[Wolverine0587]

Ever since I had a new alternator put in after some blind troubleshooting with my wife and friend testing things for me I've noticed when I hit the gas my lights brighten a little. This also occurs at idle because of the hot rod cams having fluctuating rpms and such. What can I do to mitigate this because even though it is so slight I know it's harder on the bulbs.

 

[Wolverine0587]

In sorry, I realized how unintelligible that post was. I blame lack of sleep. Anyway, full story. While I was in afghaniland the wifey kept complaining my battery was dying and that even after leaving it running for a while to charge it would still be dead the next day. So, a friend took the battery to be tested overnight and returned it the next day saying it passed fine. This in my head leaves the alternator. Of course, I ordered one and got it with slightly higher amperage than stock. After that it was discovered that in fact it WAS the battery so got a new one of those and problem solved. Now comes the part with the lights getting brighter from idle to hitting the gas. I know it is because of the higher amperage. My issue is I want to try to resolve it without going back to the old alternator and Im not sure how.

 

[Davo_281GT]

Good excuse to add some HID's. They have a ballast that controls the power going to the bulbs. So even though you may get a small surge to the ballast itself, it keeps the same current of electricity flowing to the bulbs. And since a ballast ups the amperage to power the high-power HID's, should resolve the issue. If your bulbs are the only thing you are worried about.

 

[Boomdizzle]

Does your car have under drive pulleys? That will make the lights dim regardless. I had the same issue on my fox body.

It could also be some corrosion on the headlight grounds that are causing a drain.

Could also be e negative battery cable has corrosion where it bolts to the engine block. I had that issue on my fox body as well and was using a ton of juice and made it next to impossible to jump when I it would die.

I'd check all of those and clean the grounds and contact points thoroughly with some steel wool.

 

[Wolverine0587]

No under drive pulleys, but I'll def check for corrosion and see if that's the problem.

 

[Tyoung68]

Idk if newer cars have these but i know on my car i had the same problem and my voltage regulator was bad put a new one on and my lights are fine now

 

[Wolverine0587]

So having a higher amp alternator shouldn't effect the brightness of the lights between idle and throttle right?

 

[Tyoung68]

No its should be a constant power

 

[Wolverine0587]

Alright, I'll check all that out as soon as I have some time off to do so. I didn't even think of checking the grounds for corrosion... If I were still in my airframes shop head would have my ass haha.

 

[hubbs]

Please let us know if you solve the problem. My friend is having the same issue with his mustang and he also just got a new alternator. But he thinks it was happening before, not quite sure. Thanks
-hubbs

 

[Wolverine0587]

I haven't gotten the time to look into it just yet because Im working like a million bs jobs since my contract overseas ended, but I'll be sure to post pics and results. Ya know, it might have been happening prior to the higher amp alt, but I never noticed it.

 

[Wolverine0587]

Ok, I was looking at the old alternator (that I now know is still good) and found this. I called my buddy that did the install for me since I was far from home and he told me that he saw it, but didn't know how to put it in because it didn't fit anywhere. I'm pretty sure it's just a higher amperage rated alt to batt cable. Does anyone have this installed and a picture so I can compare and maybe install it?

 

[nunjabusiness]

What you describe sounds just like the voltage regulator to me.
Since it (surprise!) regulates the voltage, it would affect battery charging and output to accessories like lights.)

 

[Wolverine0587]

What you describe sounds just like the voltage regulator to me.
Since it (surprise!) regulates the voltage, it would affect battery charging and output to accessories like lights.)

Makes sense, could it also be my hotrod cams? I never noticed it before having them installed, but it doesn't mean that it didn't..