Son of Awright, I've had it w/these Alt/tens pulleys align! Solar anyone?

[Matteo]

Volks,

Having tried and failed at getting my AC/ALT/Tensioner pulleys not to eat belts, I am going to go for another approach.

I'm thinking of a dual battery setup with a Solar panel setup to recharge while'st I work. I haven't done any research, but running a single battery with no radio or lights running the 60 miles to work, and then home again with headlights and the occasional windshield wiper brings the single battery from 100% to 65%. I charge the battery up overnight every night. My AC pulley/belt to main pulley are flawless and I do not wish to get rid of the AC unit as I am planning on making it work again.
It looks as though I have enough room on the passenger side for a battery tray opposite the drivers side one. My questions are

1) Do I keep the batteries separate for charging or can I charge them together. I realize that the positive goes to positive to maintain 12v.
2) Should I have one battery running the car/lights and isolate the fan/radio? I suspect I should run everything the way it is and just mate the batteries. Volts should stay the same, but amps go up I believe.
3) Could I use a couple of those Photovoltaic mats that they use on boats and set them on my roof when charging? I am at work all day and my car sits in the sun here in sunny NH.
4) Would I get better gas mileage without driving the alt?

Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

Matt

[Matteo]

Update on this. I found a marine 1.5 amp 22.5 Watt Solar panel at West Marine for $199.00. I think the weight of the battery would be somewhat offset by the weight of the Alternator.

[somolovitch3]

You would want a Battery Isolater unit to keep the headlamp battery from drawing from the radio/fan battery. These things allow you charge both batteries at once while drawing different rates from each.

Camping places have them in different sizes.

Does the Alt pulley not line up?

[Matteo]

Thanks for your post. Yes the alternator pulley still does not line up, even though I purchased a new alternator. Swapped over the fan, shim and pulley. I am going to try a laser site to site up the pulley angles. I was also going to see if the pulley V is the same degree on each pulley, as I do not know how has touched this thing over the years and what parts they may have swapped out. Bentley's does little to address pulley's accross the various years 86 - 90, so I have NO IDEA what was original and what was not. I do know that I only break alternator belts, my AC is fine as is my power steering.

I like the idea of the solar charger as I checked the volts from my charger while it was charging the single battery and it was in the 13v range. The battery charge puts out 15.4v or something like that. 22 Watts and is a 30 X 30.5 mat that would fit nicely on my roof while'st I work. Plus the removal of drag on the engine and the ease of additional charging with the correct switch installed, I should see slightly better mileage.

Thanks to all Matt, open to additional comments. (I am new to Diesel, but love it!)

[Turbinepowered]

It almost sounds like one of your pulleys is bent, rather than just not lining up. It only takes a tiny warp in the pulley to throw a belt at relatively high RPM.

What year is your car? Could you swap in a complete serpentine setup, perhaps?

[Matteo]

The car is a 1990 Jetta 1.6na, with AC...

Surpentine belt would be nice if someone sells a kit. I am not inclined to expend any more energy/money nailing this.
I will try a new tensioner and Alt pulley as a last resort.

[Rabbit TD]

Surely getting the belt problem straigened out would be a lot better fix than going through all that other bother.  I bet you have some bolts missing or something to that affect down at the A/C compressor area.  My engine is out of an 83 Jetta that had A/C and I know how that mess is down there and could cause a problem if something is missing or whatever.