Factory alternator or upgraded with dual battery setup?

Hey all, as some may have read in the "what has made you angry today?" thread, my alternator regulator packed up on the way to our camping trip over Easter.
Sub fuel tank, handbrake and battery warning lights all illuminated on the dash (for anyone troubleshooting this same problem in the future).

I've looked up in the service manual that the TD42 GU III has a 100A alternator (if I've read that correctly).
I have a dual battery setup with a Century N70ZZLB MF main battery and a Century N70T deep cycle battery.

My question is this; should I stick with the factory alternator or buy an upgraded one that might cope better with two batteries?

I've read on here, and been advised, that a DC charger would better suit the deep cycle aux battery.

Let me know your suggestions.

There is a thread from mudrunner on the DC2DC chargers hit Whats new on the banner.
Thinking 100 amp alternator should be heaps, at camp do you use solar at all??

Wouldn't bother with a bigger alternator unless you had plans for some serious lighting upgrades/power requirements. Especially with everything being LEDs these days.

Also, try get an oem one. I had an aftermarket one on from evil bay but it sploded after a few months. I don't know much about the internals but I assume it was a regulator or diode - blew the internal circuit board to bits.

Replaced it with a second hand oem and still going strong.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by threedogs

Thinking 100 amp alternator should be heaps, at camp do you use solar at all??

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No, I don't use solar, but I'm starting to consider getting something now.
Good to know that 100 amp alternator should suffice.
I'll check out the DC2DC thread that you mentioned. If it's the "school me in DC chargers..." thread, I did have a bit of a read through it, but will take note of the details again.
Cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 0-TJ-0

Wouldn't bother with a bigger alternator unless you had plans for some serious lighting upgrades/power requirements. Especially with everything being LEDs these days.

Also, try get an oem one. I had an aftermarket one on from evil bay but it sploded after a few months. I don't know much about the internals but I assume it was a regulator or diode - blew the internal circuit board to bits.

Replaced it with a second hand oem and still going strong.

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I don't have plans at this stage for big power requirements.
Good to know about OEM reliability. I'll keep that in mind.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cremulator

I don't have plans at this stage for big power requirements.
Good to know about OEM reliability. I'll keep that in mind.

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You could use a battery pack with a 100ah battery in it to run your fridge
and LED lights and top it up via a decent folding solar panel.
I have a dual battery system and love it and use a small 18AH
battery for camp LEDs at night

I do have a 102Ah aux battery to run my fridge.
I've been looking at a couple of sites to work out the panel wattage required to keep the batteries topped up.
Looks like a 160 watt panel would suffice with a 40 litre fridge and some USB device charging.
No lights as yet, but I may add some in the future.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cremulator

I do have a 102Ah aux battery to run my fridge.
I've been looking at a couple of sites to work out the panel wattage required to keep the batteries topped up.
Looks like a 160 watt panel would suffice with a 40 litre fridge and some USB device charging.
No lights as yet, but I may add some in the future.

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160 watt panel give you what 8ah on a good day, should be more than enough.
Ive been using an 80watt panel for years with no problems. Now with LED lights
using very little power, I leave my panel at home most trips, working on a new set up ATM.
10watt panel on the roof to keep the start battery full via a MPPT reg. waiting on a DC2DC charger to arrive.
as I type hopefully tomorrow.
I take it that 160 watt panel folds

I got the alternator replaced last week.
Apparently the one that was in the car was the factory unit, which had lasted almost 300,000kms!
The regulator had failed and the bearings were loose, so thought it best to replace it.
The factory one was 110A (2004 TD42ti GU III) and I had it replaced with a Jaylec 125A alternator (part number 65-3124-1).

Next I'll be following up the folding solar panel options as an additional piece of mind for camping.http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...019/05/107.jpg

Other option is to permanently mount a solar panel on the roof, had a mate did this on his GU, angled slightly up which reduced the drag somewhat on the load that he carried on the roof basket.

Yeh, probably easy to do (and I do have a large steel roof rack) but I think a permanent mounted panel is not necessary for my needs.