Balmar 70-110 help!

[HBWT]

I have a Balmar 70-110 Alternator that was functioning perfectly and while I was servicing my Yanmar for the summer sailing season, I noticed the terminals on the back looked in bad shape. Quick idea, pop it off and clean the connectors and good to go.

Unfortunately the field terminal bolt just spins in place. It does not move. The spade connector snapped as soon as the bolt started to turn. Now I am stuck without a field wire. I imagine the terminal is stripped but when I called balmar they explained it would need to be cutoff and replacements parts are not available because the argentina govt. siezed control of thier supplier. They could recommend a replacement for $800+ .

Any other recommendations of how I can get this fixed. Any help is always greatly appreciated.

[Stu Jackson]

Take the alternator to an alternator repair shop.

[nigelmercier]

Can you not remove the plastic cover and replace the damaged part?

If not, post pictures.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by HBWT

I have a Balmar 70-110 Alternator that was functioning perfectly and while I was servicing my Yanmar for the summer sailing season, I noticed the terminals on the back looked in bad shape. Quick idea, pop it off and clean the connectors and good to go.

Unfortunately the field terminal bolt just spins in place. It does not move. The spade connector snapped as soon as the bolt started to turn. Now I am stuck without a field wire. I imagine the terminal is stripped but when I called balmar they explained it would need to be cutoff and replacements parts are not available because the argentina govt. siezed control of thier supplier. They could recommend a replacement for $800+ .

Any other recommendations of how I can get this fixed. Any help is always greatly appreciated.

The 70 Series was built by Leece-Neville to Balmar's specs and indeed that plant was taken/confiscated by the government rather suddenly and with no warning.. They even took all the tooling so Leece-Neville literally walked away and never went back to the 70 series.

I do believe some aftermarket companies make replacement parts so perhaps try an auto electric shop. What you won't find are the stators & rotors Balmar used but you may find small parts like the field terminal. Unfortunately those were small market alternators for Leece-Neville & Balmar so even finding a used one would be tough..

[zboss]

I think I have one that would fit the bill... PM me. It came with the boat but I upgraded to a 160 amp Balmar.

[Jubilee39]

It never ceases to amaze that cruisers are locked in to a very expensive Balmar alternator. I use these guys Starter Alternator Generator and Regulator and for about a $100 you can get a hi output alternator that works the same. You can even talk to them and they will be happy to make mods on their stock.
There are other suppliers but these guys have shipped to me in Fiji and Polynesia

[nigelmercier]

As I said above, a repair with a generic part should be simple. I would offer a warning if a replacement unit is used, some engines require an isolated negative on the alternator.

[HBWT]

Thanks everyone for the info. Here is the update in case it happens to anyone else. I took it to 2 alternator repair shops here in the Puget Sound. One recommended shop looked at me and said "Thank you but NO." Whatcom Electric said they could fix but they are a 2 hour drive away. I found a little one man repair place closer to Seattle and he is completely rebuilding for $150. The info from him, he is 99% sure it is Hitachi alternator and although made made by leece, he thinks it was made using all hitachi spec parts. I guess this is not uncommon in the alternator world. He showed my the side by side and even with my untrained eye, it looks identical. The good news, replacement parts are readily available. Everthing except for the field terminal bolt. This was a special pressed bolt with square backing plate that you cannot get anymore unless specialty made. He reset with a standard size bolt and epoxy mount for the terminal.

[George DuBose]

I hope this is the right thread and that I don't have to create a new thread for my problem with my Balmar 621-100-SV and is regulated with Balmar's ARS-5 Voltage Regulator.

When the battery bank selector is on "1" the engine bank should be charging, when the selector is on "2" the house bank should be charging.

Unfortunately, I recently observed that when the battery bank selector is on "1" or "2" there is no charging, but when I select "1 AND 2" then the amp meter on my Blue Sea panel shows charging in the range of 14 volts.

I made a video of the digital messaging sequence of my Balmar ARS-5 there are E-messages (I think that means "error")
E-25
E-20
E-11

The short video of one information cycle is 88mb, but I could send to any interested party if I had an email address.

I thought maybe some of us on this forum might save me a phone call to Balmar. My vessel is in The Netherlands and I will have to search for an electrician who knows Balmar.

Then again, this forum has some clever people watching and contributing.

Thanks,

George DuBose
S/V Skylark Pearson 36-1

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by George DuBose

I hope this is the right thread and that I don't have to create a new thread for my problem with my Balmar 621-100-SV and is regulated with Balmar's ARS-5 Voltage Regulator.

When the battery bank selector is on "1" the engine bank should be charging, when the selector is on "2" the house bank should be charging.

Unfortunately, I recently observed that when the battery bank selector is on "1" or "2" there is no charging, but when I select "1 AND 2" then the amp meter on my Blue Sea panel shows charging in the range of 14 volts.

I made a video of the digital messaging sequence of my Balmar ARS-5 there are E-messages (I think that means "error")
E-25
E-20
E-11

The short video of one information cycle is 88mb, but I could send to any interested party if I had an email address.

I thought maybe some of us on this forum might save me a phone call to Balmar. My vessel is in The Netherlands and I will have to search for an electrician who knows Balmar.

Then again, this forum has some clever people watching and contributing.

Thanks,

George DuBose
S/V Skylark Pearson 36-1

George,

You need to get in there and physically understand how it is wired. Most good installers of a performance alternator would not leave the alt output passing through the 1/2/B switch and instead would wire it direct to the house bank along with voltage sensing. They would then charge the start battery with a combing relay or a battery to battery charger. Depending upon the age of the conversion the installer may have even used a diode isolator. Based on your complaints it sounds as if the alt runs direct to a bank. The reason for this is performance and you can't voltage sense a bank properly and leave the alt B+ wired to the 1/2/B switches "C" post.

[nigelmercier]

George, start a new thread, put video on YouTube