Buying an Electromaax alternator? I suggest not.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

No, you were questioning why would anyone need more DC generating power than you have.

No, but if it makes you feel better - sure.

BTW - I wouldn't consider being to run an air conditioner while motoring as a "need". Especially since I know you have a generator.

[a64pilot]

I don't have the room, I could I suppose "Engineer" something to work, and may one day do so, until then I'll live with what I have. it works, but would be nice if I could run everything when motoring without having to crank the generator.
I have always been suspicious of how these little things could make that kind of power. If you have looked under the hood of a Military Humvee and seen how huge these alternators are, you get doubly suspicious.

But what I am still suspicious of is, do you really get all that much more continuous power output from the larger say above 160 amp alternators, than say one rated at 100?

Continuous loads, I don't care what it can make for a few minutes, I want to know what can it sustain, like my Little Yanmar, 44 HP for one hour, 40 continuous.

I think a test run at continuous load under say 60C atmosphere would be interesting, or heck even if it was 25C, I think a test to see what the alternator stabilized temp at X load is, one 100 amp alternator and one much larger, just to see if there is any large difference in continuous output.


Darn it, I wanted a free lunch


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[a64pilot]

Needs, wants, desires are one hopes almost inseparable.
Truth is, I have no need for a boat, beyond basic food and shelter, some Medical care, it's all wants. I'm not going off on this cruising thing if I can help it bare bones. I desire some luxuries, and she who must be obeyed, requires them.
She has not said that, but this is my dream, not hers and I believe if I can keep her comfortable, I'll be a lot happier

You bought a 4 K generator too, which one?

Neither of us need a generator, but they are nice to have


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[wayne.b]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

It's asking a lot of a small frame alternator, no matter how its regulated, to produce the kind of bulk power we need.

I realize not everyone can fit it in, but a large frame heavy duty alternator is much better suited to this purpose -- because they are designed to dissipate all the heat produced at their maximum rated power, without overheating. Because they are specifically made for bulk power production, rather than the kind of duty they get as a car alternator.

Such alternators are not even that expensive. But the brackets and new pulleys to fit them might be.

===

You make a couple of good points. There are Leece-Neville large frame alternators designed to put out hundreds of amps continuously for fire trucks, ambulances, etc. They can be purchased on EBAY for fairly reasonable prices but I ended up spending close to $500 to have a machine shop custom fabricate a J-180 type mount and a heavy duty adjustment arm. To make things worse, I managed to burn one out in fairly short order by letting it run full out while charging a 1,000 amp-hour battery bank. I ended up installing a current limiter between the alternator and inverter batteries which has solved the problem. I'm driving it with three heavy duty belts but a serpentine would probably work also. It takes a lot of power at full output, enough to make a 300 hp diesel make an audible grunt when the house batteries are first switched on.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by wayne.b

===

You make a couple of good points. There are Leece-Neville large frame alternators designed to put out hundreds of amps continuously for fire trucks, ambulances, etc. They can be purchased on EBAY for fairly reasonable prices but I ended up spending close to $500 to have a machine shop custom fabricate a J-180 type mount and a heavy duty adjustment arm. To make things worse, I managed to burn one out in fairly short order by letting it run full out while charging a 1,000 amp-hour battery bank. I ended up installing a current limiter between the alternator and inverter batteries which has solved the problem. I'm driving it with three heavy duty belts but a serpentine would probably work also. It takes a lot of power at full output, enough to make a 300 hp diesel make an audible grunt when the house batteries are first switched on.

Yes, mine is also a Leece-Neville school bus alternator. It will put out its full rated capacity for hours on end without breaking a sweat. I've never seen more than 90C of case temp in my 30C engine room, and rarely that. It can produce more than a kilowatt of power and not exceed 50C.

HOWEVER, they can be overloaded and burned out, as I discovered last summer. That's if you overload them at low speeds (bow thruster, windlass, and immersion heater all at the same time, and at idle -- yes, I'm an idiot). This happened after 12 years of faithful service.

What kind of current limiting device do you have? I've never heard of such a thing.

[wayne.b]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

What kind of current limiting device do you have? I've never heard of such a thing.

===

Here in Southwestern Florida we call it red neck engineering. I calculated that I needed a resistance of .07 ohms between the alternator and the inverter bank. Since such a resistor is not readily available from the usual suppliers, I fabricated one using 10 feet (3 meters) of #4 cable. Simple solution but it works well. The tricky part was running it in such a way that it doesn't look out of place. As the batteries charge up, their current acceptance rate decreases which reduces the voltage drop across the resistance, thus letting the charging voltage eventually approach the alternator voltage.

