The safest cleaning solvent for alternator interior?

[Throbbinhood]

If you original battery cable is still connected to the alternator, then your 100+ amp fuse doesn't serve the desired purpose for that amp range.
Why do you say that? Original battery cable is fused accordingly. Fuse on the bigger cable is fused according to cable capacity (100a for 100a). Having both just means I spread the load across the two cables, but worst case the fuse on the original cable goes, the bigger cable will still be fine with the load.
BTW, I've been trying to get hold of 100amp fuse with a holder, and apparently they don't exist. Jaycar, Autobarn, etc don't have it.
60 amp is as high as they go, and that's for audio applications, which is also good for anything else.

Where did you buy that fuse & holder?!
Pretty sure it came from Jaycar or Supercheap.
I used something like this for the holder (but waterproof equiv) and one of these fuses (to suit my cable)
.

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[Robo]

Just give the armature a good clean with a water based degreaser.
Then a liberal spray of contact cleaner or electronics cleaner.
you can scrub most parts with a plastic parts wash/scrub brush, or an old tooth brush.
Been there done that, and a few times now with no problems.

[dom14]

Cool, thanx, mate.
Jaycar had both, but didn't have it 100 amp range.
Autobarn had the 100 amp fuse as in your link, but no holder to suit.
They are available, but both stores near me are out of stock, by the looks of it.

As far as I understand, when you spread the load, electricity finds the easiest path to pass through.
When you think of electricity as flow of electrons, it kinda makes sense to me.
So, I think the 60 amp fuse won't blow 'cos the easier 100 amp path is available. So the current pass through the higher amp cable is higher than the lower amp cable.
Then when the load gets to 100 amp, the 100 amp fuse won't blow
'cos of the redundant 60 amp path. Fuses are fine tuned to resist the amps above that range. When electricity finds resistance, it tries to find an easier
path. And in your case there is a one. So effectively the amps get shared and they both may not do what they're meant for the set fuse amp range on each.
So effectively you are creating a single fuse that is more than 100 amp, more like 160 amp or somewhere between 100 and 160 amp.
I might be wrong about this. I wait for a sparky or electrician to correct me. Or you might be able to correct me as well.

[dom14]

Just give the armature a good clean with a water based degreaser.
Then a liberal spray of contact cleaner or electronics cleaner.
you can scrub most parts with a plastic parts wash/scrub brush, or an old tooth brush.
Been there done that, and a few times now with no problems.

Cool, thanx mate. It's nothing like hearing from experience.
I'll buy a contact cleaner in that case, so I can keep it for other stuff as well.
My tightarse started closing even tighter & worry when I thought I had to buy a $25 cleaner spray can to find it's not enough for the job.
Cheers.

[Throbbinhood]

Cool, thanx, mate.
Jaycar had both, but didn't have it 100 amp range.
Autobarn had the 100 amp fuse as in your link, but no holder to suit.
They are available, but both stores near me are out of stock, by the looks of it.

As far as I understand, when you spread the load, electricity finds the easiest path to pass through.
When you think of electricity as flow of electrons, it kinda makes sense to me.
So, I think the 60 amp fuse won't blow 'cos the easier 100 amp path is available. So the current pass through the higher amp cable is higher than the lower amp cable.
Then when the load gets to 100 amp, the 100 amp fuse won't blow
'cos of the redundant 60 amp path. Fuses are fine tuned to resist the amps above that range. When electricity finds resistance, it tries to find an easier
path. And in your case there is a one. So effectively the amps get shared and they both may not do what they're meant for the set fuse amp range on each.
So effectively you are creating a single fuse that is more than 100 amp, more like 160 amp or somewhere between 100 and 160 amp.
I might be wrong about this. I wait for a sparky or electrician to correct me. Or you might be able to correct me as well.

Well, the fuse is there to protect those wires in particular... That energy isn't getting pushed through other bits of cabling.. Effectively, yes, I could have 160A of current passing through both cables provided the 60a fuse doesn't blow - but my alt won't put out that much anyway. Alt puts out 110-120A, pretty sure I've got 150A cable in there, as well as the original 60A or whatever it's rated at. Aside from which, as you said, electricity follows the path of least resistance - I dare say the majority of the current will be flowing through the larger wire anyway.

[Robo]

Well, the fuse is there to protect those wires in particular... That energy isn't getting pushed through other bits of cabling.. Effectively, yes, I could have 160A of current passing through both cables provided the 60a fuse doesn't blow - but my alt won't put out that much anyway. Alt puts out 110-120A, pretty sure I've got 150A cable in there, as well as the original 60A or whatever it's rated at. Aside from which, as you said, electricity follows the path of least resistance - I dare say the majority of the current will be flowing through the larger wire anyway.

For the Novices thinking of using 2x smaller capacity cables to double the wire capacity!.
What happens when one fuse trips and all the current is forced threw the other cable.
don't wish to hear about that issue.

[dom14]

Well, the fuse is there to protect those wires in particular... That energy isn't getting pushed through other bits of cabling.. Effectively, yes, I could have 160A of current passing through both cables provided the 60a fuse doesn't blow - but my alt won't put out that much anyway. Alt puts out 110-120A, pretty sure I've got 150A cable in there, as well as the original 60A or whatever it's rated at. Aside from which, as you said, electricity follows the path of least resistance - I dare say the majority of the current will be flowing through the larger wire anyway.

