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Leece Neville and Remote Sense,

Yahoo Message Number: 81716
All,

I've been doing a little experimenting with my alternator after discovering it is equipped with remote sense but was not being used. I removed the short factory installed jumper and installed a wire from the remote sense terminal on the alternator and the other end to a terminal in the chassis battery area with a large 4/0 copper feed. It's basically connected directly to the battery. Also installed a 5 amp fuse here as suggested by the Remy web site.
The results were surprising to me. My alternator has always run a very consistent 13.8 volts according to the Silver Leaf. With the remote sense connected as described above it now runs at 14.4 volts! This was with the chassis and house batteries very low (house 12.1, chassis 11.9) so the alternator was working hard to recharge them.
Also according to the Remy web site, if the charge voltage is raised by 1/2 volt, the time to recharge the battery will be reduced by 50%. Meaning the battery will charge in 1/2 the time. That's a huge difference. This might explain the reason some are having problems getting their batteries charged completely?
It's difficult to see the alternator connections with it installed but you may be able to see it from the bottom when looking between the frame and engine block. Here's a couple of pictures with the alternator removed.
http://www.moenracing.com/Leece_Neville/Leece_Neville.html
Just though someone might also find this info interesting.

Barney

07 Inspire 52059

Re: Leece Neville and Remote Sense,

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 81718
Can someone explain what the remote sense is supposed to do? TIA

Larry 03 Allure, 39856

Re: Leece Neville and Remote Sense,

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 81719
Larry,

It regulates the voltage at the battery rather than at the alternator. This way voltage drop from the alternator to the battery are eliminated. Much better way to go if available.
Barney

07 Inspire 52059

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID

Re: Leece Neville and Remote Sense,

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 81728
Barney,

Thank you for a very helpful post.

George in Birmingham
'03 Magna 6298
George in Birmingham
2003 Magna 6298

Re: Leece Neville and Remote Sense,

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 81748
Barney,

Did you connect to the house or chassis battery?

Elton Kossaeth
2K Magna 5894

Re: Leece Neville and Remote Sense - A Cautionary Note

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 81755
There is no doubt using remote sense will increase charging voltage, and thus charging current available to your batteries. It also will increase the stress on the alternator, as it now has to provide more power, which in turn will make it run hotter. (Nothing is free in the electrical world.) If you have added extra batteries to your system, switched your fridge to run on inverter, added other 12 volt loads which run when truckin' down the road, then your alternator may be overloaded and in for a short life. Not saying it will, but something to think about. A dash alternator ammeter would sure be handy.

Dave

2000 Allure
#30444

Re: Leece Neville and Remote Sense - A Cautionary Note

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 81762
Elton,

I'll answer your question first. I connected to the chassis battery as that is the main reason the alternator is there. To quickly recharge the chassis battery after it has started the engine. Being able to also charge the house batteries is an added benefit.

Dave,

I'll try to explain why just the opposite is true. The actual measure of how much electrical energy is being used is not the volt or even the amp, but it's a little guy called the watt. This all comes down to something called Ohms Law. Everything I will address assumes there are no additions or subtractions in the coach. I will also assume we are using a 160 amp alternator.
To figure the watts you use a very simple formula, volts x amps = watts. I'll give a couple of examples.

Before - 12.8 volts x 160 amps = 2048 watts After - 14.4 volts x 142 amps = 2045 watts
So you can see that raising the voltage can actually reduce the work on the alternator. But in this case the alternator will put out the same number of amps (if needed) so you will get more electrical energy to the battery as seen below. This will allow the battery to recharge faster.

14.4 volts x 160 amps =2304 watts.
The output voltage is controlled by the regulator inside the alternator. By raising the excitation voltage the alternator will also raise the generated voltage. The excitation voltage uses very little amperage. Mine is fused at 5 amps and hasn't blown so would guess it's using less than 1 amp to do its job.
It's commonly understood that when you raise the voltage the amperage will drop. Of course the equipment is designed to operate within a certain voltage range so raising the voltage too high will start destroying things. So raising the voltage, within design limits, is always a good idea.

Just my 2 cents worth,

Barney

07 Inspire 52059

Re: Leece Neville and Remote Sense,

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 81810
Great job Barney. Hard to believe they didn't design it that way from the start considering that alternator has this feature.

Ed McManus.....'02 In trigue.....11361

Re: Leece Neville and Remote Sense,

Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 81819
Ed,

Thanks. I am not so sure mine might be the exception rather than the rule but if it's available there is no reason not to use it.

Barney

07 Inspire 52059

Re: Leece Neville and Remote Sense,

Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 81838
Barney

You are right on with your description of the remote sensor. However other factors will come into play. My 03 and 92 Magna had remote sensor connected at the factory. We drove from Texas to Oregon with voltages from 13.3 to 13.6 volts. Everything worked fine in the coach, but battery's were not at full charge. I removed the alternator (200 amp) and rebuilt with new regulator. The new alternator did the same thing. I then went to all the battery's and found a bad ground connection on the engine battery. All is well for the last two years, at 14.3 volts.
Wayne Lenox 03 Magna 505 Cat.