HO alternator/Dual Battery/Battery Separator/"Big 3 Upgrade

[FONT=&quot] THE INSTALL!!!!!
First off let me start off by saying that when you make a write up copy and paste your progress in word or something because if you accidently exit out its gone forever like what just happened to me..... CRAP!!!!

So here is the write up for a dual battery, sure power battery separator, "Big Three Upgrade", and GM CS-144 alternator in a 1997 3.4L Tacoma.

Supplies-[/FONT]

1. [FONT=&quot]Two optima batteries. [/FONT]
2. [FONT=&quot]Sure Power Battery Separator.[/FONT]
3. [FONT=&quot]GM CS-144 alternator.[/FONT]
4. [FONT=&quot]GM CS-144 pig tail.[/FONT]
5. [FONT=&quot]120Amp alternator fuse.[/FONT]
6. [FONT=&quot]4awg wire and heat shrink. (my wire is green with a yellow stripe)[/FONT]
7. [FONT=&quot]Pre made 4wg negative wires. x2[/FONT]
8. [FONT=&quot]1 Boat style battery terminal post style and 1 regular terminal.[/FONT]
9. [FONT=&quot]Ring terminals.[/FONT]
10. [FONT=&quot]Electrical tape and wire loom.[/FONT]
11. [FONT=&quot]Wire strippers and box cutter.[/FONT]
12. [FONT=&quot]Solder.[/FONT]
13. [FONT=&quot]Welder and angle iron.[/FONT]
14. [FONT=&quot]Camping propane tank and torch tip.[/FONT]
15. [FONT=&quot]Regular hand tools.[/FONT]

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First off I took out the battery and alternator to see where the wires were that I was going to replace.


Then I measured the area where I was going to put the second battery and found out the Cruise Control Module was in the way just a little so I took it out and then placed the battery back up there and it fit great. I ended up making a new bracket for the CCM. Once that was finished I made a bracket for the battery to sit in and used a spare boat battery strap to secure the battery to the bracket. I mounted the battery separator on the firewall away from direct heat and started to run my wires from battery B over to where battery A is going to be. I also took my aftermarket fuse block and wired it up to battery B. (waterproof housing thanks to Zip-lock haha)




After that was all done I started to cut out all the electrical tape that was holding the main wire harness together so that I could run my larger wire through the factory wire loom (for the most part... big wire is hard to bend). Once all the orig wire loom was taken of I was able to separate the wires and replace what was needed. This is also the point that I wired up the GM harness to the factory harness. To do this I took the yellow wire from the factory harness and tied it into the furthest over small gauge wire on the GM harness then took the large wire in the GM harness and added a ring terminal and then placed it in the battery post on the alt. I just left the rest of the factory harness connected but taped it back and out of the way JIC I need it later.




Now for the tricky part. Since the factory wires go from alt to fuse block then fuse block to battery I had really finagle the larger wire to make it still fit. The wire that comes from the fuse block and goes to the battery came out of a pretty small horseshoe looking hole which I had to cut open a little bigger but I think it all still came out looking pretty clean.




Quick pic of factory vs. aftermarket wire size. (10gauge to 4 gauge)


Once all the wires were in I started working on the alternator install. Now since the GM alt is much bigger than the Toyota alt...



I had to loosen the bottom bracket that holds the alt tensioner so that it would fit the GM alt. The Gm top mount is also 1/4" smaller than Toyota so I had to fill the gap with a few washers. Make sure that you put the washers on the backside and not the front other the belt will sit crooked but once it was in I was able to tighten the bottom bracket and then work on wiring it up.


I have since moved the belt in to be on the center of the pulley that way the belt is straight. (Toyota alt has 4 slot pulley and GM has 6)
I also found it easier to take the driver tire off and to the wiring and tensioning through the wheel well since the GM alt is bigger it is hard to do a reach around on the GM alt lol.


Here are a few pics of it all put back together...



The center green wire you see in the first pic is going down under the fuse block around all the goodies on the driver side fender and into black wire loom across the firewall to battery B (pic 2)



Alright that’s it... I think. If you have any questions feel free to pm me or post em. It was a big project but well worth it. I have not had one "wink" and the other night I left all lights on for a few hours playing some midnight football.[/FONT]


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Very nice mod. How did you mount the secondary battery?

I installed my secondary battery in the same spot, but I had to cut out the wheel well and weld on a custom mount for it, and now that seems a little unnecessary seeing yours...but of course I'm using a standard group 24 lead acid deep cycle battery, and not a fancy mount-sideways gel cell.

 

damn unless you are preparing for a worst case senerio or have a bitching sound system why do you need 2 batteries? not hating just wondering...

 

winches,lights,sound systems...Some people just like to have a spare battery, just in case. If you keep it fully charged, you can jump yourself off your own battery, in theory.

 

That's cool you can go to B.F.E. and never worry bout a dead battery again cause it sucks sleeping in you're ride in sub zero temps because of a dead battery. Just make sure you test you're system for Parasitic Draw so you have that extra piece of mind.Good job!

