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I thought some hereabouts might be interested in a retrofit serpentine belt kit.
I fitted a 120A Balmar alternator to our Yanmar 4JH2E about three years ago. It is paired with a Balmar Maxcharge regulator. The alternator comes with a double vee pulley as standard but the engine, in standard form, has a single vee pulley on crankshaft and water pump. Hence it is not possible to fit a double belt without upgrading the engine pulleys. The alternator, I am told, requires about 3hp to drive it when the regulator requires it to produce high output. For example, after three days laying at anchor, our battery state is at around 75% and the alternator will initially charge at about 80A. At this load the single vee belt is at the upper end of its capacity and typically I would see black belt dust after such a charging session. I was never comfortable with that so wanted a better drive train.
I stumbled upon Electromaax serpentine belt kits, see here: http://www.electromaax.com/products/complete-marine-serpentine-pulley-kits/
It was fitted last week and, although I didn't do it myself, it seemed fairly straightforward. Our mechanic had the job done in a couple of hours. The replacement crankshaft pulley bolts over the top of existing pulley, no need to remove the existing pulley. The water pump pulley is replaced as is the alternator pulley.
The idea with the serpentine kit is that because there is a much larger surface area around the pulleys there is no belt slip so no dust. The wider belt can deal with the heavy loads of the alternator and because there is not a requirement for high belt tension (in an attempt to prevent slippage with a vee belt) the bearings on pump, crank and alternator are less stressed.
We were out at the weekend for the first try and certainly with a 60A charge on Sunday morning there was no belt dust. But that's not really a high load test, if anyone is interested I'll let you know how we get on with it when we start seeing 100A charging sessions.
Here is a picture of the completed installation: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qtoi35a7hupk6l9/serpentine kit.jpg
No connection with Electromaax - just a happy (so far) customer. Electromaax have a UK base at Wokingham and the folk there are very helpful.
It wasn't cheap, probably £400 all in and before someone says I could have done it cheaper with a pair of my wife's tights and a pulley turned out of oak on the lathe in my shed - that doesn't appeal to me thanks! Recently every post I make people seem to dismiss as nonsense because it cost over 30 bob!
Rob
I fitted a 120A Balmar alternator to our Yanmar 4JH2E about three years ago. It is paired with a Balmar Maxcharge regulator. The alternator comes with a double vee pulley as standard but the engine, in standard form, has a single vee pulley on crankshaft and water pump. Hence it is not possible to fit a double belt without upgrading the engine pulleys. The alternator, I am told, requires about 3hp to drive it when the regulator requires it to produce high output. For example, after three days laying at anchor, our battery state is at around 75% and the alternator will initially charge at about 80A. At this load the single vee belt is at the upper end of its capacity and typically I would see black belt dust after such a charging session. I was never comfortable with that so wanted a better drive train.
I stumbled upon Electromaax serpentine belt kits, see here: http://www.electromaax.com/products/complete-marine-serpentine-pulley-kits/
It was fitted last week and, although I didn't do it myself, it seemed fairly straightforward. Our mechanic had the job done in a couple of hours. The replacement crankshaft pulley bolts over the top of existing pulley, no need to remove the existing pulley. The water pump pulley is replaced as is the alternator pulley.
The idea with the serpentine kit is that because there is a much larger surface area around the pulleys there is no belt slip so no dust. The wider belt can deal with the heavy loads of the alternator and because there is not a requirement for high belt tension (in an attempt to prevent slippage with a vee belt) the bearings on pump, crank and alternator are less stressed.
We were out at the weekend for the first try and certainly with a 60A charge on Sunday morning there was no belt dust. But that's not really a high load test, if anyone is interested I'll let you know how we get on with it when we start seeing 100A charging sessions.
Here is a picture of the completed installation: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qtoi35a7hupk6l9/serpentine kit.jpg
No connection with Electromaax - just a happy (so far) customer. Electromaax have a UK base at Wokingham and the folk there are very helpful.
It wasn't cheap, probably £400 all in and before someone says I could have done it cheaper with a pair of my wife's tights and a pulley turned out of oak on the lathe in my shed - that doesn't appeal to me thanks! Recently every post I make people seem to dismiss as nonsense because it cost over 30 bob!
Rob
