Does anyone have one of these ancient babies onboard? I am trying to locate the source of the fault light. This regulator is for the high-output alternator on engine #2, a Kubota, aft of the primary Yanmar.
I think thats a Balmar unit. It it were me, id replace it. Just looking at the picture, i can tell you that it isnt normal to see”bulk” and “float” indicators on at the same time. Or at least that is my experience from my solar charge controller.
if you do replace it, and you think you would want to eventually convert your batteries to lithium, consider a unit that has can/bus outputs that can communicate with a victron cerbo gx.
I already have 800Ah of Battle Born lithium ion batteries on board with two Victron chargers for redundancy. They run off the primary Yanmar engine. This ancient charge controller is connected to the Kubota engine aft of the Yanmar (incorrectly referred to as “the generator”). The Kubota drives a high-output alternator and the watermaker. Bearing in mind that I am not great with electricity and this may be a dumb question … could I use one of the Victron chargers to replace this old one?
Oh very nice ! Thats what i want to do with my 40/40.
I did a google search and found this - the Wakespeed WS5. It can communicate with victron stuff. Id have it talking to a Cerbo GX that can be monitored via bluetooth or to a screen at your chart table. You could also go through a victron dc to dc charger to charge your house bank as well if you are running it
Full disclaimer- I am not a marine electrician but i do know enough to be dangerous. If you have someone you hired to install your batteries, you should run this by them.