regginald

https://www.alpha-batteries.co.uk/12v-xtreme-110ah-agm-leisure-battery-xr1750?gclid=CjwKCAiAmZGrBhAnEiwAo9qHic_xeXjr22IAPXk-F2tjwUuRhWeE5j6I9CEldaW6J4AfDV58VTcPSRoCfaQQAvD_BwE https://www.kiravans.co.uk/products/leoch-xtreme-110ah-agm-lead-acid-leisure-battery-regular-off-grid hex pressure caps that unscrew 90 degrees, then look inside at the suturated glass mat, add water with syringe and re pressurise. they were very dry when i poked the matt with the sterile syringe top, so i added water.

They do

The AGMs do have removable caps, I cycled them a few times, no change added water, no change. The A to B tells me when they are fully charged, the cycles happen much faster than normal. I have had them on a 6 hour charge, 2 days ago, same results as a 1.5 hr charge. they are ruined. but that is ok. I am not trying to save these ruined batteries, nor learn how to use my fluke volt meter, I am trying to repair my Alternator. I can see the regulators online for 10 - 20 next day delivery but am trying to find one on a shelf retail. with the alternator connected to the starter only it puts out 13.6 volts but i think the starter is ruined so need to test it on a good starter battery. I can get a new alternator for £75 - £600 but want to charge lifepo4 soon so am currently trying to find a regulator for this unit. I have no experience with different alternator prices/quality.It is crazy dirty in there, the brushes and everything else are covered in black gunk, i am now cleaning all the internals. I have called the only alternator tester repairer in kings lynn, they can take it and fix it but it will take time and cost. I pretty sure after reading today that it is the regulator, i am convinced it over volted during a long charge cycle, i do not know what else could have killed all batteries so dramatically. the A to B has a red light that comes on if over volted but does not shut down. no alarm sound so i would not have noticed.

with my Fluke 179

extremely unhelpful

No, there is 17V coming out the alternator exciter wire terminal, that is what is causing the light to comeon

I have charged the 3 AGMs, left them for a few hours out of the circuit, tested them with a load and measured voltage, they have about 10% capacity of the previous days, they are all identical in their behaviour, I have added 40ml water to each cell and cycled them about 15 times since from 12.1V to fully charged. No change, they are 6 months old and something drastic has happened to them, they are damaged. My starter battery this morning cranked for about 10 seconds then nearly died, I waited 30 seconds, heated the plugs again and cranked it, It started just before the starter battery stopped cranking. it was at 12.5V but no capacity, I can not add water to the starter battery (old sealed superbatt leisure from my previous leisure bank) The A to B has a sense wire to leisure bank but it is not compulsary to use one. It charged my banks for an hour and a half today but the leisure bank voltage just drops off rapidly again. the alternator post was reading 13.5V on initial start up which is 3 minuted not boosted, just regular passive charging. All seems normal except the exciter wire connection on the alternator is producing 17V making the light glow dim. I can not really take my alternator to a specialist, leave it with them for ages and manage without it until they can do something with it and charge me lots of money. It is better for me to take it off, replace regulator myself and put it back together. My issue is that I do not know the manufacturer to order the regulator. I can see the alternators in the link I gave which has a regulator https://www.autodoc.co.uk/lauber/10925567 from a manufacturer of an alternator that looks identical in every way but says 150A. it is £10 I have a tripple pully on the crank, double pully on the water pump and 2 v belts. I replaced the v belts 6 months ago as on shredded, they were skinny by then, they lasted 6 years of daily use for an hour or more, so I have no issues with my belt arrangement. Will this £75 alternator be a piece of shite compared to my sterling one??? how can I order the regulator for my alternator when I have no idea who made it??

