Late last fall, I found myself owning a new old boat. She had a few warts and hairs, but we've slowly and methodically worked through many of them. One of the minor problems involved a bad alternator. I took the alternator to a local shop here in Annapolis and they had the alternator repaired in short order. I few weeks ago, I finally got the boat in the water and things have gone well with the boat and the Moyer rebuilt A-4.
On a whim last week, I checked the alternator output and found that, lo and behold, there wasn't any. Output voltage equaled battery voltage. "This can't be!" I said to myself. "I just had the alternator rebuilt!" I exclaimed to no one. I pulled the alternator and dropped it by the shop today and sure enough, the internal diode(s) were blown.
What I have discovered is this and I wonder if the Brain Trust can shed some light. Apparently, the boat was at one time wired with an ammeter (8 gauge red wire from the starter solenoid to the cockpit instrument cluster) that has since been replaced with something else (probably by looking at the instrument cluster, a fuel gauge). The alternator output wire (10AWG Orange) goes to the instrument panel as well. What was apparently done by someone in the past was, when the ammeter was removed, the ammeter circuit was simply spliced together with the alternator output wire which in effect sends the alt output from the alternator to the ignition switch (about 15 feet on my boat) then BACK down the old ammeter circuit to the starter post THEN on to the battery.
My question is, would this long wiring run and subsequent voltage drop (and perhaps a little corrosion resistance) be enough to cause alternator problems?
Would I be better off sending the altnernator output right back to the starter solenoid?
Would love to hear some insight before I put the alternator back into the system.
On a whim last week, I checked the alternator output and found that, lo and behold, there wasn't any. Output voltage equaled battery voltage. "This can't be!" I said to myself. "I just had the alternator rebuilt!" I exclaimed to no one. I pulled the alternator and dropped it by the shop today and sure enough, the internal diode(s) were blown.
What I have discovered is this and I wonder if the Brain Trust can shed some light. Apparently, the boat was at one time wired with an ammeter (8 gauge red wire from the starter solenoid to the cockpit instrument cluster) that has since been replaced with something else (probably by looking at the instrument cluster, a fuel gauge). The alternator output wire (10AWG Orange) goes to the instrument panel as well. What was apparently done by someone in the past was, when the ammeter was removed, the ammeter circuit was simply spliced together with the alternator output wire which in effect sends the alt output from the alternator to the ignition switch (about 15 feet on my boat) then BACK down the old ammeter circuit to the starter post THEN on to the battery.
My question is, would this long wiring run and subsequent voltage drop (and perhaps a little corrosion resistance) be enough to cause alternator problems?
Would I be better off sending the altnernator output right back to the starter solenoid?
Would love to hear some insight before I put the alternator back into the system.
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