Sam:

There seems to be a lot of alternator overheating going around. See my reply
to Craig and Marcia below. But you seem to already have done all of what I
suggest below. But if your temperature probe is mounted to the case screws
and the regulator is not cutting back on current, then you probably are
operating within an acceptable temperature. FWIW however when I installed my
muffin fan and duct, I sensed a noticable drop in case temperature with my
highly calbrated index finger. And I don't think that the increased airflow
was only cooling the temperature probe. I think it was cooling the whole
alternator.

David

Craig and Marcia:

230 degrees is too hot. BTW, how are you measuring this temp?

There are two solutions:

Some regulators, Balmar's MaxCharge in particular, have a temperature probe
option. With this, at least on the Balmar, it will reduce charging current
to about one half when it senses temperatures that are too high. The lower
charging current will reduce the case temperature rather quickly- in a few
minutes, then it will return the alternator to its original charging rate.
This will cycle on and off to keep the alternator temperature within bounds.
I recall talking to the Balmar tech, who told me that it reduces charging
current when the case temperature reaches 180 deg F.

But this is only a stop gap fix. The real fix is to increase the cooling
airflow to the alternator. The standard air flow is from the back of the
alternator to the front. On my sailboat with a very tight engine enclosure,
I added a small 12 volt muffin fan which ducts cool bilge air up to the back
of the alternator. With the fan running, the temperature control circuit in
the Balmar alternator never cuts back the current. Without it, the current
is reduced at least half the time, thereby cutting your charging rate
significantly.

David

"Craig Stuart" wrote in message
nk.net...
I have a Balmar alternator and when it is charging the temp of the
alternator is around 230 degrees. Is this normal ?

--
Craig & Marcia Stuart