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Towing impact to battery / alternator

blakei

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I've been towing a lot this summer with a new 2020 Ram 1500 Long Horn 5.7 non-etorque hemi. It has the stock 160 amp alternator (not optioned up). My dashboard digital gauges indicate the charging system is normally around 14.2 v. However, on long towing days (>4 hours), most of which have been hot days (>100F), by the end of the day my dials are indicating low charge and the alternator has dropped to about 13.2 V.

Anybody else have this experience? My understanding is the alternator performance drops significantly with heat load, and on hot days and a lot of power train heat generated, I think perhaps the stock alternator is just not putting out enough amperage. I'm thinking about upgrading to the 220 amp alternator to see if this changes things.

Would love any thoughts!
 

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