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Old 02-25-2012, 08:46 AM   #2
JD
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City: New Bern NC
Vessel Name: Stella Di Mare
Vessel Model: Mainship 34t
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,702
RE: Understanding my genset alternator

What you have is common I believe.* The idea being that the Gen-Set battery always gets a full charge no matter what happens to the house and or start.

I think the problem is that the Gen Set engine will not be able to drive your Generator plant and a 200 Amp Alternator.* It takes a lot of HP to drive a 200 Amp Alt.* Not to mention the*double belts and pulleys that will be needed.

Change the fridge to something that is more economical on battery usage (the most expensive, maybe), add batteries to house bank to increase the size (which will be the least expensive)*or add a 200 Amp Alternator to your main*engine with external*Three Stage*regulation.* But keep in mind wet batteries can only accept half of their rating as a charge rate per hour, so they recharge slower than Gels that take up to 70% or so and AGM's that will take*a 100% charge rate.* So what this means is a 400 Amp wet battery*system at*half charge, down to 200 Amps, will be able to take only a max of*100 Amps no matter how big the alternator is so it will take two hours + to recharge them but an AGM battery system*of the same size would be able to take 200 Amps per hour and be charged*about an hour + or so if the alternator was a 200 Amp alternator.

To change your batteries to AGM is probably the most expensive but then again if taken care of they will last seven or more years and they have minimal maintenance requirements.* But to take full advantage of them you will need to do the alternator at the same time or change the house charger to a larger size to do the job in a shorter time.

Nothing that money can't fix.
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