Westerbeke generator alternator hook up

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T

Timetraveler

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2015
Messages
48
Location
U.S.
Vessel Name
Shema
Vessel Make
78 heritage West Indian 36 trawler
I have a 1980 Westerbeke 4.4 diesel generator. I noticed the alternator shaking and I did not know it even had a alternator. Anyways I took it off and had it tested, not charging. When I took it off it fell over and there was a wire hooked up to the back of it. Not sure where this wire hooks to. I bought a alternator for autozone and hooked it up and it got very hot and did not charge.
Looking for some help.
 
You may be able to find a wiring diagram online. It's hard to tell from your description how "a wire hooked up to the back of it" is supposed to be connected. There would typically be more than one wire, but if there was just one, it may not have been hooked up correctly in the first place. Need more info to be helpful.
 
A picture of the alternator and wire would be helpful.
 
Gen

I’m sorry there is two wires. One goes to the starter and the other is the one I am having a problem with. Think I may have found a alternator just now on line.
 
Frankly I would just dump the genset's alternator. As Ski told us here a while back, many gensets have poorly regulated alternators and in many cases they do more harm than good.


My NextGen did not have a built in alternator but the shore power charger was hooked up to the genset start battery and charged it just fine when the genset was running. For some gensets like the NextGen you need DC power to run the fuel pump or DC cooling fan but that only takes a few amps.


David
 
On many (not all) gensets, the output from those small alternators goes first to a rectifier (looks not much more than a metal block the size of x2 matchboxes, with heatsink fluting). See if you can find that mounted on the genset frame or nearby (not on the engine itself); it may have the other end of the broken wire attached.
 
Thanks for the help so far

Trying to get a pic uploaded
 
Pick pic

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=87822&stc=1&d=1556077049
 

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