A Balmar Story

[Bob Cofer]

Over the winter I installed a 100a Balmar Alternator, a Balmar MC-618 Regulator and upgraded the DC wiring system to 4/0 cables. Everything was working fine and the performance was outstanding.

Last weekend we went to take a cruise and our DC voltages were all over the place, from 12 to 18 volts. It looked like the regulator failed. Monday morning I called Balmar tech support and talked to Tim. We went through all of the troubleshooting steps for the regulator and alternator and were able to confirm the alternator was working correctly but the regulator was having random problems. Next we verified the battery sensor voltages and they appeared correct. Balmar is just south of us and Tim offered to replace the MC-618 if I would come down and pick it up.

I pulled the regulator out and headed down to their shop. Tim invited me to watch as he bench tested my regulator. He tested every parameter at both normal voltages and high and low extremes, we were unable to mimic the issues I had while installed. We talked at length about possible wiring issues but as my runs are all less than 3’ long with no splices it seemed unlikely that could be the issue. At this point I didn’t expect anything other than “good luck finding the problem”. Tim suggested that we still exchange my regulator for a new one and install it to see if the problem was solved.

I went back to Puffin and put the new regulator in, the issue was still there. At this point I was confident all of the hardware was not the issue so I decided to check all of the wiring. Voltages were all correct at both the source and connection points of each wire so the next step was to check continuity and resistance of each wire, all was correct except for the battery voltage sensing wire, it showed 17k ohms resistance which was odd as the wire is only 1.5 feet long. I pulled the fuse and checked both the incoming and outgoing wires, both showed no resistance. Reading across the fuse produced the 17k resistance. The fuse looked good visually and showed good voltage at the regulator connection but that resistance caused enough variation under load to make the regulator go into fault mode. My issue ended up being a bad fuse. After all of this I called Tim and offered to bring the regulator back and take my old one. He said, no keep the new one! He also added this record of troubleshooting to their database for future reference.

The moral of my post is Balmar is a quality company with great customer support. I am a happy customer.

 

[Comodave]

Can’t complain about that level of service. Good for them. And thanks for sharing this story.

 

[O C Diver]

Over the winter I installed a 100a Balmar Alternator, a Balmar MC-618 Regulator and upgraded the DC wiring system to 4/0 cables. Everything was working fine and the performance was outstanding.

Last weekend we went to take a cruise and our DC voltages were all over the place, from 12 to 18 volts. It looked like the regulator failed. Monday morning I called Balmar tech support and talked to Tim. We went through all of the troubleshooting steps for the regulator and alternator and were able to confirm the alternator was working correctly but the regulator was having random problems. Next we verified the battery sensor voltages and they appeared correct. Balmar is just south of us and Tim offered to replace the MC-618 if I would come down and pick it up.

I pulled the regulator out and headed down to their shop. Tim invited me to watch as he bench tested my regulator. He tested every parameter at both normal voltages and high and low extremes, we were unable to mimic the issues I had while installed. We talked at length about possible wiring issues but as my runs are all less than 3’ long with no splices it seemed unlikely that could be the issue. At this point I didn’t expect anything other than “good luck finding the problem”. Tim suggested that we still exchange my regulator for a new one and install it to see if the problem was solved.

I went back to Puffin and put the new regulator in, the issue was still there. At this point I was confident all of the hardware was not the issue so I decided to check all of the wiring. Voltages were all correct at both the source and connection points of each wire so the next step was to check continuity and resistance of each wire, all was correct except for the battery voltage sensing wire, it showed 17k ohms resistance which was odd as the wire is only 1.5 feet long. I pulled the fuse and checked both the incoming and outgoing wires, both showed no resistance. Reading across the fuse produced the 17k resistance. The fuse looked good visually and showed good voltage at the regulator connection but that resistance caused enough variation under load to make the regulator go into fault mode. My issue ended up being a bad fuse. After all of this I called Tim and offered to bring the regulator back and take my old one. He said, no keep the new one! He also added this record of troubleshooting to their database for future reference.

The moral of my post is Balmar is a quality company with great customer support. I am a happy customer.

From a curiosity standpoint, I would like to know why the fuse went bad. I assume it wasn't the contacts on either the fuse or the holder. Is it an ATC style automotive fuse or the old glass style?