[CapRon]

I also had the same problem. Installed it myself, made it from Marathon to Great Harbor Bahamas and I started having electrical failures and the alternator was no longer charging. It was the plug and play version. Just install. When I sent an email to Mr Stevens, about wanting a refund, he let me know that couldn't be done because it had been installed. Fair enough. However he let me know that any failure was due to incorrect installation. It should have been done by a certified electrician. It's plug and play. It's not rocket science. His reaction makes me think he has had a lot of issues with this system as he seemed a bit defensive. Do not purchase this alternator system. An expensive lesson learned.

[raleightiger]

Re: Electromaax
Well I'm here to tell you Electromaax was a very bad experience for me in 2020. In researching high output alternators, I met the owner John Stevens at the boat show">Annapolis Boat Show and looked at his products. After a lot of questions and research, I later pulled the trigger on a 140A alternator, serpentine kit, E-Maax regulator, and temperature sensors after he promised in an email, "Every person that said they were unhappy were offered a full refund, not sure what a manufacturer can do better than that?”

After installing exactly as per their instructions (they reviewed photos) I had a serious problem with voltage spikes. The support from the Electromaax techs was scattered and drawn out, and they weren't much help. I finally hired the top marine electrician in my area to see if he could solve the problem. After running up a $1000 tab, he was not able to solve the problem - and I was not happy.

After finally cutting my losses and using the internal regulator on the alternator, I asked Stevens to allow me to return the regulator and sensors for a refund. He refused, not keeping his word. Don't buy from Electromaax! Everyone told me I should have gone with Balmar... I agree.

[RaymondR]

A lot of these problems would disappear if we could up the voltage for all marine electrics and electronics to 24, or maybe even 36, as standard. When I was a boy a lot of the motor cars were 6 volts and they were a disaster waiting to happen from a reliability viewpoint.

[bgallinger]

Raleightiger....Sorry to hear about your bad experience with John Stevens and his gang at Electromaxx. There must be dozens of bad posts about this company in this forum. Mine being one. Bottom line is, if you buy an alternator from Electromaxx and it is defective, you WILL NOT get a refund. John Stevens will simply say the installation was incorrect. This company is at the top of the heap on Cruisers Forum for angry unhappy customers.

[raleightiger]

Yep, lesson learned - if you’re going to buy a somewhat complicated product directly from a company, they must install it. Otherwise, they can blame someone else if there are problems.

Electromaax is bad news and John Stevens does not follow through on his pre-sale promises. Spread the word.

[thor99]

I can only echo the dreadful service from Electromax. Tried to do a simple serpintine belt and for issues with the engines crank and alternator mounts could not do it. All I the help I got from Stevens was you don't know how to do it. I've rebuilt transmissions! AVOID THE company at all costs. Zero service. Arrogant president. Since it was past the 30 days they refused to take it back. Lesson learned, always deal with companies that stand support their product and customers.

[sv_isara]

I have the pulley kit and alternator. All of it works great! It's a small operation so you get small-town like support; not a big company. I had some setup questions that stemmed from my own ignorance. The first thing the (the guy's wife maybe?) said was "it's not a problem with our product". She was right of course, and they did end up helping me. To be fair...if my wife dealt with RMAs, she'd probably have at least the same attitude. Having worked in a returns department before, the customers are mostly pretty ignorant and they kill products by doing stupid things. Dealing with their ignorance with grace is a real skill that not everyone has or learns.

Again the product has worked great, and I did get the support I requested even if it wasn't in the style that massaged my ego like some big chinese or amazon company.

[thor99]

Yes it simply a few bolts. But not if there are issues with the engine it self. The owners advice was "you don't know what your doing" I've rebuilt transmissions that too less time than thee time ii spent, bit to menton buying laser alignment tools and bending thee good will of a local allternator shop that had ero skin in the game and provided a wealth of advice. Electromax's contribution was to tell me I was stupid. So ya small company , rude owner. As I later found out he knocked off a Balmar product. Lots of other solid small companies out there to deal with, not electromax



x

[sv_isara]

Originally Posted by thor99

Yes it simply a few bolts. But not if there are issues with the engine it self. The owners advice was "you don't know what your doing" I've rebuilt transmissions that too less time than thee time ii spent, bit to menton buying laser alignment tools and bending thee good will of a local allternator shop that had ero skin in the game and provided a wealth of advice. Electromax's contribution was to tell me I was stupid. So ya small company , rude owner. As I later found out he knocked off a Balmar product. Lots of other solid small companies out there to deal with, not electromax



x

Fair enough, I do hope they improve because they're in a good industry that's growing and it would behoove us all to have more competitors and good companies in marine electric generation.