Yep, it won't be a problem. When the load gets to around 160 amps or so the fuses will blow, but not likely to happen, 'cos it won't draw that many amps.
Ideally, 100 amp alternator should have no higher than 100 amp fuse for the battery wire.
But, as I understand, the chance of any mishap by installing a 150 amp fuse in this case is probably not that high.
The fuse is there obviously to protect the alternator & the battery from short circuiting and any fire hazard.
If the fuse doesn't blow when the short circuit is 100 amp, it will blow when it's 150 amp.
Whether that 50 amp difference will damage the regulator is another thing, which I'm not too sure.
That's why I'm not too keen to install fuses above 100 amp.
However, chances of short circuiting a properly wired alternator battery wire is quite slim.
In an event of under bonnet fire or accident, it can happen. But, 100 amp or 150 amp, the fuse will eventually blow.
I reckon in such events, the well being of the alternator regulator or the battery would be last of your concerns.

BTW, one of the wires goes to the socket is a white wire, which is the sense wire. The other one is white with a red stripe which is the trigger wire.
I've been told the white wire joins the battery wire only few centimeters down the wire harness.
If you cut the white wire before that and directly connect it to the battery positive, it will give the regulator a better reading of the battery charge status and it charges better for about a half a volt higher, which effectively fully charges the battery as well as extend it's life. Factory way of joining them together near the alternator apparently gives the regulator a slightly false reading of the charge status. White wire only needs 3 or 5 amp fuse and 3 or 4mm wire as apparently very little current passes through it.
I'm doing that modification as well.

I'm setting up the battery wires the same as you. I already have a 60 amp fuse & wire which I bought last year for something else. And I won't need a 10mm thick wire for the alternator battery wire. So, I'll be leaving the original battery wire & fuse as it is, which is 30 amp and adding a new one which is 60 amp. So, combined I will have a 90 amp fuse, which is enough to handle the alternator output.
Even though I didn't plan to, I'm wiring my wires just like yours

[dom14]

For the Novices thinking of using 2x smaller capacity cables to double the wire capacity!.
What happens when one fuse trips and all the current is forced threw the other cable.
don't wish to hear about that issue.

The other cable should have a fuse as well, so that fuse would also blow. Both fuses blow pretty much at the same time. When one blows, the other one
is bound to immediately follow it.
I'm wiring my upgraded alternator & wiring just like that, rather than using a super thick 10mm high amp wire, which is way too thick to wire under the bonnet with lugs. Besides factory wiring of these high amp alternators don't use super thick single wires. I think that's probably it's not necessary for the wire to match the max output of the alternator. I don't think most batteries are capable of drawing 100 amp or more from a high amp alternator, even when the battery charge is pretty low. I think some of the excess amps put out by the alternator are used by the power hungry appliances inside the vehicle.

[Throbbinhood]

BTW, one of the wires goes to the socket is a white wire, which is the sense wire. The other one is white with a red stripe which is the trigger wire.
I've been told the white wire joins the battery wire only few centimeters down the wire harness.
If you cut the white wire before that and directly connect it to the battery positive, it will give the regulator a better reading of the battery charge status and it charges better for about a half a volt higher, which effectively fully charges the battery as well as extend it's life. Factory way of joining them together near the alternator apparently gives the regulator a slightly false reading of the charge status. White wire only needs 3 or 5 amp fuse and 3 or 4mm wire as apparently very little current passes through it.
I'm doing that modification as well.

I had read this elsewhere but forgot all about it. Might do it as well. Would be interesting to see the difference in output before/after. Any idea of the size of the original wire? Might pickup a length of the same on my way home and a few lugs and do the mod when I get home.

[dom14]

I had read this elsewhere but forgot all about it. Might do it as well. Would be interesting to see the difference in output before/after. Any idea of the size of the original wire? Might pickup a length of the same on my way home and a few lugs and do the mod when I get home.

Size of the original white sense wire is 4-5mm(diameter with insulation) or 6 AWG(american wire gauge), then it joins the battery wire only few centimeters from the alternator rear.
But, I was told original white sense wire doesn't carry much amps. It's there to give the regulator the status of the battery charge, so it can increase current goes to thebattery wire accordingly.
So, you don't need to use a thick high amp wires like you use for battery wire from the alternator.
You can use a 4mm diameter(6 AWG) wire & 3-5 amp fuse along with it. So, it will be dirt cheap modification, but the result is great according to what I've heard so far.

Did you realize that your idea of leaving the original battery wire connected as it originally was the right thing to do anyway??!!

Because, if you disconnect it from the battery end, you are effectively disconnecting the white sense wire as well.

That means no sense wire goes into the regulator, which means no voltage to the regulator sense pin. Outcome is the regulator "decides" the battery is dead
and puts out the maximum amount of current. The result will be either the windings, regulator, rectifier or the battery(or the electrical components of the vehicle) will be ruined in no time, whichever happens first.
But, if you disconnect the original battery wire from the alternator end(and leave the battery end connected) then it won't disconnect the white sense wire.
A good example of why we should understand the way things were wired originally, before going about fiddling with it.

Hence, your approach of leaving the original wiring as it was, is the right thing to do, unless we know what we are doing.

I was originally planning to do it the 'right' way by disconnecting the original battery wire from alternator end only. But, it's too easy to get these things mixed up
and stuff up the battery or the alternator or electrical components in the vehicle. So, this conversation with you has been really helpful for me. I'm sure it's been the same for you.

I will update with you with the outcome of the alternator upgrade as well as the sense wire modification, soon.

Cheers