Wiring in a larger alternator

[pjmoreland]

Adding a heavier gauge wire from the alternator to the battery is only part of the puzzle. If you have all of your add-ons connected to the fuse panel under the dash, then they are still only being powered by the 10-gauge wire that runs from the alternator to the junction in the harness near the voltage regulator and then on to the fuse panel. One common solution is to add a bus or a fuse panel in the engine bay somewhere for the add-ons that is fed by a large wire from the alternator.

One side effect of augmenting the factory wiring is that the stock BATTERY gauge will no longer be accurate. One solution is to replace it with a voltage gauge. American Autowire makes one that installs in the stock location.