The gang over at Powermaster Motorsports have a pretty good handle on what it takes to fully equip a vehicle’s starting and charging systems for competition – they’ve been in the business for years and offer starting and charging components for everything from hot rods to off-road trucks, drag cars, and even daily-driven machines. 

On the “How to Choose A Racing Alternator” page of their website, they offer a number of technical tips designed to get you the correct part the first time around. 

There are three steps to doing so:

• Determining the Amp load
• Installation Location
• Pulley Selection

Most importantly, Amperage draw is at the top of the equation, because without knowing your requirements, you can’t possibly pick out the right part for your application. 

The chart at right shows the typical Amperage draw for particular items, but as you can see, some of those items (like CDI ignition) range from a low of 6 Amps to a high of somewhere around 36 Amps, and nitrous solenoids can range from 5-15 Amps. 

They have a number of pre-built Pro Series Kits with 50- and 100-Amp one-wire alternators that can be found here. Those will likely be plenty for a bracket-style application running a carburetor.

However, for those of you running fuel injection, boost controllers, and multiple engine and transmission control solenoids along with high-draw ignition systems and multiple coils, it’s likely that you’ll need to step up to a different product — and they have it available.

Check out the details on the How To page referenced above, and you’ll find more information on what it takes to have your charging system perform in tip-top shape.

For more information, check out their website.