Re: Any alternatives to OMC rectifier for '67 Evinrude V4 60HP?
Tinkerer - don't get me wrong, if it was my own outboard we were talking about here, it would have the $3 rectifier in it. In fact, I would rather it that way. On the other hand, if I payed someone to fix my outboard I would expect them to replace it with an OMC or aftermarket part matching the old one. It takes some skill and responsibility to re engineer the charging system. Using a stock part pretty well absolves the mechanic. I know you were just joking, but there's other people reading this post and that's who I wrote that for.<br /><br />The stator via the rectifier generates a series of fairly high peak voltage pulses (say around 24v but it may be much higher). These pulses are 'held down' by connecting the battery. incidentally, this is the job of the regulator on higher current systems. On those the battery cannot 'hold down' the pulses, because they carry too much current for the battery to take.<br /><br />Your digital meter is seeing those stator pulses and is getting confused by them, while the analog one is smoothing them out. If you set your digital meter to AC volts and check the battery, you should be able to measure the pulses on top of the DC component.<br /><br />I expect your rectifier will last a long time. Given it's very high PIV, it shouldn't be troubled with corroded battery terminals like the stock one. The main thing is to mount it well so it can cool. Putting some heat sink grease between the bridge and whatever you mount it on would be a good idea.<br />Like any other bridge rectifier, it'll fry quick if you hook up the leads backwards though. You could fuse it (say, 15A) on the positive line to protect it if you though it was likely to be hooked up backwards though.