I'm considering uprating my alternator to give a better charge at low engine revs.
The best value seems to be HillMart (www.alternatormart.co.uk) who supply Unipoint alternators from Woods Auto Supplies, possibly built/imported from Taiwan.
Are Unipoint alternators any good?
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Unipoint alternators are made in Taiwan. I've only ever had my hands on one, and it seemed OK.
You can buy direct from Wood Auto, which may be cheaper. Wood Auto are a good company IME and I would suggest giving them a call to see if they can 'upgrade' your old alternator to boost the output.
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Thanks for yout input.
Co-incidentally the alternator failed a couple of days ago on my son's Astra so we've bitten the bullet and fitted a new Unipoint 100A (standard output). At £79 including vat and next-day delivery, for a new unit with 12 months warranty, this seems to fit his budget very well. We'll keep you posted how it perfoms and then I might get one myself.
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Just out of interest; what's wrong with the charge rate of your standard alternator and exactly what's it on? [Year; engine; etc.]
[Was that right; an outright new 100A unit for £79 inc? Worryingly cheap?]
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Don't forget that the rated output of a car alternator is specified near to its maximum speed. If you need more output current, the idle and low speed output is far more important - at higher speeds the machine will be almost always under regulator control anyway.
Paradoxically, for a given frame size, a machine with a higher maximum output will produce less current at idle and low speeds. This is because the slot size and number of slots in the stator is fixed for the frame size so to achieve a higher output, thicker wire is used in the stator. This means fewer turns and hence a higher cutting in speed and lower current at idle.
Alternators are like engines - everyone looks at the maximum output rating rather than the useful work which can be achieved in the really significant operating region.
659.
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Never quite understood the need for an uprated alternator in most cars (rally use being different obviously).
With all the cars sophistication now I have never found 1 ( in last 10 -20 years) to suffer from lacking sufficient charging ability if all is ok with car and working as should be; including cars that only do short distances in winter using lots of electrical power.
if its not broke don't try and fix it seems appropriate here?
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Have a look at Iskra, Bosch, and Hitachi machines (and of course machines on eBay). Some cars will not handle granny cycle in winter. For example I'm retired and daylight is valuable. When it gets dark I go about a mile to the supermarket (BTW its very hilly so pushbiking isn't really practical) The A127 type alternators with the three pin connectors are absolutely awful as the power pins can burn up or become high resistance (very common on the 72 amp model and the warning light will not show either!) Some improvement can be obtained by using the stud terminal as well as the 3 pole connector. Fitting thick cable (welding cable is ideal) between the stud terminal and battery positive will help tremendously. (I CANNOT TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ACCIDENTS SORRY! SO BE CAREFUL AND DON'T MESS IF YOU ARE NOT 100% COMPETENT)
Voltage testing after start-up with the new cable improved the voltage at the battery by more than half a volt. 14.2 on tickover with lights out. Main beam (4 x 60 watts)dropped this to 13.5 and switching on the hatchback demister dropped the volts to 12.9. That demister even caused a change in the engine note! With nearly everything on (no wipers or radio) the charge into the battery was only 1.5 amps however. Not very good so demister and main beam need to be used sparingly. Better alternator required!
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Re frame size and output power. At one time pressed rotors were used, later forged rotors were introduced that could tolerate 17,000 or 18,000 rpm. To get the rpm polyvee belts are used. Now I don't know what grade of iron is used for the stators, but with transformers, the use of Radiometal (trade mark) just about doubles everything compared to standard transformer iron. IME external fans are bad news as I once had a battery sawn through when the battery shifted during an emergency stop. (Rover SD1 V8 and previous owner had not fitted the correct battery). It ruined the car.
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I too find it hard to see why anyone thinks their standard alternator is not good enough at low revs.
I remember the good old days of dynamos, when (if you had an ammeter fitted), and were driving on a dark rainy day with the wipers, headlights and demister on, you were in a battery current deficit situation !
The alternators on every car I've seen for past 10 years have seemed like nuclear power stations by comparison !
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I remember dynamo's too. ( My dad told me about them????)
Were they the good old days ?
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Its just lucky we cant remember the acetylene headlamps you had to put the crystals in !
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Are they the things that needed liquid with to work? Genuinely before my time but have heard some stories if I got the right things.
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No, that's carbide that needed the liquid in. Apparantly, if they went out on the way home from the pub, miles from anywhere and fresh water wasn't about, re-cycled beer would work.
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Now that was the stories i had heard about !
And 1 was from a lady biker of old (yes honestly) what a girl she must have been for her time?
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> No, that's carbide that needed the liquid in.
Yep, Calcium Carbide. Mix with water and it produces acetylene, as used in coach lamps. It used to be available from specialist bike shops but you'd be arrested under The Terrorism Act for posession nowadays. It was the principle ingredient of early anti-submarine depth charges.
Kevin...
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I remember the good old days of dynamos when (if you had an ammeter fitted) and were driving on a dark rainy day with the wipers headlights and demister on you were in a battery current deficit situation !
This is why you were allowed to drive with sidelights in a lit up area,a rule which should be rescinded IMO,the plethora of background lighting these days can often make sidelights invisible.Alternatively bring back dim-dip.
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Unipoint - Unipart
Bit of a similar name don't you think?? Smacks of cashing in on a similar sounding name supplying a cheap unit produced in an environmental nightmare of a factory. Can be horrendously bad quality so be wary and check the supplied unit carefully.
UK aftermarket is being flooded with cheap imports on rotating electrics (starter & alternators) putting quality suppliers under extreme pressure.
--
Was Charles {P} but someone c o p i e d my name with spaces.
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Unipoint - Unipart Bit of a similar name don't you think??
I think most Unipoint stuff would be sold outside of the UK where the Unipart name would not mean anything. I also think Unipoint have been around for a long time. I'm sure they were selling electrics over 20 years ago???
supplying a cheap unit produced in an environmental nightmare of a factory.
They are Taiwanese remember, not Chinese. China is a complete mess, but Taiwan is quite progressive and environmentally aware (at least the places I've visited around Taipei were).
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Just like to add to the point made about Unipoint , There core business was the US and have only recently hit the UK market as a brand ( their products are sold by other well know Suppliers under there own brands so you may well be buying unipoint without knowing it .
Also remember there are no UK manufacter of rotating electrics any more !!!!! Lucas = Denmark, Bosch = Hungary and both these are remanufactured not new .....
If any of you need to ring or enquire about a unit from Alternatormart , mention this site ( you may be in for some discount )
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