Gsmblue Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 I have "accidentally" ordered a 1 wire alternator. I put it in the cart on our Amazon account and my wife ordered a book.. So now I have coming my way a Powermaster 8-57141. That is their 150A improved ford black alternator with internal voltage regulator. My dilemma is now - do I keep it or not? I am not worried about the cost, I know I can get a 3G for less. As this model has a built in regulator I would just run a nice chunky wire to the battery side of the start relay and disconnect the ammeter and external VR. I guess I could replace the shunt and get the ammeter working again, but honestly that is the least useful gauge in the cluster so I am not worried about that. Just wanted to get peoples opinions here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machspeed Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 I can't speak for the 1 wire, but I do like my 3G conversion and my converted ammeter to voltmeter gauge. I now have a useful gauge sitting in that pod. This is one of those mods that makes my truck far less the fire hazard too. Grateful to Gary and Jim for helping me along in that mod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 I can't speak for the 1 wire, but I do like my 3G conversion and my converted ammeter to voltmeter gauge. I now have a useful gauge sitting in that pod. This is one of those mods that makes my truck far less the fire hazard too. Grateful to Gary and Jim for helping me along in that mod. I'm not a Powermaster alternator fan. Big Blue had one when I acquired him and it failed soon thereafter. Called Powermaster to get parts and was informed that they don't sell parts - you return the alternator to them for repair. I'm not into that. I want to be able to get repair parts at the local auto parts if the thing fails while I'm on the road. So now I'm running a box stock 3G. But any 3G, even a souped-up one like Bill's 160A unit, would be fine because you can always drop another 3G in its place for the trip home. Like maybe even from a salvage Not true of the 1-wire Powermasters as you have to wire specifically for a 1-wire. I'll let Scott/kramttocs persuade you that the Powermasters are the way to go. He's the Powermaster czar as I think he now has three of them - inc my bad one. Took me several years to find someone that would take it off my hands - for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Whitstone Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 I have a Powermaster 1 wire. I think it's maybe 120 amps or so. No problems so far, I think I've had it the better part of a year. If you are proposing that you run "blind" with regards to the health of your electrical system, and people have had problems with Powermaster failures, then I would think it advisable to get a gauge of some kind. I run a volt meter, so I should be able to tell if anything goes wrong. But my dashboard is not stock. So you could add a small round gauge somewhere (under dash or in the A pillar or something). Or you could get a small volt meter that plugs into your cigarette lighter. If you're just running around town and could make it home with a dead charging system, you probably wouldn't need it, but you could plug it in for a longer trip, so you could see a problem coming and start looking for a parts store. I assume you would keep the stock wiring in place so you could go back to a parts store unit if needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gsmblue Posted February 3, 2022 Author Share Posted February 3, 2022 I have a Powermaster 1 wire. I think it's maybe 120 amps or so. No problems so far, I think I've had it the better part of a year. If you are proposing that you run "blind" with regards to the health of your electrical system, and people have had problems with Powermaster failures, then I would think it advisable to get a gauge of some kind. I run a volt meter, so I should be able to tell if anything goes wrong. But my dashboard is not stock. So you could add a small round gauge somewhere (under dash or in the A pillar or something). Or you could get a small volt meter that plugs into your cigarette lighter. If you're just running around town and could make it home with a dead charging system, you probably wouldn't need it, but you could plug it in for a longer trip, so you could see a problem coming and start looking for a parts store. I assume you would keep the stock wiring in place so you could go back to a parts store unit if needed. Thanks for the input everyone. I will definitely leave all the original wiring in place. I may update some of it as needed. The in dash ammeter is next to worthless, I will add a cigarette lighter VM though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_S85 Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 Thanks for the input everyone. I will definitely leave all the original wiring in place. I may update some of it as needed. The in dash ammeter is next to worthless, I will add a cigarette lighter VM though. Mine doesnt even work, but I am trying to get Dakota Digital to do their RTX vintage look cluster for our trucks they have an actual volt gauge and it would be better in my book than pulling my cluster apart to send the ammeter out to be converted to a volt gauge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gsmblue Posted February 3, 2022 Author Share Posted February 3, 2022 Thanks for the input everyone. I will definitely leave all the original wiring in place. I may update some of it as needed. The in dash ammeter is next to worthless, I will add a cigarette lighter VM though. Mine doesnt even work, but I am trying to get Dakota Digital to do their RTX vintage look cluster for our trucks they have an actual volt gauge and it would be better in my book than pulling my cluster apart to send the ammeter out to be converted to a volt gauge. I just stumbled on the "Rocketman" conversion page. That does look really interesting: https://www.rccinnovations.com/index.php?show=menu-volt-all When the Alternator gets here I will throw it on and use a cigarette lighter socket volt meter to see how it all looks, then I will prob do the switch from ammeter to voltmeter, looks simple enough. I will document and add to the project thread. I think this will go down next weekend... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taskswap Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 I just stumbled on the "Rocketman" conversion page. That does look really interesting: https://www.rccinnovations.com/index.php?show=menu-volt-all When the Alternator gets here I will throw it on and use a cigarette lighter socket volt meter to see how it all looks, then I will prob do the switch from ammeter to voltmeter, looks simple enough. I will document and add to the project thread. I think this will go down next weekend... I have that exact RCI unit if you have any questions. One downside you have to send them your core ahead of time - he rewires the exact unit. Which is fine, but it means pulling your panel twice if you plan to drive the truck in the meantime. Also, he doesn't include wires, it's just the gauge and terminals. You'll need some ring terminals, crimper, and wire to complete the install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 I just stumbled on the "Rocketman" conversion page. That does look really interesting: https://www.rccinnovations.com/index.php?show=menu-volt-all When the Alternator gets here I will throw it on and use a cigarette lighter socket volt meter to see how it all looks, then I will prob do the switch from ammeter to voltmeter, looks simple enough. I will document and add to the project thread. I think this will go down next weekend... One BIG word of caution. Your new alternator is capable of kicking out 150A. But my guess is that the shunt that feeds the ammeter is capable of handling about 75A. So if you don't change the wiring, at some point you are going to melt that shunt and potentially catch things on fire. As shown below, the shunt is between the output of the alternator and the battery. So if your battery gets a bit low the regulator is going to tell the alternator to do its thing, and that shunt will not be happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gsmblue Posted February 4, 2022 Author Share Posted February 4, 2022 One BIG word of caution. Your new alternator is capable of kicking out 150A. But my guess is that the shunt that feeds the ammeter is capable of handling about 75A. So if you don't change the wiring, at some point you are going to melt that shunt and potentially catch things on fire. As shown below, the shunt is between the output of the alternator and the battery. So if your battery gets a bit low the regulator is going to tell the alternator to do its thing, and that shunt will not be happy. Thanks Gary, I am going to disconnect the ammeter and send it off to be converted to a voltmeter. That should take care of that. Safety first!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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