so im planning on getting an alt by the end of this weekend.
iragii is 99.9% the choice right now

i just cant decide between the DOMINATOR or the AMPUTATOR.

im running a little under 2000 watts (at max) of aftermartket power.

so i dont know if i really need the amputator or if i can go with the less expensive one (dominator) and still be good.

some advice please? mr.jokster adviced on another thread that we should all just get the amputator while were at it, sounds like reasonable suggestion, but idk if my load really requires that much power from an alt.

 

heres a link to another website, this guy is supposed to be real cool and ive read in other forums that he makes good alternators:

http://www.excessiveamperage.com/

this is what he told me about an alt for our gs's when i emailed him about making one for gs.

"The 200 amp would give you about 135 amps at idle and full power by 1200 rpms. ... Forgot to mention too that the alternator will come with a billet aluminum overdrive pulley for great power at idle. Let me know if I can help. Thank you,
Nate "

i dont know much about alts and iraggi doesnt really have any specs on the ebay listings. but which one would be better?

 

In short, it doesnt matter what "max" wattage is on the amp, those are fake numbers and if not a real name brand or CEA certified definitely not real numbers... all you go to do is count the fuses on the amp and add that to your factory alternator (which I believe is 100amps) and theres the size alt you need. If your amp has 4 40amp fuses, thats 160amps of draw, so you would need a 260amp or better alternator to keep you up. If you decide to go with Iraggi, you must go with the amputator because of its idle factor. I just read this write up by DC POWER and in short it tells you what "idle" means in the idle factor of an alternator. You dont drive your car at 4000rpm all the time, so an alternator that says it does 300amps is only gonna give you 300amps at that high rpm. You want an alternator that has high idle amperage (like the amputator) so it can deliver ample power (no pun intended) while youre stopped at red lights and are just cruisin also, the amputator is built a bit stronger to handle the higher amperage at low rpms... Check out This link from DC Power, it gives some good info on how an alternator works. I've personally decided to go with DC Power for a number of reasons, the main reason is that I heard and hear from those with experience that they highly underrate their alternators. meaning that a 200amp DC Power amp will put out closer to 300amps. The price on a 220 by DC actually works out to be a bit cheaper than Iraggi too I was just quoted $425 for a 220amp through DC Power (or $445 dont remember)

 

on and the message from "nate" doesnt make sense cant give full power at 1200rpms if the car goes up to ~5k rpm, what stops the alternator from meltdown after 1200rpms?

 

cant find the email from Dom about that, but I believe the amputator is made a bit more 'heavy duty' to handle the load that its gonna give. Now in regards to how big of an alt to get (read above) and also remember, if you can afford to pony up for what you need, something is always better than nothing.

in addition to what I wrote above about how to calculate how much amps you have of draw, I recommend cranking up as loud as you can and putting a meter to the power leads to see how much draw youre actually getting, unless of course your amps are of quality. Its easy to put 200amps of fuses on an amp and only really have 30 amps of draw

 

Just ordered my DC I ordered through my buddies shop, so should be getting it by the end of next week.

 

robertoyou, I got some new info today, apparently there was some miss communication in regards to the alt size available (if you have the GS300) They are available up to 360. I went in to order mine today... then came home to find an email from DC Power with that new info... ok thats all

 

True, except for the CEA part. Just because it is CEA certified doesn't mean it's 100% accurate. It's a step in the right direction, but there are still ways to 'fudge' the numbers.

Not exactly. 160 amps is what the fuses are designed to pass on a regular basis, but this is only when the amp is hitting the maximum power. It also depends on the type of fuse. ATC fuses will pass 125% of current for a bit before they blow. In most amps, I'd venture to say that you're drawing about half the fuse rating for the RMS power.

As for what to expect for the alternator, the general rule is that the alternator has about 40% of it's capacity available, meaning you should have 40 amps available to the amp. That should be good for about 500 watts of continuous power. Depending on how often you listen to the music cranked up, you could even do 750 on a stock alternator from time to time. If the lights dim on occasion, but not regularly, you can alleviate that with a capacitor but it's ONLY going to be effective when the nominal draw is below the alternator's capacity. Translation - if the alt is keeping up except when the bass drops bottom once in a while, you may be okay with a cap. If not, time to upgrade the alternator.

By the way, I know there has been a lot of talk about upgrading alternators and buying these huge units that will give you far more power. I would strongly suggest looking into a local alternator repair facility. I know there is one in my area that rebuilds them, and they even installed one for me in the old car. If you can locate one in your area, talk with them about possibly upgrading your factory unit. You may very well be able to get a good upgrade for far less and not have to wait for a shipment.

