Travel power - doesn’t work, can anyone help?

[dmr]

I have exactly the same issue, and a similar bit of wood. The belt wrap is not good so getting just enough tension to stop the squeal is quite difficult.

Pretty close to the top of the todo list is to make a better tensioner based on a turnbuckle (like what the rally people use for adjusting suspension) but I can't find a good convenient mounting point on the engine so a difficult bracket might be needed.

 

I believe Ed sells a freewheel pulley upgrade that might or might not help the squeal.

Looking at his website he is a busy man these days and has turned his attention to lithium installs and big alternator upgrades, so Cox might be a better bet as he does a quich turnarround, but you really need to take the travelpower him (walking distance from the canal at Atherstone).

 

The brushes are a fairly easy job to do but the bearings do need replacing routinely, though this mostly applies to the old "blackbox" model. If you neglect to do this they will fail and the rotor will hit the stator., I know this 😀.

[Tony Brooks]

Plenty of this sort of thing on Google

 

 

And some turnbuckle ones as well.

[dmr]

I think mine is nicer, but there is much less room on the other side of the engine to do the same on the TravelPower.

 

[JoeC]

What those adjusters called @dmr and where can you buy them from?

 

Thanks.

[Tony Brooks]

https://www.burtonpower.com/adjustable-alternator-tensioner-110-140mm-mp1295.html

[dmr]

43 minutes ago, JoeC said:

What those adjusters called @dmr and where can you buy them from?

 

Thanks.

 

Turnbuckle, eBay, I think the shop is McGill Motorsport.

They look good and work well. They don't provide any axial restraint like a conventional strap, but mine has worked fine for maybe 10,000 hours so I am happy. I suspect on some alternators there might not be enough clearance to get the rose joint in and aligned with the bolt hole.

[Withywindle]

On 16/03/2024 at 17:19, kingbillymatt said:

Ahhh, interesting mate - and that makes total sense! 
Will have a good nosy about tomorrow when not under the influence and hopefully be able to suss out! 
thank you  

Thank you so much everyone again! 
 

I’ve just had a good nosy and found a loose wire in the changeover switch!

I’ve just re-attached and I now have a working travel pack!
 

can’t tell you how delighted I am, genuinely absolutely made up and grateful to you all!

 

thank you all for diagnosing! 

Just seen this post. Glad you’re sorted. I have the exact same model on my boat so it’s good to see there are still a few around. 
 

It took me quite a while to get my head around how mine worked and its relationship with the Victron and other electronics. In my case I switch to the travel power setting on the selector switch when cruising and it charges my leisure batteries via the Victron in the same sort of way as if I was plugged into a shoreline. It’s an odd setup on my boat which took me a long while to figure out. 
 

Historically, my travel power unit failed, according to the previous owner and was repaired by Cox’s. The telltale sign is the rivets on the box. Cox’s drill these out to open the unit and then replace them with self tappers once they’re done. Yours still has the rivets intact I notice - so it hasn’t needed any attention yet. Keep your fingers crossed!

 

I endorse what people are saying about Ed Shiers. He gave me a lot of free advice over the phone when I first got the boat. He’s excellent.