Stock Alternator Pulley with UDP's

[adidas_kn]

Okay soo I think the combo of a weak Optima Blue top relocated to the trunk plus a full set of UDP's on my 93' might be causing undercharging. I dropped it off at the body shop last week and when I came to check on it the battery was dead as a door nail. It sometimes illuminates the Battery light at idle but goes away after a quick rev. It seemed to run really well before I dropped it off. Maybe the Battery is just completely dead now. I'll throw in on a charger for awhile and then see how well it checks out. Could the extended run of power wire and the use of UDP's cause the battery to not fully charge? I did run extra ground wires in the back and in the engine bay just incase. Now if this is a problem can I reinstall the stock alternator pulley with no ill effects? I will be shipping the car in the next month and don't want to worry about a new battery dying and them messing with it since it's in the trunk. Will the under drive crank pulley and the stock alternator pulley cause the new alternator to over spin or blow up if I rev it too high?

I will put a new Redtop Optima in the trunk and see how it goes but I want to know if the pulley combo will be okay for awhile.

 

[Mad Celt]

The red top is likely a better battery for your purpose. The Blue top is a deep cycle Marine battery...it is designed to be drained to dead and brought back up repeatedly and rather often wheras the redtop is designed to be charged and discharged at a more normal rate.

We used to run expedition trucks and competition rock crawlers with winch setups and often drain the batteries low in recovery situations....even with this abuse, we were told by Optima that a red top was more than enough and only to use the blues and yellows in a setup that will drain the battery to zero.

That said, maybe see fi you can get your battery re-wound to supply a higher output at idle (this is another trick we'd use to help with low speed draw on the trucks.)

Good Luck,

RJ

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Trying to remember whether or not you have a TwEECer, then it would just be a simple matter of upping the idle RPM's to ensure good charging at idle. But yeah, a combination of low alternator speed and the blue top may be contributing to the problem. The re-location shouldn't make much of a difference.

 

[LOUDSHO92]

I have a red top with UDPs and I don't have any problems and my SHO will sit for a week or 2 sometimes.

I would agree its probably the Blue top. Lupo had a similar poblem and switched from a blue top as well.

 

[adidas_kn]

Oh well that Bluetop cost $150 about 3 years ago. I'll see if it will come back to life since it likes to be drained to zero. I'll go drop another $100 on a new Red top and all will be okay. I do have a Tweecer but it's still in the box. I'll get some practice with it once I'm back in Texas.