Regulator for an Alternator?

[Fuss]

Mestrezat,
What you now do not want to end up doing is spending the next portion of your cruising life with alternator problems. Something I see all to often and it usually starts with the first bit of advice from the so called electrician.

So it's working now with the new alternator which is good.

I would recommend the following.

Find yourself an electrician in one of the bigger yards who knows what he is doing who can check the whole system is working, the wiring is all good and the charging optimised.
Get him to fix the original which I assume was working way back before you had them rebuilt, then you have a spare..
Get him to give his opinion that the new one is capable of handling some heat while it charges the house bank. Good alternators do not burn out when hard charging.

Whatever you have done now make sure you test it thoroughly before leaving. Test with discharged batteries and test with charged batteries.
Get the electrician to write up the charging voltages in bulk, how long in bulk and then float mode.

The hardest part now is to find an electrician who truly knows what he is doing.

They all say they know what they are doing unfortunately.


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[mestrezat]

OK, the new alternator is in and we set off today from Port Dickson. For the next 8 hours, it charged just fine but kept putting out a steady 14.2 volts, never dropping as I expected it should.
Anyone have any idea what to do now? It's running fine but never adjusts to having a "full" battery.

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by mestrezat

OK, the new alternator is in and we set off today from Port Dickson. For the next 8 hours, it charged just fine but kept putting out a steady 14.2 volts, never dropping as I expected it should.
Anyone have any idea what to do now? It's running fine but never adjusts to having a "full" battery.

This one has an internal regulator as well? If so it is operating as designed. They do one thing only, limit the output of the alternator to not exceed approximately 14.2 volts. Just like your car.

[Sailmonkey]

Volts will remain constant, amps should be dropping to near nothing as the batts near full charge.


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[Feral Cement]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Balmar is a good one, but not the only choice. Sterling have a clever system which people seem to like. I use an Adverc, with which I have been extremely pleased.

Are there any other options? $300+ seems like a lot of money for something that will do much of the same work as my $40 HQRP charger controller hooked to a solar panel.

John

[hellosailor]

You might want to check the spec for the new alternator. What it puts out depends on what specific brand and model it is. For instance, an older Delcotron will put out 14.3-14.4 volts, exactly, and all the time. It only varies how many pulses per second it puts out at that voltage. Looks like DC on a plain multimeter, but it is always pulsed (PWM) DC. A lot of the Japanese put out 13.8 volts at low speeds. Many different designs out there.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Feral Cement

Are there any other options? $300+ seems like a lot of money for something that will do much of the same work as my $40 HQRP charger controller hooked to a solar panel.

John

I've lost track of what you are asking about... a regulator? if so see if you can find a used Ample Power or Next Step or even Balmar. Ebay or used boat gear places maybe... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Boaters-Resa...00db5f&vxp=mtr
Or an old school Prestolite external regulator....