Adrianp 119 Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 On our sailing cat we've upgraded one of our alternators on our Yanmar 3YM30 to a grunty Balmar 175a XT alternator, Balmar external regulator and Serpentine belt kit. This system works well and charges the Lithium house battery. The other engine still has the standard 60a Hitachi alternator with a single V-Belt and only charges the start batteries for both engines and works fine for this, but now I have different belts and regulation on each of the engine, so having a spare alternator is a bit of a pain. I'd like to upgrade the standard alternator to something with a external regulator so I can carry a single spare alternator that can quickly be fitted onto either engine but I understand the standard Hitachi is N Field and the Balmar regulators are only for P field alternators. Does anyone know of any off the shelf alternators setup for external regulator with the Saddle Mount, or any good alternator shops in the Northern half of Auckland that could sort me out? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
waikiore 398 Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Sopac has a pulley kit to convert early 3YM30's to serpentine belt or Balmar type alternators Quote Link to post Share on other sites
marinheiro 352 Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 Saddle (J) mounts a relatively rare for automotive small frame alternators, more likely found on a basic large frame alternator you could look at some thing like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/LEECE-NEVILLE-OEM-GENUINE-160-AMPS-ALTERNATOR-8LHA2159VB-J-MOUNT/163322489311?hash=item2606c769df:g:T28AAOSw2gNbyOUY Prestolite are the OEM supplier for Balmar, pricing is much more reasonable, I guess the difference is not being painted. Your Hitachi alternator has virtually no work to do, so it will have a long life. The Balmar feeding the Lithium batteries on the other hand will be slogging away and hence is more vulnerable to failure. So my thought would be, if you want to carry a spare alternator, just carry a substitute for the Balmar (and that could be a LN) and not worry about the Hitachi (and what happened to the original Hitachi that the Balmar substituted?). In the unlikely event of the Hitachi failing you could just run some temporary cabling to the starter batteries. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon 360 Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 Adrian, I thought the idea of a cat was that they redundancies built in ie two boats strapped together 🤣🤪😜 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jason128 6 Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 So... you have two functioning alternators on your boat, and want a third as a spare? surely you can setup to charge both sides from one as a backup. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 I’ve had multiple issues with 2nd alternators (inc Balmar) mounted on Yanmars primarily due to misalignment - which leads to all sorts of problems. If you’re getting a 2nd one mounted make sure it is confirmed 100% aligned and don’t muck about with v-belts (even good quality doubles) just go straight for a serpentine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sail Rock 28 Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 On 19/01/2021 at 12:43 PM, Adrianp said: or any good alternator shops in the Northern half of Auckland that could sort me out? GT Auto Electrix in Glenfield converted my N-type Hitachi alternator to run as a P-type with external charge controller. They were very knowledgeable and helpful. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,230 Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Any auto electrical place should be able to do that for you. It's pretty simple.... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adrianp 119 Posted January 25, 2021 Author Share Posted January 25, 2021 On 20/01/2021 at 1:08 PM, marinheiro said: Saddle (J) mounts a relatively rare for automotive small frame alternators, more likely found on a basic large frame alternator you could look at some thing like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/LEECE-NEVILLE-OEM-GENUINE-160-AMPS-ALTERNATOR-8LHA2159VB-J-MOUNT/163322489311?hash=item2606c769df:g:T28AAOSw2gNbyOUY Prestolite are the OEM supplier for Balmar, pricing is much more reasonable, I guess the difference is not being painted. Your Hitachi alternator has virtually no work to do, so it will have a long life. The Balmar feeding the Lithium batteries on the other hand will be slogging away and hence is more vulnerable to failure. So my thought would be, if you want to carry a spare alternator, just carry a substitute for the Balmar (and that could be a LN) and not worry about the Hitachi (and what happened to the original Hitachi that the Balmar substituted?). In the unlikely event of the Hitachi failing you could just run some temporary cabling to the starter batteries. Thanks, That's some really good advice that has got me rethinking what I'm actually trying to do. I don't really need the charging capacity of the stock Hitachi, and I have 3 of them (1 on the engine, one off the other engine and one spare), but the charging capacity of the Balmar is more essential if the sun doesn't shine. We killed a set of AGMs in Tonga when is rained for almost 5 weeks straight, so no solar, and our generator died (RIP you POS!). I'll start my research on those Leece Neville alternators as we have plenty of room around the engine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adrianp 119 Posted January 25, 2021 Author Share Posted January 25, 2021 On 20/01/2021 at 3:31 PM, Jon said: Adrian, I thought the idea of a cat was that they redundancies built in ie two boats strapped together 🤣🤪😜 On 20/01/2021 at 7:50 PM, Jason128 said: So... you have two functioning alternators on your boat, and want a third as a spare? surely you can setup to charge both sides from one as a backup. Us multihull owners love our redundancy for our redundancy! As the alternator belt drives the internal waterpump, we do need to have some kind of spare onboard in case one throws a bearing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adrianp 119 Posted January 25, 2021 Author Share Posted January 25, 2021 On 22/01/2021 at 1:07 PM, Sail Rock said: GT Auto Electrix in Glenfield converted my N-type Hitachi alternator to run as a P-type with external charge controller. They were very knowledgeable and helpful. I've been to see them and they are giving me good advice. Thanks for the recommendation. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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