Serpentine pulley upgrade

[foster]

Hello,

Has anyone upgraded the Hitachi OEM alternator to a high output one with a serpentine pulley kit ?

We currently have a Mastervolt 90 A with an alphapro regulator driven with a single v belt, I think it slips a little and was looking for an upgrade to automotive type serpentine pulley system.

Thank you.

Denis

[Scott MacLeod]

Hi Dennis. I just did that upgrade 2 seasons ago and couldn't be happier with the results. I put in a 160 amp Eelectromax alternator with Serpentine pull-up kit, Balmar Smart regulator, up sized battery cables and a digital battery isolator. John from Eelectromax was fantastic and truelly goes the extra mile to get you the correct solution. He is my go to guy now for anything related to charging. Give him a shout and he will get you going on the right track.

[Mike Brown]

Denis I too installed an ElectroMaax but I went with the 140A model. Also installed the serpentine belt kit and Balmar regulator. Like Scott stated John and his people did a great job and is very supportive. I too changed out the battery isolator as the original was only rated for 100A. My house bank is 450A from 4 Trojan T105s. While the 140 is a bit of overkill for that bank I wanted the ability to increase the bank to 675 without overloading the alternator. Overall I'm very pleased with the setup. It was relatively easy to install with any questions quickly answered by John or his people. I've seen as high as 90+ amps going into the batteries when they're in the 60% charged range.
Note that Yanmar has begun to install the ElectroMaax as they standard alternator on their new engines. The new alternators also have a belt tension adjustment mechanism that will make tensioning the belt a snap.
Mike

[foster]

Thank you Scott and Mike for your experiences. Exchanging with John Stevens I had the same good feeling.

What digital battery isolator did you use Scott ? Is it also a separator so you can charge the starting battery and the Exxide batteries for the bow thruster ?

Do you have the size of the battery cable upgrade in mind ?

Did you modify the blower to cool the alternator with fresh air ?

I will let you know how thing's go, we are going for the new 160A "hairpin alternator" and using ou Mastervolt alpha pro regulator.

Denis

[Mike Brown]

FYI I installed a ProlSo isolator (see link below) that prioritizes the start battery at start up. Once the start battery is at 13.3V it switches charging to the house bank. It has colored LEDs that indicate where the charge is going and works well. BTW Beneteau put the thruster battery on its own isolator which is rated at 150A.
Mike

www.promariner.com

[foster]

Hello,

At last the alternator and serpentin pulley is installed with an idler wheel.

We will be connecting the eltrical parts tomorrow.

Did Scott or yourself experience problems with tachometer readings?

Thank you for your advice and support.

Denis

[Mike Brown]

Denis, yes I had to make an adjustment for the tachometer to read the correct RPMs. The only problem I have is the tachometer will sometimes act erratically. I suspect I need to re-crimp the connection but haven't done so yet.

One tip for you regarding the ground wiring that attaches to the side of the alternator. After mounting the wires bend the connector ends so they are not resting against the alternator. I didn't do this when I first connected the wiring and the excessive heat from the alternator eventually caused the wiring to break down inside the insulation. This resulted in a bad ground to the external regulator causing all the voltage readings at the regulator to be incorrect. The regulator would then over charge the batteries.

Good luck with the rest of the installation.

Mike

[foster]

Hi Scott and Mike,

I ordered the kit from Electromaax with a new Voyager 165 A" hairpin" alternator. The installation is not that straight forward.

John Stevens is helping us sorting out the problems we encounter. He suggests we put an additional small pulley on one of the studs (the opposite one where the fingers pull on the belt) under the alternator that holds the Yanmar front plastic cover to keep the belt away from the water pump. Has one of you done this ? I have seen something like that on an old Oyster that has been refited with a new Yanmar 5JHE.

Since we had an upgraded Mastervolt Alternator with an external regulator I have to get  the original spacer for the saddle mount of the new Electromaax  alternator.

If you have some pictures of your Electromaax installation this would help us a lot since for the moment we are in deep s...(bip). It looks like the new Electromaax Voyager alternator is different from the previous models.

To make things clearer I will try to send more pictures of our problems.

Thanks in advance for your help and comments.

Denis

[Mike Brown]

Denis I can see your problem with the excessive gap in the belt. I also see you have the new style upper mount and adjuster. I have the old style mount and adjuster and had the opposite problem. My belt was too small and I couldn't fit it over the alternator pulley. I called John and they sent me different belts that were slightly longer. Everything fits well so no need for an extra pulley. I would ask John for a smaller belt before doing anything else. By the way your alternator does look different than mine. I was not aware they changed to a new style.
Mike

[foster]

Hello Mike,

The new ELECTROMAAX Voyager 160A is advertised as a small case high output continuous model thanks to square wires and hairpin bending. It should fit where the OEM Hitachi 80A was.

We are strugling with the mechanical installation for the moment, but the problems are identified and I hope we will get this done in a near future.

Denis

[Mike Brown]

Denis good luck and let us know how you made out.
Mike

[Bob Brew]

I know this is now an aged thread, but just came across it now!  I upgraded my Hitachi to an Electromaax 160A high output alternator with Serpentine belt and Balmar regulator.  I put it in about 4 years ago.  The install went well and I was able to do it with only a couple calls to Electromaax.  I am not good at these kinds of projects, but undertook it anyway!   

Unfortunately and frustratingly, I have never been able to attain better than about 70 amps charging at any time, at any battery state.  I had the alternator bench tested at Electromaax, and it was able to put out 160a.  So the problem is in my install.  I didn't swap out any other OEM parts which includes two 150A isolators.  (I'm assuming that even with the 150A isolators, I should get closer to 150A than the 70A).  Elecromaax tells me the wire sizing is fine.  

I also had much correspondence with Balmar to ensure I had the regulator set appropriately.  

I am using a 700ah Lithium battery as my main house bank, with the field wire to the regular connected to its positive lead.   The lithium should accept all the charge the alternator can throw at it, where I know Lead Acids are more restrictive.  I have experimented with using the Lithium without the lead acids, but with no improvement.   I also still have a lead acid starter and accessory battery in their original configurations.I don't currently have any other charging sources, aside from the Xantrax shore power.

Any ideas or suggestions would be very much appreciated in solving this ongoing puzzle.

Bob

Beneteau B40 2011

[foster]

Hi Bob,

How do you measure the amps with a shunt monitor or a AMP DC clamp meter ? Are you sure the RPM of the electromaax is correct. (Tachometer). Do you have temperature control ?

We sold our B43 two years ago and now have a Hallberg Rassy 46.

Good luck.

Denis