ajrothm

Got my BilletTech 170 amp from Bret, reclocked it and slapped it on. Fitment is great, even with tall Katech valve covers and tall deck heads.







Pros:

Outstanding voltage, even at full temp and heat soaked, everything turned on and I can possibly turn on, never goes under 13.9v at the battery at dead idle, in gear and foot on the brake... Most of the time it is 14.3 on the DIC and 14.7 at the battery. Sucker makes a ton of juice and heat doesn't seem to affect it. Finally have enough juice to run my 3 fans at full speed when stuck in hellacious Houston traffic..., the stock alternator didn't have a chance.

Quality and warranty are great, and ofcourse customer service from BlownBlueZ06 is always a great benefit...

Cons:


I do get the Charge Fault code when the car/alternator is cold, when the code is apparent, the alternator does not start charging until it is revved to 2000 rpms for a second or two, then it will fully charge until the key is shut off..

Once the alternator is hot, it will start charging right away without the Charge Fault code and without revving it after a restart.

Its weird why my car does this, being a 2002, they are not known to have the charge fault issue but mine does... For me its something im willing to live with in return for outstanding charging, although I am going to investigate this issue and see if we can come up with a solution.

Its not really a big deal for me though, I just start it up cold, let it warm up a minute and take off, by the time I get to the end of my neighborhood, I have already hit 2000 rpms and the alternator start charging.

I have had no issue with the flip drive/direct drive belt slipping at normal driving/full alternator load either, although some members have had this issue...mine is fine, just keep the belt tight.

All in all, its a great upgrade that I NEEDED to make my car reliable to drive during the summer in this blasted Houston traffic..

I will continue to test this thing out well and report any issues I may have, but so far with 120 miles of in town driving its been rock solid reliable at 14.3v..

Good luck to anyone that decides to try one, just know there may be additional mods required to get it to work properly but its worth it in the end.

ajrothm

And yes I know, my headers look like complete ****... They will be getting coated this summer..

a/c man

Awesome nice job AJ the black bracket looks slick and smooth too. what was the voltage like before?

ajrothm

When its heat soaked and in bumper to bumper traffic with lights, ac, fans, brake lights on, I'd see 12.3v on DIC..(about 12.5-12.6v at battery) and would get worse the longer I sat there... Running down the road at full electric load I'd see 13.2-13.3v on DIC....but start idling and it would tank... When cold/cool/warm, Id see 14.0-14.4v on DIC but once the alternator and engine compartment got hot, it was nothing to lose 2v...

I added my own "big 3" cable mod, cleaned all the grounds etc etc, and got NOTHING from it...

The billet tech alternator so far has not gone under 13.7 on DIC and I was trying everything I could to get the voltage to tank... Virtually every light/high beam on, 3 fans on, ac on hi...Now its ready for my stereo system install..

a/c man

Wow thats low on the stock alt. mine gets low too. but not as bad as 12.3 I wish I had this new Billettec looks awesome who cares about the headers

Milan

Cool...been thinking about getting one of these eventually

c5austin

Awesome!! I get the same fault if I don't blip the throttle, but I could care less, I want to make sure the blowers still there I love constant voltage all the time! Well worth the money IMO

BLOWNBLUEZ06

Thanks Alan for taking the time to put a review out and for your kind words.
I've ceased advertising the Billet Tech alternator in the C5 forum due to the strange issues. What I don't get is how some work perfectly and some don't. I sell them now to the C5 customers with the understanding that if it doesn't work out you're only out shipping for trying it.

Let me know when you're ready.
Thanks Austin. I'll be attending the Texas Invitational. If you're interested in tuning support, you got me for free. Just let me know if I need to bring my laptop. (send me a text)

JoeyG

Good write up. With the need to rev to 2000 rpms it sounds like your exciting a single wire alt. I use to run a single wire 200Amp unit for a couple of years, due to the stereo. But it didn't like rev'ing to 6800 all the time in my Vette.
I need to upgrade mine, can you post an update in a month or so.

ajrothm

Noticed something today on my drive,

If I start the car up cold and get the charge fault code, instead of clearing the code with the button on the dash, I just took off driving it with the charge fault code on the DIC and not charging, as soon as I got out of the neighborhood and got it to around 2000 rpms, the Charge Fault code cleared out on its own and the alternator started charging... So seeing the Charge Fault code go off lets you know the alternator is charging at a quick glance.

So its not really a big deal to not have the alternator light off at idle on a cold start, (as long as the battery doesn't go dead within a 1/2 mile ), and now I don't have to worry about pushing the button every time I cold start it.

Cliff notes:
Don't reset Charge Fault code, it will go off on its own when the alternator starts charging.

95wht6spd

So can't you just blip throttle to 2k right off to get it working, or does it also need to be warm?

MVP'S ZO6

Looks good AJ.

So you're still getting charge fault codes?

Milan

Bret have you taken this issue to the manufacturer to see what it could be? Also why not just turn the code off completely with HPT? Or am I missing something here?

Also, how much extra (cost) does the 8 rib pulley add?

MVP'S ZO6

Isn't he running a direct drive?

ajrothm

Yes you can blip the throttle to 2k and get it to charge, when it's the first start of the day it requires a bit more then a blip tho.. Have to hold it at 2-2,200 rpms for a few secs and it starts charging and the fault code clears... My problem with this is revving an ice cold engine to 2k and the noise it makes in my garage/neighborhood.

You could just let it warm up a couple mins then blip it and it would be ok but.. At that point, you may as well just drive off and let it start charging on its own.


Yes you can get 8 rib pulleys for them from Bret, not sure how much $$ tho..

PEETYZ

Loooks great! Glad it is doing it's job!

BLOWNBLUEZ06

Yes. I deal directly with the owner for everything I do with them and we've had many discussions about it. I've only installed 2 personally, one on a C6 and one on a C5 (Albert's car) and neither had an issue. I don't think disabling the code will work, but we can try it with Alan's car and see.

8-Rib pulleys are 35.00 extra and the ones used on the factory alternator won't work.

JoeyG

When I had my 200Amp single wire alternator, I disabled the "F" and I think "L" field alarms and never had an issue on my 01. Just an fyi

BLOWNBLUEZ06@RKT Performance

Thanks Joey,
I selected "not reported" on a C5 that has the issue and it didn't change, however if I had more time, I would have unchecked it the L terminal code, flashed it and reverified.

JDS99

Maybe I should have tried this before sending mine back to Bret..

Bret, if you find out this works, let me know. I'll hit you up for another one.