Stock Honda Alternator v. 4Alterstart HO v. Irragi Amputator HO

[cvjoint]

This is my struggle trying to feed my 2kw A/B system. The test car is a 2000 Accord 4 cyl. Other upgrades are Optima Yellow top 875CCA and big 3 with 1/0 ga. wire. Juice is fed to the amps using dual power runs 1/0 ga. and 4 ga, all amps are connected with 4 ga. wire running from distribution blocks, and 1/0 ga. for ground cables.

Now the alternators:
Honda OEM --80 amp --Nippondenso
4Alterstart.com HO --150 amp --Boss Alternators
Iraggi Alternator Amputator series (best line from Iraggi) --180 amp --Nippondenso

Both 4 alterstart and Irragi make various amperage alts. The choices were 135 and 150 for Alterstart and 180 and 200 for Irragi.

Pulleys seemed to be the same size on the HONDA OEM and Alterstart HO. Iraggi had a noticeably smaller pulley. This enables the alternator to achieve higher amerage at low engine revs., or better put to achieve max power faster. I had to change the alternator belt to fit the Iraggi, stock belt was too loose even when I set manual tensioner to max-belts would squeal ocasionally with high draw. The Iraggi handles high rpms --6000rpm-- well so far. The Alterstart blew on me in 9 months when I accidentaly reved to 6500rpm on a sandy piece of asphalt I would not fit this alt. with a smaller pulley. I only had the Iraggi for a week so I'll have to post back in a few months to update record.


Idle performance
4Alterstart did not turn on at idle. Iraggi's tests vs. his alt. proved my theory. This alternator puts out 0 amps at 650rpm...and probably all the way to 800rpm. Headlight output is considerably decreased at idle and only changes rapidly when the 1krpm mark is reached. This was reason enough for me to dump this alternator and return to stock.

Stock alternator has very good performance at idle and probably the best if a standard pulley was used for all alts. With stereo off this alt actually puts out over 14v like it is supposed too.

Iraggi alternator did slightly better than the stock one. I bought this alternator because it's advertised 120amp. output at idle. I believe actual output is just a notch better than the stock one but well below the rated spec. Nonetheless it is an HO that maintains 14v and puts out decent power at 650rpm. Do not xpect to get much better performance at idle than stock, as a matter of fact I think this alt will do worse at idle if the pulley size was same with stock.

Max performance
The three alts achieve max output around 2krpms. Here the stock alternator finally shows its weakness, whines and drops voltage.

4alterstart has better performance than stock but still whines and shows strain. Considerable voltage drops occur when amps are driven hard.

Iraggi alt. offers supperior performance and does not whine under load. It seems like this amp was meant to last putting out a good deal of juice. Its output is just enough to feed 2000 watts of class A/B power but still expect minimal voltage drops, especially in hot climates.

Conclusion:

4Alterstart is the worst overall performer. I could not live with an alternator that does not put out any power at idle, imagine every time you stop at lights your headlights alomost dying on you even with your stereo off. Overdrive pulleys are an awfull bandaid for this alternator as it crapped out on me with a little reving. This alt. always sounds like it is going to die on you, and the lifetime warranty is of no comfort to me. I don't care how good customer service is at Alterstart...the product is shit. I would trade significantly more power at idle over the slight increase in output at max any day. Honda alternator is underrated and almost hangs with this alt at high rpms. In other words Honda alt > 4Alterstart HO.

Stock alternator still remains my favorite with 1kw or less drain. It is cheap, it is reliable, and offers really good idle performance.

Iraggi alternator is like an improved stock alternator. Idle performance is slightly better, albeit by changing a pulley. Max performance is well worth it if you are going to run 2kw or more. The parts are same brand as stock, and the lack of whine and stress from this alt even at high revs makes me believe in its performance. I cannot vouch for its reliability just yet, as I just installed it a week ago but will post updates as I go.

Just for the record...I traded my Alterstart HO for Iraggi warranty...that's how much I believed in that sorry alternator. I couldn't sell it on ebay either...I don't think the buyer would have believed it is an improvement over stock...negative feedback would follow...etc.

[MiniVanMan]

Very nice write up. Should be very helpful for a lot of people.

