Tips - Installing an External Regulator on a Boat
Transcript is auto-generated.
[Music] hi Jeff Cote with Pacific yacht systems we're gonna talk a little bit about now that you've made a decision to actually get an external regulator for your boat a device that makes your alternator smarter and recharge your batteries faster you're gonna be thinking about what do I do to install it so I'm gonna give you and share a little bit we've installed like I've said hundreds and hundreds of these devices I have one on my own boat but it's not a super straightforward install and there's a few gacho's I'm not gonna share everything but I'm gonna give you enough information so that you can educate yourself and read more about it before you tackle this project so first thing to realize is that your external regulator is gonna actually create a higher output from your alternator so whatever wire is connected right now to your alternator positive post it might very well be that that alternator wire is actually too small so that's one thing you need to worry about the other thing too is that your external regulator it has a voltage sense wire and if you really want to take benefit of that voltage sense wire which offsets the voltage drop from your X term from the alternator to the battery you're gonna want to connect that voltage sensor wire directly to the battery that is connected directly to your alternator okay this is a very important key if you forget this step and you don't do this step you will burn your batteries and they will boil over and you will lose your battery bank so make sure that your alternator output wire from the positive post is connected directly to where your voltage sense wire for your external right here leaders connected that's one thing when you change the wire because you most likely will have to change the alternator wire because now your alternator is outputting more you're gonna need to make sure that the fuse can handle that larger wire so you don't want to have nuisance tripping the thing you want to do and take advantage of is customizing or changing the charge profile of that external regulator so you can actually go in there and actually if you're you want to geek out and you want to literally set every parameter you can do that or you can char choose custom preset profiles like AGM flooded lead-acid lithium whatever the charge profile you want they have preset charts profiles so make sure you set that up take advantage of the optional temp sensors for both the battery and the alternator and then the other thing that you want to do is remember you're going to be driving that alternate pretty hard so make sure that your V belt or your serpentine belt is able to handle now this alternator working harder than it has in the past so those are some of the tidbits that you have to look for we write a monthly column in the Pacific yachting magazine called Tech Talk and we've written quite a lot of articles or longer articles on external regulators and if you're curious and you're going to tackle this project on your own make sure you edit yourself before doing so thanks for joining us
