eulogious

'96 should work as its a 2nd gen leggy and I believe that they are the round plug. '95 and up should be square plug, but I am not 100% certain on that. But it should work...

In the thread I linked to I posted the information about the plug you need. And yes you need a new square plug. You can get them off of a newer EJ series car or from certain years Nissan Maxima. I went to my local yard and picked up the square plug off of an Impreza I believe and soldered it in. One trick is that you don't really need the plug, you can just use female spade connectors to get the job done. I would not do this and leave it has a permanent fix, but if you need to get up and running, the female spade connectors will get you down the road until you can get the square plug installed. Good luck!

Ok, did you not read my fuse statement that I have made three times now? YES, IT DOESN'T HURT TO FUSE IF IT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER. There I have now said that four times. But it is NOT, I repeat NOT needed if the run of wire is of the correct size AWG and is under 18", the math proves this. No way to get around math man. Fight it all you want, but math will win. Not too mention several other standards committees, one of which I linked to in an early post. On the fusing front... You are saying that my house, and EVERY SINGLE HOUSE IN THE COUNTRY, is wired wrong and that I need to have a separate breaker for every single device that's plugged into my house? Really? I need like 45 new breakers!!! WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS BEFORE!!!! MY HOUSE IS GOING TO BURN DOWN!!! AHHHH!!!!! Ya, not so much, lol. Please explain this to me as what you are saying contradicts the simple fact that all houses are fused for the wire, not the device. This principal carries forward for AC or DC and any voltage that you want. And yes, even to car manufactures. Oh, and for the love of all that is holy STOP telling us your background and what you do for a living like it makes you an expert and we should all just shut up and bow down to you because you are the wiring god. It's really not needed. Just back up what you are saying with proof, because what you do for a living and your education really means nothing compared to national standards and math. So just stop using that argument, it's getting old hearing it. Notice I have yet to say what my background is or what my education is? Wanna now why? BECAUSE IT DOESN'T MATTER. If its a fact, it can be proven without me having to bring up my background and what I do for a living, just like I have done in my previous post. I have now grown tired of arguing this, so I am going to stop cluttering up this thread. I have proved what I needed to regarding fusing and wiring runs, so this will be the last from me on this subject. Proof is in the pudding.

I guess it should also say not to take what I am saying personally. I mean nothing personal at all against anyone. I am just debating, so sorry if I come across as an rump roast, that's not my intention. Just wanted to clarify that... EDIT: rump roast? LOL, I totally used another word for that. That's just funny.

Well, you got me there, if I was actually debating the rules, but I am not. I merely used these rules to prove my point. The Note at the bottom of the page clearly states that no fuse is needed between batteries if the wire length is under 18". The whole reason I used the rules was to merely illustrate that the standards say that no fuse is needed as long as the wire length is under 18", and they do clearly state that. In english clear as day, and you quoted it early as well. If 0 points meant that a fire would start, sure then you take what that says and apply it to this debate, but 0 points does not mean any safety measures have been broken, it just means you won't get any points for judging, that's it. There is no need to read anymore into that statement. If you got disqualified because it was a safety issue, then I could understand, but it doesn't. In fact you could still win the competition in theory, even without a fuse. You can interpret that however you want, but at the end of the day, 18" or less does not need a fuse which is clearly stated in the note section of the rules page. No other way to read that. Very first sentence of the note. Here's the quote: Seems like pretty straight forward english to me...

