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1 minute ago, bizzard said:

But it is doing something. Its sapping and wasting some electricity. They don't work for nothing.

Oh you already know my feelings Bizz, the best place for it is the bottom of the cut ;)

 

Just now, Iain_S said:

But if it does that, and the batteries can't accept the resulting current, what happens to the extra power?

Look at page 9 in the above link and all will be revealed. 

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1 hour ago, WotEver said:

Oh you already know my feelings Bizz, the best place for it is the bottom of the cut ;)

I know what many of you feel about them but the reason I want to use it is that I want to charge my domestic bank at 14.6V when its cold. I'm nowhere near that with just the alternator. The current to the batteries is far higher for the first hour with the AtoB even when starting at 85% SoC. 70A ish compared with 30A without and after an hour I am still charging at 35A on the AtoB and less than 20A without. You can get far more charge in with the AtoB in the first few hours than without it.

Now, everything is fine with the 90A connected to the AtoB with the 55A out of circuit. ......but no rev counter. If I connect up the 55A direct to the starter battery and disconnect the Ato B from the starter battery, do I need a diode in the line to stop current flow back to the alternator when not running the engine?

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3 hours ago, Dr Bob said:

Sir Nibble, 10/10. The 90A is fine. 65A out charging with the 55A amp out of circuit. Looks like the Sterling AtoB is pretty useless if you have 2 alternators with different voltage regulators. Doesnt say that in the literature. This must have been going on for 6 months but as I am never lower than 85% SoC, the 55A has only been working over 30A for an hour each day. That will save me a bit of money and we are mobile again.

...cue.....everyone can slag off the Sterling AtoB .....but it was good at getting 14.6V into the domestic to charge it.

OK and well done for doing what everyone has been asking for the last few days. Out of interest how much did it cost you for RCR to tell you your good alternator was duff? It will make you think next time you call them and they tell you you need to spend a couple of hundred quid.

3 hours ago, Dr Bob said:

Sir Nibble, 10/10. The 90A is fine. 65A out charging with the 55A amp out of circuit. Looks like the Sterling AtoB is pretty useless if you have 2 alternators with different voltage regulators. Doesnt say that in the literature. This must have been going on for 6 months but as I am never lower than 85% SoC, the 55A has only been working over 30A for an hour each day. That will save me a bit of money and we are mobile again.

...cue.....everyone can slag off the Sterling AtoB .....but it was good at getting 14.6V into the domestic to charge it.

 

Edited by ditchcrawler
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7 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

If I connect up the 55A direct to the starter battery and disconnect the Ato B from the starter battery, do I need a diode in the line to stop current flow back to the alternator when not running the engine?

I don’t understand the question. If you disconnect the A2B from the starter battery what current flow are you referring to?

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Just now, ditchcrawler said:

OK and well done for doing what everyone has been asking for the last few days. Out of interest how much did it cost you for RCR to tell you your good alternator was duff? It will make you think next time you call them and they tell you you need to spend a couple of hundred quid.

Nowt! I argued that the 2 alternators were connected (and part of) the engine charging so they didnt charge for the call out. They would have charged me to do the domestic alternator though. I didnt want to go faffing with wires as I didnt want to damage any components which is why I call the RCR. It was only Sir Nibbles advice today to take the 55A out of circuit by removing the connecting plug that convinced me to do it. Unfortunately 'everyone' may have been saying take it out of circuit but no one came up with the simple way of doing it. I am happy measuring things but not happy taking high amp wires on/off when I could seriously damage bits of kit.

 

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1 minute ago, WotEver said:

I don’t understand the question. If you disconnect the A2B from the starter battery what current flow are you referring to?

If I connect the 55A direct to the starter battery then is that ok? Forget the AtoB. Current flows into the batteries when the alternator is working. When it is not do you have to stop current flowing the other way with blocking diode or something? When the 55A was connected via the AtoB, the info says there is a blocking diode in the line to the starter battery.

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11 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

If I connect the 55A direct to the starter battery then is that ok?

Yes of course. It is how just about every boat and car in the world is connected. 

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9 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Yes of course. It is how just about every boat and car in the world is connected. 

Many thanks. I read a lot about split charge relays, split charge diodes and blocking diodes and get very confused.

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Just now, Dr Bob said:

Many thanks. I read a lot about split charge relays, split charge diodes and blocking diodes and get very confused.

You have two alternators so have no need of such devices :)

 

25 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

the AtoB, the info says there is a blocking diode in the line to the starter battery.

At the risk of just confusing matters I’ll explain that this is because the A2B is connected to both batteries and the reference to ‘blocking diode’ simply means that it won’t allow the starter battery to discharge into the domestic batteries. 

