Smart regulators

[Sadlermike]

I purchased a Sterling regulator which was fitted by a competent, professional electrician. After a few days, all my instruments blew (£4,000 to replace). An independent electrician said that the regulator had been fitted correctly. I returned the regulator to Sterling who said it must have been fitted incorreclty and demanded £40 'testing fee' before he would return it. I subsequently fitted an Adverc which has been brillliant.

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[john_morris_uk]

The problem is that just because the alternator is advertised as say 90 amp, doesn't mean it will give 90 amps! The figure is a 'maximum' output and in reality is degraded by the standard regulator, battery condition and charge and temperature. (A hot alternator gives less than a cold one). When you say, the regulator doesn't matter, this simply isn't true.

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[Gunfleet]

sue nm

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[ccscott49]

Tut tut!!! Obnoxious git eh! Never bothered to call sterling, but I dont agree its a waste of time/money, it works and very well. I can prove it. But John, did you install it correctly? When you finally get yer bum to Barcelona!! I'll show you one working!!

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[charles_reed]

The problem is

that a conventional regulator will only take your batteries to about 50/60% of full capacity, whereas a smart regulator takes them to 80/90%,

With a smart regulator you'll have about 120ah out of your 140ah battery but with conventional regulation only 75ah.

So it's really a simple analysis - fit a smart regulator before considering additional batteries.

To get your batteries to full charge you need a smart charger - for my money the pulse-regulated type is the better.

The big benefit of smart regulators is that they'll give you at least twice the battery life, I get about 9/10 years out of heavy-duty car batteries - deep cycle batteries aren't IMHO worth the extra money and even lead-calcium only last a couple of years more: with their reluctance to take charge and release it I definitely don't rate them as value for money.

Of course best of all would be circular-plate traction batteries - I guess those would last the life of a boat, but you'd need deep battery boxes, because the cells are quite long.

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[charles_reed]

Lies, damn lies and statistics

In fact Ashley, you're quite safe blasting in far more than that on the bulk charge up to about 45/50% of full charge, however when your doing the float or taper charge it needs to be miniscule.

The 30% rule is a very crude way of trying to balance these different needs - besides whose ever seen an alternator producing its full rated output under load?

No, apart from obtaining more charge capacity, a well-designed smart controller will put in this compensating charge - if you monitor the Adverc towards the end of its cycle (providing the temperature override hasn't operated) you'll find it cycles about 80 times/min between 14.4 and 0 volts - which many others don't.

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[charles_reed]

Alternators

Sensibly, in a marine environment, you'll use a dedicated marine alternator which differs in a number of details from it's automotive brother - mainly in heatsinks for the diode bridge, stainless bearings, heavier stator insulation and double insulated return.

Unfortunately the majority of marine engines are converted industrial engines and the alternators are not upgraded.

However your caveat is very valid, the most common reason for failure is the diode bridge burning out. A sensible precaution is to bring the engine room air-inlet in above the alternator. The majority of production sailboats don't even bother about a ventilator - but then boatbuilders are lousy marine engineers.

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[charles_reed]

The only people

who benefit from recourse to the courts are the lawyers - and they add no value to anything in life!!

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[pvb]

Another urban myth...

Like many of the myths surrounding batteries and alternators, Charles, your view of litigation is inaccurate. Anyone who has a sound reason to seek redress through the courts should be able to gain compensation (and all their legal costs) without difficulty. Unfortunately, some people aren't objective enough to judge whether their case is sound - they're the ones who lose out.

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[charles_reed]

Ah a lawyer..

or do I do you an injustice.

By all means stick to your opinion - mine formed by a lot of experience and many wins as the litigator is the opposite.

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[pvb]

No, just a simple engineer...

But, over the last 20 years, I've had good reason to be grateful to my solicitor, and it hasn't cost me anything in legal fees. But if you've had many wins as a litigant, how come you're claiming that "the only people who benefit from recourse to the courts are the lawyers"? You must know it isn't true.

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[bedouin]

If the Sterling was faulty from the start then you have to question why your competent electrician didn't notice. I assume from your posting that you think that over-voltage caused it to blow? Did he/you at any point (before or after the instruments blew) actually monitor the voltage it was putting out?

Seems to me it could be caused by either faulty Sterling, faulty Instruments or bad installation - unfortunately as the unit has been returned to Sterling you will never know. It could be more interesting to return the instruments to their manufacturer and get his opinion of the cause. These days you would expect any set of instruments costing over £4000 to be pretty-well bullet-proof in terms of input voltage.

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[halcyon]

Re: Lies, damn lies and statistics

The Hella unit they made for cars in the mid 90's, and the last model battery charger we made in the mid 90's.
Tried to get a agency for the Hella unit, it used to charge up to a voltage, then impliment a pulse charge cycle to maintain a high voltage, without boiling the battery to much. Retailed for around £50/60, but as soon as I found it Hella stopped selling it. I was told at the time they had bought out a UK company and were selling it under there name for £160 to the marine market, never pursued it after that.
Someone may have more gen.

Brian

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://link>www.kddpowercentre.com</A>

 

[charles_reed]

Pulse chargers

I bought a 15 amp into 2 feeds one in la Rochelle about 5 years ago for FF688.

It takes the system voltage up to 13.75 and maintains it there. Oscillations on float are about every 5 mins.

Given enough time it even manages to fully charge the Delco Pb/Ca battery, which, after 13 years I shall be glad to replace this winter.

Aftermarket ultra-heavy-duty sealed-for-life batteries are now available which I'm told are metal hydride based so should be good for deep cycling and probably x3 the number of cycles of the lead acid type. Prices appear to not be significantly higher then premium lead-acid.
PSA have been fitting them to their top-of-market diesels for the last 6 years.

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[Andy_Revill]

Hi from downunder,

a few people have been negative about the attitude of Sterling. I've just been going through the same process about fitting a regulator. The Sterling was attractive to me as it seems more flexible re alternator and battery type - of course this can cause problems during installation. I downloaded the installation instructions from the web and found them pretty straightforward. I emailed Sterling with several questions and have received prompt, polite and very informative replies. Hence, I've ordered one.

Just my thoughts,

Andy

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