Lollipop originally had 35 amp alternators for the Yanmar diesel engines. Somewhere along the way, the alternators were upgraded to 80 amp, which requires larger battery cables, but only the positive battery cable was upgraded. During her life, the battery bank was also upgraded and enlarged. During her delivery trip to Guntersville, AL, I ran the onboard generator to keep the battery bank topped off. Once in Guntersville, a plan was made to upgrade the DC electrical system.
After the bottom job in Mobile, I turned my attention to the alternators and wiring. Without getting too technical, I opted to install two new 120 amp alternators with external voltage regulators and a ‘Center-fielder’ to make the new alternators work together. This upgrade required all new positive and negative battery cables wired directly to the battery bank. One thing leads to another.
The engines were factory equipped with a single V belt to drive the original alternators and when the first upgrade was done the owner did not upgrade the V belt drive causing a fair amount of belt slippage as the 80 amp alternators put a much bigger load on the belt. Now with my upgrade to 120 amps, there was no way for the original belt to carry the load. Enter Balmar’s serpentine belt upgrade for Yanmar engines, pricey but required for the new loads.
With the help of my son, we were able to complete the project on a couple of weekends. Everything went as planned and seems to be working perfectly. We really won’t have a great test till after we have been at anchor for a night without using the generator. But, I fully expect it to recharge the battery bank in a couple of hours.
Lollipop is getting better.
