Marine Electrician / Boatyard in Charleston, SC?

[jorgenl]

Hello,

I need a recommentation for a good marina electrician and/or boatyard in Charleston , SC.

We are coming down the ICW (currently in North Myrtle Beach) and will be in Charleston in couple of days.

My problem is that my brand new (less than 100 hours) Balmar high output alternator is sometimes not charging. I have the Balmar MC 612 Smart regulator installed as well.

After a couple of hours of motoring, the alternator stops charging (battery bank is not full, <85%). Pulled into a marina and shut down the engine. Started the engine and the alternator resumed charging.
Headed out of the Marina and an hour later the alternator stopped charging again. Pulled into to a marina in Myrtle Beach after 5 hours of motoring. Stopped the engine. Started it again - no charging.

This morning I started the engine - the alternator charges fine.

Not sure what the problem is, had two electricians look at it so far, but no resolution. We think that the Balmar Duo Charge that allows charge to trickle thru from the house bank to the starting battery might be faulty. Not sure how that would affect the overall system.

The duo charger is definetely not doing it's job since the starting battery read 11.9V this morning after 16 hrs connected to shore power (house batteries then fully charged)

Any ideas or recommendation of good electricians?

/Jorgen

[mitiempo]

Have you tried to call Balmar tech support? 360-435-6100
Brian

[badsanta]

I have the 612 I think you are OK. mine does the same and after looking things up it is set to cut off after three hours as most batteries are full by then. If it needs further charging I restart and it is reset for 3 more hours. I dont know why it does this, but it is normal. If you have the book look at the 612 and it will flash several codes at start up and it will tell you how it is set. It is very easy to reprogram. But I would just leave it and when it stops charging, turn the motor off cut the power and then restart and see what happens. I think you will be fine.

[btrayfors]

I think you're probably OK, too. You can't go just by an energy meter to tell the state of charge of the batteries, since these can be way off sometimes. They need calibration and, of course, proper installation.

I'm assuming the 612 was properly installed, with a separate battery voltage-sensing wire and no battery isolator in-line. Also, that you've chosen the proper charging program for the type of batteries you have.

In the absence of a marine electrician, you can yourself determine the state-of-charge (SOC) of the batteries by measuring the voltage at the battery terminals with a digital multimeter, but do so only after the batteries have been resting for several hours with no charge on them and no load on them. I know this is hard to do while cruising, but it can be done, and is the only way to be reasonably sure of their state of charge. With flooded batteries, you can also use a hydrometer to measure the specific gravity of each battery cell.

Please note that NEITHER of these techniques will tell you about the health of the battery, i.e., it's capacity to accept, hold, and deliver energy. Only a load test will tell you for sure, though some expensive devices like the Midtronics testers will give a fair indication.

The MC-612 is a reliable regulator, and as noted can be rather easily programmed.

Do you have temp sensors connected? For the alternator? For the batteries? The MC-612 will take both. Sometimes, the sensors themselves are bad. They can be off in either direction.

Also, the MC-612 preferably should be mounted outside the engine room...it gets pretty hot in there. Not good for any electronics.

BTW, the Balmar DuoCharge has a known problem. If for any reason you try to pull more that the rated 30A thru it, the unit can develop a fault. Balmar knows about this and is reportedly fixing it.

Bill

[Deadeye]

Originally Posted by jorgenl

My...Balmar high output alternator"

Originally Posted by btrayfors

If for any reason you try to pull more that the rated 30A thru it

I'm curious as to why one would install an HO alternator then derate it with a 30A regulator. Simple reliability/redundancy ? Wouldn't a second unit be better for that ?

Jorgen, the 'trickle charge' that you're talking about sounds to me like an echo charge circuit on an inverter/charger. If so, it's completely normal that it doesn't charge because you also say that your batteries aren't getting to full charge. That circuit won't kick in until they are right up.

[mitiempo]

Deadeye
The Balmar Duocharge is designed to feed upto 30 amps to a secondary battery such as a start battery similar to Xantrex Echo Charge. The main output of the alternator goes to the house bank. The Duocharge will only charge the start battery when it senses a charging current at the house battery as they are being charged, not after.
It sounds to me like the MC 612 is not working properly or not set correctly as the Duocharge basically echoes upto 30 amps to start battery - house not charging properly so no charge being passed on.
Brian

[donradclife]

If the battery voltage is above 13 volts when you think the batteries are not 'charging', then the alternater and regulator are working OK, and the batteries are full--voltage should stay constant when you switch in some electrical loads.

You can usually reset the MC612 by turning the engine key off and back on again--no need to shut the engine down.

The duo charge doesn't sound like it is working--read the manual, especially the part about the on/off wire--your electrician may have installed a toggle switch in this wire to disable the duo charge.

http://www.balmar.net/PDF/Duo%20Charge%20Manual.pdf

[justified]

Jorgenl

Give Larry Rhodes a call he is in Charleston 843-817-4276. If he can't help you he'll be able to get someone who can.
Tell him hello for me. He helped me out this past Aug.

Peter C.
"Justified"

[jorgenl]

Gents,

Thanks for all your advice.

Made it inot Charleston about 1 hour ago and will deal with alternator isues tomorrow.

It is getting worse - the MC-612 regulator is shutting down in loess than 1 hour, no codes at the green led - totally black. Shutting engine off or turning the ignition key does not fix the problem., I thing the regulator is fried (it is mounted in the engine room, the cable harness was not lomng enough to moount it were we wanted it).

Yes - I put a volt meter on the batteries just do double check - definetely no charge.


The duo charger - I read about the 30 amp issue, borrowed a portable charger anbd fully charged the starting battery. When the duo charger is sensing chargin voltage at the house bank (>13V) charge is trickling thru to the starting battery (confirmed with multimeter, 13.1 V at starting battery)
It does however seem to allow amps to bleed back to the house bank when no charge is present.

I'll keeo you posted.

Thanks again / Jorgen