Truck alternators

At first glance the concept of replacing the OEM alternator with a large, high output unit would seem like a good idea...........at first, at least with my particular truck. I have added a large (17,500#) winch and did a lot of research on the topic. As it turns out, if you own a 7.3L PSD, adding a high output alternator could actually shorten the life of your glow plugs which are designed for 11 volts. You can do a search as there has been a lot written on the subject. Secondly, most of the manufacturers who make or sell the h.o. alternators recommend upgrading to larger cable from the alternator to the battery(s). As it turns out, with my diesel having dual batteries, I simply set my tuner to high idle (which also gives you more amps as output is based on rpm’s) rather than idle and have not had an issue with enough reserve power to run the winch at it’s rated duty cycle. Same thing with my inverter for camping- I simply set the tune to high idle if I’m running a heavy load. Obviously, everyone has a different rig / motor, but there’s more to consider when significantly increasing amperage output well over the manufactures specs. Good Luck!