alfy
New Member
I HAVE A VOLVO PENTA MD5B ENGINE WITH A MARCHAL ALTERNATOR TO WHICH I AM CONNECTING A TACHO. I CANT FIND THE AC LEAD FROM THE ALTERNATOR TO CONNECT THE SEND LEAD TO THE TACHO.
MARCHAL SEV 14/35 ALTERNATOR
- Thread starter alfy
- Start date
Talbot
Well-Known Member
not a nice way to welcome a newbie.
cliff
Well-Known Member
I thought it was actually rather polite, considering some of the alternatives. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
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FrankJB
Member
Welcome to the list (from a relative "newbie"!)
Some alternators don't have a "W" terminal for connection to a tacho. I have some instruction for installing a VDO instrument which advises "If there is no "W" terminal, ask an appropriate repair shop to make provision for connection". They also provide a diagram showing where the connection needs to be made in the bridge rectifier arrangement. If this might be of use to you I'll try and get it scanned tomorrow and PM it to you.
Frank
Some alternators don't have a "W" terminal for connection to a tacho. I have some instruction for installing a VDO instrument which advises "If there is no "W" terminal, ask an appropriate repair shop to make provision for connection". They also provide a diagram showing where the connection needs to be made in the bridge rectifier arrangement. If this might be of use to you I'll try and get it scanned tomorrow and PM it to you.
Frank
rutten
Member
I have a SEV Marchal A14/35 alternator on a Peugeot Indenor DTP 40 engine. The tachometre has its own sender on the engine. You might find a scheme for connection to the alternator on www/boten.ath.cx but their site is down, so send me a personal mail and I'll send you the alternator files
regards
regards
VicS
Well-Known Member
The tacho on our VP MD11C is fed from a sender near the back of the engine. Quite a big affair It has an SEV/Marchal alternator but I cannot say for sure if it is a 14/35. What ever it is it does not have the facility to connect a tacho.
alfy
New Member
Thanks, I appreciate your input.
superheat6k
Well-Known Member
These SEV Marchal are brushless with self exciting rotor fields, and was once described to me as best used as a sea anchor. 35a output is pretty pathetic. This is why there is no tacho terminal because the tacho needs to pick up from the field diodes, which simply do not exist on these primitive alternators.
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
Mr. Sterling says that in his instructions for fitting one of his smart regulators, but he is rather prone to expressing random prejudices.
That alternator is obviously not best suited to typical modern electrical demands, but the one on my boat seems to have adequately fulfilled its original function for 40 years.
It certainly makes a better alternator than it does a sea anchor!
VicS
Well-Known Member
I Dont know why you have resurrected a 14 year old thread to make a comment like that.
Such insults are against forum rules and, anyway, Cliff has not used these forums for several years.
He was known for his abrupt nature but he was, in his time, one of the forum's expert metallurgists and therefore a valuable member.
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
superheat6k
Well-Known Member
Not sure how that happened - I was simply scrolling through the fresh threads yesterday - I didn't realise I was responding to a 14 year old thread. I did have good reason to support the sea anchor view following direct experience of just how awful a device this thing was.
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
Pray, do tell!
superheat6k
Well-Known Member
I had a Marcon Sabre 27 that we sailed over to Cherbourg where we became weather bound for nearly a week. Eventually the NE 8 - 9 that arrived a few hours after we did declined to ~ F 5 but it rigidly stuck in the north east so we decided we would be OK with a couple of reefs and not too much Genoa. Once in the open water we were struggling to maintain a decent northerly course so put the Bukh engine on as this allowed us to hold a far better heading so we could at least make a landfall west of the Isle of Wight rather than way down the coast towards Weymouth.
Our home port was Gosport so my preference was the east of the Island, but the sea state had us almost heading back to France on the port tack.
We were shipping quite a lot of ogin over the boat and some was finding its way down below, some possibly some through the deck seal. Anyway I noticed the water level was rising a bit, shortly after which I noticed we had no electrical power despite the engine still running. We were very lucky it had started a couple of hours previously and even luckier it did not stop until we got back into harbour.
The manual bilge pump easily coped, but we still had a further 8 hours of a rather unpleasant sail until we arrived at the needles channel, then up into Yarmouth. I managed to get charge back into the battery overnight with a shore powered charger so we could at least re-start for our journey back to the mooring. Not an iota of anything out of the useless 35a alternator.
I replaced it with a decent 55a and wired a new charge circuit to suit it. The Bukh engine also coped well with the heavier duty alternator.
Our home port was Gosport so my preference was the east of the Island, but the sea state had us almost heading back to France on the port tack.
We were shipping quite a lot of ogin over the boat and some was finding its way down below, some possibly some through the deck seal. Anyway I noticed the water level was rising a bit, shortly after which I noticed we had no electrical power despite the engine still running. We were very lucky it had started a couple of hours previously and even luckier it did not stop until we got back into harbour.
The manual bilge pump easily coped, but we still had a further 8 hours of a rather unpleasant sail until we arrived at the needles channel, then up into Yarmouth. I managed to get charge back into the battery overnight with a shore powered charger so we could at least re-start for our journey back to the mooring. Not an iota of anything out of the useless 35a alternator.
I replaced it with a decent 55a and wired a new charge circuit to suit it. The Bukh engine also coped well with the heavier duty alternator.
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
So your alternator failed (possibly after getting wet?). Such things happen.
But I was hoping we'd hear in what way 'just how awful a device this thing was'.
But I was hoping we'd hear in what way 'just how awful a device this thing was'.
VicS
Well-Known Member
Me too.
They were fitted to various VP engines back in the 1970s
Small Renault and Citroen cars as well I believe
They were not self exciting any more than most other alternators but they had a brushless design with a fixed field coil.
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
They were also fitted to some premium/sporty car(s), can't remember details (Volvo Coupe? Porsche? perhaps).
