alternator amperage

[LMR 0]

Is there a way to find out how much room is left in the alternator output after running the vehicle? I am just wondering if this would be a way to see or prevent power drops and messing up the car/truck electronics.

[jonbearsmt 919]

well.. you can look up your factory alternator and see how big it is.. the other thing you can do is pretty much add up what the amprage draw is on everything you run... IE. headlights 35 ams low beam 45 amp high, A./C 50 amps. ECM 35 amps... so on and so forth.

[Impious 1,476]

Find the size of your stock alt.

Get an ammeter, turn on all of you accessories (headlights/high beams, AC, etc) and see how much current is being pulled from the alt.

The difference is roughly how much "available" current draw you have available from the alt.

[LMR 0]

I normally do my amperage readings with a clamp on but that won't work with dc power which means I'ld have to do it in series.