Thanks Ron. The regulator is an external one, so its replacement with the newer and smarter one should be fairly straightforward. I'm inclined to do this anyway, even if the current setup can be made to work OK.
The alternator/regulator combo was sent to the shop a few weeks ago and came back apparently OK (I was not there when it came back to the marina and was installed on the boat). I'm puzzled at what could have happened between the shop and the boat - not such a complicated piece of gear that it's likely to have some really subtle installation problem. Right now the alt/reg combo is on it's way to a different shop. Hal On Jul 18, 2012, at 8:05 PM, Ron Rogers wrote: You could take the alternator to a starter/alternator shop for a bench test. If the regulator (built-in I assume) is faulty, the shop can remove it from the alternator and bring the leads outside. Then you can purchase an external, smart regulator to properly charge your new lead-acid batteries. If the problem continues, one of your new batteries may be defective. The modern, external regulator is a wise move anyway as you want to protect your battery investment and built-in regulators are not suited to charging a house bank, for example. Different folks will recommend different regulators. You can spend a lot of money. Balmar and Ample Power make good regulators and you only have one kind of battery. I'd get the minimum intelligent one. Here is a 1997 article that I have found educational: < http://www.amplepower.com/ps_reports/v1-2/index.html > Oh, put the regulator in the coolest location possible and I recommend one that has temperature sensors for both the alternator and the batteries. Ron Rogers Hal Craft Talisman (Sabre 38, MK 1) Ithaca, NY/Robinhood, ME _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[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 Hal Craft Talisman (Sabre 38, MK 1) Ithaca, NY/Robinhood, ME
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