Mic wrote:
On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 08:26:54 -0400, Jeff wrote:


Mic wrote:

This issue is from a cruiser 1/2 way around the world and via sailmail

From some research here are some Ideas and the message I sent.

...

Your last post seems to confuse the issue. I'm not sure of the
benefit of sending marketing info on items that your friend may or may
not have.


Actually I would consider it Tech. info. and rather relevant to the
boat they bought sometime ago with systems in place. The issue was to
determine the config. of their system and the particular elements in
it.

In other words, you have knowledge of what equipment is being used but
you're not sharing this with us?



Without a bit more info its impossible to diagnose a problem like
this.


True, but I think there have been some ideas.

For instance, when you say "overcharging" to you mean serious

overvoltage (15+ Volts) which implies faulty equipment or improper
hookups, or do you mean a battery continues to get charging voltage
(about 14.4V) when it should go to a float charge?


Yep 15+volts, I would think it near impossible to really know when a
gel cell should go to float.

The how is it that all the common 3-stage regulators claim that they
work with gel cells? I've never used gels, so I really don't know,
but I thought they would have troubles if overcharged.





The latter is a

chronic problem of trying to charge several banks that are at
different charge states, and there is no simple answer without
considering the system in detail.


Yep.

So Mic ... is this a friend of yours, or is it just a query that
someone posted on forum?

No this was not a question posted on forum.

I think it is an interesting issue and have not found any relevant
material regarding overvoltage like this to a system. Obvious answer
in a simple system would be an adjustment of the reg., but not in this
instance. I think the issue is one of the sensing voltage and the
true config. of the system.

I guess what might help is that rather than what is...

But what should be given the fact of 2 alternators, 1 reg and 2 ?

There is one regulator for two alternators? And there are two banks
banks that are kept separate? I'm not surprised there are problems.


battery sets what should be the proper config. ie where the sensing
voltage cable should be going, should all batteries be in parallel
when charging, etc.

If the sense wire is not on the battery being charged, its will not
work properly. That is the problem I had. Usually the combiner would
latch, but if it didn't, there could be an overvoltage.

BTW, it would help a lot if you took the extra few seconds to write
complete sentences.