balmar controller on ebay

[mobile_bob]

these are made by balmar for leece neville, and come with the much desirable temp sensors

anyone looking to charge batteries with a heavy duty truck alternator using an advanced 3 step controller
might want to look into one of these, the temp sensors alone go for 40-50 bucks each. this unit looks like a more ruggedized version
of the MC612 controller. i am sure it is programmable but to what extent i am not sure. 

there are two left, and are an excellent buy

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330550582169

bob g

[Lloyd]

Hi Bob,

I also found these regs on e-pay...after a lot of consideration I think the only dif is the leece uses a truck plug instead of a ford plug, plus some additional wires in a reconfigured lume to match up to the long haul truck's wiring.

The actual reg is the new version mc614 with the advanced/faster processor. Still with all the internal programmable options.

These are a great deal. I just installed 2 of the  mc614's with a centerfielder, and a digital duo charge. My costs wholesale on the regs was about $220.00.

have a look at this old PR http://www.prestolite.com/literature/corp/PR_07_03_Balmar_No-Idle.pdf , or this google link. site:http://www.prestolite.com balmar . I was just talking to Todd, and he said the Balmar/Leece relationship is over.. So we'll see what that brings.

Lloyd

[Geno]

I bought one of these controllers for a small battery charger I built for camp. Going this way allows me to keep my MC60 at the house where it belongs. The unit looks fine and is new as the seller states. He also tells me it's fully programmable. It does lack the "red dot" which shows where the magnetic switch is but I'll find the switch when I hook it up.

The amp manager option reduces the field in terms of percentage. The answer seems pretty obvious but I just want to be sure. If I reduce the field by 50% on my 160 amp Leece Neville will the output be reduced to 80 amps? I understand that heat and other variables need to be considered in the total output, I just don't want to overload my little engine. There will be some testing of the amp manager when it's all together.

Thanks, Geno

[Geno]

I got started testing it last tonight on my small generator. The Prestolite MC-614 has most of the features of the standard one but not all. For instance the battery types are universal default, Optima spiral, ep1, ep2 and ep3. I have no idea what the ep types are for. The unit does have most of the advanced programming options so I can customize it to my needs.

The Chinese made Yanmar clone engine is supposed to be around 4 hp at 3600 rpm.
I had a 2500 watt inverter and one pretty worn out car battery on it. I had the engine at 2200-2400 rpm. I had the belt load manager at 7, this unit's lowest field setting. It charged the battery nicely, right up to 14 vdc. I could put 700 watts of lights on the inverter and the engine was happy with battery voltage around 13.5 I could cut boards with my skil saw but there was a puff of black smoke when the saw started and I had to cut pretty slow. If I had 500 watts of lights on it I couldn't even start the saw, it bogged the engine right down, even at a higher engine rpm. The belt load manager (blm) setting of 7 would equate to 50% field on the standard unit. I would have thought with this setting the engine wouldn't overload. BLM is working to some extent, with it set at 0 the engine would bog quicker. I'm wondering if my one, tired battery is the problem. Does the BLM setting get overridden in some circumstances? I'll have to do the same test with 2 or even 4 fresh batteries and see what happens.
Any thoughts, suggestions or comments are welcome.

Thanks, Geno

[mobile_bob]

i think your tired battery is causing the problems, the controller seeing an unusual drop in voltage is likely trying to compensate
and raising the field higher than would normally be needed.

my bet is that a fresh battery and you could saw to your hearts content.

as for 50% setting giving you 80amps output? i doubt you will be that lucky... it is used to tailor the amperage on a relative basis
as every alternator type has a different field current requirement.  basically it could give you anywhere from probably 40 amps to as much
as a 100 or more amps, only some testing will tell for sure.



bob g

[Geno]

Thanks for the reply Bob. While building my camp I want to use a couple car batteries because of their high output/input amperage rating. Lots of high amperage draws and charging will be needed. The generator will be running whenever the construction tools are and I probably wont be able to use more than one tool at a time. After things are setup I'll have deep cycle batteries for daily low amperage needs. I'll buy a couple of new batteries soon.

Thanks, Geno

[Geno]

I put a couple of fully charged batteries on line and started up the genny. After letting it run for ~15 minutes I got pretty much the same symptoms. The engine would bog down if I tried to cut a board with 500 watts of lights burning. It seems the field setting of 7 doesn't reduce the field that much. This unit does have another setting which, if I'm reading it correctly, will allow me to set the field in 1% increments to almost any number I want during bulk charging. That's what I'll try next.


FBA: Field Threshold - Bulk To Absorption . Controls the criteria used to determine field output required to maintain calculated bulk charging mode. Factory set at 65% field output. Raising "fba" shortens calculated bulk charge time. Lowering "fba" increases calculated bulk charge time. Span of adjustment is 16% to 96%. To reverse direction of scroll, release magnet and wait for LED to display "fba" code. Reactivate switch and release when desired value is indicated.

Thanks, Geno

[Geno]

I was reading FBA incorrectly. All it does is is read, not set, the % of field and uses the set # to move on to the absorption phase.

I shorted out the alternator temp sensor which locks the controller at 50% field. No good, I can still overload the engine.

So I hooked up the variac to the field wire. Works like a charm. With a 1500 watt load on the inverter I can tailor the alternators output so that the engine doesn't overload. The battery voltage drops steadily until I remove the load and then proper charging resumes. Now all I have to do is hook things up as neatly as possible. It took way to much fiddling to get here. Moral of the story: If you use one of these controllers get a bigger engine.

Thanks, Geno

[Tom Reed]

You could try a bigger pulley on the alternator. I went through this with a 12v charger that was built with a Tecumseh 5.5 hp and delco 10si. When the battery sense cable was plugged in it killed the engine. Going to a 4.5" pulley on the alternator solved the problem.

[Geno]

Thanks Tom, that would probably work. I think my pulleys are 7" and 3.5" and I will probably stay with them for the time being. Another upgrade which just made a big improvement was bumping up the cable from 5 gauge to 1 gauge and improving all the connection points. I knew I needed larger cable but didn't buy any till I found the right deal. I'll still need the variac but it's not as critical now.

Thanks, Geno

[Geno]

After about 30 hours of real world testing my generator performed very well. We were able to use a skill saw and small compressor and the unit handled it well unless you jammed the saw, then the breaker on the inverter would trip. If you were using the air nailer for 15 or so minutes straight the batteries would drain. It wouldn't start the big compressor or chop saw but I had the 5000 watt unit there. A small piece broke off the starter housing, a bolt came loose and I had to secure the regulator a bit better. I don't know how much fuel it used but it wasn't much and it didn't burn any oil. All in all a great success. I also got a hell of a lot done in less than 6 days with about a 3 ½  man average.

http://www.genedevera.com/temp/glencreek/#shed

Thanks, Geno

[Lloyd]

Geno,

Did you try using the BLM aka; Belt Load Manager, it is also adjustable in small increments, and it will lower the field output, allowing you to not overload the small engine.

Lloyd

[Geno]

Yes, but it doesn't lower it enough. The settings in this unit are similar to the standard one but not quite the same. The entire saga is here in the thread. The variac has another advantage, it's like an external BLM on a dial and I don't have to get into the units programming if my output needs change frequently. If I'm building by myself or have low amperage needs I can dial down engine RPM and set the variac appropriately.

Thanks, Geno

[Henry W]

Geno,

Very nice job.

When I am able to get some time off I have to come up and visit.

Henry

[mbryner]

Looks like fun project Geno.   Enjoyed looking at your website.