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so we've got a fellow border

with the jeanneau 43ds ds stands for

dexalon

in maryland and the boat's called the

office love it

smart uh and this boater mick asks the

following question

so he's got a um alternator

and when he starts his alternator the

battery bank is at around 70

and he knows this because he has a

battery monitor

right without a battery monitor he would

never know what the capacity of his

battery is

so his battery capacity is around 70

percent so he's using the blue c's m2

state of charge battery monitor that i

like it's on our website

highly recommended a little pricey but

it's definitely worth it

and he says when i start charging my

batteries um

are charging at about 60 amps and very

shortly thereafter

it drops off to 20 amps can you explain

so question let's try to rehash boater

has an 80 amp alternator

when the batteries are about 70 of

capacity he sees about 60 amps of

charging

but very quickly it diminishes to 20

amps what's going on

well let's let's first talk about

alternators what you see and what you

get from an alternator are two different

things

it's sort of like your 401k or anything

that your financial advisor has promised

you in terms of returns there's a

difference between what was promised

and what actually happens and generally

those two are not

going in your favor so an alternator is

no different

uh most alternators and when i say mouse

i mean like 99.99 percent and keep going

like i mean it's probably for like

only very few of us will have an

external regulator on an alternator

so all of us are going to have an

internal regulator that's what our cars

have and so all the boats from the

factories come out with

maybe a north oven might have it or a

tierra might not have it

a celine might not have it but that's

pretty much it all other boats are going

to have an internal regulator

that internal regulator is overly

cautious

and what's going to happen is you're

going to see that your charger

your alternator output is going to

greatly diminish over time

because the alternator's regulator which

is what's deciding

what amperage is going through the

batteries is being

just so careful to not boil the battery

right over charge the battery so if a

boater is asking themselves and wants to

increase their charging capacity out of

a given alternator

we're doing that today literally today

i've got a boater that's got 120 amp

alternator

and the weight increase the output of

that alternator the first thing has not

changed the alternator but to add an

external regulator

like the balmar 614 or the wake speed

and add an external regulator to that

alternator that makes that alternator

not only a workhorse but also nimble and

smart

perfect combination right so you want to

have something that can be a workhorse

but can also have the intelligence to

know when to

work hard and when to stop working hard

and you do that with an external

regulator

so this question um from mick

is relevant because he's got a janeau 43

it's 80 amp alternator and he wants to

recharge his batteries faster so the

first thing would be

actually putting an external regulator

but also know that as the batteries get

around

eighty percent eighty-five percent of

capacity for a lead acid battery

right be it flooded lead acid gel or agm

the battery is starting what becomes the

absorption absorption phase

and we know and we have other videos of

this three-phase charging profile

bulk means eat as much as you can

until you feel slightly full absorption

i feel slightly full but i'm gonna keep

eating

float i'm so full

but i want to keep nimbling that's

basically bulk absorption float

and if you're around 80 85 percent

you're going to get yourself an

absorption and at that point the charger

or the alternator is going to start

reducing power output as the batteries

age

that absorption voltage or phase

happens earlier and earlier when my

batteries were getting old on my

lead acid battery my absorption wasn't

80 85 it was like around 70

so if you're bringing your batteries

down only to 70 you have

very short window of bulk charging with

an alternator

and that might also be another problem

nick is that you're not letting your

batteries drain low enough

and you're charging too much in

absorption it's okay to bring a flooded

lead acid battery down to 50

and if you do 50 you're going to have

between 50 and 80 30 percent of your

battery capacity

is going to be able to be recharged

under bulk once you reach 80 it's just

going to slow down

by the way there might be some of these

youtubers are going to post down i can

see them

jeff but lithium avoids that and you're

right that's the advantage of lithium

you can go from 20

of capacity all the way to 100 and your

first bite is like your last bite you're

starving the whole way through until you

say ah

i've had enough and that's the advantage

of lithium is that you can basically

throw anything at it and it will take it

but a lead acid battery will push back

as the battery gets into the absorption

stage

and remember i mentioned this but just

briefly just in this video

as batteries age the absorption phase

starts

at a lower point and that's where the

batteries you know they're like i can't

do it anymore and think about i always

give the analogy

between people and batteries as we grow

older our appetite diminishes

right it's normal and my appetite when i

was 20 and my appetite when i'm going to

be 70 is not going to be the same

the challenge is we still assume that

batteries with chargers are always

charged the same they're always perfect

condition

but the chargers at one point the

batteries can't take it anymore they

can't recharge fast

so if your battery is you've changed the

external regulator you're

in the right stage and you're charging

between 50 and 70 75

if that doesn't work that's also a sign

that your batteries are aging

and it might be worth considering

bringing new batteries

that have an absorption voltage higher

that gives you a longer charging

under bulk charging so that was a really

good question mick

and good luck with your project

thanks for watching this video also we

appreciate the feedback

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you

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