Wire identification

I have this picture handy, so I'll let it do the talking :

shagit wrote: I am wanting to upgrade to a 100 amp alt. I know the factory breaker is 50 amp with a 12.5 amp for the teh pro tec (I believe)... Any advice?

Don't forget you wire size if you are planning on a sizable load.

Thanks for the info!
I'm going to trust a local starter/Alternator rebuild shop here in Orlando that's been in business since the early 80's, and that I have dealt with several times (all positive) in the last 15 years. They didn't have any 50 amp alternators in stock, and said mine was so far gone that it would have been around $80-85 to rebuild. So they recommended a 100 amp certified marine unit and said I will not have any problem with a 1 wire model. Going to run a 4ga directly to the soon to be 2 battery system, and no 'exciter' is needed (exciter - ha, makes me laugh a lil). Ground the unit to the ground terminal and I should be fine per the shop. So I still think I need to have a 100 amp breaker in there somewhere.... Any input?
Oh, and all they had was a chrome one so they gave it to me for the same price. Too bad its all the way on the bottom... :/
$119 out the door with a year guarantee.

4ga wire goes to the starter relay just like the orange wire does now. The batteries charge from there, the 50amp breaker protects the wiring going to the dash which shouldn't draw enough for it to trip and any extra amps go to the batteries. I also had a ground connection on my alt but after spliting open the tape on the harness I cut it out because there are plenty of other grounds pig tailed into the same wire. I wasn't grounding the alt,it was adding an extra grounding spot to it.

I don't, and I can't see the need to do it that way and mine has been working fine like that a couple of years.   You still have to have a run from the battery to the relay to start the boat and it's an even bigger wire, the only advantage I see is a little less clutter at the start relay.

^^^ And by "remote" I mean, mounted separately from the starter, "remotely" not like so you can start it remotely

I remember hearing about the fuseable link in the PCM 100 amp alternator upgrade, but couldn't find a suitable solution for my homemade upgrade. There was nothing like that inside my PCM harness when I cut the tape off and took the alternator wire out. On my set up the battery would take any kind of alternator malfunction every wire along the way is big enough to handle it and and every wire going elsewhere from the batteries has a fuse or a breaker on it.

I think you will be fine with 4ga wire coming out of the alternator, it's big enough to take the full 100 amps. The stock 10ga is too small, it would probably last a while since the alternator isn't putting out a constant 100 amps, but not worth the risk. The 10ga ground I jumped from the start relay bubbled pretty good. It was seeing +700 amps for a couple seconds to start the boat.

Trying to get it right side up