My first review of Nations 200 amp alternator.
- Thread starter Bdubbs
- Start date
My Nation's has the flickering light sometimes. Not every single wot pull. It never drops below 13.6-8 at wot. Cruising it stays between 14.2-14.6 on my aeroforce. I installed a washer about 1.5mm thick and belt alignment tracks right in the middle of the crank and alt pulley. Brady was a huge help to me. I've only had the Alt for a week though. Hope all is well Brady.
Thanks for the kind words Jason.
UPDATE: Took the car for a spirited cruise, all seems well now! Haven't brought it to redline yet, just getting some of this e70 out of the tank still.
I'm anticipating the battery light to flicker though.
UPDATE: Took the car for a spirited cruise, all seems well now! Haven't brought it to redline yet, just getting some of this e70 out of the tank still.
I'm anticipating the battery light to flicker though.
Just data logged. Volts stayed in the 13.7-14 range in the upper rpms. I also have the flashing battery light in the upper rpms. Seems to be a common thing. This is the first time I've seen that light since I've owned it.
I'm unsure as to what I want to do about it.
I'm unsure as to what I want to do about it.
lol where are all the people who bashed the mechman for this very same issue? I think the signal wire needs to be wired differently so it gets a cleaner signal for the dash light.
Yeah I have no idea how else to wire it. Some think to much voltage is causing it to come on. I don't think that's the case, otherwise mine would be on all the time.
Gotta love it huh Brady? Guess it's more of a nuisance than anything. I'll be checking in to see if any known solution is available. Since mid does the same thing. Good luck!
I wonder if we unhook the white wire on the regulator if that will take care of it? I watch volts on my aeroforce all the time, so having a flashing battery light when volts are good won't help me dictate when I don't.
Heck mine never went on when battery volts were hitting high 11's.
Yeh my mechman does the upper rpm flicker as well. Not every pull but sometimes. Other than that charges like a champ. Cant complain too much.
I may just leave it alone. As long as it works.
How's it holding up? Curious to see if voltage drops when engine bay is heat soaked. I'm very close to pulling a trigger on one of these bad boys.
Would anyone ever suggest getting one of these alternators for a bolt on cobra even while the factory one is still going strong?
I just got back from a cruise and engine was pretty hot. I was doing city driving only and doing some short pulls here and there. Volts stayed 14.2-14.6 range, this was after doing some pulls.
I would rock your stocker as long as you can, especially if it's working great still.
Bought and installed a nations this weekend after seeing this thread. Love the remote mount adjustable regulator. I have a lot of higher amp aftermarket equipment, so other alts struggled after everything warmed up. Got where I didn't want to drive it at night due to draw of the lights dropping voltage into low 12.
I really like my Nations Alternator. I also have the battery light flickering during a pull but doesn't seem to relate to anything serious. Car runs fine and pulls fine. I'm interested in seeing how long this alternator will last. So far I've had it for about a year. Reads around 14.2-14.5 at idle and drops to maybe 13.8 at lowest during a pull.
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What kind of belt is that green belt?I will keep this thread updated as time goes by. There are a couple thing worth mentioning that are NOT talked about in the instructions. Which are basic instructions and NOT 03-04 cobra specific.
The kit comes with a bolt that I found out was to big in diameter to fit in the lower alternator bracket. I retained all the oem bolts.
Here is the complete kit, I decided to purchase the 2 gauge wire upgrade with inline fuse. The pulley on the nations measures out to about 2.9 inches or so, and my stock one was around 2.6 inches.
That blue square on the external regulator is for adjusting the voltage. It has some silicone over that needs to be peeled off. A little screwdriver is used to turn the dial up or down. I have mine set where the volts on my aeroforce gauge is reading in the 14.2-14.7 range.
My biggest mistake and it wasn't mentioned in the instructions is to place the supplied washer in between the alternator housing and the oem alternator bracket.
This caused a misaligned belt and it was walking off the backside of my crank pulley!
I didn't drive the car with it like this and only ran it for 5-10 minutes. This was enough to ruin my factory belt tensioner.
