New or rebuilt alternators?

[Puffin_NT32]

With alternators, I've taken the rebuild and upgrade route. When my stock Delco 105 amp alternator failed (8 years of service), I had it rebuilt. Rebuilder replaced regulator, diode trio, a broken wire, and battery post. Big change was to install a 160 amp stator. Cost $160. This Delco frame can take up to a 200 amp stator. I've had it rebuilt 2 additional times with parts costing less than $100. Most of the failures are due to salt air and moisture exposure over the Winter storage. Part of my winterization routine now is to remove alternator and bring it home. Bench tests on this old alternator records a strong 160 amp output making for quick battery recharges.

 

[Tator]

" fried the Balmar one summer of extended bridge photography with extended hours at idle speeds. On my boat, I get just about full output at 11-1200 engine RPM so I'd run it there to recharge after a night's anchorage. A faulty alt temp sensor installation and a lack of adequate cooling caused a catastrophic failure that resulted in a smoke-filled ER underway. I had the alt rebuilt with Balmar parts locally, corrected the temp sense location and added a 12V blower with a 3 inch duct to ensure adequate cooling in the future. Rod Collins/CMS helped be diagnose and solve all the issues."

I run Zena 150amp alts on my two Lehmans w/stock Motorolas providing tach and start battery duties. The Zenas have over 3k hours on them running on a single 5/8 Green Stripe belt. They normally run at 120amps at my cruising rpm. They feed a 1100ah house bank. I burned out the Zenas when I first installed them after running them for hours while trolling (with a low battery bank), I then installed field disconnect switches at the helm. I now only run them when the engines are in the 1100-1500rpm range-at least when the bank is demanding full output. Not a hiccup in the thousands of hours since making that modification and still on the original belts.

Tator