Sterling Alternator to Battery system

[Ian_Edwards]

I have a Sterling 120 amp A to B, which has a strange fault.

On start-up it seems to work OK, the voltage rams up to 14 plus, and then after a 1 minute or so, all the red LED come on and the A to B goes into fall back mode, and seems to work like a split diode charger.

I've asked Sterling products if they can test and repair it, explained that I'm happy to pay a reasonable repair bill, but they don't reply to my emails.

Can anyone recommend a company which will repair Sterling Products?

I've tried The Service Centre and they don't repair Sterling products.

The A to B is connected to a 500 amp hr AGM dommestic bank and a 110 amp hr AGM started battery and powered by a 80 amp alternator.

 

[pvb]

Why not phone Sterling?

 

[GrahamM376]

Strange people to deal with sometimes, I phoned them about a bust inverter and spoke to Charles, who said return it when you're back home, we'll have a look. When I phoned some time later to see if it needed to be marked for anyone's attention, the female who answered the phone told me they don't repair anything which isn't under warranty and wished Charles wouldn't talk to customers!

 

[alteredoutlook]

I had a slightly different problem with Mine - sometimes it would work okay, other times error codes, other times just zero output. It turned out it was a faulty cable to the alternator. Maybe yours is a cabling problem?

 

[duncan99210]

I had problems with mine. Turns out to be a faulty regulator on the alternator: replaced that and everything's back to normal.

 

[VicS]

I have a Sterling 120 amp A to B, which has a strange fault.

Have you checked the output voltage from the alternator ?

It would be a good idea perhaps to disconnect the A2B and feed the alternator output directly to the starter battery to enable you to check out the alternator. If in any doubt about the alternator get it properly tested by an autoelectrician

 

[lpdsn]

I'm surprised at the response from Sterling. Whenever I've e-mailed them I've got a very rapid response from Charles Sterling. He can be gruff, as others have said, and I doubt he answers stupid questions that politely, but if you've got the info prepared sensibly you should get a sensible thorough reply. Perhaps he's on holiday.

Refusal to even consider a repair is worrying.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

Thanks for the replies.

As I said in the original post, in fault mode it seems to act like a split diode charger, it still charges both battery banks, but at a much slower than I'd expect from a working A to B, so I don't think there's anything wrong with the alternator, cables or batteries. I ran the system for weeks in fault mode, and I could see the charging current on the master volt display, often getting an initial 60 amps out of the 80 amp alternator, when the domestic bank need charging.

I've tried both with and without the optional temperature sensor for the battery and the alternator, it makes no difference.

GrahamM376's comment about them not repairing anything that isn't in guarantee, is worrying, not sure I'd have bought from Sterling if I'd know that.

However, I still don't have an answer to my original question, anyone know a company who will test and repair a Sterling AtoB's?

To answer PVB's question, why not phone? Well I'm partially deaf, wear hearing aids and often find phone calls difficult, so email or text are my preferred ways of communicating.

 

[Billjratt]

Possibly irrelevant/red herring, but I've had a sterling product throw up a 'red Led overvoltage' problem intermittantly in the past. If you have a reasonably upmarket digital meter it may have a 'peak hold' function. If so, you can measure the battery voltage and see if there are spikes which may have triggered the protect circuitry of the Sterling. Otherwise go to basic diag mode, but focus on the ground return wiring, as it is often missed.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

Possibly irrelevant/red herring, but I've had a sterling product throw up a 'red Led overvoltage' problem intermittantly in the past. If you have a reasonably upmarket digital meter it may have a 'peak hold' function. If so, you can measure the battery voltage and see if there are spikes which may have triggered the protect circuitry of the Sterling. Otherwise go to basic diag mode, but focus on the ground return wiring, as it is often missed.

Thanks for the input, I grounded the A to D directly to the engine block, to the same stud used to ground everything else, so I'm fairly sure it wasn't a grounding problem.

I've also taken the unit off the boat, and upgraded the Alternator to 150 amp, with an external controller, made by Electromaax. I'm hoping that this will improve the charging, without having to resort to and A to B.

I'd like to sell on the Sterling A to B, but I'd like to be sure it's working correctly before I advertise it. I don't want to sell someone a dud.

That's the principle reason I want to find a company who can repair and test a Sterling A to B.

 

[BabaYaga]

On start-up it seems to work OK, the voltage rams up to 14 plus, and then after a 1 minute or so, all the red LED come on and the A to B goes into fall back mode, and seems to work like a split diode charger.

in fault mode it seems to act like a split diode charger, it still charges both battery banks, but at a much slower than I'd expect from a working A to B, so I don't think there's anything wrong with the alternator, cables or batteries. I ran the system for weeks in fault mode, and I could see the charging current on the master volt display, often getting an initial 60 amps out of the 80 amp alternator, when the domestic bank need charging.

I'm not familiar with the A to B, but the situation in the first quote suggests to me that the batteries are pretty well charged already and in, or approaching, absorption mode. In which I would expect continued charging to be rather slow, regardless of equipment and battery type.
The second quote, unless I misread it, suggests to me that the A to B works fine in 'fault mode'.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

I'm not sure I get the point(s) your trying to make BabaYaga,

The Sterling A to B is designed to fail safe (i.e. in what I called fault mode) as a split diode charger. I saw 60 amps, when I started the engine and the batteries where at about 70% charge. I saw this briefly, and the charge current decreased quite quickly, much as you'd expect in a standard alternator.

It should matter if the batteries are near fully charge or not, all the red LEDs should only come on when there is fault.

 

[BabaYaga]

I guess my point was that an output of 60 A initially and then a quickly decreasing current might not necessarily be a sign of malfunction or 'fault mode'. The behaviour might be consistent with the charger getting close to the set point (at about 70% charge), when a rapidly decreasing current would be normal for any charger in absorption mode.

The red LED's coming on is another story. A brief study of the manual for the 130A model (perhaps a later model than yours) suggests that some red LED's relate to over temperature and others to over voltage. Also steady light or flashing indicate different faults or conditions, in some cases severe in other cases less so.

 

[Beelzebub]

Ring Charles Sterling. He loves to talk and he'll happily keep you on the phone for half an hour.