If you were to fit an alternator booster

[dutyhog]

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.

+1
Don't know about a Barry, but Bryan is still there, and answered a question helpfully a few weeks ago about changes I was making to the engine charging system and how it may have affected the 12-year old Adverc (answer it wouldn't matter). Gordon

 

[cliff]

what would you choose sterling or adverc or another make

Sterling without a moment's hesitation. I have fitted several of them to different boats over the years and so far have not had any problems.

 

[vyv_cox]

Sterling without a moment's hesitation. I have fitted several of them to different boats over the years and so far have not had any problems.

+1. I fitted mine something like 12 years ago. Had some initial problems with intermittent high voltage indications, called Sterling, was advised that it was a poor connection in the negative side of the engine circuit. Found it later, problem rectified. Otherwise, it does exactly what it is supposed to do, monitored using my ammeter.

 

[Tintin]

+1
Don't know about a Barry, but Bryan is still there, and ......

never good with names

 

[[2574]]

I'd be looking at Balmar for alternators and controllers. I've always had excellent service from these products.

+1 x 3

 

[Puggy]

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.

I fitted an Adverc. Has transformed my batteries. Adverc people are very helpful. Recommended.

 

[Gumpy]

Both my alternators already put out 14.4v into SLA batteries so no point in fitting any form of controller. If I change the domestic batteries will just alter the voltage on the prestolite main alternator to 14.8v .

 

[pampas]

Which bit of my post was not strictly true. Please clarify for all of us. Most of my post was quoting the Sterling Product description.

i

If you read my post again you will see that I have quoted the typical alternator loads that I experience (65 amp alt) only once did I see more than 40amps output from the alt, that was when I left the frig on from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon.

Either mine is not working properly,and I think it is.

 

[westernman]

I'd be looking at Balmar for alternators and controllers. I've always had excellent service from these products.

I have Balmar alternator (110A) and controller.
If the batteries are run down a bit I can see up to 115A being pumped into the batteries at just a little above idle revs.

 

[sailinglegend420]

If you read my post again you will see that I have quoted the typical alternator loads that I experience (65 amp alt) only once did I see more than 40amps output from the alt, that was when I left the frig on from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon.

Either mine is not working properly,and I think it is.

I think you misread my post. Yes the output from the regulator will depend on the battery state of charge but the output of the alternator to the regulator is ramped up to the max to get the higher voltage. I quote Mr Sterling again:

"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."

My point was that this puts a continuous and unnecessary high load on the alternator.

I hope this clarifies my original posting.

 

[pvb]

I think you misread my post. Yes the output from the regulator will depend on the battery state of charge but the output of the alternator to the regulator is ramped up to the max to get the higher voltage. I quote Mr Sterling again:

"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."

My point was that this puts a continuous and unnecessary high load on the alternator.

I hope this clarifies my original posting.

Ah, I see the confusion here, and it's partially a result of the Sterling description. The Sterling Alternator-to-Battery Charger doesn't put a "continuous and unnecessary high load" on the alternator. The alternator's output (and therefore the load on it) is dependent on the ability of the batteries to absorb it. If the batteries aren't absorbing it, the alternator won't produce it, as power can't simply disappear into thin air. In practice, this means that the Alternator-to-Battery Charger effectively won't work the alternator any harder than an ordinary Adverc/Sterling/Driftgate/Balmar regulator would.

 

[Cantata]

I have used an Adverc booster, worked fine all the time I owned the boat.
On my current boat (with wet batteries) I have a Merlin AMS, and distribute the charge through a Driftgate 'X-Split' (see http://www.dg2k.co.uk/xsplit.htm). A simple setup which works extremely well.

 

[sailinglegend420]

Ah, I see the confusion here, and it's partially a result of the Sterling description. The Sterling Alternator-to-Battery Charger doesn't put a "continuous and unnecessary high load" on the alternator. The alternator's output (and therefore the load on it) is dependent on the ability of the batteries to absorb it. If the batteries aren't absorbing it, the alternator won't produce it, as power can't simply disappear into thin air. In practice, this means that the Alternator-to-Battery Charger effectively won't work the alternator any harder than an ordinary Adverc/Sterling/Driftgate/Balmar regulator would.

