Balmar Valeo alternator external regulator kit experience?

[DougMc]

Hello,
We're considering the kit sold by Balmar to allow us to use their MC618 external regulator with the Valeo alternator that's standard on our Yanmar 4JH5E. The kit is the Balmar MC-618-VL-01

Does anyone have experience of this upgrade? Any reliability concerns? Did you use the "belt manager" feature to derate the alternator?

How was the real-world performance of the upgrade?

Any experience would be most gratefully received.
Doug

[Maine Sail]

Installed a few and found belt load manager is best set to level 8 or 9. Don't expect anywhere close to 125A out of that alt. 60-65Ais just fine,..

[DougMc]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

Installed a few and found belt load manager is best set to level 8 or 9. Don't expect anywhere close to 125A out of that alt. 60-65Ais just fine,..

Thanks. Do you consider it a worthwhile upgrade? (charging 420Ah of AGM). Any concerns about reliability?

Doug

[Sam Woodbridge]

Doug, I have the MC 618. It was difficult at first to understand it all. Ha, but once I figured it out I wouldn’t be without one! I’m sure you will like it and know it’s worth having. I have my belt manager set at 4. I’ve tempted to set it to 3, since I don’t see much belt dust. I do have a serpentine belts btw.

Sam