Volvo MD22, fitting 110Amp alternator and belt sizes

[Peter]

Looking to fit a 110A alternator to my MD22 volvo engine. The alternator supplier has suggested I fit a SPB belt, 12mm width as opposed to the standard SBA belt currently fitted, 9.5mm width. To do this need to change the water and crankshaft pulleys.
Has anyone done this job before and if yes where did you get he pulleys from,(plus part No's) as Volvo do not supply. Any difficulties encountered, although looks fairly straight forward.
Or has anyone ran a 110A alternator on a MD22 engine using the standard width belts, as my concern is the smaller sized belts "burning out" with the increased load as there seem to be plenty of stories out there of belts failing after fitting a larger alternator

Thanks

Peter

 

[Heckler]

Looking to fit a 110A alternator to my MD22 volvo engine. The alternator supplier has suggested I fit a SPB belt, 12mm width as opposed to the standard SBA belt currently fitted, 9.5mm width. To do this need to change the water and crankshaft pulleys.
Has anyone done this job before and if yes where did you get he pulleys from,(plus part No's) as Volvo do not supply. Any difficulties encountered, although looks fairly straight forward.
Or has anyone ran a 110A alternator on a MD22 engine using the standard width belts, as my concern is the smaller sized belts "burning out" with the increased load as there seem to be plenty of stories out there of belts failing after fitting a larger alternator

Thanks

Peter

My mate uses a Balmer 100 amp alternator on his TAMD22 (basically the same engine) it wears out std belts pretty quickly. The Gates 10 mm by 975mm toothed belt is a lot better, I use one on my MD22, I also suffered from chewed belts until I used the Gates. You will struggle with the std belt on a larger alternator. Also dont forget it drives the fresh water cooling pump, so you will be looking for 3 pulleys and the adapters. Better to put a Sterling booster on the std alternator and use a 10mm Gates toothed belt.
I also increased my house battery bank to 4 110 amp batteries and also have 56 watt solar panel.
Boat is a Bene 381
Stu

 

[pvb]

Or has anyone ran a 110A alternator on a MD22 engine using the standard width belts, as my concern is the smaller sized belts "burning out" with the increased load as there seem to be plenty of stories out there of belts failing after fitting a larger alternator

I think you can forget about changing the crankshaft and waterpump pulleys - it will either be impossibly hard or improbably expensive.

The reality is that your 110A alternator is unlikely to produce anywhere near 110A for very long, as the current output will be limited by the ability of the batteries to absorb it. You've said in an earlier post that your domestic bank is 440Ah, and you'll be hard-pressed to get much more than 80A or so charge current, I reckon. On this basis, a single belt will probably do the job. Go for the very best quality toothed belt you can find - ask an industrial belt supplier. As Stu said, Gates belts are good.

I run a 90A alternator on a standard belt on a Volvo 2003T, feeding 660Ah domestic bank.

 

[Pagetslady]

I fitted a 110a alternator some years ago as supplied by Adverc they recommended using a wider belt as the alternator pulley was wider to compensate for the extra load, but they insisted that I didn't change the other pulleys which I did not and I have had no problem for many years all that happens the belt runs on the outer edge of the V.
regards Mike

 

[ianc1200]

Agree with PVB about the actual imput. I have two alternators (total 200A) going into a Sterling Battery to Alternator Charger and then to a leisure bank of 440 amp-hours. If under 50% capacity I can see something approaching 55A going into the bank, but by the time 80% charged (I'm using a Smartguage to monitor this) something under 20A.

 

[vyv_cox]

Agree with PVB about the actual imput. I have two alternators (total 200A) going into a Sterling Battery to Alternator Charger and then to a leisure bank of 440 amp-hours. If under 50% capacity I can see something approaching 55A going into the bank, but by the time 80% charged (I'm using a Smartguage to monitor this) something under 20A.

My 55 Amp alternator delivers 55 Amps into a 330 Ah battery bank.

 

[Richard10002]

IIRC you can fit up to a 70A alternator to a VP MD22L without worrying about a different belt. Why do you need/want a 110A alternator?

 

[nigelmercier]

The alternator supplier has suggested I fit a SPB belt, 12mm width as opposed to the standard SBA belt currently fitted, 9.5mm width. To do this need to change the water and crankshaft pulleys.
... my concern is the smaller sized belts "burning out" with the increased load

Your dealer is right, up to a point: anything more than about 100A is supposed to have a 12mm belt. I've got a 110A alternator, and I get through a couple of belts in a season - always at the most inconvenient time.

When I designed my digital fuel gauge, I added an alarm that sounds if the revs drop to zero, this is much earlier than the over-temperature alarm.

I'd love to change the pulleys, but like you have hit the brick wall. Do report back if you find some.