I have a 260amp mechman alternator, and I just got it back from sending it in for repair. The alternator has never charged right from the first day I got it, and I thought maybe after it was warranty repaired it would charge at the correct voltage. Nope after a month of waiting, it charges at around 14.0 from 800rpms-1500rpms. 14.1-14.2 from 1600-up. It's supposed to be 14.4 at idle, but it little rally puts out nothing at anything under 800rpms, which my truck kinda varies from 500-800 for idle. The batteries are fine cause they sit at 13.3, and all my belts are tight. The pulley is already probably the smallest they can fit on this alt, so it's not that. My voltage even drops with only 600w rms, from 14 to 13.8-13.6.

I'm getting really tired of it not working correctly, and very soon I need to be pushing a 3800w rms amp, so it's pretty important it works correctly.

Any idea? Mechman doesn't seem to know why..

Sorry for the typos, on the phone typing.

send it back. From the majority of experiences I've witness, after 2 or 3 tries, it's finally as claimed status.

what battery do you have under the hood?

send it back. From the majority of experiences I've witness, after 2 or 3 tries, it's finally as claimed status.

It took a month! I had to use my other truck during that entire period. I'm not waiting another month, I don't get how this company gets such good ratings for quality if it takes 3 attempts.

what battery do you have under the hood?

Diehard gold 875cca and a kinetik 1200 by the amps atm.

send it back. From the majority of experiences I've witness, after 2 or 3 tries, it's finally as claimed status.

It took a month! I had to use my other truck during that entire period. I'm not waiting another month, I don't get how this company gets such good ratings for quality if it takes 3 attempts.

 

I guess I am a lucky one. I went straight to the Elite 370amp and have had 0 issues. I do still keep a stock alternator around from dealing with Tenney now though. I must have exchanged 3 times before going with Mechman. I originally bought one of the Mechmans with external regulator on ebay that was like 320 max and 200 at idle. Received it and it said like 138idle and instantly didn't want it. Emailed him and swapped out and he was willing to meet me at a car show in Nashville (which i missed), but then had it two me 2 days later. I guess the part about meeting his customers and going out of his way is why he has good ratings? Sometimes you do have to whine a little. For what it's worth i did get a cool ass sticker too though

 

i have had no issues aswell...

 

 

  but i did notice recently i put a new battery in under my hood.. and the voltage went WAAAAy down.. it was weird.. but my old battery back in and boom voltage back up...

 

 so i would say.. un hook the back battery... and change your starting battery with your other truck and see what it does then.. its worth a shot.

i have had no issues aswell...

but i did notice recently i put a new battery in under my hood.. and the voltage went WAAAAy down.. it was weird.. but my old battery back in and boom voltage back up...

so i would say.. un hook the back battery... and change your starting battery with your other truck and see what it does then.. its worth a shot.

Okay so this morning I turned on my truck and it was at 14.6, but it went down to 14 agian as I was driving, after a few mins. So as it heats up it puts out lower voltage? That would be my guess.

Do you have an adjustable regulator? Is this one of the new style Elite series or the old style?

I had a old style 270 with no adjustable regulator and my truck charged at 14.4 cold and 13.6-13.8 when hot just like the stock one which is normal. Mine went out completely as to why I upgraded to a Elite 370 with the adjustable regulator to set the voltage where I wanted.. Also the old style won't make do near as much at idle as the Elite series.

I don't see the huge problem here?

Well my idle can't be too high or else my truck will have a hard time shutting off, you gets sputters and such, so that's why it not charging at my normal rpms is bad. Second. mechman told me it was supposed to output 14.4 @idle, therefore it bothers me that it doesn't. This alternator went in for repair because it stopped working as did yours. The regulator is not adjustable unfortunately.

Oh and I would have bought a larger elite mechman alternator but they said this is the largest they could build for my vehicle.

Your alternator will charge lower when hot. Plain and simple they lose efficiency when they heat up. Mine does 15.1-15.2 at startup when cold out and drops to 14.4-14.7 when it's warmed up. You might have a higher resistance throughout your vehicle if you can't get up that high since mine isn't externally regulated either. Disconnect back bank and test directly at the alt to see idle voltage. Swap the front battery once to test with a different one. A bad battery acts as a load and will pull the voltage down so it's always best to test with a single battery.

Your alternator will charge lower when hot. Plain and simple they lose efficiency when they heat up. Mine does 15.1-15.2 at startup when cold out and drops to 14.4-14.7 when it's warmed up. You might have a higher resistance throughout your vehicle if you can't get up that high since mine isn't externally regulated either. Disconnect back bank and test directly at the alt to see idle voltage. Swap the front battery once to test with a different one. A bad battery acts as a load and will pull the voltage down so it's always best to test with a single battery.

I plan on testing with a brand new battery soon, we'll see what happens.