I thought that the exciter wire putting out 17V was evidence that the diode was shot, that combines with the fact that my batteries are all dead. I do not trust it anymore to not over volt. But you are right, i could try and fix it i guess

About 6 years ago I purchased a Sterling Power 200A alternator from the Sterling website, along with an alternator to battery charger 210A. a few days ago I noticed the charge light for the ignition was on whilst running, but dim, I found that the exciter wire was producing 17V whilst running, I think at some point the alternator may have over volted my batteries because my 3 AGMs now go down to 12.3V in 30 mins of laptop use instead of the 8 hours i was getting the day before. My starter battery is also the same, cranks over a few times then dies. I have to link to AGMs to start the cold engine. I have cycled the AGMs 10 times since but they are not improving. The alternator seems to power the alternator to battery charger normally, at least the voltage on the starter battery is 13.6 and AGMs charge at 14.2, alternator gets hot and appears to be putting current into the batteries. I do not trust my alternator anymore, i have no idea what regulator/rectifier to get to replace them, Sterling no longer sell alternators and I have made custom brackets for the alternator to go on to my 1.8BMC. Many hours of searching I may have found the same size alternator that I hope can be a direct replacement, but I could be wrong. Sterling alternator was about £400 now redundant, https://www.kenixmarine.com/alternatori-di-potenza/56-sterling-power-al12200-alternatore-di-potenza-12v-200a.html The alternators I found that look the same are here but price is £75 - £560 here but only 150A. https://www.autodoc.co.uk/car-parts/oem/0101542902 I was never able to get more than 150A from my 200A sterling and I am sure it was never 200A to begin with. If these alternators are the same physical size, what does anyone think about a £75 new replacement, will it just die killing batteries really quickly?? I have ordered some 280Ah EVE cells and a daly BMS that should arrive in a week and I was hoping to use my alternator to charge them through the alternator to battery charger with an AGM in parallel to protet the charger from sudden open circuit. I have a 9inch car radiator fan blowing on my alternator to cool it, not that it has ever really needed it, I only used it on hot summer days for the first few years. I just kept the rpms up high to cool it. I am pretty skint now and cant spend any money so a £75 shite alternator is about all I can manage, could it work?? Should i try the LAUBER CQ1010010 Alternator Regulator in the second link in my Sterling alternator? they are £10, and hope it will take my exciter wire back to normal voltage and not over volt again, when my lifepo4 arrives any overvolt will be ok due to the BMS. Thanks to anyone who actually reads this and gives me some advice on cheap alternators or anything else. .

Thanks Sir Nibble, sometimes why just have to TRY

Just a quick update. Pump seems to run fine now, only done about 6 hours but the oil level has not risen since. Changing the seals is very easy with some 90 degree circlip pliers. The process on hydrolic pump is to remove the pump, take off the side cover for the fuel outlet/return, release the circlip and withdraw the shaft. inside the shaft is a small shaft 1 inch long, replace the seal on it and the 2 on the main shaft and refit. no need to remove any other parts on the pump. Hope this helps someone else as it really is simple, espacially if you are going to remove the pump anyway to have it overhauled or replaced.

thanks john.k I got the circlip off ok using some nail scissors and withdrew the shaft. the 2 seals were hard and brittle. i pulled them off easy enough they just tore apart. The new seals were a little tricky to get on but i was very careful and they went on just fine. The shaft was very difficult to get back in with the new seals on as they were much larger. Also i can not rotate the shaft by hand and can only rotate it by using some grips on the end of it. It was jiggling about in there with the old seals so i am confident this was the problem. Not put it back on yet its a job for the morning but relativly easy job to do assuming it seals ok now.

There appears to be a small cover which i removed, inside is a circlip which seems to hold the shaft in place, lots of play in this shaft so hopefully i can get some circlip pliers tomorrow and withdraw the shaft put new seals on without dismantling anything inside. It would be great if the people who have this issue can just withdraw the input shaft and put new seals on without having to touch anything else. I will update later in case it helps someone else in the future.

Also i noticed bubbles coming from the injector pump gasket when engine was cold, so i am thinking it is the pump, i do not know

no not sure but did this last time and diaphram looked ok, could not see a split or hole anywhere. should i take it off and try again, maybe seal it with thick polythene?