Airstream Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Hi, Can anyone advise the amp rating of the alternator on my 57 reg 2.3 Ducato please Regards Ray H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenewellhome Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 At a guess it will be at least 90 Amp but with aircon it could be a 120 Amp unit. Certainly unlikely to be less than a 90 Amp jobbie. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 I can't find any spec for it but as Dave says it's a decent output, after a couple of nights camping the initial charge into the leisure batteries is around 45 amps on a cold wet morning with most of the electrical systems running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Hello. Still here! 2.3 Ducato's (X250) have either 110,140,150 or 180A alternators. The parts system does not indicate which options call for which unit but the 180A was a paid for factory option and our 2.3's with climate control have 150A alternators as do our 3.0 vans. I suspect if you have air con not climate yours will be 140A Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Ord Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 euroserv - 2009-12-24 10:08 AM Hello. Still here! 2.3 Ducato's (X250) have either 110,140,150 or 180A alternators. The parts system does not indicate which options call for which unit but the 180A was a paid for factory option and our 2.3's with climate control have 150A alternators as do our 3.0 vans. I suspect if you have air con not climate yours will be 140A Nick Hi, My 2005 Rapido 924F has air con and when it's running the alternator cannot keep up with the current draw if I'm to believe the control panel readout which can often show -8 amps. I raised this with the Fiat dealer at Warwick and they couldn't tell me from the details of my van which alternator is fitted. The alternator failed last April at Nimes in France and cost 300 Euros for a replacement at the Fiat agent there plus fitting costs. I believed this was caused by the alternator being overloaded when the air con is on, I spend most of my time in southern Europe and it is well used.The replacement fairs no better and is unable to supply enough current to balance the load when the air con is in use. I cannot find any reasonable explanation as to where the high current draw is coming from unless the condenser fan (s) are faulty and pulling excess current. I'm just waiting for a recurrence of the problem as I've no faith in Fiat putting there hands up and admitting that the vehicle was fitted with either a faulty or underrated alternator. The agents at Warwick are of little help as they seem unable to tell which alternator should be fitted but I would have thought that even a 90 amp alternator would cope? Bill Ord Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenewellhome Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Bill, engine driven air con shouldn't cause a particularly high current draw as in general the only electrical power requirement is for the clutch on the compressor and the fan motor in the heater/AC unit. You say a high current draw but then state it as -8 amps, is this correct because an 8 amp draw is not particularly significant and certainly a 90 Amp alternator should have no problem with this. Is the air con unit in your van fitted in the cab heater or is it a roof mounted unit? If it is the latter and you can use it while driving then it will be an AC mains electrically powered unit with a big inverter. These units can draw anything from 80 amps upwards depending on the rating of the air con unit. 80 Amps being continually demanded from an alternator rated at 90 Amps maximum output will almost certainly cause an early failure of the alternator. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 2005 vehicles have either a 90A or 120A alternator in UK spec with most versions having the larger one. The problem you are having must be something to do with your conversion because we have never experienced any issues with our vans (pre X250) in this area except for alternator failures which seem to occur more often on 2005 to 2006 vans. There is no way to monitor the output of the alternator in the cab so you must have somehing after-market fitted which may be either causing a drain itself or is wrong. If the output was that low, the battery warning light would be on the dash. Also the air con compressor fitted to Fiat chassis at the factory does not draw any power, it just introduces a little more load to the charging circuit which actually should instigate a higher output. Unless the compressor is faulty with failing bearings in which case the load would be considerably greater. If anyone is having any electrical issues with an x250 look to see if the mileage display is flashing while you are driving. This indicates a problem with the CAN-Bus communication systems and is normally easily remedied by the dealer. (Once they have found out what this little known warning means!) Nick P.S. Now I am REALLY going home! