As many on the list know, the Balmar high output alternators are a bit of an illusion. If they output their specified maximum current they will overheat and be destroyed. Consequently you need to use the alternator temp sensor to automatically back off the output to a considerably smaller value. Typically about 60% of the specified maximum. So a 100A alternator will typically run at ~60A, after the initial warm up period. To circumvent this I mounted a blower to cool the alternator and that seems to get the output back to near specified values. The blowers are inexpensive. The blower turns on when the engine starts. Richard P.

Richard, that may be true of some Balmar alternators but definitely not for all of them. I have 2 of there 190A@24V units and. When cold the put out 195A and when running at high temps they still put out 177A. At full output they range between 275F and 315F. Ridiculously hot. My normal rule of thumb is no more than 225F but I was curious what these can take so I let them run flat out. We have 1020AH of batteries at 24V so they will run flat out for hours when charging and they have been doing this for close to a decade. They seem pretty close to bullet-proof and 4KW is a pretty substantial output. --James Hamilton, N5263 Dirona, Amsterdam --mvdirona.com On Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 6:21 PM Richard P via Trawlers-and-Trawlering < trawlers@lists.trawlering.com> wrote: > As many on the list know, the Balmar high output alternators are a bit of > an illusion. If they output their specified maximum current they will > overheat and be destroyed. Consequently you need to use the alternator temp > sensor to automatically back off the output to a considerably smaller > value. Typically about 60% of the specified maximum. So a 100A alternator > will typically run at ~60A, after the initial warm up period. To > circumvent this I mounted a blower to cool the alternator and that seems to > get the output back to near specified values. The blowers are inexpensive. > The blower turns on when the engine starts. > > Richard P. > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers_lists.trawlering.com > > To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options (get password, change > email address, etc) go to: > http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers_lists.trawlering.com > Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World > Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited. > -- e: jrh@mvdirona.com w: https://mvdirona.com <http://mvdirona.com>