 

I built just a square base plate out of ange iron then set it in... once i figured out how it would sit i built legs for each corner and used sheet metal screws to fasten it to the wheel well. But yea I used optimas since they can be mounted sideways and have a semi deep cycle.

Well i am running a DD DVD nav system with amp and 12" sub. I also have 8 HID lights on my truck. 3 sets of 55w HID converted Hellas and then 35w HID headlights and then 24w of LED rocklights underneath. I have a winch to add but im waiting for my Elite Off Road bumper to be finished. I also plan on adding an inverter to run to the bed.

Ya im not worried about power anymore now its just runnign out of fuel that is the next challenge to overcome. Im working on having a 25gallon tank built but its not coming along very well.

 

Hey bro am planning on doing an alternator upgrade to my tacoma i need some assistance really bad im not well experienced and need some knowledge about this from ppl who r experienced. I dont know anything about alternators and especially there wiring. Ur help is very much appreciated. THANKS BRO!

 

Well first thing is you need to figure out what you are wanting to run and figure out what amperage you are going to be drawing so that you can figure out what size amp to install.... The GM CS-144 can be upgraded to atleast 250amp. Personally I am running a crap ton of stuff and am completely fine with my set up (dual battery and 140amp alt) But once this is figured out then we can go from there. I planned for a little more than what i have set up for now because I am always finding new things to do to my truck so I planned for what i have now and then some. It would suck to do an upgrade then later on down the road find out that you need more power. So i guess the question now is.... What do you plan to run?

 

Well bro here is my plan. I am planning on putting an 18 inch sub with 7000 watts and 2600 rms. I checked out the amplifiers website and it says i need 380 amp fuse rating to power that amp to the max. My plan is to get a H/O alt that is just 320 amps. I am having difficulty understanding alternators. I need ur help to explain to me what wires are connected to the alternator, What they do, and if the h/o alt will blow anything up with its power and how should i do this install, what wires do i need to upgrade? . And i am duing a dual battery setup. I ahve a 2.7 l tacoma. Thanks alot Bro i really appreciate ur help

 

Nice write up... is that ziplock facory item??? Got a toyota part number... he he he... really though, nice write up, good pics. Will make it easy for all to follow along

 

Thanks for the pics and the write up! already ordered the stuff and planning to do this soon.

I also found someone making a ready made "cs144 to toyota oval" wiring adapter here: http://goo.gl/rJ4H7
making it even easier, more reason to do this...

also found some info about the alternator itself. some interesting characteristics that one should know before the swap. here: http://goo.gl/UxDkd

enjoy!
CK

 

good post! Will make this easier for me now as well!

id also like to post up this bad boy.
http://www.columbiaoverland.com/product/toyota-tacoma-1st-generation-1995-2004-dual-battery-tray

its kinda pricey..but i think it would work great too.

 

This looks a lot like my own db set up...

exceptions being...
the cheesy web strap holding that Aux. battery

lose the web strap... for something made of steel
^ that's just bad news IMO

It'll either dry rot or become brittle and break
yer engine bay will look silly when it's charred from the fire

Where'd you mount the isolator ?
I didn't see it in the pictures

 

James, now that your mod is over a year old, what would you have done differently, if anything? Are you having any problems keeping your accessory battery fully charged?

 

Great post dude! Thanks in advance since ill be doing soon hopefully to run a sound system and a few lights

 

Hey, I'm about to swap out my OEM alt with a Mean Green and was wondering where I should wire the ground to.. I'm going to run 2 AWG wire with an in-line fuse for the positive to the battery terminal but not sure where a good ground is. Any suggestions?

 

This is a super old thread...but 1. Run the ground to the factory ground location and 2. Don't put an in-line fuse between you ALT and Battery and 3. Welcome to TW

 

Why should I not put a fuse?

 

Between the ALT and Batt? What would be the purpose of putting one? In-Line fuses are designed to go between battery and component (lights, amp, etc....) I'm definitely not an electrical engineer, or electrician for that matter but trust me on this.......I have a dual Battery set up with the same Green Machine ALT you have purchased and all wiring 2AWG as well you will be fine....what was the purpose for a higher AMP ALT? if your going to upgrade those 2 wires you should look into https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/1st-gen-electrical-system-upgrade.311091/#post-8014486 also look here a lot of good info on wiring and how to's https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...multiple-batterys-thread.295653/#post-7457989 hope this helps

 

IMO, adding a circuit breaker between the new alt and the positive post on the battery is a smart thing to do. I chose a 150A CB because my CS-144 alt is rated at 140 amps. Not sure what your mean green is rated at but the size CB/fuse should be based on that. More important is to use large enough gauge wire to handle the amp load. I used 4 ga on mine.

As for ground, make sure your negative post on the battery is well grounded to the chassis as well as the engine block. I used 4 gauge on that as well.