How do you not come to the conclusion that 18" or less of wire does not need to be fused? It's the rule. Otherwise it would be different, like I mentioned. How do you not come to this same conclusion? What other conclusion is there? Correct, it does not say explicitly that a fuse is not needed, but what other conclusion can you come to as long as it's within 18"? Please explain this to me, as I am clearly missing it. Regardless, I am now going to try a different approach, math, to prove that it is totally safe to not fuse something within 18". Well, I am not going to do all the math myself, but I will link to a calculator that does the math for me. This is just one of many out on the net, but the math is sound. http://www.bulkwire.com/wireresistance.asp So according to this calculator, in my car where I have an UNFUSED 18" 4awg wire, I can pass 1400 amps at 13.85v DC down that wire. 1400 amps. And at 1400 amps, I only loose 4% of the voltage. That's not even talking about where the wire will got hot and catch on fire. That is WAY more that then 600 amps my battery puts out when it was brand new and also WAY more than what my alt puts out. So because the 18" piece of wire can handle WAY more power than what ANYTHING in my car can put out, I am TOTALLY safe and I will NOT cause any fires. Period. I DO NOT need a fuse. Not only are there industry standards that say I don't need a fuse within 18", the math also proves this. The one caveat to this is that you are using good quality, properly sized wire. If you are not using the right size wire, all bets are off. In my case I am using a properly sized, good quality wire, so I am totally safe. I WILL NOT CAUSE ANY FIRES OR ANY OTHER SORT OF HARM TO MY CAR. Period. Now, I keep saying this and everyone keeps missing it it seems, but it DOES NOT HURT TO FUSE. At all. Fuses are good! Fuse away if you feel the need. All I am trying to get across is that it is NOT a safety issue, it is NOT a fire issue, and it will NOT hurt anything if you don't fuse a wire that is 18" or less. That is all. I am just giving factual information. And I can't stress enough that fuses are good! Now about fusing the wire only and not the devices... I am going to use an example that everyone has in their home to prove that it is industry standard to fuse the wire, not the device. Just walk over to your breaker panel in your home/apt and take a look. All of those breakers are NOT fusing ANY devices at all. NONE. I don't know about you, but I do not have ANY device in my house that will draw 15amps. The most I have is something that draws 13 amps. So how does a 15 amp breaker protect a device that only draws 13 amps? What about my phone charge that only draws 1 amp, how does that 15 amp break protect it? It doesn't and it simply can't. It ONLY protects the wiring. This is industry standard. But just for kicks and giggles, here's a link saying the same thing: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/wfc2.htm 1st paragraph states the same thing. And this was basically the first google link. I could find more links, but it's not really needed to prove my point. Just google it for yourself. AC, DC, 12v, 480v, it doesn't matter. You fuse based off of the wire, nothing else. I don't correct someone on a forum unless I know and can prove that I am right, like I just did. I don't really care what people think, or feel, or what they do for a living, or really what experiences they have had. That means nothing compared to actual facts and math and things that are provable. So lets please stay focused on facts and math and leave opinions, experience, and emotions out of this debate.

So I just noticed that there was a little discussion that I apparently missed regarding how I don't fuse the wire from the batt to the alt and I just want to add some facts (not anecdotal evidence of "this is my job, trust me because I say so") based off of the IASCA rules that back up what I said. Page 12, at the bottom of this PDF says it all: http://iasca.com/download/sq/IQC%20Rules%202013%20full%20page.pdf You need to fuse anything within 18" of the battery. So one can naturally infer that anything that is within 18" is safe by these standards. Otherwise they would say 6", or the rule would be right of the battery, not 18". So one can assume that anything under 18" doesn't need to be fused. Further to back this up, the Note on the bottom of page 12 states that between batteries if the wire is 18" or under, there does not need to be a fuse. If these guys say it's ok to do this, then I would pretty much agree with them. These are the guys that judge and regulate bass drags for years. If it was an issue, then these cars that put out massive bass at shows would be catching on fire and burning to the ground on a regular basis, and I would think they would have changed the rules long before 2013. Of course it doesn't hurt to fuse it, but it's not needed, to be technical. Oh, and you only fuse based on the wire, not the device. This is industry standard. I don't know where anyone would get the idea that you need to fuse for the device. The device should be fused itself, therefore there is no need to fuse the wire based on the device as the device is already protected by a fuse. All my amps are fused, and if they aren't I add a fuse within 18" of the amp I don't fuse the wire based on my the device, that's totally overkill and not needed. The only reason to add a fuse to a wire is to protect the wire from catching on fire, period. No other reason.

IDK what the beca stock wire is, but 4awg will work just fine. That's what I have in my car. Since the run is under 2 feet, 4awg will work for almost all non "hard core" stereo installs. Anything more is overall kill really.

Like I said, I don't waste my time with guys like you. You just don't get it. This is not a debate at all with the way you are talking and with that attitude, it's you trying to be better than me, and that is not the point. I don't have time to waste on childish debates like this. Proof is in the pudding as you linked to my same link. People now have good info to make a sound choice. That's all I wanted. Thanks for the info. I am not going to clutter up this thread anymore.

