External Regulation Conversion – Leece-Neville 8MR Alternator
A Stock Leece-Neville 8MR Alternator Many boats, both power and sail, come equipped with, or have have used, the 5" small-case Motorola/Prestolite/Leece-Neville style [...]
Rebuilding & Inspecting a Westerbeke Alternator
Remove The Pulley This article takes a look inside a typical Mitsibishi/Westerbeke 50A alternator. These are tiny little work horses that [...]
Making Your Own Battery Cables
Pick Your Crimp Tool FTZ 94284 & Ancor Hammer Crimper TEMCO TH0005 & FTZ Bench Mount BUY FTZ 94284 CRIMP TOOL - [...]
Easy VHF Terminations
If You Don't Know How to Solder..... If you really don't know how to solder a VHF PL259 connector there are other options as you'll see below. This one is laughable, except that when this owner needed his VHF it was no joke or laughing matter that it failed to transmit. The previous owner or perhaps even a boat yard employee decided that solder on the shield for the VHF cable was optional. It worked for a short while, rather weakly, and then failed all together. Those holes are where the solder would go to contact the shield or braided portion of the coax cable.
New Depth Sounder With an Old Transducer
Old Transducer Coax Cable Preface: This article assumes you're vessel is not yet into the 21st century with regard to your [...]
Shore Power – SmartPlug vs. 1938
SmartPlug vs. 1938 In today's day and age it is far and few between that I come across products that: #1 [...]
Voltage Transients in Marine Electrical Systems
Voltage Transients in Marine Electrical Systems I had been meaning to put this together for a while and assembled a system for [...]
Marine Wire Termination
Marine Wire Termination - Tools of the Trade MHT Recommended Tools: The products below are our top picks for crimp [...]
DIY LiFePO4 Batteries On Boats
DIY LiFePo4 On Boats Last edit;3/26/23:The base of this article was written a number of years ago (2010) but this does not mean [...]
Do I Need A Solar Controller?
Do I Need A Solar Charge Controller? I get asked this question quite often and the answer is almost always a resounding, yes. [...]
Installing A Battery Monitor
Battery Monitor Diagram This article features the older Victron BMV-602. The 602 has been replaced by the BMV-7oo series. Everything in this article [...]
Making Your Battery Monitor More Accurate
Program The Ah Capacity This article features the older Victron BMV-602. The 602 has been replaced by the BMV-7oo series (700, 702 & [...]
MPPT vs. PWM Solar Controllers
Solar Testing MPPT vs. PWM In the spring of 2014, early May to be exact, I set up a series of tests to [...]
Solder and Poor Trouble Shooting = $$$$
The Wire That Caused Years Worth Of Expenses So I get called to winterize a new customers boat and it has [...]
What is a Deep Cycle Battery?
Light Cycle vs. Deeper Cycle NOTE: This article deals with FLOODED marine batteries, not AGM or GEL batteries. The Problem: The problem, as [...]
Alternators & Voltage Sensing
Regulator Sensing Voltage at Alternator End The topic of wiring a high performance alternator regulator, and doing it correctly, comes up a lot. [...]