Quality Power High Output Alternator?

Anyone have experience with one of these high output alternators from Quality Power?

http://www.qualitypowerauto.com/item_467/Toyota-Tacoma.htm

 

What do you need it for?

Off road portable welder? (cool)

Obnoxious , loud, rap music? (stupid)

 

unless you are running some crazy shit, a regular alternator from the dealer will work just fine. even if you have a crapload of lights around the truck as long as they are led you wont have a problem

 

i running Mechman.com 240amp alternator no issues.

 

Lol no I've just installed a few lights and a CB and have now noticed that my alternator is weak after having to replace a battery recently. So the alternator could very well have met its lifespan maybe?

I've just kind of begun my research and this is the part of my truck I don't know much about for some reason.

 

Ok well this is good to know. So maybe I just need a healthy alternator and make sure I don't have any accessories draining power when the ignition is off?

 

@BamaToy1997 was selling some higher output alternator kits. I have been considering this myself in order to keep the 31M battery charged up.
I bought some hub assemblies a couple years ago from him. Quick shipping, good products and he was a lot of help over the phone when I had install questions.

 

Try upgrading to the 130amp alternators off of the Tacoma’s with tow package.

 

Stick a voltmeter across battery terminals ( a good and fully charged battery) engine idling and nothing else on.

14.6 VDC and your alternator is good.

Anything less or herky jerky voltage output, then replace alt.

Alternators tend to drop dead suddenly, not slow death.

And your dash light will illuminate for low voltage.

 

Thanks for the kind words!

I do sell not only the high output alternator, but the cable kits that can handle them! Any alternator on the TRD off-road or TRD Pro that is 200A or more, the truck wiring can't handle at full output and can cause a fire or cable melting. On the TRD Sport, or base models, their cables can't handle over 130A.

So I do recommend if you get an alternator of higher than that capacity, be sure to get the correct cable kit for it. My high output alternator are built on the same case the factory alternator are, so they are a direct bolt-in with no extra brackets, spacers, etc required. The cable Kits are a DIY project that most people can install with basic hand tools and about 2 hours of your time.
200A alternators are $270 each.
250A alternators are $325 each.
Shipping is $20.
Cable kits for single battery trucks are $140 and come with battery terminals, and 5 upgraded cables. (Starter, alternator, engine ground, fender ground, fuse block)

 

Ya its testing more near 13.6 without load

 

I assume the battery is like 12.5 to 12.8 with engine off and no load......meaning its good.

13.6 is too low, but obviously not dead.

Are you using a decent multimeter, not a $10 harbor freight thing?

You should also be able to switch on a couple loads (engine on) like lights and blower......voltage should quickly pop back to around 14.6

I'd replace a 13.6 vdc alternator.

Usually they just drop out sudden like.

Perhaps a forum E engineer might chime in as to whats going on with the internal voltage regulator (part of alternator).

This utube illustrates....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzz7P3qNHcE

 

New battery, new multimeter.

When placed under load the voltage drops to around 13.4

 

13.4 vdc ..... replace it.

Check all the connections back to alternator for obvious stuff like looseness, rat chewing, or corrosion.

Just to satisfy yourself check out another vehicle you might own.

 

13.4 is not a bad alternator, leave it in there for now..

 

I agree, 13.4 is not bad with a load. Anything below 13; yes, probably replace - after checking for bad connections and testing for voltage drop. Above 13 you check that it passes a load test: With warm engine, get a voltage reading at recommended OEM idle; then turn on fan on high, high beams, and wipers - voltage drop should be less than 1.5 volts and stay above 13 volts.

 

Isn't this a diagnosis method for old school externally regulated alternators? You may produce voltage but 1 amperage and that wont work. I always thought this was used also to test voltage drop which would lead you in diagnosis to chase drain on battery after vehicle is off.

 

Ran out into cold and checked my good alternator/battery.

14.1 vdc at idle
13.79 vdc with fan and lights on.

there will be a range for acceptable voltage .

to test it right, a clamp-on type amp probe would handy.

 

yea a regular alternator will be plenty. make sure you dont have one of those cheap walmart batteries. those suck big time. i have Interstate mega-tron series and its awesome. i have a 50 inch light bar, bed lights, bumper reverse lights, front bumper pod lights, cb radio, dash cam, radar detector, and a few other things im forgetting. even with all that i never ran into a problem. so as long as you have a quality battery you will be good. also make sure its the right size, i have seen many people with the wrong size battery

 

I wonder if this is what has caused all my problems with my Quality (?) Power 240A upgrade? Thankfully I kept my 130A one, it is at the shop going back in ASAP.

A little background, I work out of this setup year round with an aluminum pop-up camper on the truck. Even though the camper has over 500W of solar on it, I still wanted more amps going to the camper especially in the Winter months when the sun is at lower angle.

I had the QP 240A put on in Sept. of 2015 when I had my TRD S/C re-built and upgraded to a full URD exhaust, headers, UCON Flex EMS and 7th injector. For about a year I got super nice and smooth power all the way to redline which is bumped to 6K with the UCON.

Then last June I bumped the rev limiter and within an hour of that had a coil go bad, sprang for a spendy tow and replaced all coils (OEM) and even the plugs to be safe. All seemed good until last week when I hit high RPMS again and I'll be damned if it did not do basically the same thing! Only this time I smelled burned electrical in the cab and under the hood and expected the worst. My tech just called and said it was only a shorted wire going from the PCM to some switch....and it made a coil go bad again!

I gave my mech really good beta and he suspects the alternator was not self regulating correctly at the high RPM range which I suspect could not been more than 5K in this last episode. This also makes sense to me now as I would occasionally get P0156 and P0158's thrown at me if I shifted above 3K.

I have never had a single electrical issue with this truck until I put in this "Upgrade". I am not sure what to do with the alternator since my mech says even 130A should be fine for my application. I suppose I could send it back to them to see if anything is wrong with it and if not, sell it and be done with it.

Anyway, I wished I had seen advice like the above before and I especially wished I had not tried to make perfect the enemy of good and not gone through nearly $2K in the damn process.

That is my experience with Quality Power Alternators thus far and I hope others have better ones.