Sucks to hear about your troubles. I have an elite 370 with no issues. 

and if your truck is dieseling when you shut it off you should adjust your carb, check your timing and vacuums,

Have you tryed other volt meters? I have used ones that are off a little.

I'm using a multimeter in which I know is accurate. The reason why it does that is because the rpms go up at idle when the engine warms up, so after I finish driving somewhere it's warm enough to push my rpms up to 1000, which is why it does that. I just need to turn it down a little bit.

So guess what that piece of shit mechman sent me doesn't work once agian, and this time I'm really upset cause I can't afford to not be able to to work. I can't keep having this shit happen

Whoa, pump the brakes. Is this one acting in the same identical fashion as the old one? Please explain if anything is different. I know I went through 2 of the Tenney alternators and he kept replacing them to simply have the internal regulator itself keep going out. This is one of those circumstances where your luck seems to be running thin as mine did previously. I've heard of others having issues from the Mechman alts, but he usually helps them out the best he can. I know the next thing I say might suck, but I really recommend keeping a stock alt nearby any time you run a high amp alternator as I've had 4 high amp alts all together for them to go out one after another until i went to the Mechman elite I have now. 

I did buy a one wire alt today until we can figure this out, but they are gonna have to change something other than the regulator cause it neither gets the voltage, amps, or even work for more then a couple weeks. I should get what's advertised, plus the fact I have to pay shipping everytime it dies is getting expensive. So that's why I'm angry. But anyways hopefully he can build a elite for me, but it still isn't right that I have to pay more just to get a working one from them.

I did buy a one wire alt today until we can figure this out, but they are gonna have to change something other than the regulator cause it neither gets the voltage, amps, or even work for more then a couple weeks. I should get what's advertised, plus the fact I have to pay shipping everytime it dies is getting expensive. So that's why I'm angry. But anyways hopefully he can build a elite for me, but it still isn't right that I have to pay more just to get a working one from them.

 

Trust me man, I am a true believer of the best warranty being the one you don't have to use. With that being said I would ask him for a return label and express that you feel you have sent it back more than adequate times on your own dime. He may or may not go for it, but it's worth a shot. I won't be the one to say "go to singer or dc" because in your extreme case most issues that I have seen arise are from all the companies lower to mid grade alts. All 3 of these companies top tier alts are more rare to have seen issues vs their lower end counterparts. I will say to not expect any different from anyone else though. You think Mechman is bad with the wait then read all the stories on how long DC has taken for some people. Granted DC is trying, but you aren't paying for trying now are we? You don't mind waiting and want the best go DC. Wanna wait a little less and still get quality go Singer. Don't like waiting long at all and still have some quality go mechman. I respect all of them equally for their skills being that they all carry the latest in their respective field with a slight edge to DC. It sucks that you're having issues and I definitely understand, but once you get it right you'll be glad you did. The last thing I tried with Tenney before giving up was to tell him to ship me another with a return label in the box for the old one. Of course he forgot the return label and told me to just keep both alts like he didn't care anymore, but I sent them both back and got my money back cause I didn't need a heavy ass paper weight sitting around.

Yeah just to be clear I don't have an issue with the customer service at all, it's very good. Just product so far as been pretty bad, he wants me to send it in again, and this is the last chance for it to be right. Even though I know changing out the regulator is not going to fix the fact that it has low voltage output and doesn't charge at my idle. But... Idk what to do, when I mentioned refund he didn't seem to keen on doing that. I've been having the worst luck lately.

Edited August 24, 201312 yr by SacredTanakh

Yeah just to be clear I don't have an issue with the customer service at all, it's very good. Just product so far as been pretty bad, he wants me to send it in again, and this is the last chance for it to be right. Even though I know changing out the regulator is not going to fix the fact that it has low voltage output and doesn't charge at my idle. But... Idk what to do, when I mentioned refund he didn't seem to keen on doing that. I've been having the worst luck lately.

 

If you feel you have been wronged and paid with paypal then it doesn't matter really. He knows that and that's why he can't do much short of giving the best customer service possible. For low voltage at idle there are usually only 2 combatants to help with that. 

 

1) Better voltage regulator (assuming the other is bad)

2) Smaller pulley

 

When doing the smaller pulley though you really have to make sure you are setup for maximum belt wrap as they tend to slip like crazy on most stock setups. You'd be surprised as to what all putting a smaller pulley on accomplishes in this case. The size difference is really tiny as well. You may think the one you have now is small, but the replacement might almost seem like the same size, but makes a world of difference. I would even bring it up to him as an option to see if he would be willing to try that. Hell, have him send you the pulley and get it swapped out and try it yourself so you don't have to send back the whole alt. 

i would start looking at my wiring, it sounds like there may be a shaffed wire or something.. maybe grounding out  here and there causing a failure