straining tripac alternator?

It's designed for a amount of work. Not very good in my opinion. I had a tripack, the older and i only had it like 1.5 years and repaces alternator two times. They are only like 70amps.

 

Two things.

1 - get the upgrade to the 120 amp alternator. If you have someone who knows what they are doing, you can have a 200 amp delco put on the machine. There is nothing special about the alternator.

2 - why are you running fog lights when stopped. If you are not parked on a ramp, turn all the lights off.

sort of 2a, maybe you need to reevaluate the gaming thing.

 

Having owned a few Tri Pacs over the years, your main concern are your batteries. You are over taxing them, more so than the alternator. Running everything at its limits is not what the Tri-Pac was designed for nor were your batteries. Truck batteries are for starting, not running microwaves and or leaving the lights on all night when sitting with the motor off.

Use some commonsense and you will get years of use out of the Tri-Pac. Open the case up a few times a year and wash her out with a power washer, keep her clean. Service on a regular basis, I like to service every few months, or quarterly.

Then your batteries, I have switched over to AGM. They tend to hold up better, as they are designed to run those accessories in our trucks more so than the old lead acid models. But, they are batteries, they age and they fail. Some guys go with larger batteries if they have quite a bit of things running on their system. But for the average trucker out here, I really do not see the need to go that route.

I am having a new Tri-Pac installed next week, it will have the larger 100+ amp alternator and I will be installing a new set of AGM batteries. These new Tri-Pacs, the controls, are designed to keep the AGM batteries properly conditioned. Something the older units like I have were not set up to do.

Again, just use some commonsense.

 

Fog light crap should be attached to an eject seat... turn'em on, you're gone.

 

I'm extremely conservative with my batteries. I've never been big on truck fridges, they are too small for anything really. I mean you beat the hell out of $1,000 worth of batteries for $15 worth of food. That's just pure F genius.

I like my truck to start. I have a tripac, and use my laptop, and have it running the AC or the heater, but I don't leave my parking lights on. I'd like too, it is cool, but like I said, the truck starting when I plan on it starting is pretty cool too.

 

I put a new alternator on a few years ago, when I bought this truck in 2013. The Tri-Pac looked like a bomb went off inside the case. I took it to ThermoKing and for $1500 they got her running. The alternator has been replaced once since then, under warranty. I have around four years on the current alternator. I am on my second set of batteries in five years, new set going in next month... I think that is pretty good.