Amp Range

[TimCollins]

At what amperage should I become concerned that my Nissan Xterra 3.3L V6alternator may become over stressed? Right now I am just workbench testing so nothing is actually installed. I want to test as much as possible before I hook anything up. I finally got an ammeter and ran a quick test over the weekend. At 10% KOH concentration I am getting 1.9V across cells and the HHO generator is pulling 2.4amps. I'm not getting a lot of bubbles, but I was not expecting to at that low concentration I did not measure lpm yet. The temperature was totally cool to the touch so things seem fine so far. My question is this... This week I would like to increase KOH concentration until I reach a target of 1.65 lpm HHO (half of my engine rating). My concern is as I increase the concentration and amps increases how will I know what the max I can actually pull 'safely' with my stock alternator? Has there been a history of alternator failures due to HHO kit installations?

[RustyLugNut]

Try to find out the ampere rating for your Nissan. Most Later model vehicles have 80-120 amp alternators due to the heavy electrical loads found on later model cars. The actual load on the alternator is actually a fraction of this to give the manufacturer large overhead in capacity.

If your Nissan does not have an actual voltage gauge, you can easily install one. Try to observe the charge/discharge cycle before and after you install your HHO Generator and it will give you an idea how much harder your alternator is working. I use an old RadioShack DMM with tracking software running into a parallel port laptop. I can then easily see the loading.

Other than an old 45 amp Mercedes diesel alternator, I have not seen an alternator that couldn't handle an additional 10-15 amp load with a mere 10% increase in the charge duty cycle.

Note that most late model charging systems run the alternator constantly but with variable voltage across the fields to keep the battery topped off. Using voltage as a measurement of the load cycle is useless. You will have to measure amperes. A heavy calibrated buss bar in the circuit is what I use to measure loads.