BIG 3 Upgrade with 2 Gauge Welding Wire + TESTING! 

1¹¹

Should be 0ohm.

Dielectric grease is an insulator.

​@@LoneWolfSnowplowinglol if any of my connections showed even a single ohm it's getting torn out and re done lol. No need for dialectic grease with proper connection points. Clean bare metal, copper lug terminal, crimped/heat shrink. Then lastly spray CLEAR COAT over your grounding points after tightening them down to prevent moisture from getting in. All my connections are .3-.5 ohms -.2ohms for resistance for leads so .1-.3 ohms actual

@@johndough111 you replied to the wrong person. You repeated what I said.

are you talking about your grounds when you said "then connected engine to chassis and engine to body and if I forgot to mention chassis to body(these were all really short spans of cable"?

@@ndNbodynDABSOLUTELY… Grounds my man👍🏼

All he did was parts changing. There was no skil whatsoever in his ability to diagnose his problems. THEN never showed the final outcome at the wnd! I've been ASE master certified for 35 years and u laughed at every thing he did in this video.

Such an awesome comment, best of luck

Yes! Many people don't know this. A lot of companies will try to charge you more for cables with more strands. It's a waste of money it only matters about the amount of copper inside the wire. The strands only make it more flexible.

+Logan Kroes Thank you sir!

been doing that shit for yearssssss

Princess auto sells them for $49.99

Wire from Alt casing to battery neg.

@@wolfheart2443 yeah try that 😂😂

@@michaelf.2449 the ground for the alternator

Lmfao dkm

😳😂😂😂😂💀

+ChinoDolla2888 Haha cool. Thank you for the great comment!

1 road, this is my EXACT same thought.

Dual batteries is a bandaid not a fix. Dual alternators or smaller pulley would be more of a true fix for the problem. Keep in mind you might add a higher power stereo, in car entertainment or use higher power Accessories. I have a lot experience with these exact vehicles.

This is why they jumped up to 145A standard alternator when 05+ GM trucks went to the dual E-fan. If you buy an ACDelco AD244 series alternator that they used, their Idle output is 100A+ and any decent alternator should be seeing peak or rated output around 3k RPM or less, so that Powermaster alt is junk.

James Holbrook I was thinking the same thing!!

A vise is another method of using it, yes. That or a press. They really are meant for jobsite crimping of major electrical construction, but they work wonders in automotive if you don't want to do soldering.

Hydraulic hand crimpers are awesome

The Doyle lineman pliers at harbor freight do a really fine job crimping those .

he also did not mention if it is going through a relay first.. it should be.. but perhaps if not the initial draw is too much for the fuse

deepsquat600 he probably didn't put in a temp sensor, and he has a switch to turn it on and off. It needs to run thru a relay at the very least.

yes

234yomo exactly, I just bought a 270 amp Alternator that produces 200amp at idle and 300 at 1600rpm. ALWAYS avoid copper clad aluminum wire, if your fat wire is too cheap it is likely alumnum

@@homefront3162 that welding wire is pure copper.

OSDCrusher Yeah, never ever do that. The fuse is to protect the limits of what the wire should handle. What he did could have easily totalled the truck due to a fire.

mannys9130 I'm aware. Thanks.

Hey there's a electrical fire let me pour gasoline on it.

My guess - the low quality fuses were the reason for melting the plastic fuse housings. I would also add the possibility of incorrect plastic not rated for high temperatures along with cheap fuse blades.

Exactly ! That comment is the reason why I right to the comments section. 😁

Yep hes asking for trouble

Hello Brett, thanks for your comment. Yes, I did upgrade the alt to 140amps but I'm still having issues at hot idle. It's not only the fact that the gauge drops, it's that when that voltage drops, amperage goes up. This means that with an insufficient alternator the fans will try to pull more amps thus creating more heat and exacerbating the problem. Fuses start popping and/or melting... you get the idea. So far, I've learned how to drive it to deal with it but now I'm at a crossroads as to what to do. Do I spring for a much higher output alternator that costs $400 or more or do I yank those fans out and go back to stock which just costs me time? I'll be making that decision soon and you can bet there'll be a video about it! haha.