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Ord Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 davenewell@home - 2009-12-24 10:57 AM Bill, engine driven air con shouldn't cause a particularly high current draw as in general the only electrical power requirement is for the clutch on the compressor and the fan motor in the heater/AC unit. You say a high current draw but then state it as -8 amps, is this correct because an 8 amp draw is not particularly significant and certainly a 90 Amp alternator should have no problem with this. Is the air con unit in your van fitted in the cab heater or is it a roof mounted unit? If it is the latter and you can use it while driving then it will be an AC mains electrically powered unit with a big inverter. These units can draw anything from 80 amps upwards depending on the rating of the air con unit. 80 Amps being continually demanded from an alternator rated at 90 Amps maximum output will almost certainly cause an early failure of the alternator. Hi dave, Let me explain, when I say there is a -8 amp current draw this shows on the van control panel as -8amp when the air con is running, occasionally it is a little less. I guess this means the leisure batteries are discharging at 8 amp?? I'm totally puzzled as to why this should be. I've had my wife check the control panel when we're driving and the air con is on and depending on engine speed the panel shows between +1 to -6 amp. In any other situation the panel shows the normal charge rate I would expect. I'm reasonably mechanically aware but this one really has me beat. I only became aware of it out of curiosity one day when we were about to move and I wanted to check battery voltages and charge rates on the panel with the engine running and the air con on. It's just conjecture on my part in connecting the early failure of the alternator and the "unusual" negative charge state on the control panel but it certainly makes me suspicious. As far as I know there are no good reasons why the panel should show discharge when the air con is on, it doesn't show discharge if lights etc. are put on! so I've assumed it is directly connected to the air con? The air con is engine driven and is connected by an electric"clutch" which can't draw much? the condenser fans are another issue? Bill Ord D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 There should not be any interconnection between the chassis electrics and the habitation electrics. When the engine is running, the split charging relay should allow the alternator to charge the habitation battery and run the fridge, but should not bridge the habitation and chassis systems, so no chassis system switch should ever impact on habitation items.Stating the obvious, I know, and I have no solution to offer, but summat is clearly up if switching in the cab aircon is affecting the supply to the habitation battery. Is the engine earth intact? If not, could it cause a reversed draw via the habitation circuits? Wild guess with apologies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Ord Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 Brian Kirby - 2009-12-26 1:27 PMThere should not be any interconnection between the chassis electrics and the habitation electrics. When the engine is running, the split charging relay should allow the alternator to charge the habitation battery and run the fridge, but should not bridge the habitation and chassis systems, so no chassis system switch should ever impact on habitation items.Stating the obvious, I know, and I have no solution to offer, but summat is clearly up if switching in the cab aircon is affecting the supply to the habitation battery. Is the engine earth intact? If not, could it cause a reversed draw via the habitation circuits? Wild guess with apologies!Thanks for that Brian. As I've said I'm puzzled. There shouldn't be any feed back from the habitation battery, I know, perhaps there is a problem with the split charge relay? There is not a problem with battery charging or any other problem with the leisure batteries just the puzzle of why I get the negative reading on the control panel when the air con is on and of course not knowing if there is a connection with this and the early demise of the alternator. But as you say "Sumatt is up" Bill Ord Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 I think a something needs clarifying. When the alternator (engine) is running then the split charge relay closes and in effect the engine (edited)and leisure battery are in parallel, unless you have some fancy charger taking the alternator power and ntelligently charging the leisure battery. So, it is perfectly feasible for teh engne battery or cab electrics to be drawing power from the leisure battery if the alternator is faulty or cannot keep up. What could result in this is if the air con driven from the same belt as alternator was slipping on the crankshaft or loaded (edited) in such a way it loosens around the alternator pulley. This does not hold possible though as I understand all ducatos use a seperate drive belt for air conditioning. So what could be drawing power fron the alternator so much it cannot produce enough power? Only a separate electric air conditioning unit and not an engine belt driven one. Any faulty fans would be supplied via a fuse and it would have blown at the power levels involved. Very strange! Jon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 p.s. t above -- have correced a few typos and errors. If you need to know the power output of your alternator then read the info on the label, if it does not tell you it should at least give the FIAT part number of the alternator and then Nick or I should be able to check it for you. If it only has an original manufacturers par number then again I should be able to find the data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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