Hey,
I've been thinking, If I go to the trouble to put in a 200W stereo, and a couple of 55W driving lights, should I upgrade the alternator? I'm not sure exactly what it is rated at, but is a standard clubby 1100 unit.
I'm thinking if I am driving somewhere at night in the rain (all headlights and wipers) with the radio on, will the car still start once stopped?
I've already had a flat battery, and it is pretty new.
Also, if the alternator was upgraded, should the wiring be beefed up to handle?
Thanks.

Answers are probably yes to the alt and deffinately yes to the wiring - do a search in "Mini Mods" section. its been discussed in detail.

Run your car with an ammeter hooked up. Make sure you turn on wipers, lights, stereo etc etc and see how much current it draws. Compare this to you alt output. That should give you some idea if your charging system is up to the task.

If you replace the alt. it wouldn't hurt to run new wires, but if the existing ones are in good nick it's not really necessary.

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Metal to burn, sparks to fly...

OK, How much more power should be "left over" from the alternator to charge the battery, after everything is running?

Do the pulsar alternator mod, you'll be thankful for it, believe me!

If you get flat batteries now (because you don't drive it often enough etc) then most modern stereos draw current even when the car is switched off so you will definately have problems.

Hence why I ripped all the stereo junk off Lillee and replaced it with a Dellorto

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Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

the theory behind it all is quite simple ,,, watts divided by volts = amps

add up all the watts (power need to run the items listed added together)

& divide it by the 12v supply (which in fact should be about 14 volts supplied by the alt) & that should give you the answer as to how big the altinator should be, minimum

lets say for EG:
head lights on high beam at 100watt eash =200
& park lights on at 4x 5 watts each =20
flasher swich is turned on , which is front & rear flasher bulbs =42
both rear Brake lights are on =42
sterio only drwas what???...the speakers might be 200watt but the sterio won`t draw that will it?, lets say 50watt for the sterio & 50 watt for the amp (i have no idea here but just use these figures as an eg: ) so that`s another 100
wipers draw about 40
& then lets say you have a pair of mother f`ker spottys on there too blasting the eys balls out of kangaroos at 100meters at 100 watts each as well =200

now add all that up =644

divide by 14volts = 46amps

so there you go,,,add a bit more for charging the battery & any added extras like interior lights & a higher powered sterio & amps & electric aerial etc,,,. so lets make it an 80 amp alt to be safe

easy-peasy

the late English alts are shoving out around 100 amps so there you have it, grab one of those & bolt the f`ker on , job done

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

All I need to know is how much power should be charging the battery as a minimum, then I can work everything out.