Here is a YouTube video of the noise.
Here is a picture underneath with the 2 gauge power wire going from the alternator up to the fuse power block. The instruction do tell you what wire you need to tap into from the factory alternator harness to the white wire coming from the regulator harness. You connect the red wire from harness and the factory terminal to the alternator. Pretty simple.
I added a bigger ground from the motor to the frame. Here is a picture of the factory one and the 2 gauge I replaced it with. This one is located by the oil filter.
I ran a 2 gauge ground from the alternator bolt up to the negative battery terminal. And I also added a 8 gauge accessory ground wire that goes from factory green bolt in front of battery behind the head light. That goes to the ground terminal on battery
Here you can see the wires coming up to the battery. The inline fuse is between battery and fuse block
In these pictures you can see the alternator and the external regulator which I mounted in towards the bumper, hopefully away from heat.
I took my first drive today, only about 45 minutes of city driving. Voltage stayed in the 14.2-14.7 range on a 75 degree evening. Even with the ac on it stayed in that range. It's very early obviously but I will update date as needed. I will be doing some data logging soon as I need to revise my e85 tune on 21 psi, so I will be monitoring voltage.
I hope this helps anyone in the future at least a little bit if plan are to install a Nations alternator.
Did you ever have the batt light under high rpm under wot with this alternator?
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As far as the misalignment, are you saying to keep the OEM bolts, and discard the nation's bolt and discard the nation's washer?I will keep this thread updated as time goes by. There are a couple thing worth mentioning that are NOT talked about in the instructions. Which are basic instructions and NOT 03-04 cobra specific.
The kit comes with a bolt that I found out was to big in diameter to fit in the lower alternator bracket. I retained all the oem bolts.
Here is the complete kit, I decided to purchase the 2 gauge wire upgrade with inline fuse. The pulley on the nations measures out to about 2.9 inches or so, and my stock one was around 2.6 inches.
That blue square on the external regulator is for adjusting the voltage. It has some silicone over that needs to be peeled off. A little screwdriver is used to turn the dial up or down. I have mine set where the volts on my aeroforce gauge is reading in the 14.2-14.7 range.
My biggest mistake and it wasn't mentioned in the instructions is to place the supplied washer in between the alternator housing and the oem alternator bracket.
This caused a misaligned belt and it was walking off the backside of my crank pulley!
I didn't drive the car with it like this and only ran it for 5-10 minutes. This was enough to ruin my factory belt tensioner.
Here is a YouTube video of the noise.
Here is a picture underneath with the 2 gauge power wire going from the alternator up to the fuse power block. The instruction do tell you what wire you need to tap into from the factory alternator harness to the white wire coming from the regulator harness. You connect the red wire from harness and the factory terminal to the alternator. Pretty simple.
I added a bigger ground from the motor to the frame. Here is a picture of the factory one and the 2 gauge I replaced it with. This one is located by the oil filter.
I ran a 2 gauge ground from the alternator bolt up to the negative battery terminal. And I also added a 8 gauge accessory ground wire that goes from factory green bolt in front of battery behind the head light. That goes to the ground terminal on battery
Here you can see the wires coming up to the battery. The inline fuse is between battery and fuse block
In these pictures you can see the alternator and the external regulator which I mounted in towards the bumper, hopefully away from heat.
I took my first drive today, only about 45 minutes of city driving. Voltage stayed in the 14.2-14.7 range on a 75 degree evening. Even with the ac on it stayed in that range. It's very early obviously but I will update date as needed. I will be doing some data logging soon as I need to revise my e85 tune on 21 psi, so I will be monitoring voltage.
I hope this helps anyone in the future at least a little bit if plan are to install a Nations alternator.
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That supplied bolt from nations was to thick in diameter. Retain all factory bolts and make sure the correct washer is used. Did you see my thread with pictures? I was running a Gates HD green belt.
I haven't had a chance to look on my laptop yet and really zoom into the pictures.
As far as the belt did you prefer the gates hd green, or something else?
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I always had good luck with them, but I'm all trying the gatorback belt.
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