Big Mack

 

currently just over 1000wrms but not using all of it , when I add two more sub, I'll be passed 2000wrms. I guess I'll need to upgrade when I do.

 

alright thanks everyone ive read all your posts and links!

 

alright mr jokster. thanks for the long reply with tons of good info. im a rookie at the alternator game until this point lol. but with those links i know a little more now, thanks!!

dc power definitely sounds like they know their ****! lol. they have a lot of good info and it sounds like their alts would be good also. ive also heard a lot of people running dc, and actually from the beginning when i looked into alts, they sounded like a good company to buy from. but i was pretty let down when i searched their site and found nothing for our gs's. so how do i go about ordering one from them? (i dont know anyone with a shop who can get one for me)

In short, it doesnt matter what "max" wattage is on the amp, those are fake numbers and if not a real name brand or CEA certified definitely not real numbers...

lol when i mentioned "max" in my original post, i wasnt referring to the numbers my amps put out at max or what the boxes say. lol i meant thats the most im drawing at max in TOTAL when cranking it up high. my amps are drawing 1200 rms and 240rms so i rounded to 2000 watts(i think thats what i originally said). i dont mean it in a rude way, just claifying so that i dont sound like a total rookie.


yeah, he was cool, but his messages were all too short. so i didnt even count on him too much from the beginning and he didnt offer too much info. it especially didnt help me out at all, since im barely learing about alts. he said the 200 amp alt would be $380 shipped.

so price is similar to iraggi. maybe one of you guys want to contact him and find out more about his alternators (since you guys know more of the technical stuff, it will make more sense to you)

the links you provided really helped out! so im more clear on everything. im almost fully convinced on going with dc now! like i said, from the beginning when i started searching for atlernator makers, i found dc and they sounded good, and i was just let down that they didnt show anything for lexus. however, if you say they make them, AND their prices are similar to iraggi, i might as well go with them. if i go with iraggi, i will get the amputator series, might as well go with the best while im making the investment, that way i wont have any regrets later or hve to re-buy anything again anytime soon.



great!!! that sounds awesome man. let me know the specs on it!!!
price? and total amps it puts out?

damn im pretty much sold on dc now. lol
if its within my budget then il definitely go for it.


thanks for all the updates man. really helpful of you!! appreciate it. only place ive been able to find any good help with alts and lexus compatible, is here =D
360 amps is quite a good load of amps. or for a daily driver anyways. wonder how much that bad boy is! probably quite a bit. 360 might be too much for me, however i wouldnt mind having the extra power just in case and for reasurance. did you happen to get the 360 amp output?! that would be awesome.

thanks for all your help and info too bick mack! also appreciate the help. good thing you mentioned the 50% of amp draw from audio amplifiers, cus my mono amp i think has four 35 amp fuses and my full range has like two or three 25 amp fuses. so thats quite a bit for just two amps. half of that sounds much better. i have a sundown mono amp and a jbl full range (to be replaced soon, hopefully). so i need to make sure i get adequate power to my equipment. i do get dimming and somtimes some of my amps even lose power!!! i have a cap in the back (only used it for the distribution block on it, not cus i thought it would solve all my problems) and when my amps lose power i can hear it "ringing" its alarm thing that my voltage is low. which is why im in such a huge hurry to get this replaced. somtimes my voltage has gone as low as 12v with car running and can get even lower if i crank the music. so thats not healthy at all.

your info on the capacitors also helped, so hopefully after i get a new alt, my capacitor will actually have some use to it lol

and what you said about the rewinding alts, i would try it, but i personally dont knw anyone who does it. i could look into it, because it probably would be a lot less expensive, but i guess like the link mr jokster gave me from dc, which it says that sometimes you wont know what your really getting if you just get your factory rewounded.

 

thanks for all the help eveyrone.

mr jokster let me know the price shipped, you paid for your alt from DC! VERY VERY interested! and some specs on it! also let me know if you know how i can order one!

 

yup, thats why somewhere up there I wrote to hook up a meter and read actual output. I had a pair of monster 1501D MTX amps back in the days that metered at like 65 continuous, but iirc I was running at 4 ohm instead of the full 2ohm. and yea, I believe that link I have up there from DC also explains about the 50% you speak of.. I'm just usually in a hurry when writing and type before thinking... yea, thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it