[Land Yacht]

I priced at O'Reilly's today, new replacement $740, they had a usual 3 day turn around for a rebuild but would not say what that would cost. The Leece-Neville does have an internal regulator they told me.

Good to know I can run with gen and get where I need to go :-)

Thanks Mike

[Richard]

Mike,

If you are handy, I suggest you at least read the PennTex link, in post 4 of this thread. It is an excellent writeup of how to use a voltmeter to diagnose alternator woes.

[jcus]

Not sure if plug and play, but po on my coach had replaced original alt. with a bosch 160 amp unit with internal regulator. Not quite the same output as the penntex, but at $200 including shipping and no core charge, from Amazon, it is an alternative.

[encantotom]

i agree, i would look at alternatives for a standard alternator.

mine is the 50dn oil cooled and no real alternatives for it other than expensive and more expensive. all choices over 1k

tom

[Richard]

This is good discussion. A 160 amp unit should be plenty.

However, one should always avoid charging low house batteries using the engine alternator unless you have the big 50dn. I really do think that is the major cause of alternator failure in RVs including Newells. My opinion, your alternator.

[jcus]

This is good discussion. A 160 amp unit should be plenty.

However, one should always avoid charging low house batteries using the engine alternator unless you have the big 50dn. I really do think that is the major cause of alternator failure in RVs including Newells. My opinion, your alternator.

I agree, if solar or shore power has not kept my batteries up, I will run gen. and let inverter/charger bring them up to at least 90% [by trimetric], before securing it and letting eng alternator take over.

[folivier]

Good point Richard, your house batteries could suck the insides out of your alternator!

[Land Yacht]

Looks like there are several competitors to Leece-Neville including Delco Remy and IdlePro. Mine is rated at 200amps, there are model rating from 200-240amps. The current alternator uses a pad mount system. I am typically an unbolt and replace with a like unit type person. I am not that handy to modify systems. This looks like 4 bolts plus the wire which are hard to view with the alternator mounted. It also has a serpentine belt with auto tensioner, so looks like relatively easy removal and replacement. Anything other than making sure the battery merge is off, the battery switch is off. And the battery cables are disconnected that I should be concerned with?

[Richard]

You got it with the cables. Take negative off first, and put negative on last.

You'll need a decently long breaker bar to let the tension off that tensioner. It has a pretty hefty spring in it.

[ashley]

Thank  you for the replies

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Found out if you pigtail the bat and field on the regulator it will tell you which is bad. If the alternator puts out voltage it is okay and regulator is bad. If no voltage the alternator is bad. When you pigtail it , the voltage regulator will ask the alternator for everything it has.