My daily ride is a 1995 Toyota Corolla, 1.8L DX sedan. I bought the Toyota after my Ford van timing chain jumped at 180K miles. I miss having a big vehicle, but I do so much driving that I need the small car.
I transferred the inverter setup from the van to the Corolla. 1k true sine inverter, plus fuses, disconnects and a 12v ultra-capacitor module to help start big loads.
The inverter ran a window a/c in the van and I tested the transferred hardware and it would still do it in the Corolla. But the Corolla only had a 70 amp stock alternator, so I bought a direct bolt-on replacement rated at 130 amps. I don't run the window a/c, I just wanted to know if it was possible. I do run a leaf blower and some small appliances occasionally from the inverter.
Everything went fine for about 6 months and then one day on the way home the battery idiot light came on as I was pulling out of the parking lot at work. I have a plugin digital volt meter on the vehicle cigarette lighter port, so I glanced down and the reading was less than 12v. I turned off the a/c and radio and wondered if I would make it home. As I approached the first traffic light I revved the engine in neutral and the voltage suddenly came back up to normal. It stayed normal for the rest of the ride home (16+ miles in city traffic).
I ran a few errands that evening with no trouble, but the following morning when I started the car the battery light wouldn't go out. I had just done the front brakes the night before and had a c-clamp on the front seat next to me. Out of frustration with this flaky alternator, I opened the hood and whacked the alternator with the c-clamp. The engine rpm dropped immediately and the battery light went out. For a while that was my fix. Open the hood and give the alt a whack.
I had heard an unusual clicking sound on the radio before the failure, and then before each subsequent failure so I was pretty sure it was the brushes. I resisted changing the alt because it isn't nearly as easy to do as some cars. But after a lot of raising the hood in the morning to give the alt a whack, I took the alternator off and took apart the brush section.
The brushes looked fine. There was no dirt present, but one slip ring was smeared with carbon and the other was bright and clean copper/brass. I used a foam-backed fingernail file to clean up the brushes, canned electrical cleaner to blow out the slip ring area and resoldered the pigtails to the brushes. That fix lasted for a couple of months and then I was back to having to whack the alternator (sometimes more than once a day) to keep it running.
Having practice removing the alt, I figured out a way to remove the brushes with the alt still on the vehicle and clean it up like before.
So here I am again, wondering how long before it goes weird on me. The local auto parts store no longer sell replacement brushes by themselves, and the brushes are not chipped, worn or burned, but the same slip ring issue exists. One is smeared with carbon and one stays clean.
Any thoughts on what is going on here?