Two alternators? Anybody doing this?

[gs1949]

I've had a look at the pdf documents I downloaded. They expect that people will replace OEM alternators with their alternators, and that might be something to think about later, but first I want to have a close look at where I might be able to mount an alternator bracket just by adding longer bolts and bolting the bracket on top of something that's already there. I know that may very well turn out to be to good to be true, but I'll look. There's no rush. The money to do this project is a few months away.
I don't know what size or type alternator I want, or what belt type I need it to use, but I'll be able to figure all that and more out from the charts and other documents I got from Balmar.

The links are all available at: https://www.defender.com/balmar-alte...regulators.jsp

[banman]

With alternators that powerful you can also do on-board welding. Very cool if you're into that sort of thing!

On-Board Welding Systems - Premier Power Welder, LLC
I'm not endorsing this brand as much as using 'them' to show you what's out there...

My 3126's alt puts out 160amps so I'll probably home brew a welding set-up for it down the road...

From my army daze I DO remember some of the CUCVEE's being set up with 2 alternators -- I never looked at how they were wired. These were basically K5 blazers with the 6.2 diesel filled up with FM & UHF radio's for comm's.
Lots of charging power at idle, no need for a "field generator" setup...

[brokedown]

Originally Posted by banman

From my army daze I DO remember some of the CUCVEE's being set up with 2 alternators -- I never looked at how they were wired. These were basically K5 blazers with the 6.2 diesel filled up with FM & UHF radio's for comm's.
Lots of charging power at idle, no need for a "field generator" setup...

The CUCVs were using a pair of 12 volt alternators to provide 24 volt charging. I had a M1009 that's still in the family. The 24 volt system was a kludge outside of actual military applications. Ultimately the only thing on the trucks that actually used 24 volt was the starter. The glow plugs were hooked to that circuit also but used ballast resisters to drop it to 12v anyway.

of course, if you had something that plugged into that fun 24v high power connector above the bumper that would get plenty of juice, but the only novel thing I could think of is jump starting a tank.

[banman]

Originally Posted by brokedown

The CUCVs were using a pair of 12 volt alternators to provide 24 volt charging. I had a M1009 that's still in the family. The 24 volt system was a kludge outside of actual military applications. Ultimately the only thing on the trucks that actually used 24 volt was the starter. The glow plugs were hooked to that circuit also but used ballast resisters to drop it to 12v anyway.

of course, if you had something that plugged into that fun 24v high power connector above the bumper that would get plenty of juice, but the only novel thing I could think of is jump starting a tank.

Damn, I'm sure you're right -- 2 12v alternator's and 2 12v batteries running in series to get the 24v.
24v was (and is) standard NATO so we could jump each others equipment and (wish I had pix!) but yes I have used the CUCVee to 'jump start' a Huey -- all the army helicopters are also 24v!

[schoolbuscraig]

Do you know what alternator you currently have? You might have enough charging capacity to charge your whole bus, an isolation switch is a great idea for circuit protection. I thought about the second alternator for redundancy. I have tested my electrical system and fully loaded, headlamps, wipers on high, 2 window defogger fans, driver heater and defroster fans on high, right heater and defroster fans on high. My system draw is approximately 70 amps. I am using LED’s lamps on everything but the headlamps. I have a 160 amp alternator so I am sufficient charging.
The highest draw item is my intake heater, then the starter

[BigPaul367]

Make sure you have several Grounds. Battery ground to frame, Frame ground to engine and I am talking about totally independent ground wires not connected to electronic devices. Make sure that manufacturer installed the suppression devices in the alternator. One Wire Alternators create a sc ream through the radio if they are manufactured without them. Make sure the belt has a spring loaded tensioner, serpentine belts do not like solid adjustments.