Alternators-sensing

[Transcur]

I have a Ford 1.6 Diesel with its standatd alternator fitted. I am finding that it doesent charge tha main 110 AH Lead/calcium batteries fully. They need about 14.7 volts. The alternator is giving out max voltage of 14.2 volts. I guess I need a battery sensed regulator rather than the present machine sensed one. It must be quite simple to change the internal wiring to do this. Does any one know how? Or possibly of a car alternator that can be changed. Can't afford Adverc , Xalt etc systems. My splitting diode will then work better. At present it is useless and I dont use it.

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[Strathglass]

I am yhinking about a cost effective solution. I would probably suit you.

By adding a diode in series with the sensing input on the regulator then the charging voltage will be increased by aprox 0.7 volts. This will overcome the drop in the splitting diode, Then with another diode it is possible to add another 0.7 volts to the charging voltage.

I have not yet sat down and worked this out but it should be quite straightforward.

It is for a ford 1800 XLD engine.

It would involve soldering one or more diodes to the regulator but would retain the machine sensed regulator circuitry in the craft.

Perhaps someone could point me to a drawing of the internals of a regulator and I could draw out the details. The diodes required will be quite small.

Iain

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[Transcur]

What you have said Ian does make sense.(sorry about the pun). I need to find out for sure what make the alternatotor is. It must be a Bosch or Lucas unit I think. Thanks for the thought. The engine is Ex Escort 1.6XLD.



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[sailorman]

14.2 volts is the correct rate of output any higher & you will get "gassing"

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[Strathglass]

Pete

I'll try and explain. Please excuse me using in basic terms.

The output of a machine sensed regulator sets the output voltage by sensing on the output terminals at the rear of the generator using the internal regulator. This sends a control current to the field windings to control the output.

By controlling the voltage the regulator sees it is possible to control the alternator output voltage.

There are several ways to do this.

One is to use an external high tech regulator. This is relatively expensive.

Another way is to alter the alternator and change it to remote sensing. This also involves changing some of the boat wiring. But you can decide where the alternator senses the voltage and increase the voltage to your batteries.

A third way is what I sugested (not the optimum way but the simplest to implement)
By opening up the alternator and adding one or more diodes it is possible to reduce the voltage the regulator sees and thus increase the output voltage at the back of the regulator.
This does not involve any wiring changes which makes it much simpler. and the diodes required are not very expensive.

I hope this explains it better

Cheers

Iain



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[charles_reed]

Lead-calcium batteries

Don't gas - and they need a far higher input voltage than 14.2.

As it so happens a number of proprietary regulators charge at 14.4-14.6v.

With them, because of the prevention of plate sulphation you get 2-3 times the life from your batteries than you do with your in-alternator regulators.

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[andyball]

Have seen this solution mentioned here before & elsewhere on the net.....should work fine & different diode types can provide a little fine-tuning of the voltage.

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