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Remove the main output lead connected to the 55A from the input terminal on the AtoB and move it to the engine battery terminal also on the AtoB. That will get the rev counter working and leave only the 90A charging the domestic whilst the 55A charges the engine battery as intended. That will give the best of both worlds and connect the small alternator and battery just using the AtoB terminal as a convenient junction.

Edited by Sir Nibble
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2 hours ago, Sir Nibble said:

Remove the main output lead connected to the 55A from the input terminal on the AtoB and move it to the engine battery terminal also on the AtoB. That will get the rev counter working and leave only the 90A charging the domestic whilst the 55A charges the engine battery as intended. That will give the best of both worlds and connect the small alternator and battery just using the AtoB terminal as a convenient junction.

I assume in that configuration, the AtoB will also be able to charge down the engine battery lead as it is still connected but as the voltage it sees on the engine battery terminal will be high (14+V from the 55A) it will not push any current out that way and only provide current to the domestics? Good thinking.

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4 hours ago, WotEver said:

You have two alternators so have no need of such devices :)

 

At the risk of just confusing matters I’ll explain that this is because the A2B is connected to both batteries and the reference to ‘blocking diode’ simply means that it won’t allow the starter battery to discharge into the domestic batteries. 

How's about one of us distracts Dr Bob somehow, perhaps by dressing up as a Big Bird or something, whilst the other sneaks aboard and wires his 55a alternator to his starter battery and the 90a alternator to the domestic bank. Then, we bury the AtoB wotsit under a hedge and get someone to empty a bucket of composting toilet on top of the burial site.  Afterwards we say nowt when Dr Bob says "I'm not sure what happened, but everything suddenly seems to work perfectly well!"  If we're somehow wrong and his issues aren't fixed just by removing the AtoB thing, we could recommend he gets a replacement exchange alternator for the one that was duff all along. 

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If you are going through Atherstone at any time .www.coxautomotive.co.uk/

do a 24 hour turnaround service. I had mine repaired last year they are a short walk from the canal.

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3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I thought the little one was running hot and the specialist said the big one was bust

No. The little one was running hot and the RCR guy said the big one was bust. Both are working on their own but the AtoB is needed to get the voltage up to 14.6V and it seems the AtoB doesnt agree with the 2 alternators in parallel. I have emailed Sterling to hear what they say. Either the AtoB does not work with 'unbalanced' alternators or it is broken.

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25 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I thought the little one was running hot and the specialist said the big one was bust

 

The RCR bod is not a specialist. Yer average RCR bod is a GP accustomed to getting boats under way again, nothing more. 

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6 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

The RCR bod is not a specialist. Yer average RCR bod is a GP accustomed to getting boats under way again, nothing more. 

And if he had have said, "Yes we can change that but you have to pay for parts" then what.

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22 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

And if he had have said, "Yes we can change that but you have to pay for parts" then what.

That's what RCR said and gave me a quote of £450, parts and labor. I said no. Luckily it was bank holiday Friday so Beta marine were shut till next Tuesday  otherwise I would have ordered one for £190. Sir Nibbs then sorted me out. It is very fortunate that this forum exists to help those with less experience to sort problems as it did in this case. Similarly 2 weeks ago, the forum sorted my ebersparky thingy when it failed to fire up. I hope I can help other peeps with my knowledge of plastics, coatings and ducks.

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11 hours ago, bizzard said:

If you've been running with only the small alternator doing the bulk of the work, I'd chuck the AtoB thing and other gizmos and simply wire up either separately, small alternator to engine battery and the big one to the cabin batteries.

Which is exactly how Beta Marine supply the engine.  It's almost like they have some experience in this field, and provide the correct kit with their inland marine engines to suit normal usage patterns.

11 hours ago, Sir Nibble said:

The thing is that as I understand it the AtoB should load both alternators to 13V to undercut the regulator setting

So the magic box needs two input studs, one for each alternator, with magic loading circuits inside. Do they not have this? They are a damned expensive 8mm bolt if not!

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14 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

It is very fortunate that this forum exists to help those with less experience to sort problems as it did in this case.

Especially when the askee follows the advice given, or at least trusts the advice given and  gets a chap or chapess to act on it.

Although it does have to be said Graham M sounded convincing until his advice went from odd to lethal. :wacko:

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11 hours ago, WotEver said:

But there’s nothing wrong with his alternator. Never has been. 

My thoughts all along hence my first post last week started:

"I'm a bit late to the party here Dr Bob, but have you had the Beta alternators connected to their respective batteries without the Sterling gizmo linking them up?"

and why I said in my post supporting yours yesterday:

"If we're somehow wrong and his issues aren't fixed just by removing the AtoB thing..."

So is it fixed?  I lost the will to live back there!  :D

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6 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

lost the will to live back there!  :D

 

I lost the will to live too but am now curious as to what an A to B is actually supposed to do. Will it ‘work’ with just one alternator? Or is it specifically for joining together a pair of alternators?

Whichever, why is it called an A to B?

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