Postby Hasbeen » 09 May 2009 10:15
I used to have a similar problem with the alternators on a fleet of
rental yachts, I ran in the Whitsunday Islands.
These had Volvo sail drive 8 & 12 horse power diesels in them.
Even when only a few months old, the connector supplying the exciter
field would get enough corrosion to reduce, but not stop the current.
The alternator would put out about 3 amps, & the light would glow a
little, but not enough to see in a bright sunny yacht cockpit. It
was visable at night, but the charterers were not allowed to move
the boats at night, & I did not do maintenance at night if avoidable.
It took a while to work out why the yacht's batteries were going
flat so quickly.
Once we included cleaning the alternator connections after every
charter, [ususlly charters were 7 days], in the service schedule, we
had no further problems, at least with battery charging.
Hasbeen
