. . . and how do we tell?
One little incident that occured today during our mad motor-sailing beat to Porto Santo was that the 1st mate kicked the engine key and switched it off - she had some feeble excuse like trying to stay on board the vessel during one of our extreme attitude manoevres.
I thought it had died, and was looking forward to twelve hours hove too drifing North in the maelstrom followed by a jolly beat back . . . so naturally was delighted to find it was ony a matter of turning a keyl
But now it occurs to me . . . is the alternator / diode pack likely to be knackered, and how do I tell?
Is our alternator knackered
-
Nick
- Admiral of the Blue
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Is our alternator knackered
- Nick 
-
ash
- Yellow Admiral
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- Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2005 12:14 pm
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Re: Alternator
Hi Nick
I would agree with both of the above posts.
The diode packs are said to get damaged if you open circuit the alternator output - ie disconnect the battery, or switch the battery selector switch to OFF. Switching off the ignition won't do that - some engines have an electrical stop solenoid - in which case you would have to turn off the switch.
The output of the alternator might be temporarily affected whilst the switch is off - as you would have removed the external excitation - but even that is unlikely as it would be self exciting by then.
Ash
I would agree with both of the above posts.
The diode packs are said to get damaged if you open circuit the alternator output - ie disconnect the battery, or switch the battery selector switch to OFF. Switching off the ignition won't do that - some engines have an electrical stop solenoid - in which case you would have to turn off the switch.
The output of the alternator might be temporarily affected whilst the switch is off - as you would have removed the external excitation - but even that is unlikely as it would be self exciting by then.
Ash