Charging system: Stock vs alternator kit

[cdover73]

Does anyone have the alternator kit on their Argo? I have the 750 hdi with the 30hp Kohler and Admiral trans. I opted not to get the alt kit due to numerous reviews saying it is a waste of money.

I have the following installed in addition to the winch and bilge pump that came on it:

Wet Sounds Stealth 10 sound bar
22" cree led light bar on front
two 4" cree led light pods pointing backwards on the back of the backrest
Six 12" led light strips for interior lighting

All of this is ran through relays and inline fuses, as well as tied into the fuse block on separate fuses so they each have their own fuse. I also wired it all through 5-pin lighted led rocker switches in the dash and the key has to be on for it all to work.

Now I'm curious to see if all of this is going to put a strain on my battery. I have turned everything on with the key on but the engine not running and it didn't change the voltmeter at all. I also did the same with the engine running/charging and everything worked and did not change brightness from idle through high revs and the voltage meter stayed up around 13.

Do I need to consider installing the alternator kit? Any concerns for pulling this much on the stock charging system? How much load can the stock charging system take?

Thanks in advance for your responses!

cdover73

[akroger]

What did you come up with ? Did it work without the alternator ? I want to run a small 8 or 12" led was just curious

[akpride]

The alternator kit is expensive but I noticed a difference. You don’t want to be worrying about draining your battery.

[phabib]

Why not just measure (or calculate) the total amp draw and compare it to whatever the stock alternator is? I would use a clamp amp meter and measure the total draw from the wire feeding your fuse panel and the measure the total amp into the battery from the alternator. As long as the total draw is not more than what the alternator is replacing you're good. You can get a clamp amp meter for under $50. You must be sure it will measure DC amps. Not all of them do.

If you don't want to do the measurement I just described, you can add up all of the amps you draw from your accessories and compare it to what your alternator can put out. Give yourself a 20% margin to be sure and you're good to go.

[scimanstev]

I have the alternator kit, and a lot of accessories. Last week I was at an ATV festival, and had my alternator fail. I have been running on the magneto since, but although the alternator from Argo, is expensive, Amazon sells the same one for $70. Later I will post a link to the Amazon one.

The more accessories you plan on running at one time, the more important the alternator becomes. I coupled the alternator with an Optima battery. That gives me the strongest electrical system possible for whatever I decide to do with my Argo.

Steve

Edit: The stock magneto provides 25 amps, while the alternator provides 40 amps.

[Sparx]

It's not so much if you have the power or not to do it but the situation to do it in. Argo's in factory form without modifications are known to have poor to no charging when at idle.
What do you do when you are winching? Leave it idling while dragging out the winch to hook it up, even at worse with the lights on at night. Not such a big deal here and there, but after multiple winch sessions and extended periods with the lights on and it starts to significantly deplete the battery's power.
It takes RPM to get a good charge back in the battery with the factory setup.
With the Alternator kit you get tons of charge at idle to maintain an easy 14V. It won't even dip down to 12V when idling with lights, heater fans or whatever.
A lot of people don't realize this but having tracks on not getting stuck takes a huge load off not needing the winch and causing this issue so think about that. It plays a massive factor going into some nasty spots.
With the alternator I'm not worried to leave it idle with the lights on for any reason especially gutting animals at night when hunting.
A big perk I find with the alternator kit is that I don't hesitate to leave the heater fan running on high when the unit is hot from running hard to cool off better at idle. I wouldn't recommend idling any Argo for extended periods of time especially with any accessories in use without the alternator. Driving around would be fine even with a moderate amount of aftermarket lights, rare winching, and conservative use of the heater fan if installed.

[Sparx]

I have the alternator kit, and a lot of accessories. Last week I was at an ATV festival, and had my alternator fail. I have been running on the magneto since, but although the alternator from Argo, is expensive, Amazon sells the same one for $70. Later I will post a link to the Amazon one.

The more accessories you plan on running at one time, the more important the alternator becomes. I coupled the alternator with an Optima battery. That gives me the strongest electrical system possible for whatever I decide to do with my Argo.

Steve

Edit: The stock magneto provides 25 amps, while the alternator provides 40 amps.

How did the alternator fail? I hate to ask but you did check and adjust the belt tension right? I did have a similar issue and my belt was slipping so I simply needed to tighten the belt and I was good as gold shortly after.
It is also a huge piece of mind knowing if the Alternator were to blow a belt or bearing somehow that you do have the backup factory charging system as you mentioned within easier access then crawling under to work on the awkward alternator placement and belt adjustment...

[ARGOJIM]

It's not so much if you have the power or not to do it but the situation to do it in. Argo's in factory form without modifications are known to have poor to no charging when at idle.
What do you do when you are winching? Leave it idling while dragging out the winch to hook it up, even at worse with the lights on at night. Not such a big deal here and there, but after multiple winch sessions and extended periods with the lights on and it starts to significantly deplete the battery's power.
It takes RPM to get a good charge back in the battery with the factory setup.
With the Alternator kit you get tons of charge at idle to maintain an easy 14V. It won't even dip down to 12V when idling with lights, heater fans or whatever.
A lot of people don't realize this but having tracks on not getting stuck takes a huge load off not needing the winch and causing this issue so think about that. It plays a massive factor going into some nasty spots.
With the alternator I'm not worried to leave it idle with the lights on for any reason especially gutting animals at night when hunting.
A big perk I find with the alternator kit is that I don't hesitate to leave the heater fan running on high when the unit is hot from running hard to cool off better at idle. I wouldn't recommend idling any Argo for extended periods of time especially with any accessories in use without the alternator. Driving around would be fine even with a moderate amount of aftermarket lights, rare winching, and conservative use of the heater fan if installed.

All good points, any extended idling with any machine (especially the Conquest) with a brake or hood fan on is not a good idea. 15 -30 minutes of idling in a Conquest, with stock charging, after winching with the brake fan on can lead to a no start situation if the key is turned off.

[Sparx]

All good points, any extended idling with any machine (especially the Conquest) with a brake or hood fan on is not a good idea. 15 -30 minutes of idling in a Conquest, with stock charging, after winching with the brake fan on can lead to a no start situation if the key is turned off.

Very good point! I forgot about the brake fan on non-admiral trans models! It definitely did bite us once on my friends Conquest. We had to pull start the primary clutch with a ratchet strap to get it going once after it stalled and had killed the battery. That machine has given us grief a few times due to the battery depleting as he doesn't have tracks and uses his winch much more often. That fan definitely made things much worse! I'm sure someone that is handy could somehow rig the fan to only come on when the RPM is higher but that may get annoying to hear kicking in and out. LOL

[scimanstev]

How did the alternator fail? I hate to ask but you did check and adjust the belt tension right? I did have a similar issue and my belt was slipping so I simply needed to tighten the belt and I was good as gold shortly after.
It is also a huge piece of mind knowing if the Alternator were to blow a belt or bearing somehow that you do have the backup factory charging system as you mentioned within easier access then crawling under to work on the awkward alternator placement and belt adjustment...

I suspect that a loose battery terminal caused arcing, which led to the failure. Initially the failure was intermittent, but became steady in a short time. We did find the loose terminal, and thought that would fix it, but the failure was complete by that time. All other connections and the belt were just fine. Because of the failure, I ordered 2 extra belts just in case. We also thought the high amount of dust could have damaged the brushes. Those Beaver Dam tracks are wonderful, but do throw a lot of rocks and dust in dry environments.

Steve