Hey 1 Road, thanks for your reply, I feel special now, and obligated to help diagnose all them amperes running wild in your suburban. My interest in this is Im a back yard mechanic, have a Suburban that looks exactly like yours, and have a degree in Electronic engineering. Lets get right to the problems i see, your alternator is not turning fast enough at idle to meet the demands asked of it. This is what I got from your amp testing::: alternator putting out 70 amps idle 115 amps at speed full load(everything on) truck pulling 60 amps at full load(stock) fan pulling 35amps byself and 27amps at truck full load So at idle, you only have 10 amps to spare with your headlights and blower motors running. 70-60=10. So your having a negative 25amp draw on your battery at idle with everything on. I guess I would expect more out of the alternator., but they are sending you a rpm pully that might wake it up, it needs to spin fast enough to meet its threshold or its not gonna put out. (thats what she said). Thats where a dual battery set up would help (when you have a draw rather than a charge). Ok on to the second problem, the fuse melting. First I would like to say I do not believe its melting cause there is a lack of voltage. In a DC circuit, Voltage and amperage are directly proportional. So if voltage drops, so does amperage(current flow). an according to your tests, that proves it. Your fan was pulling 35 amps by itself, and droped to 27 amps when you lit everthing up in your truck. So by all rights, a 40 or 50 amp fuse should not be melting. What is causing this? One factor might be worth checking out, its called ampacity.That deals with the resistivity of conductors when they heat up. Specifically the wire gauge of the fan. This could probbally be an engineering fault of flex light. I think being in las vegas with exttreme temps, the under hood ambient temperture is causing the fan wire to increase its resistance causing heat. Fuses are designed to melt because of heat caused by excessive current, creating a clean break in the fillament. your fuse is melting from the out side also, caused from a longer exposer to heat, where my thinking ampacity is playing a role. This can be corrected by thicker wire. If my hypothisis is correct, flex light is at fault. And not sure how you could or if you should run heavier wire leads from the fan. Well I hope I gave you some things to think about. I really do wish flex light would have givin you more support also to see the project through. Ill be keeping an eye on what you do. I would like to see you see this project through, as its my belief you should beable to put a flex light fan, light bars, snow plow, and stereo amps in this truck with the meter showing full charge. Good luck buddy

@@ghostdragon5758 FINALLY!!!! I've been reading these comments a while now and nobody seems to have a clue what they are talking about! You do! I guess they have been talking to electricians(the guys that work on AC equipment!) because it's an AC motor that will draw more current at lower voltages. example--my 10,000 pound lift(I own my own auto repair shop) draws 17 amps on 208 volts, 16 amps on 230 volts--makes 2 HP in either case--AC is different than DC and I don't fully understand AC. However, I DO understand 12 volt DC! After 35 years as a professional mechanic I shgould! DC is directly proportional as you said--OHM'S LAW STATES---VOLTS=AMPS x OHMS, so at 14 volts you pulled 35 AMPS, then the theoretical running resistance of your fan motors combinbed is 0.40 OHMS so when the voltage drops to 12, the amperage should theoretically be 30. For this discussion this asumption is good enough. Actual measurement was about 27 AMPS due to multiple factors including voltage was likely not exactly 12 and the theoretical running resistance of the motors is not fixed at 0.40 OHMS--temperature, RPM, actual voltage--all of these plus other factors make estimating the resistance of running motors sketchy at best. For our purposes here it doesn't matter--we see AMPS go down as VOLTAGE goes down in a DC system. T melting fuses is ABSOLUTELY caused by the female connectors attached to the fuse terminals getting extremely hot due to high resistance!! The fan wires and the terminals are WAY TOO SMALL for 30 or more AMPS! Don't blame the fuse--he's the victim here! The bad guy is the heat created in the undersized wire and terminal due to high current. On to the rest of my diagnosis--as long as you won't be idleing longer than 5 minutes or so (provided you have a good battery) there is really no need to overdrive the alternator with a smaller pulley. Overdriving the alternator will only accelerate wear on alternator and load the engine and belt unnecessarily. In other words--use more gas and if you like to rev the engine high between shifts (like 5000 rpm or more), the alternator could possibly spin so fast the rotor windings sling out and rub on the stator!! Instant dead alternator and possibly fire due to dead short to ground for the welding cable you ran to the alternator! As for all those redundant grounds--they won't hurt anything, but they are not All helping you--you need a big cable from battery neg to engine block, a wire from batt neg to body(about 10 gage is fine), those straps from engine to frame are not for radio interference--they keep high current from running through things it shouldn't--like the shift cable and throttle cable!! They will melt and weld themselves together if the starter happens to source it's ground through them--I've seen it happen!! The only other one you need is a strap between engine and body.

@@tedstclair7145 Does the transmission also need to be grounded and if so to the battery negative or just the frame?

@@jbhcrazyskills9508 No need to ground transmission. It’s bolted to the engine so it gets it’s ground right there

I know this is a highly debated topic and I am not an engineer but have you ever seen the wire made by monster wire it has a pvc filament in the center to promote voltage travel

The reason for usually using stranded wire in DC applications is because DC does travel on the outside of each strand. The more strands equal less resistance, therefore less heat. AC on the other hand travels inside the strand and therefore solid wire is usually used.

@@battleofathens5986 you are absolutely wrong. DC flows through conductive material just the same as AC. The difference being it only does so in a singular direction. Also, a higher strand count increases resistance and heat due to electrical energy being dissipated by "skin effect". All wire has "skin effect" and when you increase the surface area of the wire by increasing the strand count, you in turn increase the "skin effect" of the wire. So therefore, a wire using the same material with less strands can be smaller and still handle the same current. The only real benefits of a higher strand count is flexibility and the fact it can handle vibration better

beardedforlife correct!...... I’m sorry I misspoke when I said that beardedforlife is correct. Indeed as Walter has said he is incorrect. Skin effect is a characteristic of a/c. It is more pronounced the higher the voltage. As in 5kv-500kv.

