buickid

Alright, so I got a 320A alternator for my xB, made by DC Power Inc.
I haven't installed it yet, so this isn't a full review yet. But to start off, I'll tell my story, its pretty crazy. So I tried to contact DC Power for about a month for a quote on an alt for the xB. Meanwhile, I contacted Mechman about an alt, and got a quote right away. On our forum, hawaiicaraudio.net, the local rep posted that they just developed a 320A alt for the Scions, so I asked him to get me a price. He finally got me a price after about a month of asking DC Power direct. I won't post the price, see your dealer for pricing, but I will say it wasn't much more than the Mechman. The fact that it did 320A vs the 220A from Mechman for not much more was the factor that made me go with DC Power. I know both companies made good products.

Well, fast forward three weeks from the date I dropped my cash. Apparently DC Power's owner Rob has been having family issues, but I was told by my local rep that my alt was built. Thats all I heard. One week later, I'm wondering where my alt is, since its supposedly built. I call up DC Power direct, and give them my name. They ask me if I wanted gloss black or wrinkle black powder coating. Woah, I thought my alt was built? Turns out that its not even built and it appeared that my order was just discovered. Fast forward three weeks and numerous phones calls to DC Power. I finally get them to recognize that I have an order in and that I've been waiting over a month. They end up overnighting me my alt so I can install it before I go on vacation. I return on the night of the 30th with a comp on the 1st, so everything needs to be hooked up.

Once I get the alt installed, I'll post up more pix and my conclusions.

xB Cracker

Looks real nice! Too bad you had to chase your order so much.

buickid

Yeah. I'm confident its a good product, but their customer service was an absolute nightmare. I think they're just expanding at a rate faster than their suppliers can handle, from what I gather. The phone-answering guy Kyle was very nice and sympathetic, but I think they're just absolutely swamped over there. On more than one occasion, he sounded exasperated heh

randomsuper

very nice. got any vids of the system?

buickid

No vids of the system in it's current state. I'll be sure to grab some when I can. Anyway, I got the alt in today, and its pretty good! Getting it in was pretty easy besides the serpentine belt tensioner. Haven't comprehensively tested it yet, but while driving, the voltage stays around 13.8V, and while slamming the system (while driving), voltage never dropped below 13V. Tests to come later at idle and rev'd to 2k while stopped. I notice that with this alt and the stock alt, when you're parked, the voltage drops. Perhaps the computer regulates the charging when you're not moving due to heat buildup?

xseveredveganx

Ugh. Sounds like another DC Power nightmare. Glad you got it, bro! I'm not sure how they can produce an alternator that generates that much current and it's still in the stock case. Mechman's uses a larger case, even for the 220amp unit.

Definitely get a clamp test and let us know how it performs. If I wanted to get more amplification, I'd probably opt for one of these. For now, my 180amp unit works well. But revved at 2000rpms, I'll dip into the mid 11's. I need to get a D3100...

mrmondaynight

how are you liking the btl on music?

xseveredveganx

I can't answer for him, but I'd assume it would perform fairly well. It's honestly all in the enclosure.

I've read people say that Digital Designs drivers have a 'hollow' sound. My 9515G has been nothing short of phenomenal and can take my full SAZ-3000D at .75ohm for a while with no problems.

It's all in the install.

buickid

The BTL on music isn't too bad! I'm not sure this alt is a true 320A but I might need to beef up my wires too. More testing to come...

MaxBoost925

That looks sick bro.

I was looking into getting an Iraggi.

buickid

Well there was a comp today. Pulled off a 146.7 @ 43Hz. Did a 147.0 in testing earlier, dunno what happened.
The alt pulled through pretty well, was sampling throughout the day. Had my Fluke hooked up at my buss-bar in the rear and voltage periodically dipped to ~ 12.3V if I had it revved up to 2k while slamming full tilt. (Perhaps thanks to two group 31 batts?) Voltage stayed pretty reasonable otherwise. I'm gonna try and ground the alt directly to the battery and do a run of 4ga from the rear battery bank to the buss bar to see if it helps any.

MaxBoost925

That's interesting. So you have 1 batt in your engine bay and 1 batt in the trunk?

I know you have a 0awg big 3 so now I'm wondering what's the issue. What are your buss bars made of?

buickid

I have one DieHard Platinum Group 35 / Odyssey PC1400 under the hood and two DieHard Platinum Marine Group 31 / Odyssey PC2150 in the cabin, one under each front seat. Theres one 1/0 run from the alternator to the front battery, which then goes to the rear batt bank. That 1/0 run goes to the battery under the passenger seat, then jumps over to the one under the driver seat. The run to the buss bar (bolted to the box) feeds off the passenger seat battery. From the buss bar to the amps, I have short (~2.5ft) 4 gauge runs. The buss bars are made out of aluminum, contacts air-sander-ed and coated in Noalox (anti-oxidizing paste) to prevent oxidization between the ring terminals and the buss bars. I'll snap a pic after I unload all the stuff from the comp.

I'm gonna run a 4 ga. wire from the driver's seat battery to the buss bars and a 0 gauge run direct from the alt case to the negative battery terminal, where the ground to the chassis and block meet. That *should* help the flow of current...

MaxBoost925

Sounds like it should be ok. Maybe run another engine block ground instead of an alt ground?

I suggest relocating the batteries to the trunk closer to your enclosure. Maybe run a 3/0 to the batteries in your trunk. But I doubt that would make a difference.

MaxBoost925

I'm dimming pretty bad too btw.

I'm running stock battery/alt in the front and a Kinetik HC600 in the back with 4awg wiring and 4awg big 3.

mrmondaynight

Upgrade your front batt and run 0 to 4

buickid

Heres a clip someone shot of my car at the last comp, you can see my bussbar setup, kinda.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RGJVeTBuMY