I've been having on and off issues with my alternator for a while now. Basically the motor runs great, mostly due to a lot more than a tune-up since I got it last August. The only recurring problem I'm having is the electrical system not charging properly.
The original alternator wasn't doing the trick, so we replaced it. When we hooked it up (self-exciting, one wire alternator wired directly to the battery) it began charging. Then at the end of last season, it stopped charging because the battery ran down so far that the key wouldn't even engage the starter after a short cruise.
We revisited the issue this season, and I took the alternator to get tested. Sure enough, it wasn't charging, so they replaced it. I hooked this one up by keeping the wire to the battery plus a pigtail wire to the starter silenoid. Now it seems to either be charging sometimes, or only a little. This seems to be the situation because I ran out 25 gallons of gasoline on a new battery two weeks ago and never lost any power. Then this past weekend, the same new battery was cranking just fine, but died on me in the middle of cruising. All of this after about 25-30 miles of on and off cruising...all the while the motor running great. Thankfully I had my always handy second battery.
So...what are your thoughts? I suppose I'll get the new (now 3rd) alternator tested this weekend.
Thanks as always,
David