If you were to fit an alternator booster

sailorman said:
what would you choose
sterling or adverc or another make
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I've fitted Advercs on several boats, including my current boat, and they work well. However, technology continues to advance, and the Sterling Alternator to Battery device is intriguing. Not only does it not need any mods to the alternator, but it offers a separate unboosted output for the starter battery. If I were starting from scratch, I'd be tempted by it.
 
I can't give a complete answer as I've only experience of fitting a Sterling AtoB Charger. I'm happy with it. It certainly improves how much charging I can get out of a short spell of motoring. If, in the future, I bought a boat without one I'd certainly look to fit one again. If the Adverc one is better, brilliant.
 
Sterling alt-reg, first went pop after 8 years, so I've just fitted a replacement (later model).

1GM10 with 'primitive' alternator, but bloke I got a recon alternator from a couple of years ago was happy to fit field wire once I explained it to him - recon Datsun 120 (or whatever) alternators are much cheaper than Balmers - for *my* use, YBMV.
 
sailorman said:
what would you choose
sterling or adverc or another make
Click to expand...

I wouldn't fit any kind of booster. The Sterling effectively puts a full load on the alternator which fools it into thinking that there is a major drain on the system and as such the standard regulator works at full current. This sucks all the energy out of it to provide the "boost". The problem can be that if the alternator is already an "old" alternator it may die fairly quickly.

I would buy a new "hot rated"marine alternator and an external regulator, and keep the old alternator as a spare. Whatever you do buy the battery and alternator temperature sensors - especially if you have AGMs as the alternator will be loaded much longer and harder than FLAs.
 
Go for a Balmar they offer ramped start up function so little load on the belts when putting charge into batteries that have been run down, they are well made and coupled with a Balmar high output alternator provide an excellent solution for the small boat charging problems. I had adverc which were OK but eventually ended up with a Balmar alternator and charge controller, expensive but the best that I have experienced.
 
petehb said:
Go for a Balmar they offer ramped start up function so little load on the belts when putting charge into batteries that have been run down...
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Both the Sterling and Adverc boosters have a ramped start-up, so that's not a reason in itself to choose Balmar. I'd agree that the Balmar equipment is well made, but it's very expensive and is overkill for many boat applications. The Balmar high output alternators are basically only Prestolite Leece-Neville units painted white, and you can buy the base Prestolite units much much cheaper.
 
pvb said:
Both the Sterling and Adverc boosters have a ramped start-up, so that's not a reason in itself to choose Balmar. I'd agree that the Balmar equipment is well made, but it's very expensive and is overkill for many boat applications. The Balmar high output alternators are basically only Prestolite Leece-Neville units painted white, and you can buy the base Prestolite units much much cheaper.
Click to expand...

I agree they are expensive and as you say the alternators are based around a standard alternator, however one of the things that really attracted me was the plug and play aspect everything comes well documented with wiring harness that is designed to simply connect to engine and control panel so it can all be fitted within an hour or so. Perhaps you do pay over the odds a little but I felt it was worth it particularly when long term cruising away from marinas and that I think is where the need for a well found charging system matters.
 
petehb said:
I agree they are expensive and as you say the alternators are based around a standard alternator, however one of the things that really attracted me was the plug and play aspect everything comes well documented with wiring harness that is designed to simply connect to engine and control panel so it can all be fitted within an hour or so. Perhaps you do pay over the odds a little but I felt it was worth it particularly when long term cruising away from marinas and that I think is where the need for a well found charging system matters.
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The "plug and play" convenience comes at a huge price premium though. You can buy a 90A Prestolite alternator for around £125, but the cheapest Balmar version is £600-700.
 
Adverc. There after sales service for me was second to none. They had a bit of a staff change. See if Barry is still there -he is the bees knees.
 
sailinglegend420 said:
I wouldn't fit any kind of booster. The Sterling effectively puts a full load on the alternator which fools it into thinking that there is a major drain on the system and as such the standard regulator works at full current. This sucks all the energy out of it to provide the "boost". The problem can be that if the alternator is already an "old" alternator it may die fairly quickly.

I would buy a new "hot rated"marine alternator and an external regulator, and keep the old alternator as a spare. Whatever you do buy the battery and alternator temperature sensors - especially if you have AGMs as the alternator will be loaded much longer and harder than FLAs.
Click to expand...

Not strickly true, the A2B charging rate depends on the battery state, the type that need a field wire do load the alt. up. my A2G loads to about 30 amps dropping to a steady 15 amps and stays there until say the windlass operates, again both types can be set for battery types, mine set to sealed LA`s slightly lower voltage and without ( Minimum gassing), so effective that water has not been addd for 3 years,and thats in a displacement vessel, so I probably used the m/e for a min, of 240 hours/year.
 
I fitted a Hitacho LR03-C 80amp alternator and a Sterling Alternator to Battery Charger. I also installed the remote panel, and all of my feeds now go through the A to B unit.
Engine Alternator
Battery Charger - 25amp 3 stage Cristec
Wind Generator - already though MPPT controller
Solar Panel - already through MPPT controller
Ampair 100 towed generator (not quite fully installed yet)

There are temperature sensor feeds to the main domestic and alternator unit.

There is definitely more stored power available than before.

The only issue I have had is that a fault light comes up on the A2B unit when there is light wind going through the wind gen, and this sets off the low voltage in alarm.

Currently I would say it is going to be good value, but it has only been installed in the last 6 weeks.
 
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