In the wee hours of this morning I happened to find an interesting setting in the ECU. It looks to me like it's the alternator load table. As the voltage drops the duty cycle goes up. I will be testing this tomorrow when I have access to the test mule but it looks like I can simply bump the alternator duty cycle for low RPMs and have your alternator produce more juice at idle. I spoke to an alternator guy and he doesn't feel that a mild adjustment there will cook any of the components. Once the settings are verified on the test mule I'll see if I can find a local UDP user and figure out the new settings.

-Michael

 

^Am I the mule? My ego is hurt Michael!

 

No, Brent is the mule. Looking at his oversized football player physique you can guess why I call him a mule.

Do you happen to have the UDP and dim lights problem? The mule is coming in earlier - this afternoon so I'm going to try turning off his alternator at idle and see. For you I think the launch control feature is fixed.

-Michael

 

Ah that does make more sense. Brent is a big boy.

No, I don't have the UDP sorry.

 

Sorry guys, I tried to coax more amps out of an alternator but it just won't do it. I'm guessing a simpler strategy is to just raise the idle speed.

-Michael

 

My solution was to install HIDs.

 

i started to have the dimming but then my battery kicked out new battery solved it :P

 

I tried ramping the duty cycle on the alternator but it didn't make any difference. Changing the idle speed will but I still have to figure out how

-Michael

 

have you thought about trying to emulate the signal telling the ecu that the a/c is running? I have absolutely no idea if this will work, but i do notice that without a/c i idle at 650-700 rpm, and when i switch the a/c on it idles at 850-1000 rpm. So would it be possible to tell the ecu that the a/c is running without it on so it runs the engine higher?

or tap a line onto the rheostat then to a switch so that only when the lights are on will the switch activate and tell the engine to idle higher, granted I have no idea where you'd hook that up ono the ecu, you're the programmer not me.

I'm just spit balling here.

 

That's a good idea. You could change your AC switch to interrupt or not interrupt the clutch signal for the AC compressor - you'd need a relay or larger switch. With the AC "off" it would still tell the ECU the AC was on and put a known resistance across the AC clutch line so the ECU doesn't catch your foolery. With the AC on you could direct the power to the AC clutch so it operates normally. Since I find these things take equal cost in labour I just like to solve them digitally in the programming but your idea could work.

-Michael

 

i found upgrading my wiring from alternator to battery, battery to chasis ground and battery to engine l ground ine to 4 gauge audio wire helped my voltage dips with my UDP and stereo system... its doesn't dip nearly as bad now, at idle i'm at about 13.5 volts, 14.5 once i'm on the gas