Albin Owners Group

Hello,
I own 2007 Albin 28TE with diesel Yanmar 315 hp 6LP-STP engine since December of 2009. Since I bought it, I noticed that when I start the engine, voltmeter gage would gradually go from 12V to 13.5V. I was told that voltmeter gage should go to 13V right after I start the engine and my alternator needs to be rebuild.
After rebuilding my alternator three times, the voltmeter gage would not go up at all and it takes 5 to 10 min. to run the engine before the voltage would jump to 13V. When I run the boat the voltage remain at approx. 13.5V. When I stop the engine and start right up, the voltage would be 12V for 5 min. or more until it would jump to 13V. Alternator puts out 30 to 60 amps, but voltage remains low. I am not sure what prevents voltage to go up sooner.
If anybody can advise on this problem or may have a wiring diagram that would help to solve this, I would greatly appreciate.
Thank you!
Sam.

If you have not done so already you might try measuring the voltage with a digital VOM to make certain your voltmeter is operating properly.

For some reason this person PM'd me on the same topic. I am posting the reply here as well for general consumption:
I regret to inform you that you have wasted a lot of time, money, and worry. Your alternator is, and was, fine. The 6LP engine has an electrical heating circuit that, when starting the engine cold, pre-warms the intake air and cylinders. This results in less smoke and pollution when starting a cold engine. Once the engine is warm, the circuit shuts off, resulting in the voltage jump. Your engine is running as it was designed to. Tell the person who told you your alternator needed rebuilding you want your money back.

It looks to me like you are new to the AOG. You will find lot's of friendly, helpful people on this site that will be more than happy to help you with such questions in the future.

my intake heating unit is unplugged preventing the voltage draw. starts quickly and only small amount of smoking during the colder months during blackfish season. no problems without the heater on my 6lpa......fwiw

My voltmeter does the same thing as yours. I purposely looked last Sat and Sun. It takes several minutes before mine rises to the 13.5v reading.

As far as I know....it's been that way for the 4 years I've owned her......could it be the gauges?

I have a 2006 28TE with the Yanmar 315 and I noticed the same voltage readings both at the helm and at the cabin meters. My concern was whether I should use the thruster when there was a lower voltage than that shown a bit later. My guess is that when the engine is started from a cold condition, there is a heater (maybe glow plugs?) that draws lots of current. If I restart the engine even hours after the engine has reached operating temperature, the voltage jumps to the 13.5v or 14v readings on both voltmeters right after startup. This seems normal, so I would not rebuild anything.
Fairtide

The duplicate threads have been merged and posts referring only to that issue have been removed.

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Thank you.

Is your boat equipped with a splitter, a device that allows the main charging wire to charge both battery banks at once but keep them isolated from each other. This may be why the voltage comes up slowly. I removed the one on my 27ac and threw it away. I will explain how and why if any one is interested. Also as someone else mentioned the dash gauges are notoriously inaccurate. Best to check with a digital Volt meter. Sears has some decent ones at a reasonable price. Avoid the el cheapo ones at the parts stores they have accuracy issues. I do this sort of work for a living this is one area I know alot about. Fire trucks and other equipment. have similar systems