@@beardedforlife3740 you are quite incorrect. I am an electrical engineer. For a DC current, the rate of change of flux is zero, so there is no back emf due to changes in magnetic flux. Therefore, the current is uniformly distributed throughout the cross section of the conductor. ... Skin effect is process in which the electrons inside the metal conductor wire tries to move near the outer edge. Skin effect is an ac-only phenomenon.

Yup and have a seperate fuse/power connection powering each relay do the amps aren't all drawn through a single circuit.

+B Dog how on Earth did you accomplish 18.25 mpg???

Nothing special really. I just set the cruise control to 70 MPH and ride.

Nice! The cable seems really good to me.

@@1RoadGarage the reason your volts drop is because the amps are going up during start up,also known as in rush current..in the electrical industry wires are sized @ 125% of the motors running Amperage not Start up Amperage..the bigger the ground and 1 central grounding point is optimal to prevent ground loops

If you use Marine grade wire it is already tinned copper to prevent the creepage of corrosion up the wire, and it will maintain its integrity much longer than non marine wire.

👍 always best to for car audio even if it's just 500w it helps

I agree with John. Alot of people do it who push snow with plows and flashing lights on their truck. also winching in offroad trucks.

Will an AD244 even fit a TBI? I always thought it only swapped to the Vortec.

Bear metal. 😂

My jeep's idler pully was dragging my engine down so much that when i replaced it, i honestly went from 11 mpg gas to 13. So pullys can really affect ypur idle and engine drag.

+Gus Escobar in the process bro.

Not cheap at all but it will be worth it in the end. Draw less power and more mileage on the gas.

Auxbeam makes quality affordable LED bulbs.

I did that in my Grand Cherokee first week I got it

Standard LED replacement are 35 Watt instead of 55 Watt. This is exactly a gain of 3 instead of 4.5 Amp draw. 1.5 amp saved. That's it! I am not stocked by that.

Seems like he just sidegraded from 2 gauge stock to 2 gauge welding wire.

+John Moore Please do let me know. I'm just getting started in all this alternator stuff and it's extremely interesting.

1 Road so if I had seen that correctly, at idle with everything on, the alternator was producing 65-70 amps idling. The fans were consuming max 35amps, headlights and a/c blowers on using 60 amps roughly? If correct the alternator dosent produce enough to keep up at idle but more than enough at 1500rpm and up which explains your voltage drop. Id personally say you need either a smaller pulley or again 1 step bigger alternator. I have the 98 version of your suburban, and changed to a 250amp alternator and 1/0 wire in a full big 3, Im getting 190amps at idle, but im charging 3 batteries, so a bit different setup from you.

Ben Diblasio Which alternator are you running? And yes, you are correct in your finding. I have that smaller pulley coming and, according to PowerMaster, should give me an additional 450 rpm on the alt.

1 Road im running an alternator from a local place I deal with regularly. 15-18 alternators later I have never been let down.

I would love the info on who built your alt . Ive never seen a 250amp pump out 190amps at idle . Rule of thumb the higher the max amps the lower amps at idle . Im not saying a 250 would put out less then a factory alt at idle but usually your lucky to see 100amps at idle out of a 250amp hairpin . Now 1200/1800 rpm will usually give you full amps but anything under your lucky to get half. Also no one has said it but you also can run into issue with high rpm cut off with high amp alts . Usually over 5 k rpm and the alt stops charging . This is usually with alts above 250amp .

Strands count sir you mean

Never heard of someone fusing the alternator lol. Fusing is for the wire.

Evan Watty Part number?

1 Road bnrparts on EBay, just search their inventory. They’re really good guys located in California and they’ll answer all of your questions if you give them a call. Got mine 2 days after ordering and I’m in NC. They have a good warranty also so you’ll have that assurance also

Problem with high amp alts is they tend to put out less at idle . A good 300 amp alt might do 100amps at idle.

It's not the overall rating. It's what it can do at idle.

try to blame it on the fuse! LOL. too small of wire causing too high resistance and melting fuse

Yes too small and should have grounded to the chassis NEAR THE FAN. You can compensate for wire that’s too thin by shortening the length. Ground wire should always be as short as possible anyway

@@codilankford6173 Too small of wire = less capacity, undersized. It's like a 1/2 inch water line at 50 psi will flow X gallons per minute. A 1 inch water line at 50 psi will flow more. Pump up the pressure to 100 psi and the 1/2 inch will flow more. Same with power, voltage = pressure/psi, potential.

@@vongrayson9047 what?? At 100psi a 1 inch pipe gonna have more gpm than 1/2. What u smokin?

Bingo!👍

What you said. I was about to say the same and seen this. 👍

I assumed they had relays, if not absolutely 100% need relays. I won't even run small led off road lights without a relay, cheap insurance.

Exactly