Ted

 

[Bob Cofer]

From a curiosity standpoint, I would like to know why the fuse went bad. I assume it wasn't the contacts on either the fuse or the holder. Is it an ATC style automotive fuse or the old glass style?

Ted

Hi Ted,

It was an ATC style fuse. It was visually intact but internally flawed.

Bob

 

[O C Diver]

Hard to imagine how'd it was working fine (no resistance) and then it wasn't. I had the same setup on Slow Hand and would never have thought to suspect the fuse.

Ted

 

[Bob Cofer]

Hard to imagine how'd it was working fine (no resistance) and then it wasn't. I had the same setup on Slow Hand and would never have thought to suspect the fuse.

Ted

40+ years in the electrical industry and I've only ever seen this once before, very unusual.

 

[WillieC2]

Over the winter I installed a 100a Balmar Alternator, a Balmar MC-618 Regulator and upgraded the DC wiring system to 4/0 cables. Everything was working fine and the performance was outstanding.

Last weekend we went to take a cruise and our DC voltages were all over the place, from 12 to 18 volts. It looked like the regulator failed. Monday morning I called Balmar tech support and talked to Tim. We went through all of the troubleshooting steps for the regulator and alternator and were able to confirm the alternator was working correctly but the regulator was having random problems. Next we verified the battery sensor voltages and they appeared correct. Balmar is just south of us and Tim offered to replace the MC-618 if I would come down and pick it up.

I pulled the regulator out and headed down to their shop. Tim invited me to watch as he bench tested my regulator. He tested every parameter at both normal voltages and high and low extremes, we were unable to mimic the issues I had while installed. We talked at length about possible wiring issues but as my runs are all less than 3’ long with no splices it seemed unlikely that could be the issue. At this point I didn’t expect anything other than “good luck finding the problem”. Tim suggested that we still exchange my regulator for a new one and install it to see if the problem was solved.

I went back to Puffin and put the new regulator in, the issue was still there. At this point I was confident all of the hardware was not the issue so I decided to check all of the wiring. Voltages were all correct at both the source and connection points of each wire so the next step was to check continuity and resistance of each wire, all was correct except for the battery voltage sensing wire, it showed 17k ohms resistance which was odd as the wire is only 1.5 feet long. I pulled the fuse and checked both the incoming and outgoing wires, both showed no resistance. Reading across the fuse produced the 17k resistance. The fuse looked good visually and showed good voltage at the regulator connection but that resistance caused enough variation under load to make the regulator go into fault mode. My issue ended up being a bad fuse. After all of this I called Tim and offered to bring the regulator back and take my old one. He said, no keep the new one! He also added this record of troubleshooting to their database for future reference.

The moral of my post is Balmar is a quality company with great customer support. I am a happy customer.

And TF is rising on my list for valuable information. Thanks, Bob

 

[slowbutsteady]

I installed almost the exact same configuration last year and while its working perfectly at the moment, this is great information to have. Thank you so much for sharing, and good on Balmar for going above and beyond.

 

[Chuck16]

I too installed that exact same setup on one of my Lehman 120's. (GB42) I am glad to learn that Balmar is as good as I had heard! Thank you for sharing.

 

[mrfixit48]

From a curiosity standpoint, I would like to know why the fuse went bad. I assume it wasn't the contacts on either the fuse or the holder. Is it an ATC style automotive fuse or the old glass style?

