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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / 35 amp generator upgrade

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Discussion Topic: 35 amp generator upgrade

gpjohnston656

12-07-2014 @ 3:38 PM

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Posts: 1
Joined: Oct 2014

I am new member and new owner of 1951 Ford Custom 2 door, V 8.. The car is totally restored stock with 6 volt system. Rather then change 6 volt to 12 I want to install Powermaster alternator that is made for the car and is rated at 40-50 amps idle and 55 to 72 at highway speeds. This is supposed to make head lites brighter, dash lites brighter and keep battery charged. It is positive ground one wire hook up. I understand the stock generator does not charge battery at idle or slower speeds, this upgrade will fix that. I want to keep car original, 6 volt, and only have plans to add halogen headlites, no other
electrical upgrades. There are 2 other companies that sell this upgrade but they sell modern looking alternators-the Powermaster unit looks and mounts just like the stock generator. Will this fix my dim lite problem ? Will adding this extra amperage do any harm to the old wiring and other stock electrics in the car ? Thanks in advance

ford38v8

12-07-2014 @ 8:47 PM

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gp, welcome to the V8 Forum. The amperage output doesn't affect the brightness of lamps that draw much less than that high output. High output may be needed to run modern equipment such as air conditioning, but not required for headlights.

Halogen lights do draw more, but it is the wire and connections that require attention to lessen the resistance that rob those lights of the voltage they need. Your cars sealed beam headlights will perform very well with the original generator rebuilt, the ground conections renewed, and with one modification, that being the installation of headlight relays, one for low beam, one for high beam. The original circuit will activate those relays only, which will then power the lights by direct connection to the battery, bypassing all the resistance of the original circuits.

If you continue to favor the alternator idea, consider this downside to your alternator: The one wire alternator will not kick in until after reving high speed for a few moments. Also, the drive pulley of an alternator will slip badly unless major alterations are made to prevent that slip. Simply tightening the belt is not an option here, as that will cause premature failure of related parts and assemblies.

Alan

TomO

12-08-2014 @ 7:14 AM

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Dim headlights are usually caused by insufficient voltage to the head lights. The bulbs require at least 6 volts to reach normal illumination. Every .1 volt under that reduces the light output significantly. Make the following voltage drop test to find high resistance connections. When the voltage drop is within specs, aim your headlights and you will be pleasantly surprised at the brightness of the lights.

Connect your voltmeter black (COM) lead to the battery NEG post and use a fine probe or paper clip to probe the back of the passenger side light bulb with the red lead. Turn on the headlights and read the meter. The reading will be the voltage drop in the circuit. It should not be more than .3 volts. if it is, move the red lead back in the circuit to the dimmer switch input to deter min if the resistance is in the dimmer switch or the light switch. If the reading is .2 volts or less the dimmer switch is the problem, if more then the light switch is probably the problem.

You can check the grounding circuit the same way by reversing the meter leads and connecting them to the grounding circuit. The grounding circuit should have a max reading of .1volt.

Tom

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