T&T: 12 volt Charging options

[Peter McCorison]

Coho got a 180A 24v alternator powered off her westerbeke 4kw genset a 
few years ago. The little 2 cylinder engine can't produce the full 
output of the alternator, but I expected that. Wish I'd had one like you 
have. I bought an auxiliary crankshaft pulley from Westerbeke for an 
exorbitant price ( $250 or so IIRC) and built a mount out of structural 
iron stuff that bolted on the side of the genset engine. This worked 
like a champ till the used alternator self-destructed. It now has a 
Leece-Neville 150A 24v unit and a Balmar 6-24 regulator. works fine and 
puts out about 100A into half-discharged 700AH golf cart bank. So you 
aught to be able to get the full 180A if you can get the alternator 
spinning fast enuf.

So definitely doable, but you need to be handy with drill press and hacksaw.

Regards,

Peter McCorison
Motorboat :-) COHO; 50' Marco custom trawler 1955

Jeff Barfett wrote:
> Now - anyone have experience installing a 100 amp alternator on a 5KW Westerbeke that wants to share how hard that was?
> 
> Jeff