Retrofit serpentine belt kit for high capacity alternator

[pvb]

I think you are both talking about different belts.
The htd is a v belt with notches/teeth in and not a cam belt as fitted to some engines, cam belts dont drive alternators.

No, an HTD belt is a flat belt with teeth.

 

[sailorman]

I was not referring to the cam belt, almost universally fitted to OHC engines nowadays, but the serpentine belt which drives the ancillaries, on my last 12 cars this has had a spring-tensioner bearing on the rear face of the belt.
No doubt if you lift the bonnet of your car you'll see the same thing.

So its the polyvee belt then

 

[charles_reed]

So its the polyvee belt then

It's all in the difference between American (serpentine) and English (Poly-V) belts. Others are hoods/bonnets, trunk/boot. Lots of room for misunderstanding especially in the offer "to knock you up" to an American lass.

In fact we're in danger of so grossly oversimplifying the whole gamut of belt drives that it's likely to spin out of control.

Look here for an outline of the subject http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_(mechanical)
and that's 11 pages

 

[sailorman]

It's all in the difference between American (serpentine) and English (Poly-V) belts. Others are hoods/bonnets, trunk/boot. Lots of room for misunderstanding especially in the offer "to knock you up" to an American lass.

Wot rather like Having a Fag

 

[[2574]]

Could OP give some detail on his system and usage. e.g. battery capacity and type, solar/wind, type of cruising, time at anchor?

In answer of the above:

Battery capacity - 510AH
Battery type - Lifeline AGM's
Solar - 200w regulated via MPPT controller
No wind gen

We generally cruise away from shorepower so need to be self sufficient. We have a Honda 1kw generator for use when there is little solar output. Don't like to run the engine just for battery charging purposes. We have worked hard to reduce power consumption - LED throughout and new (much more efficient) fridge compressor.

 

[macd]

For the sake of completeness (not least because of sailorman's 'contribution'): toothed belts (into which general group I'd put HTD belts) have the facility to be timed but that doesn't mean they have to be. Their value in alternator/water pump applications is that if correctly installed and adjusted they absolutely will not slip. HTD belts are sometimes used for alternator drives on race cars, where very abrupt changes of revs put huge additional loads which even polyvee/serpentine belts struggle to handle. They are a bit over the top for a typical boat alternator system but, as I posted earlier, they're somewhat easier to install from scratch than a polyvee.

 

[Mistroma]

In answer of the above:

Battery capacity - 510AH
Battery type - Lifeline AGM's
Solar - 200w regulated via MPPT controller
No wind gen

We generally cruise away from shorepower so need to be self sufficient. We have a Honda 1kw generator for use when there is little solar output. Don't like to run the engine just for battery charging purposes. We have worked hard to reduce power consumption - LED throughout and new (much more efficient) fridge compressor.

Many thanks for taking the time to post this information. I had a suspicion you'd have AGMs but wondered about solar. I also don't like to run the engine for charging and managed to limit that to 2 short runs this year (they were primarily for hot water with charging a bonus).

Everyone should really examine their usage pattern before deciding on a specific solution. Some things are pretty obvious in a wide range of situations (e.g. solar) and others only make sense in more limited circumstances.

Actually glad I did the calculations in advance and decided against AGMs with a much larger alternator and need to change pulleys. But others may well decide that the AGM route suits them better. My current lifestyle and power system maintained the 450Ah T105s batteries above 70% at least 94% of the time.

This was backed up by data collected this year over 139 days (76% at anchor). I excluded time in yard and on pontoon at beginning and end of season. The table below shows % time that battery min. charge state was in the range shown. Smartgauge readings used with check that figures agreed with Amps. in/out.

Battery level_____ Time
100%____________26%
90-99%___________7%
80-89%__________25%
70-79%__________36%
60-69%___________6%
50-59%___________0%