You need to read further into Mr Sterling's description of how it works. In order to get a higher voltage it does have to "Load" the alternator to give much higher current to the regulator than the current needed to charge the battery.

 

[pvb]

You need to read further into Mr Sterling's description of how it works. In order to get a higher voltage it does have to "Load" the alternator to give much higher current to the regulator than the current needed to charger the battery.

I really don't need to read that again. As I said, the A-to-B charger won't effectively work the alternator any harder than a "booster" regulator would with the same battery bank. It can't - where do you think all that extra current would be going?

 

[sailinglegend420]

I really don't need to read that again. As I said, the A-to-B charger won't effectively work the alternator any harder than a "booster" regulator would with the same battery bank. It can't - where do you think all that extra current would be going?

Just to clarify further - the extra current goes into raising the voltage. Their has to be a power transfer somehow. An automotive alternator outputting only 13.8 volts has to have that boosted to maybe 14.8volts. A regulator is as "voltage limiter" - the battery determines how much current it takes.

 

[pvb]

Just to clarify further - the extra current goes into raising the voltage. Their has to be a power transfer somehow. An automotive alternator outputting only 13.8 volts has to have that boosted to maybe 14.8volts. A regulator is as "voltage limiter" - the battery determines how much current it takes.

I'm sorry, it's a difficult concept to explain, and I'm obviously not succeeding. Ordinary "booster" regulators also increase the charge voltage to maybe 14.8v, so the A-to-B charger isn't going to work the alternator any harder. But rest assured, the A-to-B charger doesn't put "a continuous and unnecessary high load on the alternator". It's a clever bit of kit, and a good alternative to traditional alternator boosters.

 

[VicMallows]

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.

OK, I come at this as an electrical engineer, BUT if I were long term cruising the very LAST thing I would want would be a 'plug-and-play' arrangement with a unique wiring harness. Far better to take the effort to try to understand the circuitry of your alternator/regulator/whatever so that you at least have some chance of fixing (or even bodging) things when things go wrong in the wild.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Just because it had a nice wiring harness with the right plugs on it that made installation simple and neat does not mean that I did not understand the installation or could not have bypassed the controller and used the alternator in its simplest form I knew my boat inside out and did most of the work on it and that that I didn't I followed in detail.

 

[VicMallows]

Just because it had a nice wiring harness with the right plugs on it that made installation simple and neat does not mean that I did not understand the installation or could not have bypassed the controller and used the alternator in its simplest form I knew my boat inside out and did most of the work on it and that that I didn't I followed in detail.

Fair enough, and sorry if I offended. Was trying just to make a general point.

 

[sailinglegend420]

I'm sorry, it's a difficult concept to explain, and I'm obviously not succeeding. Ordinary "booster" regulators also increase the charge voltage to maybe 14.8v, so the A-to-B charger isn't going to work the alternator any harder. But rest assured, the A-to-B charger doesn't put "a continuous and unnecessary high load on the alternator". It's a clever bit of kit, and a good alternative to traditional alternator boosters.

OK - maybe I'm not succeeding either!

Yes its a clever piece of kit, but its inefficient. Booster regulators increase the voltage by feeding in more field current. With no field current control an A2B regulator has to work with the low voltage and use the maximum current all the time to achieve a higher voltage. Its only worth running an alternator up to 80% of battery charge after that the current falls away and at the point when the A2B regulator drops to float it may no longer need to suck the maximum current out of the regulator. Up to this point I maintain it does put "a continuous and unnecessary high load on the alternator".

If you have a 50 Amp 13.8v automotive alternator you will probably only get 40 amps from it - less when it is really hot. That's 13.8 x 40 = 552 watts. If you consider the A2B inverter/regulator to be only 85% efficient then the wattage available for charging the battery is 470 watts, so the current available for charging the batteries at 14.8 volts is 470/14.8 =31.7 amps. This is a 20% reduction in the available current to charge the batteries, so the alternator will have to run longer the get the same charge into the batteries.

So my contention is that it is not "a good alternative to traditional alternator boosters". Better to get the field wire connection modified.