Making Sense of Automatic Charging Relays
Making Sense of the ACR What is an ACR? An ACR is nothing more than a fully automatic, voltage triggered, BOTH/PARALLEL switch that [...]
Marine Alternator Installation – Tips & Tricks
A Fresh New Alternator For many boat owners the task of upgrading their engines alternator can be intimidating. It does not have [...]
Installing a Solbian Semi-Flexible Solar Panel
Solbian Layout Solbian solar panels are a unique product that fill a great niche for the marine market. They are thin, [...]
Programming a Balmar External Voltage Regulator
Preface This article contains three separate videos that show how to physically program Balmar regulators. The videos are meant to be [...]
Installation & Orientation of Flooded Batteries on Boats
Port to Starboard Orientation In this photo I am simulating a sailboat heeling with flooded batteries. For years I’ve wanted to [...]
Fusing & Termination Voltage Drop
5A Fuse - 5A Load As boaters looking for optimal charging performance we need to keep in mind that the path [...]
How Fast Can an AGM Battery be Charged?
Baseline Discharge 49.3% SOC PREFACE: This article looks at the *charging times & achieved state of charge of an AGM battery in multiple scenarios. 1- 50% SOC [...]
Winter Battery Storage & Self Discharge Characteristics
December 11, 2012 After having a discussion with one of my customers, about leaving his battery charger running on-board all winter, [...]
Under-Load Battery Voltage vs. SOC
Battery After 20 Hour Capacity Test = 95.69Ah Capacity For this test I wanted to: Show the relationship of loaded voltage [...]
Automotive Alternators vs. Deep Cycle Batteries
A Deep Cycle Battery Assassin The alternator pictured here helped to destroy a very expensive bank of TPPL AGM batteries in [...]
Installing Solar MC4 Terminals
Solar MC4 Connectors These are solar *MC4 connectors the FEMALE in on the bottom and the MALE plug is on top. [...]
Installing an Autopilot Rudder Position Sensor
Rudder Position Sensor - Radial Drive Close Up In this picture you can see the steering systems radial drive and the [...]
Anode Installation – Best Practices
Anode Installation I recently came from a customer’s boat after doing a winterizing and while there I noticed the anode (zinc [...]
Battery Melt Down Narrowly Averted
Note The Melting of The Battery Case The connections to your batteries matter. How you make them, how you torque them [...]
Universal Diesel Engine – Wiring Harness Upgrade
Engine Panel With Ammeter = Dangerous If your Universal engine panel looks like this, and has an ammeter, you are due [...]
External Regulation Conversion – Leece-Neville 8MR Alternator
The Stock Alternator Many boats, both power and sailboats, come equipped with, or have have used, the 5" small-case Motorola/Prestolite/Leece-Neville style [...]