POWERTWIST BELTS
(SNIP) So if you are going to compare apples with apples; get past the
powder coating!
First, Bob McLeran said Bobby checked out a few months ago. The keys have
one less genuine conch.
I don't know whether power coating raises temperatures or not and only the
manufactures have deep enough pockets to do controlled testing, but it
passed my "sniff test". Having said that almost all urban legends also pass
a "sniff test", so who knows?
What I do know is how these alternators operate on my boat. The one driving
the 12 golf carts primarily runs at 181 degrees while working (most of the
time) and 154 degrees when it is reasonable caught up. I've replaced the 50
AMP rectifier with a 70 amp unit, and cooked the stator. Full time cruising
in the tropics seems to require an annual "rebuild" for the port alternator
which I'm willing to live with given how hard it works. I carry a backup
alternator, same size and rating.
I run my belts fairly loose because it's cheaper to replace belts than water
pump bearings.
Works for me, YMMV...
Regards....
Phil Rosch
Old Harbor Consulting
M/V "Curmudgeon" MT44 TC
Currently lying Bond Creek, NC
I run one hour in the morning and around an hour and 15 minutes in the
evening. My Heart 2500 starts at 130 amps and I shut down the generator
when it reaches 70 amps. My guess is this is at the end of the bulk charge
phase. It works for me and my Trojans, YMMV...
Regards....
Phil Rosch
Old Harbor Consulting
M/V "Curmudgeon" MT44 TC
Currently lying Bond Creek, NC
<<However, if you are in the habit of always anchoring out and always
charging from a motor driven alternator, the picture alters for the
worse. Chances are you never fully saturate the battery plates with a
full charge. >>
Arild,
The answer to your connundrum is to go for a cruise! 8-10 hours on the
alternator should fully charge most battery banks, as long as the regulator
is properly set. Speaking of which, several people have asked me for a
source for the manually adjustable regulator I use.
The regulator is an AMP-R14HD, which uses the large size output transistor
(TO-3?) to easily power two 130 amp small-frame alternators. There's a
tiny adjustment screw under the cover to set the voltage to any point
between 13.2 and 15.5 (approximately). This setup works best, of course, if
you mount the regulator in a convenient place outside the engine room, next
to your digital voltmeter readout. The source I found is Great-Water, Inc.,
in Maine. 1-866-209-6132. Price $43.60 plus shipping. No connection.
Mark Richter, m/v Winnie the Pooh
Mark's Mobile Marine
Ortona, FL
-----Original Message-----
Arild,
The answer to your connundrum is to go for a cruise! 8-10 hours on the
alternator should fully charge most battery banks, as long as the
regulator is properly set.
REPLY
I know that and tell my clients as much.
However there are also a lot of people who figure on cruising south to
lotus land and hanging on the hook for a month as cheap dockage.
These are the people who end up with abused and sulfated battery banks
unless they take precautions and install the correct system to begin
with.
Mark writes:
Speaking of which, several people have asked me for a source for the
manually adjustable regulator I use. The regulator is an AMP-R14HD,
which uses the large size output transistor
(TO-3?) to easily power two 130 amp small-frame alternators. There's a
tiny adjustment screw under the cover to set the voltage to any point
between 13.2 and 15.5 (approximately). This setup works best, of course,
if you mount the regulator in a convenient place outside the engine
room, next to your digital voltmeter readout. The source I found is
Great-Water, Inc., in Maine. 1-866-209-6132. Price $43.60 plus
shipping. No connection.
REPLY
Good idea. As a matter of fact, my Ford truck with a 120A L-N alternator
has a $12 regulator which is also adjustable with a tiny trim pot. These
external mounted regulators are standard in Fords.
The wife's Lincoln has the same regulator on the stock 80Amp alternator.
Arild
elnav@telus.net writes:
Scott, out of curiosity, why did you pick a ratio that did not produce
the peak RPM for the alternator armature at max useable engine RPM?
No particular reason; the ratio used gets me pretty close though, and makes
it easier to set up my tach.
Scot wrote:
One last note, with such large alternators you need to worry about side
loading on the drive shaft. I solved this by driving both alternators
off a single pulley but with the belts running about 180 degrees from
each other.
REPLY
Excellent design. I wonder why more engine/boat builders don't provide
such a detail?
I don't know. But it's pretty easy to do. One problem is that in many cases
the drive is from the crankshaft, which is down low, and so it's hard to
mount the alternators down low. In my case the aux drive of the 6-110 is
about waist-high.
Scott Welch
FirstClass Product Manager
www.firstclass.com
"The person who makes no mistakes usually doesn't make anything"