2003 SANTE PCM 330 Excalibur ALTERNATOR options?

[prowakeskater]

Getting low voltage warning beeps on my boat. 11.7 and holding with the engine on.

Is this something that can be picked up at like an autozone or west marine?

are there any ebay or amazon options that would work?

thanks!

[ShouldbeWorking]

Should be able to just get one from autozone/napa/oriellys. Its just a 4 pin chevy, If I remember correctly. Should ask for the alternator from a 95-99 chevy 1500 with the v8. I would bring up the old one to match visually.

[wakejunky]

I've been researching the same thing on my 03 SAN, the alternator is only a 50 or 60 amp and is way under rated, especially if you're running a number of stereo amps. . I want to upgrade to a high amp alternator, the problem is that anything you find outside of the marine market are not ignition protected. Might be important and might not but, don't know what the risk might be. I'm a little hesitant to put an automotive alternator in there.

[homer12]

The risk is a fire in your boat if you don't have a marine or ignition protected alternator. No way I would risk that for the cost difference. Try Nautique Parts, your local dealer or Skidim.com

[Quinner]

Are you getting that reading above 1000rpm? Is your battery good and at full charge?

[NautiqueJeff]

Should be able to just get one from autozone/napa/oriellys. Its just a 4 pin chevy, If I remember correctly. Should ask for the alternator from a 95-99 chevy 1500 with the v8. I would bring up the old one to match visually.

Please do not do this.

The alternator is one of the most important parts to be marine certified. Using an automotive alternator is asking for a fire on a boat.

[ski4evr]

check you voltage at battery terminals first when running. I replaced the main run of cable to the fuse panel and eliminated the low voltage at the dashboard. the wiring was undersized and had a lot of voltage drop. there are posts on this topic on here. however, if you aren't at least charging at ~13.5 volts at the battery when running, then you might just have an alternator problem.

[Mikeski]

PCM makes an upgrade kit making it easy to upgrade to a 2005+ 90 amp alternator, call nauitiqueparts to see if they have it. It includes the required larger power cables.

[prowakeskater]

well glad i opened this before buying anything

Walked right out of auto zone after realizing marine alternators are marine for a reason. ill check the voltage at the battery terminals before I continue

I did have some girls pull me and they hit quite a few wakes rather harshly at 25mph. I only experienced the problem after they jostled the boat doing this.

I did read about the small gauge wire used running to the panel and the possibility of it getting loose... but didn't really know how to test for that. Now ill hit up my battery with a multimeter while running and see what happens.

thanks dudes!

[wakejunky]

The upgrade is really expensive for a "marinized" alternator. There are aftermarket marinized alternators at the automotive pricing.

[prowakeskater]

ok so i tested my battery with the engine running. 12.2V. Tested at the alternator itself while running and its 14.9.

shut the engine off and the battery shows 12.4V

dash panel still shows 11.6

WTF

[wakejunky]

Well known problem. Do you search and you'll see that the power and ground wires to the dash were too small, something CC never admitted to. So, you need to ran another set of wires from the battery to the dash.

[prowakeskater]

would that explain the drop in voltage from the alternator to my battery though?

the 12.2 to 11.6 is moot compared to the 14.8 to 12.2

[wakejunky]

Could be the same problem. Too small a wire.

[prowakeskater]

called a nautique service department and they say 12.2v at the battery is fine during operation.

ill go ahead and beef up the dash wires and see what that does