 

CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
But sitting at idle and hitting a very loud bass note might stall the engine. Just a thought, that's a huge load possibility on your motor.

Charley

I've been running quad alternators since September 07 and haven't noticed any loss of power nor reduction in gas mileage. I must admit though if I play the radio without the motor running, upon starting the motor the alternators do whine a bit while charging the accessory battery back up. they don't whine very long though. The PCM seems to do a good job with maintaining a constant idle speed of around 600 RMP warm. Personally I think a V8 is a little more powerful than a generator with 18hp single cylinder motor which I thought about also.

I don't have the part numbers handy, but I went with NTN bearings, 250 amp strator, high quality rotor, voltage regulator with 14.7 volt set point (15 seconds on, 90 seconds off at full load), full copper heatsink recitifer with 6 x 80 amp diodes. I also added 10SI 1 7/8" overdrive pulleys to bring the alternator RPMs up at engine idle.

The day after I finished my wife asked if we could go pick up a antique bedroom set 1 1/2 hour away. We drove there and back with zero problems. Part of the trip was on I24 79 mph. That was a good unexpected test.
 
Last edited:

Phil S

Phil Soper
Staff member
Corporate Member
Just a suggestion

When you find you need still more, these will fit your setup:

American Power Systems has one that puts out 360 amps
Mechman has a 370 amp 4 x 370 = 1480 amps with 800 amps at idle
Or go really big with water cooled units from PDP and get over 500 amps each

But be aware this much power could break your truck body seams
 

CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
Just a suggestion

When you find you need still more, these will fit your setup:

American Power Systems has one that puts out 360 amps
Mechman has a 370 amp 4 x 370 = 1480 amps with 800 amps at idle
Or go really big with water cooled units from PDP and get over 500 amps each

But be aware this much power could break your truck body seams

Yep your right... Those are 6 phase alternators which is something "kind of" new and hard to find parts for. Maybe they will become more mainstream in the future and parts will be readily available also. I've heard really good things about the 6 phase alternators that Mike Singer builds. Mine are just your standard run of the mill 3 phase 250 amp AD244's. Nothing special about them at all, built with off the shelf readily available parts, which is what I prefer. If you want to learn more about alternators check out the Alternater Man I called him up before I built. The guy is full of wisdom and a completely straight shooter / no BS period kind of guy. I think he'll be realeasing a book soon (I'm on the waiting list for it).

The AC Delco 244 alternators are an amazing peice of engineering. It fasinates me that such a vast amount of AC power can be generated with just 8 volts of DC input, then be converted to DC all in one nice little package. one simple thing I did was make use of the sens termial by hooking it up to auxiliary battery. Without a remote sensing wire, the voltage regulator will default to around 13.5 volts output or so, which is a common problem people experience with these alternators after they warm up. There's a really good easy to understand write-up on using remote sensing here if your interested ---> https://www.gmt400.com/threads/ad244-alternator-swap-mod.24365/
 
Last edited:

JimD

Jim
Senior User
I looked a little more after posting my first comment and there clearly are 220V inverters. There are some that will do either but they seem pricey at $2500. With 10kW you may be able to supply your heat pump. My 3 ton is on a 50amp and a 30 amp 220V circuits but I don't think it uses all of that. But that is probably to much for your setup. I also have a 2 ton for the upstairs which might be a low enough load. You should be able to supply all your 120V loads with 10kW, especially with lighting loads low. Big 110V users are things like toasters, microwaves, coffee makers, hair dryers. Most people don't make coffee, use the microwave and make toast while drying their hair, however. While the breakers on all your 120V circuits might add up to too many amps I doubt you would ever draw too much for a 10kW source.
 

NOTW

Notw
Senior User
Here's a pic of what it looks like installed on the 5.3l motor. With 4 AD244 lage case 250 amp alternators, Gates 06~10 Ford f350 1251 (125 5/8") off the shelf heavy duty belt.
attachment.php


Questions / comments are welcome - Thanks

I assume the Gates is in reference to Alma Gates builder of the Ford Bronco? Ah this brings back memories of my youth when I would spend hours at Creative Acoustics in Raleigh occasionally catching a glimpse of one of Jay Lovelace's creations.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Premier Sponsor

Our Sponsors

LATEST FOR SALE LISTINGS

Top