And just to drive my point home with some facts so I don't seem like a hypocrite for not posting anything to back up what I am saying: http://www.bcae1.com/charging.htm Says exactly what I have said in my previous post... Yes the battery acts as a reserve. I could go on and post more links, but that would just be beating a dead horse at this point Oh, and that link brings up yet another reason to not connect anything to the alt, voltage spikes. Since the voltage regulator can't react quick enough to supply the power the amps need, you get transient voltage spikes directly to your sensitive equipment. Transient voltage spikes also kill electronics in short order, FYI. And not to mention the added load that the VR gets from running stuff directly off of the alt. Everyone wants to kill their alt and amps as fast as they can, right? Running stuff directly off of the alt is just bad. Now I am seriously done.

I run Phoenix Gold amps in my car (Both over $1000 new and run over 600 watts RMS a peice and yes I have the test sheets to prove this), so I know a thing or two about nice car audio. I pull about 80amps RMS at full tilt with both my amps. So how would you explain my car still running if I overload my 75amp alt when my stereo is full bore? How does that work? Where is the extra 5 amps coming from to power the stereo, let alone the other at least 10amps to power the rest of the car? Why do you think at bass drags the cars that win have HUGE banks of batteries? Why wouldn't they just have a HUGE alt instead and not waste the money on all of the batteries? The alt is not magic, it has limits, and that is why the battery is there, to pick up the slack. So yes a battery does act as a reserve, just do some research on it. Oh, and yes I have tested my draw with a fluke ammeter and have factory test sheets to prove what they put out as well. Why do the lights dim with a large stereo or when you are at idle you ask? Because the alt that is producing the power is producing 14.4v, and the battery is sitting at 12.8-13.2v. So your lights dim when the alt can't produce the power and the battery steps in to provide the power that the system needs, but at a lower voltage, causing the lights to dim. Again, yes, the battery does in fact act as a reserve. It also acts as a bypass capacitor, filtering out AC ripple. Here's a good article about bypass caps and where you put them and why you need them: http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/jun97/basics.html Oh, and those "junk" caps you mention, ya they don't filter out any AC ripple either. Nope, not at all. They do no good what so ever Definitely don't want one on the end of a large power run, that would be HORRIBLE to block out all that unwanted noise. Nobody wants good clean sound. You need to filter out the AC ripple as close to the power source as possible AND after a long power wire run. This is normal industry practice when designing electronics, so why would car stereos be any different? Running anything off of the alt is bad practice and not industry standard, just look it up. Sure it might work for you and not cause any damage but it's bad practice and is not normally done. If I paid someone to install my car stereo and they ran anything extra off of my alt (besides the "big 3"), I would be PISSED, and so should anyone else. That is what the battery is designed for. At this point I am just going to back out of the convo. Obviously you have no interest in trying to learn where you might be wrong, and I don't really appreciate being told to "Save the rants" because you are just right, even though you have not present any evidence to back up what you say other than anecdotal evidence. No I will not "save the rant" for you or anybody else for that matter. This forum is supposed to be a place to share ideas and knowledge and debate the ideas within it for the betterment of the community at large. You mentioned some info that just MIGHT be wrong in here and I am simply correcting that so that when someone else reads this in 3 years, they can make the choice on what to do because they now have a fuller picture of what is actually going on. At least I have presented an alternate view to yours and clearly have presented some info you have no idea about. Which is the whole point of a forum. Not so someone can make a post to show how smart they are or how cool they are and then tell them to "save the rants" because they "know more". If you didn't pick up on it the whole <start rant> </end rant> thing was to show I was merely trying to show that there might be some flaws in the info you were presenting and that I have some beef with it and we should discuss it. There is no need for an attitude or to tell me to shut up. It's not needed and unproductive. Once/if you drop the attitude and would actually like to debate this like an adult and you are interested in learning where you MIGHT POSSIBLY be wrong, I might consider picking up this topic again. Yes I sound like a pompous jerk saying that but I really don't care. I really, really dis like people who think they are infallible and always right and I won't waste my time correcting them as I have better things to do. One thing I have learned in my short time on this planet is that there is always someone smarter than you out there, and you really shouldn't piss them off as you might actually learn something from them. Good luck and thanks again for the tip on putting in the big alt from a becca. That is good info. Eulogious oat!

