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[Music]  [Music]  you  neck's alternators most of you so let's  focus on this because that's what pretty  much 99% of us have right  it's an alternator circuit right your  alternator is daisy chained to the  starter solenoid police post coming  through a battery switch connected to a  battery pretty straightforward if you  can start your engine you've confirmed  that you have power up to here right you  know thinking you can start your engine  you have power up to here the chance of  this wire failing it's possible if  you've changed your alternator output  they've got a bigger one and didn't  change the wire or if you put an  external regulator and then change that  wire so that would be a clue but most of  the time to be honest your alternator  fails because it's so freakin hot in the  engine room and there's not enough  ventilation and it's a horrible place to  work and alternators die all the time  all the time and you take them off you  bring them in an alternative shop  they're like oh my god what happened to  this alternator it had been living in  hell you're like no it's just a boat  because like what it kind of looks like  hell because you know the dusting what  happens is people have v-belt alignment  issues right the dusting covers  everything inside the alternator and  imagine being covered well you've hardly  eat right  so all that dusting that you think is  just an aesthetic displeasure is  actually causing the covering of the  whole all Tanner inside and for heat  dissipation is a big problem and then it  causes alternator failure right so  alternators are pretty easy to diagnose  in terms of problems it's generally the  alternator that dies or if you have an  alternator with an external regulator  then what you want to do is you want to  troubleshoot what's called the field  voltage the field voltage is the device  that actually puts applies sort of like  an actuator right it's like you're  petting on pressing on the gas the gas  pedal in your car and so what we do when  we troubleshoot that problem we actually  do full full field meaning we actually  short we go from 12 volt with a fuse  right to field we're bypassing the  external regulator were like  screw the external right here let's  bypass it altogether let's see if that  alternator will work at full capacity if  it works at full capacity what we've  demonstrated is that the field voltage  from the external regulator is not  working now why is it not working and  then it becomes not an alternator  problem it becomes an external regulator  problem but that's how you isolate if  it's external regulator or an alternator  problem but to be honest most of the  time your alternator just simply failed  hence why people that go further afield  should have a spare alternator I have a  spare alternator never used it but it's  ready to be used it's on my boat and one  day when my alternator will fail and it  will fail I'll be able to tell someone  it'd be very proud that I carried that  alternator for 11 years for a reason  because it's been 11 years I've been  carrying that alternator any questions  on alternators well then it's really  easy yeah because if it's an internal  regulator it doesn't matter it's the  problem still and within the alternator  they generally don't fail  very rarely they're so simple super rare  that I've seen an internal regulator  fail the issue generally is the  alternator itself right and that's it  they just they just die they just kind  of it's too hot well what you'll notice  is yeah good question how did you notice  your alternator is not charging remember  there's no such thing as voltage being  an indication it's like saying your  heart rate there's a value for heart  rate that's a good heart rate there  isn't what's a good heart rate what  depends on what you're doing  but but here's the here's the dilemma  right that's why I'm saying volts is not  a a value that you look in itself you  can't  it's like heart rate nobody ever says  what is your heart rate that's a good  hard way  never it's what is your heart rate  depending on what you're doing so you  start your engine your battery voltage  could be eleven point five volts you  start your engine  your battery voltage is now twelve is  that good or bad  that's good is your alternator working  yes is that what you would consider a  charging voltage no someone would tell  you are 12 volts your alternator is not  working  those are platitudes that's what people  say they're not thinking they're just  repeating information it's all about an  incremental difference if your voltage  your batteries were completely empty you  have a fifteen amp alternator you have a  four hundred amp hour battery bank an  alternator it's like saying my swimming  pool is empty you start putting a fire  nozzle in it and you're like well it's  not filling the pool obviously there's  no flow and this thing is gushing it  it's not gonna feel the pull of water in  an instant it's going to take time it  might take three hours four hours five  hours for that battery bank to be full  so what you'd look like what you look  for when you look at volts is an  incremental change what is the volts  prior to running the alternator having  the engine on and what is it afterwards  if your engine you start your engine you  see 11 volts or whatever it is or 11 and  a half and it doesn't increase after you  start your engine your alternator is not  working if it increases and it's not as  high as you'd like it it doesn't mean  the alter is not working it means that  your batteries were too empty or it  means that your alternator is too small  as a function of your battery bank size  and that could be a common problem but  never ever ever think that your voltage  is this target value it isn't it's about  a change  what's a change that you see and I see  that all the time and people blame  things and they're not understanding  that it's an increment is better than  nothing  there's no absolute question in the back  yeah that's it is I think that's your  absolutely right  so that means that most likely to me  it's a problem with your external  regular your internal regulator there's  also some alternators that need to be  excited clearly there's a you turn the  ignition Mun and they need to be excited  you need to be sent 12 volts and that 12  volts can only happen sometimes they're  all different there's not it's not an  alternator and if that alternator is  receiving that exciting voltage from  your ignition panel when you turn it on  and that that connection is intermittent  that's what's gonna happen but what you  described is a really good way you can  hear your alternator turn on or off on a  boat by the way the engine pitch changes  I can hear it on my boat clearly you'll  hear it you'll see the engine is  actually going to work harder because  suddenly there's a large load on the  alternator I'm not in the alternate on  the engine so that sounds to me like an  exciter problem or an internal regulator  problem yes you had a question on  alternators yeah that's actually a good  thing that's a feature you don't want  belt slippage you want everything to be  warmed up ballmart does the same thing  they wait for about 45 seconds that's  actually a good thing  hey yeah it's edible absolutely there's  a timer so that's a good thing that's a  feature you don't want your alternator  to kick in right away you don't want it  to kick in right away I know you're like  what no you want it to wait ballmart  does it about 45 seconds some other  people will do 92 minutes it's fine  give it time let everything to warm up  everything is set up the belt is  everything you don't want to load over  the engine too much right easier to  start because now that alternator is not  in another load like when it turns it's  no load it's  as you start exciting it and he started  asking it to produce output like think  about on my boat my boat I've got a 30  horsepower engine and I've got a 5 amp  alternator effectively its draws like  five horsepower not five am five  horsepower  what's better when I start my engine  that I don't have another five house  power load if I'm not under load like I  don't start my engine and I'm in gear  right I'm in neutral start my engine let  the engine and then I wait a period of  time right let everything warm up and  then I put my engine in gear there's no  load when I start my engine and less  because I have a delay on my alternator  kicking in on my boat as well through  that balm our external regulator so  that's a feature fantastic if the it's  not even a problem any other questions  on alternators yeah the question is  there an advantage of having two  alternators off one engine and I would  say yes because then you have one for  house one for engine and then you don't  even have to worry about battery  combiners or battery Isolators we talked  about that yesterday  totally agree to alternators way better  and you see like Nigel Calder did that  on his boat the question is how do you  fit a second alternator on your engine I  mean I want a lot of things in life  there's a lot of things that just can't  have I have a small engine I don't have  a yanmar I can't put another one it  would be like a mechanical challenge to  fit one in there's just no space if I  could I would for sure and you see both  that do you see a lot of boats even  power boats they'll actually have  trawlers two two alternators for the  engines and they'll have put a big  freaking house alternator on one of the  engines and that's pretty sweet that's  really good because every single battery  gets his own alternator alright other  questions on alternators or we good