On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 07:00:46PM -0400, Paul Brannon wrote: > I'm not so sure. Most internally regulated alternators seem to put out a > somewhat constant voltage charge and it is possibly too high voltage for AGM > (or Gel). > > AGM and Gel can't be gassed under any circumstances. I would > need to know the charge voltage of the internal regulator before saying it > is ok.
Just a personal opinion: internally regulated alternators and live-aboard boats are kinda like matter and anti-matter. Yeah, you *can* get energy out of the combination, but you might also accidentally destroy the world. :) http://xkcd.com/809/ (I *love* XKCD.) > On my setup, I have Delco internally regulated alternators (94 amp) that I > bypassed the internal regulator and wired in an external Balmar regulator. > That way, I can get the alternator at any auto parts store and just change > the internal wiring. Ditto here, for 150A star-wired Bosch alternators. First thing I did as soon as they came on board is take out the regulators, cut that ground strap across its base, solder two wires on either side of the cut, and crimp matching lugs on the ends of the wires. If my external regulator ever fails, I'll just plug the two together and live with it until I can get the regulator (which also happens to be my welder) repaired or replaced. Had to do it once, some years ago, when the welder's wire harness died. Worked just fine. > I have not lost an alternator since the conversion > whereas before I went through two alternators on the inverter bank due to > overheating at low speed such as idling while retrieving anchor and then > slowly moving out of anchorages. The partially discharged batteries are > asking for all the alternator has and it isn't spinning fast enough to keep > it cool. The slower speed also reduces the amperage of charge but it still > heats up. That's a very good thing to point out, Paul; I've seen a lot of people destroy their systems that way over the years. Saw one recently where a big 12v fan caught fire because of it and almost burned the boat down (low voltage + motors: *bad* mix.) It's one of the places where a variable-pitch prop setup like Norm's is a big win: you can spin your engine as high as you want while maintaining minimum speed. The alternator fan is spinning fast enough to cool things, the alternator is pumping out max juice as you need it... nice. Ben -- OKOPNIK CONSULTING Custom Computing Solutions For Your Business Expert-led Training | Dynamic, vital websites | Custom programming 443-250-7895 http://okopnik.com http://twitter.com/okopnik _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
