www.iFourWinns.com

I have a 1995 22ft fourwinns horizon with a 5.8 omc over the weekend my dual batteries died got a jump and again died looks like my alternator went out, question: I have a super loud stereo system with 3k watts that I use for wakeboarding, would that be the problem that I burned it out?? should I stick with the original alternator or upgrade the alternator with more amps?? thnx guys..

Although added electrical accessories will speed up the wear on an alternator, the rarely cause them to fail, just die an earlier death. id say its due to its being 20 years old. What is the output rating of the current alternator? Upgraded alternators are rarely needed, but if you do decide, steer clear of the cheap soup'd up internet alternators. They dont seem to last.

Keep in mind that the original alternators on these, are only a 55 or 60 amp unit at most. How many amps does your stereo unit draw? Keep in mind that the alt has to produce enough juice to keep the ignition system running, it has to power the tilt n trim system, and if the boat has EFI that too. I don't think the OE alts are up to the task of powering an audio system that draws the power that one must draw. Time to do some calculations. The OE one on mine lasted about 25 years, but that was with normal loads lol.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Thnx guys it is the original alternator its all painted the same as the engine...anyone know where i can purchase a goodqquality alternator? ?

Get the part number off your original alternator and google it. I found a few decent ones on Amazon for pretty cheap. I just replaced my alternator with a non-oem for $100. The place I bought them is local to me and has a really good warranty. I went ahead and replaced mine before I had issues. I just bought the boat and adding a second battery and an amp/sub I figured it would be a good idea.

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1996 4 Winns Horizon 170 SOLD
1997 4 Winns Sundowner 205 SOLD
2000 4 Winns Horizon 230 CURRENT
Tow Vehicle: 2007 Toyota Tundra Limited SOLD
1999 Chevy Tahoe 4x4 SOLD
2003 GMC Yukon XL 2500 6.0

I got an OEM style one from ARCO which is one of the biggest marine electrical aftermarket companies. Good quality unit very easy to install and good tech support if you need to call them.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

thnx for the input Captains..Took the alternator to get checked and the voltage regulator died $60 to replace and fix the problem, the tech says to keep it original because anymore would be worthless unless you have a fridge or baitwells etc to use more power it will be fine...another thing at times the boat gets a power surge and kicks out the breaker which I have to push the button to get the power back up..the tech says my stereo might be wired to both batteries instead of 1 that would draw more and kick the breaker on and later surge and might kill the voltage regulator on the alternator...make any sense or suggestions??? thnx

Nope! Aint happening. A draw is a draw, regardless of how many batteries its tied to. A breaker trips due to the draw exceeding its rated capacity. This is whats its job is. Or, its failing. A surge would likely let the magic smoke out of what ever is on the receiving end.

Before buying your a new alternator, hook your old one back up (assuming you fixed the regulator) and put an amp clamp around your lead leaving the battery (make sure it will measure DC amps). Start the boat, turn everything on and see what your draw is. That will give you a good baseline for what you will need.

I agree with the previous reply, your tech doesn't know much about electricity. Drawing off of two batteries would give you the same voltage and twice the available amps (as long as they were wired in parallel), but would not cause you to trip on a voltage surge differently than if you were only connected to one.

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2006 Four Winns H210 Horizon
5.0L GXi VP

thanks for the input guys really appreciate your help..

follow, i installed the alternator with a new voltage regulator and while charging my battaries 1 of them was not charging properly so i pulled it out took it to autozone they said it charged up but would not hold the load so i got another battery and installed it took the boat out this past wknd and everything went well...thnx fellas