Westerbeke 15.0BTDB

I have a new to me Westerbeke 15.0BTDB genny. Starting to learn it and performing all its annual maintenance to have clear starting point for myself.

First, we use our genny´s, boat leaves the slip, genny goes on and doesn´t get turned off till we get to our next slip, sometimes that´s multiple days as we anchor often.

Second, last weekend we had the genny on and it ran great, about 4 or 5 hours in I had noticed that some electrical components on the boat had stopped working, water pump, one AC and our oven would not power on.

The genny was still running but noticed on the AC Voltage meter that the needle was pegged and the genny was putting out at least 140-150 volts (it may have been more but needle can only go so far).

Turned genny on/off, same issue 140/150 volts.

We had planned on going back to slip that night and when we did and plugged into shore power we had normal power and everything worked fine minus our master stateroom AC, no power.

AC guy came down this week and board in the AC unit was blown, that was replaced. I don´t know if that was a cause of the voltage jumped by seems likely.

I fired up the genny and it went back to producing the 120 volts, turned beakers on one by one and it stayed there.

Could this be the voltage regulator going bad? Previous owner mentioned he was told by mechanic to keep the clear view window on sound shield open to let air in as maybe its temperature related?

Doesn´t make sense after 4 or 5 hours of running? it would have been hot in there after an hour.

Any ideas and/or suggestions on where to look? Anyone have this issue?

Thanks in advance.

Same thing happened this weekend.

This time I immediately shut generator off once I noticed the high voltage. I went to restart and it started but ran a a very low rpm. I pulled the front sound shield panel off and notice the actuator pulled in. I wiggled the lever actuator is connected to and it came right back up to rpms. I left sound shield panel off and it ran fine, no high voltage for hours.

Could that actuator be going bad and not respond to high temperatures? That´s still seems weird to me as the generator runs for an hour long run at cruise and with 2 engines running sure does create a lot of heat.

Is actuator controlled by voltage regulator?

yes actuator is the governor on this genny

I spoke to Westerbeke's master distributor for our area and they directed me towards the voltage regulator and rectifier, I am going to start by replacing those.

Although pricy components they are available and I believe I can do that myself. With limited genny mechanics around me I would most likely spend the same on someone coming down and looking around without a solution I trust. And one place I due trust is 7 weeks out.

If those components don't change the actuator will be next (I can tell that has already been replaced, its shiny and new looking).

I do think air has something to do with it, but hopefully that is because of some failing/aging parts.

Appreciate the insight, I plan on starting to work on it tomorrow.

I received the parts today and when I open everything up I will make sure all connections are solid.

Stay tuned!

Well don't know if its good news or bad news but this genny does not have the optional voltage regulator (in the Westerbeke owners manual it does say it is an optional add on). I removed all wire connections, cleaned (they were not dirty or corroded) and added a little electrical grease.

I did replace the bridge rectifier just because I had ordered that part and it was only $30. disconnected actuator and made sure all those connections were clean and solid. Next step is to run the boat and genny and see what happens.

I did clean up the ends although I did not replace. There is certainly no slack in any of those lines to allow for a new crimp.

Won't be able to test it this weekend, will have to wait till next.

Still had the same issues this weekend.

Ran the genny while we cruised to our location (hour or so run), dropped the hook and got settled in.

Genny running fine and voltage good when we stopped . Within 1/2 hour genny voltage was 140-150. Air temp in engine room was over 130 degrees (i bought a remote temp sensor to see what engine room temps are). This was about 20 degrees more than while running and having the air flow.

Turned everything off, waited 10-15 minutes, removed sound shield, restarted.

Idle on genny was low, fooled around with actuator, sprayed some crc cleaner on arm and got it back to rpm.

Genny ran all night, no soundshield, no over voltage.

Could actuator be reacting to the heat?

I am not sure, being winterized and just recommissioned.

I have replaced the governor actuator, governor controller and bridge rectifier. My model does not have a voltage regulator, it was an option. I just have the compound transformer.

Are you referencing the magnetic sender screwed in behind the gen side flywheel? The sender is supposed to send a signal to actuator and that wire is not to be spliced as you referenced.

I have not changed that - I will have to remove heat exchanger, exhaust elbow and a bunch of hoses. Then I'm not even sure I would be able to see down that hole to line that up with a "tooth" of that gear that it needs to be calibrated with.

I hope that's not my problem......

The engine is running great, I have it producing 120v at 60hz. I can load it with everything on, dryer, 3 ac's, micro, fridge...., the rpms don't even change when those cycle.

The but in all of this its not tested in any high heat scenario yet.