<start rant> One thing I must say something about is wiring anything directly to the alt wiring post. The reason being is that the alt is producing AC to start and then running that AC through a bank of diodes creating DC voltage to power the car. During the conversion from AC to DC, AC will ripple/leak pass the diodes and into the circuit. This is a normal thing and is not bad because the battery (basically a big capacitor) will absorb the AC ripple before it will affect the cars electronics. This is why the manufacture runs everything off of the battery post not off of the alt post. AC ripple WILL destroy most amps/electronics in quick order. I would highly recommend not running anything off of the alt post, and only running stuff off of the battery, no matter the reason. If you upgrade the alt, upgrade the wiring, period. Don't be lazy and try to work around this by wiring off of the alt post, unless you want to kill your electronics. Not too mention that if the amp(s) draws more than 130 amps (which can happen regularly, at least with me) it's going to need some more juice, which comes from the battery (a giant power reserve). So if you draw more than 130 amps your wiring needs to be upgraded to handle that draw coming from the battery. Needless to say it's just not a good idea to try and upgrade the alt without upgrading the wiring and it's not a good idea to run anything off the alt post, you are just asking for trouble...</end rant>

After owning a turbo ea82 I would say buy the car for the body and the interior, not the engine. It's a little too finicky for my taste, and you don't really get any more power with the turbo. For $1000, hell no. You can buy a running legacy for that price with a newer and better motor in it. $500-$700 is all I would pay for that one, in the condition it is in, and only if the exterior where rust free and the interior was in perfect condition. Otherwise, just wait it out man, don't get too excited and buy something that is just going to be a pain, IMHO. I would try to get the car for $500, and then take the other $500 you saved and put it towards an EJ swap and then EJ swap it right away and be done with it. Much better use of you time and $$ then rebuilding the turbo motor that is most likely going to blow again. Any reason why you want an EA body style instead of the legacy ("EJ" body series also would include legacy's and impreza's...)? After owning my 1990 loyale, and then my 1990 leggy, there is no way I will own a ea as a daily driver! The EJ series are great cars, and honestly cost about the same as a good running ea series. Just a thought, but you might want to look into the first gen legacy, much better bang for your buck! But if you are insistent on getting an ea series car, just focus on the interior and the exterior of the car, and save some money for an EJ swap down the road for when the motor blows. The ea engine is really about the only bad thing in the ea series cars, especially the turbo version! Good luck with whatever you do, at least you are now looking at Subarus!

I know you can get direct replacement, brand new HO (140amps) alts for between $200-250 new that just bolt right in with no mods needed http://www.maniacelectricmotors.com/hiou195ampsu.html . But it looks like a new beca alt is $250, but the rebuilts are around $125, if you trust a non-oem rebuilt alt that is (and I don't, unless it's rebuilt by a local, well known shop and that will cost more than $125 most likely). My guess is that an oem-rebuld is probably going to cost about $200+, about the same price as the HO alt designed to fit into the car. Finding one used for cheap is one thing, finding a source for a 130+amp alt for around $100 brand new (or rebuilt properly) consistently would be a god send and well worth the effort to "retrofit" it into the car. Otherwise once the beca alt fails, and it surely will at some point, it's $200ish for a new/rebuilt one (or to have it rebuilt by a local shop), and for that price I would rather just slap in an alt that is designed to just slap in and go, IMHO. But it's good to know that you can make it fit though!

Yes weather can and does affect how diodes work. So yes, these symptoms would lead me to replace the alt before really doing anything else. Weird stuff will happen once those diode(s) start to fail. And keep in mind we are talking about a bank of diodes wired together, not just 1 simple diode. So if one fails in the pack, then lots of random, weird stuff will happen, including your symptoms. Buy the '97 reman unit from Subaru for about $90 out the door. I had to call around to at least 2 different dealers to get it for $90 out the door, but if you got part numbers and know the price, they will eventually work with you. My local dealer refused to give my the $75 price for it and wanted something like $180 for it, so I called another dealer 30 min away, and I ended up paying $89 out the door for the alt. Why the local deal was being dumb, IDK. I even called the local dealer back and told him I was going to go 30 min up north and get it for $90 and asked him to change his price to match because I wanted to support my local dealer, and he said no and basically hung up. I know where I will NOT be getting any parts from in the future! Wiring in the new alt is super easy. Just cut the old plug off, and solder up the correct plug leaving the existing yellow wire disconnected. Took me less than 10 min to wire it up. Here's a link to my post on what I did to replace it and what I had to do to get it. All the part numbers needed are included in the post... http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/124690-older-ej-alt-gen-1-to-newer-ej-alt-gen-2-swap/?hl=1997