Larger Alternator

Well I'm not sure about the 5L (3.0L) diesel, but the turbo'd version (the 1kz-te) has the vacume pump on the other side of the motor and it is no way related to the alternator... I know the 2L-TE (2.4L) diesel's had the vacume pump at the back of the alternator and I think the 3L (2.8L) versions were the same...
Is your's a factory turbo?

Just bolt in another high amp alternator from a Falcon / Commodore etc to charge another battery and run the accessories from there.

have your alternotor pulled down and rebuilt! i spoke to an auto elec in sydney and he rebuilds them for more power output! ring around im sure others will be able to do it.

DiesAl

DiesAl
Years ago when I lived in WA I had a Diesel van with a Hitachi alternator on it with a vac pump on the back, I made a dual AC unit for the van with twin condensor fans and a fridge and twin cibie 130 watters and high wattage headlights and dual batteries, the car would run in discharge all the time because it only had a 49 amp alternator, somebody put me on to an auto electrical place in Perth I think it was called Deering Electrics. The fellow there said he could rewire the alternator with more windings of lighter wire which would increase the output, he said they could get up to 250 amps from the alternator, I was a bid concerned about the high amps, and settled on 150amps, they rewound it can't remember how much but I do remember it was dirt cheap for what they did. I put it on the car and it never went into discharge again, worked well, there must be other place that will rewind an alternator.
Food for thought
Stew

DiesAl,

Your spotlights need 8 amps each (24amps)
Your stereo about 10amps
Your UHF: less than 1 amp
Your GPS: next to nothing
Compressor fridge: 5 amps when cycling.

I don't think you have a problem.

With it all hooked up and going, measure the voltage with a digital multimeter. Usually is about 14 volts with the motor running. If your voltage drops down to say 13.0 with everything turned on and the motor revving at say 1500rpm, then you have a problem. Otherwise take it as it comes.

Cheers
phil

There is a misconception running in this thread. And that is that alternators put out the amount at which thery are rated.

Not so. They generate a fair bit at idling, but most have a continuous rating that is about 70% of their peak rating.

There are however a few alternators around that are designed to put out their rated output continuously. (They are sometimes known as KKK-rated). I don't know if one is available for your specific vehicle - but Outback Marine in Qld. stock them.
Collyn Rivers

DiesAl
dosn't your Hilux have a seperate regulator under the dash ? ?

DiesAl

Sounds like you have a good auto sparkie.

The output of an alternator is substantially a function of its rotational speed. Most develop about 60% of their rated output around 1800 alternator rpm and maximum rated output around 6000 alternator rpm.

Few people drive at a speed that corresponds to that peak output - 70% of that speed is more typical and alternator life is substantially predicated on this.

There is little worry about overloading the alternator unless you drive flat out in heat waves with everything electrical drawing current. The temperature it reaches depends on the work it is doing (which is governed by engine speed) and at lower speed it simply will not generate enough power to get dangerously hot - in other words it becomes unable to meet the load demand.

It is more likely that that the battery may slowly lose herbs. This is not a good thing to do with conventional starter batteries. They do not like deep discharges.

One suggestion is to use a larger and AGM starter battery. These charge faster and deeper at lower alt revs and will withstand deep discharges: handy if you do run it down. You could look at a sslightly smaller pully that drives the alternator a tad faster - and thus ups output - but you'd have to discuss that with the auto sparkie as some alts also supply the tacho speed reference (and there could be problems with belt slip).

Sorry to be generalising a bit in the above - but alternator characteristics vary a bit from maker to maker - the above however is true of most Bosch units.
Trust this helps
Collyn Rivers

Makes sense!
Collyn

Thanks all for the help much appreaciated.

Al