Electromaax Alternator/Serpentine Kit Install

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Maine Sail

Maine Sail

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Feb 6, 1998
11,760
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
A while ago I promised an update on installing an Electromaax serpentine pulley kit and alternator. I am still working on the full article and will post it here when finished but wanted to share a video of how it performs.

Suffice it to say the performance is very, very impressive. This one was on a customer boat with a large bank of Odyssey TPPL AGM batteries. Electromaax had not yet developed the kit for the Volvo D-2030 engine, and I worked with them to create it. It was a tough engine to fit but they executed it beautifully.. I have to say the serpentine kit is the cats meow. No more "dual belt" high amp installs for me.....;)

Phil & SBO are Electromaax dealers: Electromaax / Sailboatowners.com


Please be patient I did not edit the video and am not as adept at shooting video as pictures.....;)

 
whatfiero

whatfiero

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Oct 30, 2011
542
klidescope 30t norfolk
Electromaax alternator

That is one beautiful install the wire routing battery hold downs simply amazing the only concern I have is the serpentine belt has no spring tenure for heat expansion have ya run thru or up to full temp to ensure no slippage . I like that you flashed on the heat gun to show shunting of current did ya have other things running to shunt more amps
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

.
Feb 6, 1998
11,760
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
whatfiero said:
That is one beautiful install the wire routing battery hold downs simply amazing the only concern I have is the serpentine belt has no spring tenure for heat expansion have ya run thru or up to full temp to ensure no slippage . I like that you flashed on the heat gun to show shunting of current did ya have other things running to shunt more amps
Click to expand
Yeah when I made that video the bank was at a fairly high state of charge and would not load up the alt properly. I needed to test it, program the regulator, (which could not be done due to a bad reed switch) and move onto another job. I simply ran my heat gun off the inverter to load up the alt for the load test. I let it run that way for close to an hour..

I did finally get a chance to run the batteries down to about 50% state of charge and get them into bulk charge/constant current range. For that I used a portable ceramic disc heater to whack the bank down.. I generally don't like to run my heat gun that long but the darn thing has hundreds of hours on it anyway, and they are cheap, so no worries...The alternator supplied slightly over 140A for as long as I ran it.. Eventually got back to close to 80%, saw some limiting and shut her down.


The belt has been run at well over 100A for about 2+ hours in total. There has been no slipping and as of yet no stretching. Electromaax uses 10 cog Jason belts, used for industrial applications, and this belt can easily drive 200A and this is only at 140A +/-...

Here's a link to the rest of the install:

Installing An Electromaax Alternator and Serpentine Pulley Kit (LINK)
 
Gunni

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
The 80% acceptance rate for AGM's just makes them so very attractive. The thought that I could bring them back up to full in less than an hour of genset running is worth the cost for me. That battery box tie-down hardware is impressive. Is that custom?
 
flynfol

flynfol

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Oct 8, 2008
362
MacGregor/Venture 25 Winthrop Harbor, IL Drummond Island,MI
How hot did the alternator get?
 
M

mitiempo

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Sep 28, 2008
922
Canadian Sailcraft CS27 Victoria B.C.
Gunni said:
The 80% acceptance rate for AGM's just makes them so very attractive. The thought that I could bring them back up to full in less than an hour of genset running is worth the cost for me. That battery box tie-down hardware is impressive. Is that custom?
Click to expand
They will certainly get up to about 85% quickly but the last 15% will take hours - with Agm, Gel, or flooded batteries.
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

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Feb 6, 1998
11,760
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
flynfol said:
How hot did the alternator get?
Click to expand
Not hot enough to get temp limited by the regulators alternator temperature. I did not have my infrared with me that day otherwise I would have hit it...
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

.
Feb 6, 1998
11,760
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
mitiempo said:
They will certainly get up to about 85% quickly but the last 15% will take hours - with Agm, Gel, or flooded batteries.
Click to expand
Yes they all current limit beginning around 80-85%. Even among the AGM's there are varying levels of acceptance. Odyssey batteries take a ton of current and can take as much as 3.0C or 3X capacity. For a 100AH battery it could charge from 0% to about 80% at as much as 300 amps. I don't find the Deka AGM's of Lifeline to take nearly that kind of current for as long.

No marine batteries will charge to 100% in an hour because of acceptance limitations. The only exceptions are some of the Li technology batteries, IF you can provide the current, which on most sailboats is impossible.. You'd also have to spring for about 5-10K for a bank....

That brand new bank of Odyssey batteries began acceptance limiting at about 82-84% (trusting the monitor here) state of charge.
 
J

jamel

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Dec 19, 2010
6
Catalina 42 MKII MDR currently
great video, wish I could get the same results from my 180amp electromaax alt with "smart" reg. best I've seen is 100amp for a few moments, even at 2000 eng revs on my Yanmar 4 cyl motor. I have to run the motor far too muchto charge my 800amp/hr bank.
What is the large black cable on the alt frame for? Not in install instructions from electromaax.
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

.
Feb 6, 1998
11,760
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
jamel said:
great video, wish I could get the same results from my 180amp electromaax alt with "smart" reg. best I've seen is 100amp for a few moments, even at 2000 eng revs on my Yanmar 4 cyl motor. I have to run the motor far too muchto charge my 800amp/hr bank.
What is the large black cable on the alt frame for? Not in install instructions from electromaax.
Click to expand
Large black wire is alt ground. Same size as the B+ wire both are 1/0 wire. There can be many reasons you're not getting your current output. More info would help...
 
J

jamel

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Dec 19, 2010
6
Catalina 42 MKII MDR currently
Maine Sail said:
Large black wire is alt ground. Same size as the B+ wire both are 1/0 wire. There can be many reasons you're not getting your current output. More info would help...
Click to expand
I read with great interest your article on external regs. My cables all seem to be ok and right size, however my batt bank may be suspect being 2008 vintage and possibly not ACCEPTING the current. When the batts are well down I can charge and see 114 amps on the link monitor but that quickly, minute by minute reduces down to 80 amps and on down to 50 & 40, never staying up like your 140 amps input....so I'm still confused!

Being in Tahiti and on my way to Australia means I'm not about to change batts any time soon.
 
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