150A Alternator installed

[Maugan_VX]

its 90 IIRC.

on the ole 3.2 there were actually two amperages available. a 65 and I think a 75.

[WyrreJ]

Originally posted by Joe_Black
The marine Blue Top discharges and cycles differently than the Red or Yellow and wouldn't be very suitable for auto use.

Got any details on the difference? All the research I did prior to making the purchase was that marine batteries tend to have lower CCA's but higher sustainable output vs automotive batteries. Since Optima spells out the CCA's for each model and the marine batteries of interest all have equal or higher CCA's than the automotive, that issue did not apply. Additionally, most of the literature that I found used the terms marine and deep-cycle interchangeably. Thus leading me to conclude that the yellow tops are just a marketing difference to have officially labeled automotive batteries for automotive stores to sell.

[Joe_Black]

I've got some good battery info links on the PC at home so will share as soon as power is restored there, unless I get a major breather here at work to go surf the net a bit. I've been trying to learn a lot about batteries since I'll basically have a wind-generator farm with the new house. In a nutshell though, the Blue Top is more suited for longer drains under light load while the Yellow Top is short drain under high load. Doesn't really explain it well, but the Yellow Top can cycle deeper & harder than the Blue. I better get those links, all my explanations are starting to sound like porn!

[SPAZZ]

stocl is SUPOSED to be 90 amp...but I do not think that mine was over 60AMP....depends on how cheep the manufacture wanted to be with parts...ie whatever was laying around they stuffed in.

[Tone]

Got the new alternator in today - has one large terminal on the back and a 4 pin recessed connector - does our alternator have that plug or is it not used? I wanted to add a 4guage cable I made up straight to the battery as the 2 16 gauge wires coming off seem to go a long, convoluted route the fuse box to get to the battery. Any thought or experience out there?

[psychos2]

i have a marine blue top in my vx. you ask why? because it was free. the blue top works just fine.there is an engine in a boat ,just like in a car why would the battery work any different. shawn

[Hotsauce]

Heres the back of the stock alt. Similar connector, but only 3 prongs. Also its in a different spot.



the stud connector is the + output.

John C.

[Tone]

****e! Then that ain't gonna work unless I can get a GM pig tail and figure out which 3 of the 4 are required. Thanks. Anyone out there do the swap with the 180amper?

[Joe_Black]

It should've come with the GM pigtail to mod, but I imagine you can pick one up at AutoZone etc. for cheap. RTFM: 180Amp Mod Instructions.

[Tone]

Thanks, I had forgotten that part of the instructions - harness is on order. But, the four to three wire adaptation is not spelled out in the above instructions. GM is providing a pin out and I have the electrical troubleshooting manual for the Isuzu so I should be able to figure it out.

One other thing, if you remove the 16g wires going to the fuse box under the hood, I’m not sure how well if would work to feed current back from the battery since it was not designed that way. I was going to take the new 4 gauge wire straight up to the battery and leave the two 16g wires connected as is. Any thoughts?

[SGT.BATGUANO]

Since you have the manual, you've probably answered your own question.

You would need to install a 100 amp fuse to protect the dash fuse box, ign. switched acc'ys., and some fuse/relay box components, if you abandoned or bypassed the white wires. Those white wires really need to be upsized as 16 ga. is really only good for about 15 amps in "open air".

Run as many as possible, high draw add-ons directly off the battery with a terminal block using individual fusing.

P.S. It looks like the plug in connector only has 2 wires.

[kpaske]

I've also got an Optima Blue Top in my VX. Before I purchased it, I did a little research and came up with little difference between the Blue Top and the Red Top, which is the one designed for automotive use. The Blue may cycle deeper than the Red, but they were both signicantly different from the Yellow, which wouldn't be as appropriate for a starting battery. The main difference is that the Blue was designed to drain slower during periods of no use. In other words, a boat would likely sit unused for longer periods of time than a car, and the Blue Top was designed to hold that charge longer. In a car, this is actually a plus for someone like me who travels a lot, and even with a high power stereo system I've never had any problems starting.

[Tone]

New alt has 4 wires - alterstart says the only one of them is needed (switched, pin L) to get it to work. I thought the Isuzu one had 3 but 2 would be easier - switched and hot always.

How many pins does the 150 above have? Did it come with the needed pigtail?

I will put a 180 amp fuse going to the battery and leave the other wires going to the distribution block.

[SPAZZ]

I got the 160 amp alternator from Rickster and it is a direct bolt/plug in.

nothing else needed. I got it with the micro pulley to charge at idle.

[SGT.BATGUANO]

Referring to pages 22 & 10 of the electrical manual, it looks like both wires are switched with "L" going to the gen. light and shift interlock and blower controls, and terminal "S" going to PCM and emission controls.