Bigger alternator??

Post Mon Jun 13, 2005 9:18 am

what is the standard alternator size on a H plate 325i and what is the biggest one that will fit??

or what other sizes are available?

Post Mon Jun 13, 2005 9:23 am

BLOKE READ UR ENGINE BAY THREAD

Post Mon Jun 13, 2005 1:20 pm

Brenner5 - please note that there are different sections in this forum for General, Technical, ICE etc. To keep things tidy and to help insure you get a good response to your questions, please post them in the correct section. Your enquiry here is clearly a technical one and as such i shall move it to the Technical section.

Many thanks and good luck finding the information you need.

Post Mon Jun 13, 2005 3:37 pm

PeteE30Tourer wrote:Brenner5 - please note that there are different sections in this forum for General, Technical, ICE etc. To keep things tidy and to help insure you get a good response to your questions, please post them in the correct section. Your enquiry here is clearly a technical one and as such i shall move it to the Technical section.

Many thanks and good luck finding the information you need.

thanks for moving it

Post Mon Jun 13, 2005 10:25 pm

I think BMW did a 65A, 80A and a 90A

Standard for the 325i I think is 80A.
I assume this is in relation to the ICE install, you only need a huge alternator if your system is draining the batteries faster than the alternator can charge them. By that I mean on average, not just when you are giving the system some! If you are sitting in a car park with the engine off and tunes pumping it won't help you:)

If you drive all day with you system turned up to 11 and the car stops, then you need a bigger alternator, other than that they are probably not worth worrying about. Even the standard alternator can happily run a car, all the lights, heating, electric bits etc without stress. 65A is quite a lot of current. Count up the fuses on your ICE install on the power input side and see what you come to. That is the absolute max that it an draw, and thats only at ear splitting levels.

My Alpine amp has 2*20A fuses in it, so thats less than 40A even flat out.. which is never is as I would probably go deaf in about 30seconds...

Post Mon Jun 13, 2005 10:33 pm

Im sure the diesel E30s had a bigger alternator.

Andrew

Post Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:06 am

I am just querying at the moment, i reckon i have more than necessary..

the optima and split charging should be enough but i just wanted to be sure ..

will post pics of of what i have been doing soon... its really messy at the mo

Post Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:48 am

brenner
just out of interest when was the last time you serviced your car ?

Post Tue Jun 14, 2005 1:17 am

Martinaston wrote:brenner
just out of interest when was the last time you serviced your car ?

out of interest??

i have only had it for about a month or so and its due a service but once i finish the install, i haven't really driven that much but best practice is to do a service when you buy a car.

HTH.