Alternator Questions . .

[csuggs]

I need to replace my alternator because I think the bearing is going out of it - it sounds like a box of rocks when you spin the shaft. Anyway, the OEM unit is 51 amp. Is there a reason to upgrade to a higher output? Has anyone done this? I currently have a starting battery and a deep-cycle battery on board, and my stereo does not have any large amplifiers or woofers.

Recommendations please.

[jasonba1]

Hey Clint I went to a 90 amp go through db electrical or rare electrical. db is made here in tn they are about 70 dollars and come with a 1 yr warranty and are marine style alt. I have changed mine out on every boat I have owned

[jasonba1]

If you have any problems let me know I will be in that area next week and if I need to run by there let me know

[csuggs]

THanks Jason - I'll check them out.

[wotan2525]

db electrical is awesome. I've got a 160amp alt of theirs but it sounds like that is overkill for what you need....

[csuggs]

Just called db and they guy was not a lot of help. Any idea which alternator you guys bought??

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Yeah I have a few posts about it. DB is good stuff. the new alt will charge everything faster. Most of us got the 105amp 1 wire marine alt.

I think it's this one but I would double check with a search of this forum "delco" should get you there I think for search term.
http://www.dbelectrical.com/p-3609-new-105-amp-delco-marine-alternator-mercruiser-1-wire-adr0334.aspx

Funny, Ron was SUPER helpful when I called... good luck

[csuggs]

Funny, Ron was SUPER helpful when I called...

Thanks Mikey. I don't know who I talked to when I called but I probably didn't explain myself real clear . .

[csuggs]

Just checked a previous thread and that does look like the right one that several of you guys used - Thanks again!!

One question though - doesn't the tach get its signal from the alternator? How would I make this work with a single wire unit?

[csuggs]

Just called db electric back and got Ron - NOT the same guy I talked to earlier. Anyway, he said to be sure I ordered a single wire unit with a tach wire. Thanks again guys!

[oldman]

Just checked a previous thread and that does look like the right one that several of you guys used - Thanks again!!

One question though - doesn't the tach get its signal from the alternator? How would I make this work with a single wire unit?

I thought the tach wire ran to the coil ?

[csuggs]

I thought the tach wire ran to the coil ?

That makes more sense doesn't it. I'll have to check my wiring notes. But I wonder why Ron at db told em to ask for a tach wire - or was I confused???

[oldman]

That makes more sense doesn't it. I'll have to check my wiring notes. But I wonder why Ron at db told em to ask for a tach wire - or was I confused???

I think it goes to the neg. side of coil.

[87SunSportMikeyD]

I have ideas but I dont feel qualified enough to comment really. I know the OEM ones had external voltage regulators and I thought thats what the other two wires were for. I thought the 3rd (now the only) wire was the tach wire that hooked to the back of the coil. If you dont do that, you won't get any RPM readout on the dash.

[csuggs]

Mikey I think that's how mine is. The alternator I have right now has an external regular and there are three wires that go to it. A heavy charging wire, a ground and what I think is a signal wire for my tach. I haven't taken the time yet to chase down the wire under my dash to see for sure.

[jet]

Look up a local alternator (key word,rebuild) shop in your area. You can take your unit there and they can rebuild it for $30-$60 bucks..or you can buy another cheap. Jet

[csuggs]

Thanks guys! I uncovered the boat and checked the wiring under the dash and confirmed that the tach gets the signal from the neg side of coil like you guys said. And then it dawned on me . . . the extra wire I have coming out of my old alternator is the wire that was originally used for the factory ammeter that we swapped for a voltmeter last winter. No worries!
I'm going to order the db electrical alternator that everyone here suggested.
Thanks again!

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Always happy to help!

[vvfdfirefighter]

Yeah I have a few posts about it. DB is good stuff. the new alt will charge everything faster. Most of us got the 105amp 1 wire marine alt.

I think it's this one but I would double check with a search of this forum "delco" should get you there I think for search term.
http://www.dbelectrical.com/p-3609-new-105-amp-delco-marine-alternator-mercruiser-1-wire-adr0334.aspx

Funny, Ron was SUPER helpful when I called... good luck

Anyone had an issue with the low voltage alarm constantly going off when they switched to the new 1 wire alt? I have a Volt Meter with a low/high voltage light/alarm on my 87 Marauder.

[vvfdfirefighter]

Mikey I think that's how mine is. The alternator I have right now has an external regular and there are three wires that go to it. A heavy charging wire, a ground and what I think is a signal wire for my tach. I haven't taken the time yet to chase down the wire under my dash to see for sure.

that black wire coming from the back of the Alternator isn't a ground wire. Its a ignition switch wire and the other wire is a sense wire for the low voltage alarm. If I recall correctly.

[csuggs]

that black wire coming from the back of the Alternator isn't a ground wire. Its a ignition switch wire and the other wire is a sense wire for the low voltage alarm. If I recall correctly.

No low voltage alarm or any alarms on my boat for that matter. It shows them on the wiring diagram I have, but there is no such gizmo in my boat . . .

