twin alternator help?

[fearlessflasher]

i have a mk3 190, but find with all the electrics on it now that it kills batterys even twin batteries, so my plan was to fit twin alternators, i know that two 75A alternators doesnt equal 150A however, but it will be more than 75a with a little luck, what i want t find out is if anyone hase done this already, or if theres a kit out there to do this if not it will have to be made, but any help makes it easier.

cheers paul.

[Timbo]

If you don't have power steering you could use the pulley on the crank and the pump mounting holes to put a second alternator on the left side of the engine (asuming a diesel).

I think the alternators would fight each other if connected together so I would seperate the batteries and feed one from each alt. Then you can power your extra loads from the new alternator/battery. You would still have the option of connecting a jump-led across both positives if the original battery went flat.

Don't foget you will need to wire in another "ign warning light" for the new set-up to charge.

[bortaf]

What the hell are you running on it ?
i've had campers with all sorts on em and not needed a twin alt setup, later ambulances had em but they run way more eletrics than any camper i've ever seen
Mind you it's cheaper than an extra large alt the 150amp ones on a sprinter cost the same in pounds £150 a second Di alt will be £20 odd from a breakers

[fearlessflasher]

its for a rebuilt speclift, its got a 10 tonne winch, the spec lift, more beacons than you can shake a stick at.

the winch draws a ridiculus* amperage, the spec isnt so bad, but the combination kills batterys.

what is the heavy-ist alternator i can get for the non-turbo engine?

[shortcut]

Hi, I would save your effort and fit a proper split charge diode with the extra battery being a deep drain one, something like an optima.

Without wanting to sound like a nerd, to really make a split charge work at its optimum next add a system made by ADVERC.
This clever bit of kit controls your alternator to overcome the voltage drop over the split charge diode and also steps up the charge, pulses it etc etc to really charge your batteries.

The other massive advantage is that with the adverc system installed you can add any number of batteries to the second one in parallel and all will be controlled.

You can pick up split charge diodes for about £70 and I have seen cheap adverc kits on evilbay for peanuts to.

neil

[Aardvark]

Sorry I'm about a week late in seeing this thread..........
I would certainly recommend an Adverc charge controller. My background in marine electrics, etc. The Adverc (or other clever charge controller) will monitor the state of charge of the battery much more efficiently than the simple diode setup in the alternator. It lets the alternator run flat out until the battery (or batteries) are fully charged before reducing the output from the alternator. This means that the engine needs to be run less for a full recharge. I would also suggest that whenever you are using your winch or other thirsty goodies that you run the engine at the same time. That way the output from the alternator is helping the battery to cope. Many times in the past we have had customers come in asking for a higher output alternator when one of these charge controllers was all they needed. These units are quite common on vehicles that routinely start/stop very frequently and have wheelchair lifts, etc. as well as with boat engines where there are lots of domestic lighting, pumps, and navigation kit.

[fearlessflasher]

where do i find these adverc thingies??

[shortcut]

Hi me again,

Would just like to say that I don't have shares in this company ! .

I only came accross the system due to it being fitted in my van when it was converted professionly for mobility purposes, I ripped out bags and bags of extra wiring and was left with this litle black box that had a few wires going to it and a few un accounted wires under the bonnet and was about to rip it clean out of the van untill i looked at the installation and could see it was one of the few proffessionaly fitted things so left it alone and did some research first.

The company is a pleasure to deal with and are so helpfull its bizare in this day and age, I had a problem with overcharging and got in touch with them as i knew very little about the unit, they gave me loads of time and help even though i wasn't the original customer sending wiring diagrams and test procedures etc etc free.

As for buying a unit i'm sure they are around the £100 mark with a loom to run into the vehicle, and the regulator needs a slight mod. two options with the regulator, buy a modified lucas one from them at £25 ish or they will tell you how to modify your original one, or a new one you can buy for around £15 at an auto electrical place. I did a search on evilbay the other night and there were two units for sale, one starting around £70 and the other was a plain auction starting cheap with only a short time left to run.

As a parting shot, i'm sure this unit stopped me from melting my van as the regulator was allowing the voltage to run wild, about 22 volts under acceleration but the adverc unit was holding the voltage down to reasonable level which was lucky and saved lots of nasty elecrical problems.

[captain hook]

its for a rebuilt speclift, its got a 10 tonne winch, the spec lift, more beacons than you can shake a stick at.

the winch draws a ridiculus* amperage, the spec isnt so bad, but the combination kills batterys.

what is the heavy-ist alternator i can get for the non-turbo engine?

I've run 2 speclifts for over 15 years and never needed anything but 2 good batteries.

And believe me on Police Motorway Contracts you NEED lights

[Aardvark]

As captain hook suggests, there may be some other problem with your system that is causing your problems. I would still suggest contacting the mob at Adverc
http://www.adverc.co.uk/products
and have a word with them. They won't try to sell you something you don't need. And they may even point you toward a low-cost solution.

[jay]

I've run 2 speclifts for over 15 years and never needed anything but 2 good batteries.

And believe me on Police Motorway Contracts you NEED lights [/quote]
I did the same sort of thing but for green flag..never needed any more than 2 batteries never killed any..so do wonder if you alternator is over charging or you have a wireing problem
and that was with power in and out spec lift...even the ldv spec only had 1 battery and was never a problem unless you happened to switch off the engine and sit there for half and hour and lifted a car with all the lights on..