Alternator upgrade advice

It only has one power input, I would assume that one fuse powers the the fronts, one the back. The manufacturer lists 46 amps at max power but I haven't installed it yet, I would not doubt that it will draw no more than mid 20's underway, still pretty significant especially when you add on the powered sub. I am positive any one of us could drive around all day stereo blaring with a 50 amp alternator and never drain our batterys. However I run the stereo a lot when the boat is off, both when sitting at our dock and inbetween wakeboard sets especially when the girls are screwing around with bindings, having a larger alternator should get the battery back up to full charge a lot quicker, lessening the chance of me having to swim back to the camp to retrieve a jetski to tow the mustang home, that happened last year without the amplifier and powered subwoofer, and the half mile swim was not nearly as fun as the wakeboard set was going to be. This year I am coming back with a bigger battery (after i enlarge the box) and a bigger alternator...maybe 80, maybe 100 depending on what I find, might be overkill but that v8 is damn hard to pull start...

You can't compare amps by their rating without reading the fine print. There's no regulations on how companies rate their product. Most are rated at the peak, the most it can put out,(short bursts)and some are rated at RMS which is the most continous power with both channels driven. Then you have to look at the frequency at which it is rated. Most rate their amps driving only one frequency, usually a easy to drive midrange tone. The better amps are rated driving a signal 20 to 20k hertz, which is the human hearing range and alot harder signal to drive. Then you have to look at the total harmonic distortion, which should be at .01% range. Anything higher and they are overrating the amp. Most people don't notice distortion at 1%. And remember to raise the volume 1 decibel, you have to double the wattage. Of all the things the government regulates, it's a shame they haven't set standards for amps.

I will be using at least 100amp alternator also Joe if you decide to rewire shoot me an email I will send a drawing that might help we you get ready to change your set-up

79 look at my profile email please I want to forward a drawing.

I rewired the boat like a newer style boat meaning have postive from battery to a fuse block setup 12 circuits so I'm no longer using the old wiring system I know if I did will have problems down the road.

    Jbear, you keep this site rollin!!!!                            Jeff...

I better learn how to spell stereo!!!!

What 79 said.

What about powering my live well and trolling motor

If your alternator is a Motorola the GM SI 10 alternator (marine version of course) is a direct replacement. These alternators are very common and available up to 100 Amps. Also available in "one wire" hookup. I see them on e-bay all the time. Replaced mine with one last summer and it works great. If you want more than 100 Amps you should go with the GM SI 12. It has much better cooling capacity. One thing you'll want to remember,...if you are pulling heavy amps from these alternators (big honkin' stereo amplifiers) you'll want to increase the size of the B+ wire coming from the alternator to the battery cable. If it's currently a 12 AWG wire go with a 10. If it's 10 go with and 8. And don't forget to use a circuit breaker.

To have a ball park idea of how much amperage you'll need from your alternator use the simple formula I = P/E. That means
I (current in amps) = P (power in watts) divided by E (volts). So if your stereo amp is 500 watts continuous you'll want to increase your alternator's output capacity by approx. 36 amps. 500/14 = 35.7.

Notice I said increase it by this much. Because you're already using your alternators capacity to charge the battery, power the ignition, lights, blower, bilge pump and whatever else. In the case above I'd use at least an 80 amp alternator. 100 is better. Also, don't be afraid to go bigger. The alternator will only put out (in amps) what is demanded from your electrical system. So a 100 amp alternator will not put out 100 amps all of the time. So the only fear of burning something in your wiring system should be if you have something short circuited or drawing excessive current. The only thing your limited by here is the size of your wallet! Hope this helps.

I got mine from skidim alt, conversion kit and new wiring harness pretty easy swap.
Some have gone the route of a single wire alt but you have to do some wiring routing as well I believe.

Have 1988 looking to upgrade the alternator searched forums found nothing any advice thank you.