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Advanced
Alternator Regulators |
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THE PROBLEM:
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Standard
alternators are not designed to be good battery chargers; they are
designed only to charge an engine start battery sufficiently to start
the engine. Because of this inherent design problem associated with the
standard regulator, a more advanced regulator is required which in
effect converts the alternators from a constant voltage power supply to
the latest 4-step constant current battery charger (see battery charger
graphs). Because of this improvement in the alternator control system,
these regulators dramatically enhance the alternator's charge rates by
between 200-2000%,depending on how poor the original system is.
The
Sterling System is the only real time control system which is in
operation 100% of the time. This real time control ensures the high
charge cycle is switched off when the batteries are full (regardless of
battery bank size or state) and the high charge will automatically
reset itself if after the charge has been completed and the output from
the batteries exceeds the output from the alternator. Because this is
real time-based, this monitoring and control is in operation all the
time the engine is running.
The
Sterling Regulator is designed to charge batteries as fast as possible
and to their maximum capacity without damage to the batteries or
alternators. Therefore, we opt for the constant current charging mode
and not pulse charging which would double the charge time.
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What To Expect From An Advanced Regulator:
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1) |
Maintains maximum performance to alternators power curve within preset envelope supplied by battery manufactures. |
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2) |
Batteries charging 4-20 times faster. |
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3) |
Enables
25-35% extra useful power to be stored in batteries. A conventional
alternator will only charge the battery to a max of about 75% and the
battery voltage drops to a useless voltage of about 40%, which means
that out of 100 amps of battery capacity only about 35 amps are used.
An advanced regulator will fully charge the battery giving an extra
25%, which increases the useful available power by about 70%. |
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Battery plates kept free from sulphate damage resulting in longer battery life. |
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Due to the built in safety features, in the event of incorrect installation the unit will switch itself off. |
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Reduces needless running hours on the main engine. |
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Compensates for voltage drops due to long cable runs, amp meters, diodes and other general wiring associated problems. |
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Automatically converts machine-sensed alternator to a permanent battery sensed alternator.
This advanced regulator is the easiest to fit, safest, most powerful, and because it is an O.E.M product, the cost is low. |
SAFETY: |
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The Sterling Advanced Regulator has full safety features to prevent
damage to your system. In the event of incorrect installation or a
fault developing on the boat or vehicle, the high voltage trip picks up
high voltages at the batteries and the alternator and switches off the
advanced regulator (the field circuit is disconnected totally from the
control via an internal relay). |
The Sterling Unit was the first to
introduce parallel operation with the regulator, ensuring continuous
alternator operation even in the event of a system failure. |
Every one in the power game recognises that the best battery charger
you can buy is a 3 step constant current charger. These have superseded
the old constant voltage chargers, The Sterling regulator converts your
alternator from an old constant voltage alternator to a modern constant
current battery sensed charging alternator (see the difference in fig 2) |
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The test: |
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Using a standard 12V, 90 amp Bosch alternator fitted to our test bench,
and rotated at a constant speed, the following test was undertaken. 4 x
100 amp ''leisure'' batteries were used. These were split into 2
battery banks, one for engine start and three for domestic. The engine
start battery was fully charged (to copy that in real life) and the 3 x
domestic batteries were discharger until such time as one of our 1800
watt inverters tripped out on low voltage. To make the test fair we
linked 9 batteries together to make one larger battery bank then
discharged them all to exactly the same level, then a random three
batteries were selected and used for each test. The idea was to see how
many amps could be replaced into a 300 amp battery bank which had been
discharged to a level one would expect in real life (about 50-60%
empty) in a 3 hour period, and to display the results in as simple a
way as possible to high light the difference between all the different
options and why an Advanced Regulator is a necessity not a gimmick . |
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Digital soft ware control: |
There
are two ways to control electronic processing, Analogue (hardware
control) and Digital (software control). Hardware control is where the
voltages sensed and processed are all done via transistors and
electronic hardware. This is fine as long as the information to be
processed is kept simple. However, an Advanced Regulator may look
simple, and most of them are, but when all the different battery types,
bank sizes, and safety parameters are installed the unit would become
almost impossible to make and set up. Sterling leads the field in this
type of controller and has found that when upgrading from our previous
model we required so many extra features to keep up with new battery
types and alternator types etc, that a hardware version was impossible
to make.
Digital
control (software) uses computer lines of code, digitally burned into a
memory processor in the Advanced Regulator. This means that very
complex information and mathematical processes can be processed which
would be impossible for the hardware system to do. It is the next
generation of control, more and more you will see the term digital
control appearing on different products. Digital control offers so many
extra features at no extra cost and accuracy beyond the ability of the
analogue version. |
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12V Digital Advanced Alternator Regulator
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Sterling Power Products regards itself as one of, if not the foremost
authority in this field in the world. A simple run through of all the features
and technology used in the Sterling device against their competitors should be
clear, when you check their Quick Check List, then the price should clinch the
deal. They have two advanced regulator models and a new
Split Power Amplifier version (completely new approach to the same problem, giving the same outcome as the
advanced alternator regulator but much simpler to install) and the Pro
version.
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Features;
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Programmable for 3 different battery types
- Open lead acid / gel / agm
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Automatic charging time calculation
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Temperature compensated charging curve
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Information LEDs (6)
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Can be used with or without temperature sensor
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Safety features:
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Self diagnosing fault system
Totally isolates the advanced. Regulator. In fault condition
Battery temperature sensing
High battery temp. trip
High battery voltage trip
High alternator voltage trip
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In event of failure auto return to standard alternator
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positive/negative field control (switchable)
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This unit is not suitable for the remote control
panel below
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Size:
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120x70x45mm
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Weight:
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0.4kg
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Order Code - MLE00011
Link back to purchasing page
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Need
a simple wiring diagram, click here
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12V / 24V PRO-DIGITAL ADVANCED ALTERNATOR REGULATOR
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The Pro version offers all the features on the standard digital advanced regulator plus many
new ones - the main extra features being the
remote control panel, the extra cooling fan for
larger alternators and the 12/24 volt capability.
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12V and 24V operation from the same unit:
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In order to make this unit truly universal, it can be programmed for 12V or 24V
operation by using a simple link switch.
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Features;
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Programmable for 3 different battery types
- Open lead acid / gel / agm
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Automatic charging time calculation
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Temperature compensated charging curve
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Information LEDs (10)
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Can be used with or without temperature sensor
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Safety features:
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Self diagnosing fault system
Totally isolates the advanced. Regulator. In fault condition
Battery temperature sensing
High battery temp. trip
High battery voltage trip
Alternator temperature sensing
High alternator voltage trip
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In event of failure auto return to standard alternator
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positive/negative field control (switchable)
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Alternator temperature monitoring and disengagement
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Size:
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100x170x60mm
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Weight:
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0.9kg
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additional features to DAR12
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Can be used as a stand alone regulator
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MNEA 400 interface ready
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Remote control and display optional
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Order Code - MLE00012
Link back to purchasing page
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