Has anyone rewired their 1st gen truck. When I open my hood, there are extra wires everywhere. In light of the Water for Gas post and the results being successfull, I am considering putting in a high output Alternator to run 2 or 3 smackboosters. That should significantly increase my mpg (I hope) I contacted the guy that WhiteBerry recommend (http://www.smacksboosters.110mb.com/) and he said that running multiple boosters would be great as long asyour electricals can handle it. A high output alternator should solve that but I am not sure my current wiring can handle it. Anyone with experience in either upgrading to a High output alternator or rewiring your truck, any help would be appreciated.
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Wasn't able to read the whole skinny on the device,the Adobe locks myWindowsVista up. If your going to add 60-80 amps worth of boosters @ 20amps apeice, it might be best to add a dedicated electrical system,with a separate battery and alternator. An internally regulated 1 wire alternator would be the easiest to install. That way you don't have to hack the stock wiring, which will not carry the extra load,and can put in as big a system as needed to run the boosters. Run at least a 10 ga. main wire to a junction block, and 14ga to each booster,with a fuse in the system as needed. Tie an aftermarket voltmeter into the system to keep tabs on it.
You'd most likely have to rework your bracketry to mount ahi outputalt. anyhow,so why not add some brackets to mount a second one? Might could mount it on the driver's side.
Let me know how the boosters work for you, I wouldn't mind having a hydrogen powered 440.

 

[align=left]would I need to add another battery. Isn't the battery mostly for starting the vehicle? Couldn't I just have the brackets fabbed and run the 2nd alternator? I have a buddy that owns a steel fab shop. I could have him make the new bracket.

Thanks
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take out the smog pump and replace it with another alternator. You can use the same pulley and so on.

PS. i just went out and bought som stainless steel. im going to try and make a hydrogen electrolyser

 

My thinking on it was that if youradd onalt failed for whatever reason, the amp load would be transferred to the stock system,as they would be piggy
backed together.
Rewiring the stock system to handle the load is possible, the weak links being the factory amp gauge,and the size of the main wires that feed everything.
Some years are prone to frying things anyhow. The main drawback to running an HO alt. as the primaryis this. Say you add a 110 amp alt. 60 of that right off the top to run the boosters, don't know what all your truck has in the way of accessories,but add 20 for the A/C, 15 for the lights,20 for the fuel inj,etc. and it doesn't take long before the alt. is runningat or near full loadall the time. This makes it run hot, and longetivity becomes an issue. Some earlier GMs
had this problem, and they would eat alternators on a regular basis. I've seen 'em hot enough to sizzle spit. I checked a Suburban with a 105amp alt, it was pulling 95-100 amps with everything on. Some Caddys had water cooled alternators strange as that may seem.

If you don't have many load inducing devices, and want to run a single HO alt, run at least a 10 ga. wire from the alt. to the stud where the batt cable
connects to the starter relay. Tie the boosters in there also. Leave the stock chg. wire connected also, just put asame size fuseas the factory alt. output inline to prevent frying anything should the bypass develop an open circuit. [40A alt/40 amp fuse]This bypass will make your amp gauge useless, but most don't work anyhow.
Add up the amperage of everything at full load and see how close you are on the amperage rating of the alt. you want to get. This includes leaving enough extrato chg. a dead battery if the need arises. If you are close to max I'd consider a dedicated system, the amp rating of the factory alt. + 60amps should give you some idea of where your at.Size the alt.@ 75% capacity steady load for longetivity.

 

so my question is still the same, with the 2nd alternator, do I need a second battery since the battery is mostly used to start the truck?

 

in my opinion yes. if you put on an2nd altenator it should feed a second battery i dont think the wiring on these old trucks were given any room for extra amperage.any time we installed an accessory that drew a lot of current like a booster for a cb radio etc.if any of you remember those days before cell phones we installed a seperate setup to be safe and have the power you need and eliminate the headaches ofreparing melted wires....

 

yea put it on a sperate system altogether. run your H system and maybe your stereo if you like off the high output one. have it all on an entirely different system. All i mean with the smog pump was that you could modify that braket to fit the second alternator.

how much are his boosters anyhow? i made a very basic electrolyser today and while i made enough hydrogen from sond loud pops, it isnt gonna helpmove a truck anywhere

 

I've been thinking on this some more and I would say no in hindsight.Get a self energizing alt. and a battery is not required,as long as it has enough output at idleto carry the load.
Still, the 60 amps alone is at or beyond most older alternators. My hot rod has a 35A GM alt. that is spec'd for a plain jane no A/C 70s Chevy pickup. It has hell with the A/C [which I added later] and lights on. I added an elec fan and the volt meter dropped to 9v at idle. Had to takethe fan off, still drops to 11v.An HO alt. will be required regardless of where you put it.
If you can find an alt. that puts out enough amps to give a comfortable cushion the bypass setup would work OK. The fusible links will protectthe harnessfrom the hi amps on one end, and the inline fuse will protect the factory charge wire. No mods to the stock harness required. The bypass will carry the 60 amps to run the boosters.
Overall it would be the cleanest way,if you have enough alt to do the job. If not I then would add the second. Do a little research and see what you can find.

 

If you buy a smack booster it is about 250 bucks. If you build one it is about 50 to 60. I have a spot in the front wheel well on the passenger side that should fit the boosters nicely. My plan is to try to run 4. I will start with 1 and the add one at a time to see what the improvements are.