Substitute Delco Remy Alternator 28SI for Leece Neville 2824LC

[tennsmith]

I've put this in the Winnebago forum because I think the substitution could/would be wiring dependent.  If it belongs elsewhere, feel free to move it, just let me know where it goes....

I have a 2000 Itasca Horizon with 3126 Cat diesel, 350 HP and I think my alternator is toast.  Does anyone on the forum have any experience and/or comments about substituting one of the Delco Remy 28SI units for the Leece Neville 2824LC unit that came as OEM?  My primary concern is whether or not it is a "plug and play" unit or whether it would require some modification to the ignition wiring circuit that attaches to one of the alternator regulator terminals.

Mechanically, an equivalent J-180 mount configuration exists in the 28SI series.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Many (most?) alternators use a simple +12v line from the ignition switch as both an "exciter" and voltage feedback to the regulator. I have a Leece myself, but haven't looked closely enough to see if that's the case.

 

[Mavarick]

Your 2824LC should be a 160a alternator with ign excite and remote sense using an isolator or duvac system of sorts. This is to allow the charging of all batteries while not being able to pull down the chassis battery when camping. You can get the Delco in 160a but you need to check # of terminals on the back of yours to see if you can match thwir operation with the Delco. Some of the conversions were definitely not ?plug & play? so make sure whoever does it knows what they are doing. As they say, anything can be done with enough time & money. Why do you want to replace it? If it has failed why not take it to a local motor/starter shop and let them diagnose the system and just repair what?s needed. It will probably be less $ to rebuild than an outright replacement. Good luck with it.

 

[tennsmith]

Thanks Mavarick, I did wind up having the Leece unit rebuilt, due to time constraints and the fact that the rebuild price was reasonable.  It is the 2824LC model and it does have the Duvac terminal on it.  Getting it off the engine and back on was the real challenge, but that's just grunt work and it saved a lot of labor hours.

 

[John Canfield]

Bob - you're working again?  All okay?

 

[Mavarick]

Glad to hear you got it going again and I agree you probably picked the least expensive option, it should last you a long time. I hear you about getting to it, no problem if you're a contortionist!