Sometimes you get a project that's so blindingly, stupidly easy, yet has such a massive effect that it's hard to believe.
I've been dragging my feet on this one, mostly because I haven't wanted to deal with making a custom, low-gauge wire jumper and also because both the alt and the starter were intimidating to me. Replacing the latter removed any mystery from its operation, and two minutes looking at the alt wiring dispelled any clouds I had about what wire went where.
I'm on a social distancing cruise with my gf, committing to no docks, shore power, or small town visits for the duration. We're on day 4 or so, and a couple days ago I began to despair as my battery monitor showed the "usual" 1.5 to 3 amps flowing into the battery. It's been like this since I got it, but it's never been an impending emergency before. Can't run my fridge full of perishables, can't charge my laptop (I'm SUPPOSED to be working from home). I thought I might as well start running the engine 24hrs a day just to keep itself alive at this point.
I reprogrammed the regulator to AGM mode. No change. Multimeter test of the alt showed at least 13.5V at the positive terminal, but only 12.8V were making it to the batteries. So the problem must be transmission of power, right? Cleaned alternator contacts and re-terminated some dodgy wiring. This got me to 5 amps flowing in during bulk charging... it's progress, but I still can't run my fridge. And isn't this thing a 50A alternator?
I bet most of us on here have read the must-do Universal improvements, and know about the imminent Doom of the ammeter and trailer plugs in the engine wiring. That long run of 14GA orange wiring to the engine panel ammeter and back plagued my dreams last night or something, because this morning I cannibalized my unused battery switch cable and jerry rigged a jumper from the alt to the starter post.
Lo and behold, bulk charging is getting me 30+ amps. Hallelujah, I can run all the electronics in the house and still refill the banks with that!
Maybe I'm the last guy left in the house who hasn't tackled this simple project, but if anyone is left teetering on starting, get it done yesterday. Maine Sail's post about it is here:
I still have to replace the trailer plugs themselves and redo my engine panel, but what a difference this made. Definitely motivating to see what other simple improvements can be made just with some new / cleaned wiring.
I've been dragging my feet on this one, mostly because I haven't wanted to deal with making a custom, low-gauge wire jumper and also because both the alt and the starter were intimidating to me. Replacing the latter removed any mystery from its operation, and two minutes looking at the alt wiring dispelled any clouds I had about what wire went where.
I'm on a social distancing cruise with my gf, committing to no docks, shore power, or small town visits for the duration. We're on day 4 or so, and a couple days ago I began to despair as my battery monitor showed the "usual" 1.5 to 3 amps flowing into the battery. It's been like this since I got it, but it's never been an impending emergency before. Can't run my fridge full of perishables, can't charge my laptop (I'm SUPPOSED to be working from home). I thought I might as well start running the engine 24hrs a day just to keep itself alive at this point.
I reprogrammed the regulator to AGM mode. No change. Multimeter test of the alt showed at least 13.5V at the positive terminal, but only 12.8V were making it to the batteries. So the problem must be transmission of power, right? Cleaned alternator contacts and re-terminated some dodgy wiring. This got me to 5 amps flowing in during bulk charging... it's progress, but I still can't run my fridge. And isn't this thing a 50A alternator?
I bet most of us on here have read the must-do Universal improvements, and know about the imminent Doom of the ammeter and trailer plugs in the engine wiring. That long run of 14GA orange wiring to the engine panel ammeter and back plagued my dreams last night or something, because this morning I cannibalized my unused battery switch cable and jerry rigged a jumper from the alt to the starter post.
Lo and behold, bulk charging is getting me 30+ amps. Hallelujah, I can run all the electronics in the house and still refill the banks with that!
Maybe I'm the last guy left in the house who hasn't tackled this simple project, but if anyone is left teetering on starting, get it done yesterday. Maine Sail's post about it is here:
I still have to replace the trailer plugs themselves and redo my engine panel, but what a difference this made. Definitely motivating to see what other simple improvements can be made just with some new / cleaned wiring.