My Yaak Retreat

[(unknown)]

Here is the cabin. No running H2O, or electricity until last summer. Propane provides some ammenities.

Here are the 75 and 50 watt panels installed last summer.


                                 


The control panel modeled after Ward's



This charger is a 100amp Eldorado alternator with 3.5 hp Tecumseh. It never did work.

[Franklin Pierce]

Hmm, what's your operating RPM on the alternator?  What's your max RPM on the engine (2500-4000 depending on the vintage of the engine, if I recall my Tecumseh specs correctly)?

[MarkK]

Franklin,
I had the alternator bench tested and it tested good. The alternator came right out of a mid 70s vintage Cadillac Eldorado. When I took it up to my cabin and tried to charge my batteries, I left it on at various RPMs the engine never appeared to load. I put the charge controller in battery voltage mode and in 30-40 minutes it never increased. I suspect that I have it wired wrong. I figured it being one of those "1 wire" alternators it would be sailor proof but I guess I was wrong. Since I got back from my cabin last summer I have not looked at it but was going to buy a cheap amp meter to do some diagnostic testing. Any info would be helpful if you suspect what the problem could be.