Alternator Charging

Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

Yes, there were months of primary elderly care from Nov - Feb, but gratefully that has settled in a fantastic living situation.

So time to update you on the tons that has happened recently.

Adding a second alternator to the engine basically turns the van engine into a big generator to recharge the battery bank pretty quick.

Bought the 2nd alternator kit through Vanlife Outfitters as part of a much larger bulk purchase that I picked up in person to save freight shipping and negotiated a great discount at the time. 'Smuggled' it back north to Wisconsin last March.

• Nations 280XP 12V alternator
• Bracket to adapt alternator bolt pattern to the standard spot on the EcoBoost engine for a 2nd alternator
• Bolts, belts, nuts, etc. - the full install kit comes with it
• Wakespeed WS500 alternator regulator 'white box' version which has the 2 RJ45 CAN ports
• Wakespeed <-> Victron Cerbo cross connect ethernet cable
• Wakespeed 'van harness' - a ~27 foot long monster to get from the engine back to the electrical bay

Since my Transit Trail has a body lift, working under the van in some areas has a bit more head/elbow room than most so that's a plus.

I consider myself a 'decent' amateur mechanic. I can swap rotors and brake pads, any lube, tranny fluid exchange, etc. But large stuff like replacing a clutch or something is beyond my motivation. Certainly never installed an alternator before - and hadn't really had to mess around with engine belts too much.

Decided to give it a try knowing full well that if it went sideways, I'd probably need a tow truck since without a main belt, it ain't moving anywhere. There's a definite 'sphincter factor' at play when you snip that main belt in half (kinda like that once-in-a-lifetime parachute leaving the airplane moment).

The install instructions are top notch. Really excellent. Can't speak highly enough - just need to methodically read through them a few times, be prepared with tools you'll need, and take extra care at each step.

You'll need to remove a lot more of the hard plastic turbo ducting than the instructions say though - a few YouTube videos show good detail here. It's pretty obvious though - the instructions think you can just push things to the side, but that would be so frustrating constantly in trying to position things I don't see how it could possibly work. Removing this isn't hard - just be sure to put clean rags into any holes that bolts/nuts/dust/leaves should never ever get into while you have things apart.

The other KEY TIP is that the main belt tensioner is a complete bitch to reach. You need some insanely thin, yet very long 15mm wrench to manipulate it. Hunted the internet/amazon a lot and failed to find anything reasonable when I hit this wall.

And then I remembered that a Park Tool 15mm pedal wrench might likely work. Ran to the basement and it saved the day!!!

The other tip I'll say is install gas struts for the hood. The stupid prop rod is in the EXACT spot you need to work all the time for this. Seems extravagant, but every time I pop the hood I smile now. And in hot weather once parked at your destination, cracking the hood keeps a lot of engine heat from coming through the firewall into the cab.

Taking a tip from @natecostello I added a Sterling alternator protection device (APD). The Victron system will 'fire a flare gun' CAN bus message to the Wakespeed a few seconds before disconnecting the batteries in the event of some BMS crisis. That saves the alternator from frying. But after being a software engineer for 35+ years, an $80 hardware backstop in case of software bugs seems prudent given the wild expense of everything else in the system. The red APD box is easily installed a little higher in the engine bay - especially in my Trail.

Otherwise not much to add to other documented installs of this alternator. I have a lot of detailed pics during the install, but they won't make any sense to anyone unless you're stuck at that point.

The second sphincter factor moment of the day is starting the engine again.

Success! But without any further wiring at this stage, I was really just testing the mounting geometry, belts, and that the AC compressor continues to work.