Smoke from the Alternator!

[kja3947]

So my 90Amp fuse blew for unknown reasons. I remove the fuse and then, to test it, manually connected the battery cable that goes to one end of the fuse to the cables at the other end. The boat electronics powered on (beep), but then smoke came out of the alternator.

So do we think its the alternator that caused the short, or did I screw up connecting those leads together?

Thoughts?

 

[kja3947]

So my 90Amp fuse blew for unknown reasons. I remove the fuse and then, to test it, manually connected the battery cable that goes to one end of the fuse to the cables at the other end. The boat electronics powered on (beep), but then smoke came out of the alternator.

So do we think its the alternator that caused the short, or did I screw up connecting those leads together?

Thoughts?

Oh, and FYI I have a 2004 Sea Ray sport 200.

 

[tank1949]

snatch it off and take it to any shop that cane test it. CYA

 

[Scott Danforth]

if you let the magic smoke out. you have to take it in to an alternator shop to re-pack it with more magic smoke.

 

[racerone]

Replace alternator.-----Make sure battery connections are correct.-----Electrical issues , perhaps leading to a fire will ruin your day.

 

[achris]

Oh, and FYI I have a 2004 Sea Ray sport 200.

Don't care what the boat is (Sea Ray don't make engines), what's the engine? (Make, model, year, serial number)

 

[kja3947]

Don't care what the boat is (Sea Ray don't make engines), what's the engine? (Make, model, year, serial number)

Not sure on model #s but its a Mercruiser 5.0 MPI motor

 

[kja3947]

Replace alternator.-----Make sure battery connections are correct.-----Electrical issues , perhaps leading to a fire will ruin your day.

Plan to on a warmer day, but don't want to blow another 90Amp and don't want to fry anything. Is there a way to test if that was the problem? I'm assuming if smoke came out of the alternator there are two possibilities, 1. it was the problem, 2. my action caused the problem.

Soooo, is there any possibility that bypassing the 90Amp would blow up the alternator? If not, I will assume it's the alternator, replace it, put in the 90Amp and go for a boat ride.

 

[kja3947]

if you let the magic smoke out. you have to take it in to an alternator shop to re-pack it with more magic smoke.

LOL!!

 

[kja3947]

Disconnected the alternator and connected the wires and...no smoke! So looks like the alternator was the culprit. Thanks for all the input here!

 

[SternDriveEd]

Okay now that the new alternator is all connected let’s do a test. At the large output wire on the alternator test for voltage with the engine off. Use a DVOM. Red to alternator output wire. Black to bare metal on engine. It should read the same as battery voltage. Now with the engine running it should increase, typically by about 2 volts. This should be the same as the voltage measured at the battery. It’s called Charging Voltage. This will prove that the wiring between alternator and battery is not damaged. And the new alternator is working.

 

[Bt Doctur]

the 90A protects the system wiring in case of alt failure.it did its job.
so unless you had the battery cables reversed just replace the alt