[jet]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My alarm is always going off anytime Im below like 800-1000 rpms..so I stuck a piece of paper in the lil hole on the alarm. Now I can only here it off in the distance. But do we really need this alarm?? Or any fixes out there? Jet

[csuggs]

Do you suppose a previous owner yanked the alarms out of mine? If so, that's fine with me - we've all got gauges so who needs alarms . . .
Do all of you have alarms wired-in your dash?

[wotan2525]

Yes. All of us had alarms. Until they malfunctioned and we ripped them out. ;)

[87SunSportMikeyD]

I got mine to work somehow. Sorry can't remember now and it's in storage...

[vvfdfirefighter]

That red/purple wire on the 3 wire alternator goes to the sensor wire for the alarm system. I'm looking into another way to hook it up since the new 1 wire alternator is being shipped already. Hopefully I can come up with a quick fix, maybe just running a non resisted true 12 volt source wire from the battery to the alarm box will do the trick. My alarm system hasn't malfunctioned yet and I love the fact of having it since I'm not the only one who drives the boat. If anyone figured a way to remedy this please let us all know! I love these supra forums! So much info!

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Here is a post I made once before on this topic:

https://forum.supraboats.com/showthread.php?p=17032&highlight=3-wire#post17032


Woton - Thanks for the reassurance. Just making sure.

Here's a good thread from WW http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/m...21/544973.html

Excerpt by Ron of DB Elec (EDITED BY ME) - "Your alternator has an external regulator. If you have a charge light on the dash, you need a 3 wire set up to turn the light out on the dash. If you have a voltage gauge then you can use the 1 wire set up 10 si."

Also from Ron, good info: "The reason the 10 si is used in the place of the OE alternator is because you CANNOT go up in amperage with the OE housings because of size limitations and you can with a 10 SI because there is more room to add winding to the stator and still be able to mount in the OE location. Yes, the 10 si is old technology, but the 10SI AC SE is NOT. The 10 si ac se picks up from the ac side of the diode plate for instance energizeing."

Gee that kinda sounds like ummmm ....

[thegorilla]

Hi csuggs,
How did it go swapping out your alternator and what did you go with? In my opinion, you absolutely cannot go wrong with a 1-wire, unless you really like your alarm. :)

I just did it today on my 1999 Santera V-drive. I replaced the factory 3-wire 51 amp alt with a 105 amp 1-wire universal ADR0334 (https://www.dbelectrical.com/p-3609-new-105-amp-delco-marine-alternator-mercruiser-1-wire-adr0334.aspx) from DB.

My boat never had an alarm, just a voltmeter. One thing to be aware of with a 1-wire is that there will be a delay of maybe 2-3 seconds before it self-excites and starts charging. If you have a volt gauge, it will go to nothing for a couple seconds after starting the engine, then back up to 14-15v.

-orn

[csuggs]

Hi csuggs,
How did it go swapping out your alternator and what did you go with? In my opinion, you absolutely cannot go wrong with a 1-wire, unless you really like your alarm. :)

I just did it today on my 1999 Santera V-drive. I replaced the factory 3-wire 51 amp alt with a 105 amp 1-wire universal ADR0334 (https://www.dbelectrical.com/p-3609-new-105-amp-delco-marine-alternator-mercruiser-1-wire-adr0334.aspx) from DB.

My boat never had an alarm, just a voltmeter. One thing to be aware of with a 1-wire is that there will be a delay of maybe 2-3 seconds before it self-excites and starts charging. If you have a volt gauge, it will go to nothing for a couple seconds after starting the engine, then back up to 14-15v.

-orn


The swap went fine. I also bought mine from DB.

[chrisk]

I also have a couple of questions about this, glad to see this thread pop back up.

So I just bought a new head unit and it draw significantly more power than my old one did. I didn't expect this and, needless to say, ended up with a dead battery one day on the water, luckily I was just floating in front of my house drinking a cold one!

Anyways, ever since I've owned the boat my voltmeter has never read more than a hair past zero, I've honestly never seen it move more than a centimeter from the center line. Does this mean that my alternator is basically doing the bare minimum? Other than that time I've never had any real problem with my battery dying.

I'm not sure what alternator is on it right now, but if we assume it's the old 51 amp and I switch to these new ones being talked about here, will I see an increase on the voltmeter?

My original thought when I started having charging problems with the new head unit was that I should just get a second battery, but I'm guessing that logic is wrong and I should go for an alternator instead?

[csuggs]

chrisk - it sounds like you still have the original ammeter. I'm not sure if you connect your new alternator to that if it will work properly. I would get a voltmeter to replace the ammeter at the same time you replace the alternator.

[chrisk]

Okay so if I have the ammeter, is that normal for it to be reading no more than a millimeter past zero?

[csuggs]

If your battery has a good charge, and if you don't have a lot of accessories running at the time, then it's normal for the ammeter to indicate 0 or slightly higher. When you use 12V power to run anything, the ammeter will drop below zero. All it really tells you is that your system is either charging or discharging.

[BigCity444]

I just recieved my new single post 105 amp alternator from DB. Great but I have a green EXC, which I believe is the excite wire. This turns on the entire system. Without it attached I can not turn the engine over but when attached to the main charge line, orange on my model year; the boat can turn over and reads 14V on the dash. Problem is that all my dash lights get turned on.

What did you all do with the green wire?