Battery charging (again!) - alternator regulators and their friends

pvb said:
So the Sterling regulator is connected in parallel with the alternator's standard regulator. Because of this, the Sterling can only increase the alternator's output voltage, it can't decrease it.
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So it's just YOUR interpretation that they are running in parallel and therefore can't achieve a lower float voltage. He doesn't say that! His external regulator is controlling the field circuit so HIS regulator has the control at all times, the internal is doing nothing. His fail safe mode is interesting because when the external Sterling regulator fails it FULL FIELDS the field windings so the internal regulator will charge again - but maybe at too high a voltage!

I notice from searching the net you have been banging on about this since about 2010. Please can you provide proof that a Sterling AR cannot and will not go down to 13.5 v or less when fitted to an internal regulator that maybe at 14.6v.. Reducing voltage is easy!
 
sailinglegend420 said:
So it's just YOUR interpretation that they are running in parallel and therefore can't achieve a lower float voltage. He doesn't say that! His external regulator is controlling the field circuit so HIS regulator has the control at all times, the internal is doing nothing. His fail safe mode is interesting because when the external Sterling regulator fails it FULL FIELDS the field windings so the internal regulator will charge again - but maybe at too high a voltage!

I notice from searching the net you have been banging on about this since about 2010. Please can you provide proof that a Sterling AR cannot and will not go down to 13.5 v or less when fitted to an internal regulator that maybe at 14.6v.. Reducing voltage is easy!
Click to expand...

He wouldn't say it as such, would he? Sterling literature is long on words and short on facts. And I haven't "been banging on about this since about 2010" - I've merely been correcting people's misconceptions about what the Sterling regulator will achieve in ordinary DIY installations.

Sterling catalogues in previous years had a graph showing the charge voltages for their multi-step battery chargers and alternator regulators. This clearly showed that the float voltage would be the alternator's standard 14.0v - see below

sterlinggraph.jpg


When fitted as Sterling recommend, in parallel with the alternator's standard regulator, the Sterling regulator will increase charge voltage, but never decrease it below the setting of the standard regulator. It's possible to use the Sterling regulator as a stand-alone regulator, but that's not recommended by Sterling as it removes the failsafe position of the alternator still charging if the Sterling regulator develops a fault.
 
pvb said:
Sterling catalogues in previous years had a graph showing the charge voltages for their multi-step battery chargers and alternator regulators. This clearly showed that the float voltage would be the alternator's standard 14.0v - see below...
Click to expand...
Thanks for that graph, but it clearly says alternator booster on the graph at 14v not alternator regulator. We are talking about different things here. As you say this is from an old catalogue, He doesn't make these any more because modern alternators can output 14.6 volts. So if the alternator is at 14.6 volts he can't be selling a multi-stage alternator regulator that has settings for Gel at 14.1v or AGM at 14.4v., without telling people in the literature that it might not work.

i hope we have now cleared this up!
 
sailinglegend420 said:
. Please can you provide proof that a Sterling AR cannot and will not go down to 13.5 v or less when fitted to an internal regulator that maybe at 14.6v.. Reducing voltage is easy!
Click to expand...
Can anyone explain how this works or if it is even possible, to pull down the voltage of an internal regulator with an external regulator connected in parallel?
In parallel is how sterling recommend.

Up is easy, but can you pull it below where it wants to be?
 
sailinglegend420 said:
Thanks for that graph, but it clearly says alternator booster on the graph at 14v not alternator regulator. We are talking about different things here. As you say this is from an old catalogue, He doesn't make these any more because modern alternators can output 14.6 volts. So if the alternator is at 14.6 volts he can't be selling a multi-stage alternator regulator that has settings for Gel at 14.1v or AGM at 14.4v., without telling people in the literature that it might not work.

i hope we have now cleared this up!
Click to expand...

We're not talking about different things at all. The fact that Mr Sterling uses the word "booster" in some places and "regulator" in other places is immaterial. The graph was in the 2008 catalogue, which didn't contain any products called "boosters" but did contain the "Universal Advanced Digital Alternator Regulator". It was an earlier version of the one sold today.

People whose alternators produce 14.6v most probably don't need an add-on Sterling regulator. That's one of the reasons why the current advice on forums to people who enquire about add-on regulators (Sterling, Adverc, Driftgate, etc) is to first check what voltage their alternator is actually producing.

As to the accuracy of Mr Sterling's claims, that's something you should query with him.
 
So....

1. Could the alternators regulator output be reduced to 13.x volts by putting a diode in series with it, then rely on the AR to boost the voltage up for bulk/absorption stages?

2. Presumably the best way to determine the alternator reg's output voltage is to measure it when the batteries are well charged. Currently I see 13.8-13.9V, so it could be putting out 14.5-14.6 and losing 0.7 through the splitter (which I haven't found yet...).

3. Even if the alternator reg can be made to get > 14V to the batteries the a smart regulator is a good idea if it can drop to a sensible float voltage?
 
Er, you can have any voltage you like, regardless of alternator internal regulator voltage. The regulator could drop the voltage to anything mr sterling or adverc et al like...
 
No idea. Just struggling to come to terms with this argument about minimum voltage that seems to be raging.

Simple voltage divider network within the box of tricks can give you anything lower than the input voltage you desire.

The alternator regulator (original or sterling) can go as high as it likes, you can always lower voltage downstream. The whole point of the Sterling regulator is to up the voltage above the standard regulator. You can then drop the artificially raised voltage further on.
 
Ok, my posts are not clear here....

The output from the alternator can't be lowered beyond internal / sterling regulator voltage, but the big box it's all wired into can (or at least could, if sterling so built it)

Sorry, writing this during my MIL's birthday celebrations... Tricky! :)
 
rosssavage said:
Ok, my posts are not clear here....

The output from the alternator can't be lowered beyond internal / sterling regulator voltage, but the big box it's all wired into can (or at least could, if sterling so built it)

Sorry, writing this during my MIL's birthday celebrations... Tricky! :)
Click to expand...

No, not clear at all. What's this "big box it's all wired into"?
 
Sorry pvb.... Really not giving this my full attention. I thought we were still talking A2B, I now realise the thread has moved onto AR's exclusively.

Please ignore all of my posts on this thread.

Bowing out gracefully, with my coat.....
 
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pvb said:
We're not talking about different things at all. The fact that Mr Sterling uses the word "booster" in some places and "regulator" in other places is immaterial. The graph was in the 2008 catalogue, which didn't contain any products called "boosters" but did contain the "Universal Advanced Digital Alternator Regulator". It was an earlier version of the one sold today.

People whose alternators produce 14.6v most probably don't need an add-on Sterling regulator. That's one of the reasons why the current advice on forums to people who enquire about add-on regulators (Sterling, Adverc, Driftgate, etc) is to first check what voltage their alternator is actually producing.

As to the accuracy of Mr Sterling's claims, that's something you should query with him.
Click to expand...

I'd vouch for the fact that modern alternator regulators put out far more than older ones - I've taken my Adverc out of the system as the voltage @ the diode input is exactly the same with and without.
I do, however, admire the imaginative hyperbole that goes into nearly all Mr Sterling's literature - with careful extrapolation you can, however, actually derive some facts.
 
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