Sterling Alternator Regulator v Sterling Alternator-Battery Charger

[Ric]

Has anybody fitted a Sterling Alternator-Battery Charger (this appears - according to the chaotic Sterling website and product nomenclature - to be a different product to the Sterling Alternator Regulator which is well discussed on these pages).

There is a link to the product here:
http://www.sterling-power.com/products-altbatt.htm

Having read the instructions, it seems a lot easier to fit than the coventional Alternator Regulator. Has anybody got any practical experience of this product?

 

[Nidriman]

Aternator to battery

Hi,

I have fitted 2 of these units and can not recommend them highly enough.

Fit as per instructions. ie. Remove the split diode and bin it. Connect the alternator to the unit. Connect one live cable to the domestic supply and one too the start bat. Connect the temp sensor. Set the battery type.

When you talk to sterling they do only really recommend wet cell. Me too. Cheep chearfull and with care will last for years. (ouch. hit. crash. not a new battery discussion looming)

However the unit ramps up the alternator output and hits the batteries with "pulses" of high charge. I have a boat in the Med with a start battery and 360Aph of domestic. with 2 fridges and lots of plotters pcs etc after 2 days at anchor the batteries are low. 3 hours of motor and they are well charged!! (110aph alternator) Since fitting this unit I have never had flat batteries. I know other boats with standard charging system that must run the motor for 4 hours just to get through the night!

one more thing after sales service is excellent. I had a unit burn out. I bought a new one and fitted it. On closer examination I was sure that there was a design fault so I contacted Sterling sent some pictures. Within a few hours I was told sorry your unit was faulty. Give us your address and we will send you a new unit free of charge. Even though the original was 3.5 years old and the unit had to be sent to Sweden.

Go for it. Go value for money.

 

[VicS]

No practical experience but you are right they are different things but with a similar aim.

The alternator regulators are what the name suggests; advanced alternator regulators, giving an enhanced and multistage control of the the alternator.

Some modification of the alternator is necessary, which may or may not be within your capabilities although instructions are given and is not difficult. It may invalidate an alternator guarantee however!

There is still only one output therefore diode splitting is still used if two battery banks are to be charged simultaneously. The device compensates for the volts drop.


The Alternator - Battery chargers are purely add on devices, requiring no alternator modifications. They are therefore more easy to fit.
They are not alternator regulators as such. the alternator remains under the control of its own original regulator.

Purely by electronic wizardry they produce an enhanced multistage output for charging the house battery and simultaneously a bog standard output for charging the starter battery. No additional split charging device is necessary.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Just bought the A2B and about to fit it this weekend...

In essence its an alternator regulator but with built in split charging to ensure that your engine start battery is always kept topped up prior to charging domestics heavily

I have gone this route, as its simple and easy to install.

One word of caution... be aware that there is a potentially not insignificant additional cost to fitting the unit in extra battery cables and isolating switches... you'd need them anyway if you went the Alternator Controller and separate split diode route, but don't forget the cost.... in my case it'll be nearly an extra £100 as i'm taking the opportunity to renew all the cables and switches and route them more neatly.

Its worth putting some thought into how you'll also deploy a paralleling or 1-2-all switch at the same time, as careful design can allow you to not have to be constantly remembering to switch to a particular setting when the engine goes off.

 

[Barry Jones]

Yes.

The A-B-C solution is non invasive - you don't have to tamper with your alternator.

The value of these depends a lot on your set-up - they are not a silver bullet to cure all charging problems.

Has anybody fitted a Sterling Alternator-Battery Charger (this appears - according to the chaotic Sterling website and product nomenclature - to be a different product to the Sterling Alternator Regulator which is well discussed on these pages).

There is a link to the product here:
http://www.sterling-power.com/products-altbatt.htm

Having read the instructions, it seems a lot easier to fit than the coventional Alternator Regulator. Has anybody got any practical experience of this product?

 

[Trundlebug]

I fitted an Alternator to Battery charger a few years ago (3-4) and it's been great.

Easy to fit (in principle, although siting everything in a boat seems to involve some form of contortion) and has been reliable and kept the batteries well charged. The instructions were straightforward and comprehensive too I thought.

As said above, don't overlook the cost of upgrading the cabling which can be significant, but that will apply whichever choice of smart charging system you make.

I also fitted a BM1 battery monitor instead of Sterling's own version, because it looked better / neater and was also cheaper. It's been an invaluable part of the charging system by enabling me to see exactly what's going on, and to know that it's all working as it should.



Go for it

 

[BGW]

Another vote for the alternator to battery charger - very simple to fit and suites my use of the boat perfectly.
I have a twin engine installation and have connected both alternators to the input (as recommended by Sterling).
Even at 900 rpm I can get over 30amps charge rate (24V).

 

[stirlingtours]

Fitted one of the ABC units last year. After a lot of head scratching I decided that if all else fails read the instructions and it worked. The unit needs quite a bit of space for the installation since the two short heavy duty cables will not bend. I was able to do away with the 1/2 both switch since the unit monitors and tops up both battery banks individually. The only real drawback is that your alternator works quite hard and I have found that belt wear is increased and the alternator needs adjusting regularly to reduce belt slip. A spare belt is vital. I am re-engining my boat this winter and all the major manufacturers said that use of the sterling ABC would invalidate the warranty on the alternator but since it is only a 1 year warranty the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

 

[Barry Jones]

Interesting.