[unpredictableacts]

I need to upgrade my alternator on my civic hatchback 95 ...I havd only put my mids/highs in , I am afraid to instal my subs and other amplifier to the fact of the honda alternator being a bitch to get to ....I had a tahoe and it sat right on top"oh so nice" and easy change......what did the 180 amp cost you...also I frequent my revs around 7600-8200RPM will that alternator with stand that?

[cvjoint]

Honda alternators aren't bad like most people like to argue. Denso's are some of the best stuff you can get. Iraggi's alt is same brand, so if you need to rev high this will probably be your best bet. You might want to get a stock pulley to enhance reliability, or get the lifetime warranty and not worry about it.

I would say get all your amps in and see how low your voltage drops. I use a voltage reader in cabin to monitor constantly. If it doesn't dip below 12v I wouldn't stress about it. Remember you will only get improved results when driving.

[ocuriel]

Very interesting. I'm glad I didn't have to upgrade my alternator. Sounds like quite the task to find the right one.

[jearhart]

good thread. i though i would add my experience also


i bought a 200a EA alt a few months ago, first thing i noticed was that no load idle voltage was higher. it went from about 14.3 to 14.7 which is kinda nice.

second thing i noticed was that voltage drop at idle under a load was more significant than with stock. dropped about .5v more with the new alt. i think that the difference between mine and the iraggi would be that mine has a stock pully size, which does effect performance but will also effect reliablilty imo.

above idle though it will hold voltage above 14v barely touching the throttle.

idle performance:
i will give a slight edge to my stock alt. there is noticably more dimming at idle with the new one. but when i bought this new alt i knew i would probably be giving up low rpm performance because i didnt spend $600 on a really nice one.

max performance:
easily goes to the HO alt. no dimming whatsoever and i have noticed that my headlights seem to be brighter now, even with the misic cranked.


conclusion:
its all about comprimise. you can stay with stock which is cheapest and decent low rpm output. or you can get something like an iraggi with a small pully and potentially give up some reliability. you can get something like i have and give up some low rpm output for far superior mid-high rpm output. or you can spend the money and get it all

[cvjoint]

It would be really nice if people give their input on HO instalations here. I can change the title if we have more in to make it into a general review section for alternators. Make sure you guys state what kind of drain your system has, otherwise we can't establish the significance of a volt drop. Should we give an accumulated fuse rating on the amps?

I don't think you can get too much out of a single alt. system even if you spend the money. You would need to go dual to make sure you have enough output at idle.

My irragi sometimes charges .1 to .2 volts higher than stock, this is what makes headlights brighter. In the Alterstart case it seemed to be brighter when moving only because the alt did not supply any amps. at idle and dropped to whatever my bat could supply. It was a false sense of "increased brightness"

[cvjoint]

I got the alt do drop to 12v at over 2000rpm lol. Man these A/B amps can draw power! It funny that if I blasted loud enough I feel my engine strain, maybe due to low voltage, maybe due to increase load to actually power my stereo. I don't remember the Alterstart or stock slowing me down on sever bass lines, I guess it has to be the increase demand the alt. is making on the engine. Anybody have an idea how much hp an 180amp alt can use?

[Vestax]

Nice write up and review.

I actually wrote up a DIY on how to change out your alternator on the accord forums like 4 years ago and at the time, the alterstart was the cheapest I could find for 180amps ($180) and it came with a smaller pulley, which didn't work with my automatic tensioner. That thing was okay at first but later died on me. Right now, I'm on my 3rd alternator using the lifetime warranty BOSCH from Pep Boys. It's holding up so far but it kinda sucks that I had to go back to stock amperage.

I agree with your assessment though, and even on the stock alternator, there was a noticeable dim at idle and the electrical seem to kick in at higher RPMs. The alterstart was like that, but 10x worse. I've always wondered about the Irragi alt, but all these horror stories and pricing kinda turned me away. I may reconsider it later but my 6th gen Accord is ready to be traded in. The review is good though, I will always consider upgrading alts with this money pit sport of ours. I guess it all depends on the car and what equipment we are using.

[cvjoint]

Did they honestly retail that one as 180amps...that's weak. I know they said mine was 160 and had "150A" written on it.


If I were to do everything again I would probably buy two stock alts and pay a shop to do custom install for me.