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12 volt alternator
FYI I have ran into the 12v 300amp 50 DN alternator and voltage regulater are no longer in production and are no longer available. So if you have a failure your option may be to replace it with a air cooled unit. I have found some boards only for the regulaters…..Just food for thought as this does not affect a lot of coaches….
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25 Replies
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Jeff has provided a fair warning to those whose converter used a 12V 50DN for the house and added a smaller alternator to handle the 24 volt coach circuits.
If you have a coach with a 12 volt house system check to see what you have for an alternator. If it is a 12V 50DN now is the time to develop a plan on how you are going to deal with its demise. If you wait til it breaks it may affect your wallet to a greater extent or leave the coach out of service for longer than you would like.
Keep in mind however that 50DN alternators have been rebuilt and finding a rebuilder might be an option. If anyone knows of an alternator rebuilder post the information here. If anyone has a core you might want to see if among our members there is interest in having it rebuilt, and stored at a shop for when the need arises. Then every failure gets rebuilt and stored for the next time one is needed.
Even if you have a 12 volt house, if you have Prevost OTR you have a 24 volt alternator.
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aleys alt shop inWichita Falls got me one 24 volt out ofDallas if an needs phone number let me know 1500.oo dollars I believe thanks Dan
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I heard a rumor that the converters take new 24v units off as soon as they get a new shell and install larger units, so they are willing to part with them for a substantially dicounted price.
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24v units no problem to get
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Lost charge on my generator back in 2009 while in Maine. It’s only an old Ford style that is no longer available. NAPA said 3 days and they could have one for me. Too long as the cavavan of Prevosts were pulling out from an overnight dry camp the next morning. Its no 4:30 PM, no source for new/replacement alternator so I ask the NAPA counter guy, “Any rebuilders nearby that I can get to before they close for the day?” Here is the answer he gave me:
the starter shop
101 Western Road
Warren, Maine 04864
(207) 273-2161
If you have problems in the area this is a go to shop for repairs off the vehicle. The location is posted on PC Maps.
The shop had all descriptions of generators, alternators, and starters on the shelves and the counter. The owner took my alternator to the work space, tested it, diagnosed it and had the parts to perform a total rebuild. Now we are talking about 5:00 PM so I asked if there was any way possible to get it back at 9:00 AM tomorrow. He told me to be at the shop at 9:00 AM and no later. I got there about 8:30 AM and the alternator was ready for me to pick up and reinstall. It is still working 100% problem free today.
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Starter, alternator, and generator guys like that are a dying breed. I had trouble with the alternator on my race car 3x since I started racing in 2005 and took it to a guy in his mid-60s who does only alternators, generators, and starters. First two times he rebuilt it. Last time he called me said it was junk. Found me an exact duplicate. Before he would let me take it he bench checked it.
When I had the race car engine freshened a few years ago I mentioned my engine guy, Joe Rhyne of Gary (IN), that sometimes when hot the starter seemed like it had a dead spot and wouldn’t turn the engine over. He gave it one of his techs who let me watch him bench test the starter. Didn’t like the sound it made. Took it apart, replaced the bearings, check the coil of copper wire (armature?), found a loose connection that was causing a short. Replaced the nut on the connection with a self-locking nut, smiled and said, “Now this should NEVER come loose.”
In today’s throw away and replace culture … the expertise to fix this stuff is being lost. Cherish these guys, encourage their children to learn the crafts of their fathers and grandfathers.
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“In today’s throw away and replace culture … the expertise to fix this stuff is being lost. Cherish these guys, encourage their children to learn the crafts of their fathers and grandfathers.”
Amen to that.
Ted.
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While I fully agree with the sentiment Dick has expressed, when my 50DN acted up about 5 years ago I looked at rebuilding it myself, having an alternator shop rebuild it, or replacing it with new.
In my search for parts I ran across Elreg. They listed at the time a brand new 50DN for $864, delivered, no core.
I tested mine and the parts I needed to repair it were going to be around $500. When I checked local rebuilders, one of whom was like the expert described by Dick, the lowest cost to rebuild was almost the same as the new one from Elreg. Thinking the Elreg alternator was going to be a foreign knock off I stuck my neck out and bought it.
When it was delivered it was the real deal. It was a 50DN exactly like the Delco 50DN on my coach right down to the casting numbers.
So yes we are losing people willing to rebuild or repair things, but apparently their costs are close to the price of a complete new product making it very difficult to justify a repair.
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I checked our coach today and both altenators are 24V. One is a Delco Remy 50-DN (270A) and the other is a Delco Remy 26-SI (75A). Is there a 12V one that I do not know about? Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question!
Donald
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Very unusual to have two 24V alternators.
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Here are pictures of the labels off of the two different alternators:
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Have you put a voltmeter on the outputs? That is certainly a good way to isolate the house and chassis. It eliminates an isolator (which is pretty reliable) and uses two alternators (not so reliable), but it does provide limited back up charging if the 50DN quits if the two systems can be merged.
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Dick, I’m a guy exactly in the mid 60’s, just lose the alternator on the race car and save weight and engine drag, then go faster, you can run on just the battery.
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Dan, I run a car somewhat like Dick’s and have to run an altenator because of trans & rear gear pumps along with brake duct fans.1 wire altenator-little power loss-big benefits. Geo. BTW 3# and 18V
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George is right. I know from experience its difficult to make it through a 30 minute race even on a full charge without an alternator. The MSD box takes a ton of juice to create that welder-like spark every time a spark plug fires. A weak battery results in all kinds of interesting noise coming from the engine at moderate to high RPM.
On a side note, the guy I was spotting for at Road America on Saturday for the NASCAR Xfinity race thought (and probably still thinks) he ran out of gas, but when pushed into the pits and fueled the engine wouldn’t turn over so they too him behind the wall to the Garage Area and replace the battery. I suspect that either the alternator quit or for some reason the alternator switch was turned off.
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