I have come across engine makers invalidating their warranty because alternator controllers are fitted on the engines' alternators, but I've never heard of this before.

Its one of the A-B-C's best benefits i.e. that it doesn't affect the engine warranty - iirc I think it even says this on the manufacturers website.
I suppose the engine mariniser would argue that the A-B-C lowers the voltage in order to drive the alternators harder, which in turn puts wear and tear on the alternators.

Can you name which makers have taken this stance ?

I am re-engining my boat this winter and all the major manufacturers said that use of the sterling ABC would invalidate the warranty on the alternator but since it is only a 1 year warranty the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

 

[Ric]

OK, thanks for the help. But after a lot more head-scratching and reading instructions on the Sterling website, I've decided to get the much cheaper Alternator Regulator, even though it will be harder to install. Double dip recession to blame.

But the Sterling website and Sterling Shop shows two 12v Alternator regulators which are visually different:

http://www.sterling-power.com/products-altreg.htm

https://sslrelay.com/s74222713.onea...nid=154e8f3880e019d/shopdata/index.shopscript

Anybody know if these are just the same product differently packaged?

 

[pvb]

OK, thanks for the help. But after a lot more head-scratching and reading instructions on the Sterling website, I've decided to get the much cheaper Alternator Regulator, even though it will be harder to install. Double dip recession to blame.

Do you already have split-charge system with diodes or VSR? If not, bear in mind the AtoB charger includes this feature as standard.

 

[Ric]

Do you already have split-charge system with diodes or VSR? If not, bear in mind the AtoB charger includes this feature as standard.

Yes, I have a split charging system, another reason I thought that the regulator would be better.

 

[Barry Jones]

If your alternator is already outputting at 14.2/14.4V as many modern ones do and you have sealed or gel batteries, then you won't benefit much.

 

[Ric]

My alternator puts out 13.98v - I checked that before thinking about getting a regulator.

I have a shunt-battery AH counter so I can see how my existing 14v alternator charges the batteries. Typically if my service batteries are discharged down to 50% capacity, ie about 12.5v, the intial charge can be about 20A, but this soon drops off to about 4-5A.

 

[Barry Jones]

I doubt you will see a huge improvement, but if you have a multi-stage charger (set to 14.4V in bulk phase), it will give you an idea what results you with get with an ALT-controller.

 

[Bobc]

I have an A to B Charger, and it's MUSTARD!

Easy to fit, and fantastically efficient.

I only have a 60Amp alternator, with a 675A/H house bank, and when we brought the boat accross the Atlantic this year, we were running it for 2-3 hours a day before it went onto float charge (which was running instruments and autopilot 24/7, and nav lights at night).

It's a totally brilliant bit of kit, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

 

[VicS]

OK, thanks for the help. But after a lot more head-scratching and reading instructions on the Sterling website, I've decided to get the much cheaper Alternator Regulator, even though it will be harder to install. Double dip recession to blame.

But the Sterling website and Sterling Shop shows two 12v Alternator regulators which are visually different:

http://www.sterling-power.com/products-altreg.htm

https://sslrelay.com/s74222713.onea...nid=154e8f3880e019d/shopdata/index.shopscript

Anybody know if these are just the same product differently packaged?

There are two basic products AR12VD which is a 12 volt regulator and PDAR which is a 12/24 volt regulator..
The two web pages you quote show them with different colour schemes but otherwise AFAIK they are the same.

There are also now waterproof versions ARS and ARU .

Presumably you are interested in the AR12VD. The basic 12 volt only one.

I suggest that before you commit yourself you read the on-line instruction manual and be happy that you will be able to make the alternator modification although if you already have a battery sensed alternator for use with your diode splitter you may not need to do any modification.

If your alternator is not battery sensed at present it could be that you will get much of the charging improvement you seek by converting it to battery sensing without the expense of the Sterling regulator.

 

[Ric]

If your alternator is not battery sensed at present it could be that you will get much of the charging improvement you seek by converting it to battery sensing without the expense of the Sterling regulator.

I had considered doing that - do you have a link to instructions on how to do the modification? Do I not risk gassing the batteries if I have to motor for extended periods (occasionally happens in the Med)?

 

[VicS]

I had considered doing that - do you have a link to instructions on how to do the modification? Do I not risk gassing the batteries if I have to motor for extended periods (occasionally happens in the Med)?

No sorry I do not have a link to instructions to do that.

Having the alternator battery sensed should not cause excessive gassing any more than a standard charging system without a diode splitter will.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

Hi,
I fitted an A to B unit 3 years ago and I’m very pleased with the unit, it charges the batteries much faster than the old split diode unit.
I’ve got 500 amp hrs of AGM batteries and haven’t had any problems with them despite Sterling’s recommendation to use wet batteries.
The engine is a Volvo Penta 2D40 with 115 amp alternator and I regularly see over 100amps going into the battery bank, even at tick over I see 45amps.
The only significant problem I had was with the Volvo Penta engine management system, the Sterling A to B stops charging the starter battery after a while (because starting the engine takes very little in the way of amp hrs) and the battery voltage drops to reflect this, but the engine management system is “smart”, it know the alternator is running, but see a lower than expected voltage on the starter battery and it sounds a battery fault alarm, this was really annoying (and Sterling couldn’t help, they just said they had never heard of this before). The solution was to simply swap the battery sensing wire form the starter battery to the domestic battery bank.
But generally a great unit, please I spent the hard earned cash on it.