Ted

Just another angle on this problem. I am recently retired from 55 years as a heavy equipment field mechanic for both Caterpillar and Komatsu and have seen my fair share of electrical problems - the oddest of them was this: customer reported that everytime they started their machine the fault alarm would trip. After searching for the problem for a few days I was called in and assigned the task of of tracking down the problem. I did several test starts and verified that the fault alarm did indeed trip upon each start cycle. After a couple of hours of testing the problem appeared to be in the wiring and the process of tracing down the numerous systems began. Eventually, I traced it the the electrical circuit for the auto greaser on the machine - problem was, this machine didn't have one installed so that.pointed to a possible fault in the wiring harness. I checked for pinch points, frayed, worn, or abraided wires and loose connections in the various plugs along the length of the harness. Nothing!! I checked continuity and resistance of the wires for that circuit and found nothing. Now, heavy equipment these days is getting as bad as cars in that they now have at least 2 and often 4 computers in them and since computers don't like dirt, dust, vibration, or moisture, regardless of how well you mount and insulate them, heavy equipment is not an environment they enjoy living in. These computers need to "talk" to each other over a network known as a Can Bus System. Everything you turn this system on it does a self check for faults by sending a minute signal around each circuit and back to the computer which then decides if it like the answer it gets - if it doesn't it records a fault and trips the alarm. In the end, the fault was the fuse. At some point, the fuse had blown and whoever replaced it could find the proper size and just stuck.in what they had. Required fuse was a 15 amp and they had replaced that with a 40 amp. There was enough difference in the reference voltage in the can bus system that it was giving the computer an answer it didnt like and it was tripping the alarm. I inserted the proper size fuse in the fuse holder and - problem solved. Moral of this protracted tale is - fuses come in different sizes for a reason and ignoring the marking on the top (or end) of the fuse can lead to not only safety concerns but significant wasted time and excessive frustration for somebody. Yes a bigger fuse will still pass electricity and things will still work - but they won't work right!!!

 

[Kit_L]

What a great, interesting story! Thanks for sharing.

 

[SteveK]

Life was so much simpler when a blown fuse removed and a penny inserted would solve the problem

 

[Bamossman]

I had a similar issue recently with a new ATC fuse when installing a bilge pump. There was enough of a voltage drop across the new fuse that the pump would not operate. No visible defect or damage. It was the last place I looked, just assuming that a new fuse would be good. There are the occasional bad ones.,..

 

[Solstice1981]

Over the winter I installed a 100a Balmar Alternator, a Balmar MC-618 Regulator and upgraded the DC wiring system to 4/0 cables. Everything was working fine and the performance was outstanding.

Last weekend we went to take a cruise and our DC voltages were all over the place, from 12 to 18 volts. It looked like the regulator failed. Monday morning I called Balmar tech support and talked to Tim. We went through all of the troubleshooting steps for the regulator and alternator and were able to confirm the alternator was working correctly but the regulator was having random problems. Next we verified the battery sensor voltages and they appeared correct. Balmar is just south of us and Tim offered to replace the MC-618 if I would come down and pick it up.

I pulled the regulator out and headed down to their shop. Tim invited me to watch as he bench tested my regulator. He tested every parameter at both normal voltages and high and low extremes, we were unable to mimic the issues I had while installed. We talked at length about possible wiring issues but as my runs are all less than 3’ long with no splices it seemed unlikely that could be the issue. At this point I didn’t expect anything other than “good luck finding the problem”. Tim suggested that we still exchange my regulator for a new one and install it to see if the problem was solved.

I went back to Puffin and put the new regulator in, the issue was still there. At this point I was confident all of the hardware was not the issue so I decided to check all of the wiring. Voltages were all correct at both the source and connection points of each wire so the next step was to check continuity and resistance of each wire, all was correct except for the battery voltage sensing wire, it showed 17k ohms resistance which was odd as the wire is only 1.5 feet long. I pulled the fuse and checked both the incoming and outgoing wires, both showed no resistance. Reading across the fuse produced the 17k resistance. The fuse looked good visually and showed good voltage at the regulator connection but that resistance caused enough variation under load to make the regulator go into fault mode. My issue ended up being a bad fuse. After all of this I called Tim and offered to bring the regulator back and take my old one. He said, no keep the new one! He also added this record of troubleshooting to their database for future reference.

The moral of my post is Balmar is a quality company with great customer support. I am a happy customer.

Balmar Tech services treated me very well hunting Gremlins down!

 

[Maerin]

Every experience I had with Balmar tech guys was excellent. They're easy to work with, really, REALLY know their product.

 

[Cape Sailor]

Likewise my Balmar M618 regulator stopped working. The battery sensor wire and fuse showed minimal ohms but when I used the trouble light it would not light. Turned out to be a bad 10 amp fuse with an invisible fault.

I now only use Bluesea fuses, instead of the 10 cent ones on Amazon. Had I done so at the start I could have saved many hours of trouble shooting.