Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Nicely done Christo,

So when is the next novel....ha ha....just kidding..... excellent thread, can be very handy for someone else to learn from !!

Cedric, there's so little left to do on Chuck that I have to get my mileage on the forum any way I can

dagging up an old post of yours Christo.....
My altenator just packed up..... and now faced with the choice of beef up to run the duel batteries of just repair my existing alternator.
The current alternator is a hitachi 12V 60 amp. and see when googling that the Nivara alternator is a 12v 90 amp. Does anyone know if these 2 alternators are the same fixing points. I think the lugs are 180 deg from each other? Christo maybe you can shed a little light on this point?

Just contact Breno - there is one is Boksburg - do not have the number now! They even got me a starter for my Patrol. Check on google for their numbers.

Cedric, I wouldn't spend any money on repairing or replacing that Hitachi unit.

Nobody stocks any spares for it, so when you need brushes/bearings/whatever in future, you'll be reduced to swearing again. And even if someone finds the spares and fixes it for you, you're still stuck with an underpowered bit of kit that will take forever to charge two batteries...

Chat to the bloke who sourced my Delco - he's in your neck of the woods any way!

BTW: My Patrol had a 90A Hitachi. Are you sure yours is only 60A?

Thanks Christo and Kobus,

Yeah, on the serial number sticker it says 12v 60A. I'll google those people in Boksburg, and chat to the Delco dude.

Thanks again guys

Christo

Could you give me the contact details of the supplier please - I would also like to get one. Do yu think they might have a supplier in C.T.???

I did not pick up on this thread when you did the posting but I experience all the symptoms that you describe. I have done everything - from changing all the interal and external lights to led's to HID'S for my headlights and spotlights. As soon as I switch on my main beams with spots my voltage drops too low and the national luna dual charging system "falls out". Then I don't even have the aircon on.

No I definately want to replace my alternator - in fact my alternator packed up not too long ago as well - and I did ask for a 120A altenator replacement - but the sparky who did the job said there is nothing available for the Nissan Patrol. He obviously don't know his alternators or was either looking for a straight bolt on replacement.

Frans hier kom werk vir jou my vriend - ek gaan jou hulp nodig he asb. GROOT ASB!!

Groete

Gentlemen if I may?

You may well be experiencing a different problem than you think.
Let me recount two examples:
1) My father drives a Hilux, onto the back of which is bolted a camper body. Power is from a National Luna portable battery pack mounted in the camper. The power leads leading from the engine to the battery box are 35 square mm (larger than all the recommendations) but despite this it is a constant struggle to keep enough power in the battery for the fridge to last the night. The charging system must be forced on frequantly. The alternator has been upgraded, yet the problem remains.
2) I have a PBE dual battery system in my car. I can run all the electrics I can think off, but on a trip my second battery never drops below 12.4Volt.

The reason seems to be that on the National Luna system, and due to losses in the solenoid and wires, the voltage at the second battery is a whole 1Volt lower than the alternator's output voltage, whereas the PBE system gives the same voltage or even slightly higher than the main battery gets. That 1Volt makes a huge difference in terms of how quickly the battery charges. My second battery takes 20 to 30 Amps when I start in the morning, whereas my Dad's system struggles to better 5Amps.

The problem with increasing the alternator output to compensate for the voltage loss in the National Luna system's solenoid is that the deep cycle battery ideally wants to charge at 14.5 Volts or so, but a crank battery does not like going this high. Now calculating in the voltage loss means that you have to bump up the alternator's voltage to 15.5V. But the crank battery gets it's charge directly from the alternator, and will thus sustain damage at these high voltages.

Therefore I would recommend checking the voltages at the alternator, vehicle battery and a relatively flat (run your fridge overnight) second battery. If there is a measurably lower voltage at the second battery, I beleive you will get better results by replacing your charging system than your alternator. There are two systems I know about that do not give a voltage drop. The one is the PBE, which costs about R1500, and the other is a DC to DC charger (Deltec I think) which is around R2700).

Peter

Very interesting observations you stating here. Definately something to consider........you are not the first guy to "complain" about the effectiveness of the National Luna charging system.

Christo have you experienced any problems since you did the alternator replacement with "over charging"??

Regards

I spoke to Breno in boksburg....Delco 12v 145 Amp Excl pulley +/- R1700. That sounds fair. I asked about the 2V pulley and they don't know if they have. I suppose if my old one doesnt fit, then I can possibly get it machined to fit.

Christo.....If I used my existing pulley, how will that affect the charging ?? Will the revs not need to be a lot higher to get the charge to kick up over the 12 volt earth voltage for the dash light to go off??