I’ve got an electrical generating concept to bounce off you. The boat is a catamaran with two Yanmar 27 HP engines. I want to power a Marine Air 16K btu air conditioner without adding a genset (third engine, weight). I’d like to run two 120 amp alternators in parallel on each engine (one regulator per engine) by connecting their fields together. Then add a second 3KW inverter that powers only the airco compressor. A link 20 runs the 800 AH battery bank. What do you think? Thanks, Bill
Hi Bill: There are special regulators made for controlling two alternators at once. These have higher amperage capacity, and two sets of field wires. You will need one of these to make your system work. However, it might be more efficient to go to larger alternators, that will carry the load in total, and then run only one at a time (or just put one big alternator on one engine). Running a single engine, under higher load, is a lot more efficient (and quieter). If you take this approach make sure the pulley on the Yanmar can handle the required HP. These are usually limited by the crankshaft bearings. Steve
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 30, 1999)
