AL129x Bosch Reman Alts available for $100!! Fits 126 as a drop-in!

[deerefanatic]

Alright Guys,

The name of the place is California Alternator & Starter. Their phone number is 1-310-530-6410 and their Ebay user ID is "roomik70" .

I got my AL129x in about 3 days, it is as you can see in the pics a nice beefy and VERY clean unit. It had a new Bosch brand voltage regulator. New bearings were also obviously used as the shaft had that slightly stiff feel to it yet. All in all, a very grand rebuild, with a 1-YEAR, UNLIMITED MILEAGE WARRANTY!!

Now, for the nitty gritty:

I used 4 Guage cable and gold plated crimp-on lugs for the wire (same as the wire coming from my new battery cables......) and made a new wire to goto the exciting stud. I had a problem with this unit, as with my old Alt (ever since putting a Bosch VR on it) that it wouldn't excite and turn off the dash lamp until I revved the engine just slightly. The tech at California Alt & Starter said this is due to the fact that the new Bosch VR's require more current to excite at Idle than did the old VR's. His recommendation was to put a 35-40 ohm, 5watt resistor in Parallel to the dash lamp, effectively doubling the current to the stator, while not require a larger light bulb. The dash light will still work in this case.

I had problems though, with my new alternator only putting out 13.7 volts maximum with now load. With load, it would run 13.0-13.4, and would fluctuate up and down in that range. Fully loaded with everything (rear defroster, fan on hi, Hi beams and driving lights, radio, etc) it would run about 13.2 most of the time and drop to 12.0 at a stop-sign idle.

I decided to ditch the Bosch VR and put the aftermarket that had been in my 55 amp in the alternator. Voltage now runs about 14.2 at idle with nothing drawing. With everything loaded and engine at a stop-sign idle (idleing in gear while stopped) it will still drop to the 12.0 volt range (650 rpm idle) but just tapping accelerator up to 1000 rpm gives normal voltage... Running down the road fully loaded it varies between 13.5 and 14.0 volts. Also, with this voltage regulator, the alt excites right away and doesn't require and additional resistor in the exciting circuit, nor does it require the engine to be revved. It "just works".

All in all, I am very pleased. Using a giant ammeter I have, I measured with everything running and a fairly low battery, the alternator was pumping 85 amps and still maintaining 13.4 volts at 1000 rpm engine speed (throttle blocked slightly open while in park......)

Oh, ya, when pumping 85 amps for an extended period, the alternator gets uncomfortably warm, so watch where you stick those hands when experimenting!

As of when I got mine, these folks had 4 more for $100 (includes FREE shipping) and could probably get more if the demand was there for it...... They were quite intrigued with how easily they could be implemented into the Mercedes Enviroment.

As a final note, the $100 price doesn't include the pulley, I reused my old one as stock pulley would be for a serpentine belt anyway.