ray lunder wrote:
Ahoy, I could only find one technical reference for this which claims
it's a 30 amp alternator. Could this be correct? That's immeasurable,
that's minuscule- that's nothing. I measured about 13.2v output at
idle and I had to rev the engine to over half throttle to get 14.4v
out of it. (my batteries were topped up at the time if that makes a
difference).
It's on a 12hp Yanmar one cylinder diesel and I'd like to charge my
house batteries (220AH) and a 12v starting battery. If I'm beginning
to understand these things I'm to look for an alternator which will
produce 30% of my amp hour capacity. Since I'll probably charge the
two systems separately I guess that's around 70 - 80 amps. My crank
pulley is about 4" diameter, O.D. to O.D.. I need a 3" foot model to
fit my engine. Any similar experiences, recommendations, empowering
observations? Ok, the spell chek is complete, I had eleven errors.
Thanks again.

Depending on the boat, and what you have in it, 30 amps might be just
fine. Your alternator was reading 13.2 volts because the batteries were
fully charged, it didn't need to put out any more. On a small engine
like yours, you may not be able to install a really large alternator,
it may load the engine down too much. If you need lots of power, a
seperate generator may be the best way to go.