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Hi folks,
I've got a 2002 SANTE that I purchased at the tail of last season, got it out on the weekend and smoked an alternator belt in pretty short order. I had the alternator bench tested the alternator and tests good both at idle and under load. I'm hoping it was a result of having the stereo on and filling ballast (experimenting bag sizes and placement dock side) without the engine running, likely dropped voltage down to < 11.5V then getting out and going at it pretty hard, thinking it could have been an older belt and not ideally set for tension and the extra load was enough to set it free. However, I'd like to be armed with as much info as possible when I get back up to the lake on the weekend so I can start checking connections etc.
Here's what I know:
I had run the boat for several hours without issue under normal cruising conditions
I ran the battery down pretty low (guessing 11ish volts) while messing around with ballast setup with the boat off
went out for a boot and the belt went fairly quickly (within 3-5 mins)
The dash gauge and my perfect pass read ~11.5 which was close to a volt lower than the measurement at the battery with my meter ~12.4V,
The voltage at the back of the breaker panel measured the same as the battery, those connections looked good though I cleaned them up for good measure.
The previous owner installed a new sub/amp and a pair of tower speakers, nothing crazy high power but definitely would be a greater power draw than the stock system.
There is only one battery and it is brand new, it took and held a charge when I put a charger on it once it was back at the dock.
Here's what I'd like to know:
Is the alternator output controlled by an internal voltage regulator?
where does the alternator get its signal from of how much output to produce?
any recommendations on connections that are known to cause issue between the alternator and battery? any suspect known power pullers?
does the ECU come into play at all here?
any wiring diagrams that show how the alternator is tied in? (I've found the diagram that shows where it terminates at the 8 pin connector but haven't found the diagram with the other side of the connector to show where it goes)
again, I'm hoping it was a bit of a perfect storm of running the battery down pretty low with a belt that maybe was on its way out anyways. Any other relevant info greatly appreciated. I'm pretty good with wiring and controls but am a little less familiar with alternators and marine charging systems.
I've got a 2002 SANTE that I purchased at the tail of last season, got it out on the weekend and smoked an alternator belt in pretty short order. I had the alternator bench tested the alternator and tests good both at idle and under load. I'm hoping it was a result of having the stereo on and filling ballast (experimenting bag sizes and placement dock side) without the engine running, likely dropped voltage down to < 11.5V then getting out and going at it pretty hard, thinking it could have been an older belt and not ideally set for tension and the extra load was enough to set it free. However, I'd like to be armed with as much info as possible when I get back up to the lake on the weekend so I can start checking connections etc.
Here's what I know:
I had run the boat for several hours without issue under normal cruising conditions
I ran the battery down pretty low (guessing 11ish volts) while messing around with ballast setup with the boat off
went out for a boot and the belt went fairly quickly (within 3-5 mins)
The dash gauge and my perfect pass read ~11.5 which was close to a volt lower than the measurement at the battery with my meter ~12.4V,
The voltage at the back of the breaker panel measured the same as the battery, those connections looked good though I cleaned them up for good measure.
The previous owner installed a new sub/amp and a pair of tower speakers, nothing crazy high power but definitely would be a greater power draw than the stock system.
There is only one battery and it is brand new, it took and held a charge when I put a charger on it once it was back at the dock.
Here's what I'd like to know:
Is the alternator output controlled by an internal voltage regulator?
where does the alternator get its signal from of how much output to produce?
any recommendations on connections that are known to cause issue between the alternator and battery? any suspect known power pullers?
does the ECU come into play at all here?
any wiring diagrams that show how the alternator is tied in? (I've found the diagram that shows where it terminates at the 8 pin connector but haven't found the diagram with the other side of the connector to show where it goes)
again, I'm hoping it was a bit of a perfect storm of running the battery down pretty low with a belt that maybe was on its way out anyways. Any other relevant info greatly appreciated. I'm pretty good with wiring and controls but am a little less familiar with alternators and marine charging systems.
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