Alternator
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OEM 1-2-B Switch Wiring History Alternator/Batteries & "The Basic" 1-2-B Switch BEST Wiring Diagrams
1-2-B Considerations
MarineHowTo.com - 1/2/BOTH Switch Considerations
Basic Battery Wiring Diagrams This is a very good basic primer for boat system wiring: Basic Battery Wiring Diagrams
This is another very good basic primer for boat system wiring: The 1-2-B Switch by Maine Sail (brings together a lot of what this subject is all about)
http://forums.catalina.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=137615
This is a newer primer for boat system wiring design with a thorough diagram: Building a Good Foundation (October 2016)
Building a DC Electrical Foundation
1-2-B Considerations
MarineHowTo.com - 1/2/BOTH Switch Considerations
Basic Battery Wiring Diagrams This is a very good basic primer for boat system wiring: Basic Battery Wiring Diagrams
This is another very good basic primer for boat system wiring: The 1-2-B Switch by Maine Sail (brings together a lot of what this subject is all about)
http://forums.catalina.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=137615
This is a newer primer for boat system wiring design with a thorough diagram: Building a Good Foundation (October 2016)
Building a DC Electrical Foundation
Or....an alternator regulator...which then goes thru some sort of switch to the battery (per @Stu Jackson links above), or maybe just the switch itself. I'd be surprised if your alternator is wired directly to your battery(ies), like on a car. But only you will be able to trace the wiring from your alternator to see exactly what its wired to, we can only guess, or tell you what is LIKELY.
Let's clarify a bit here, please.
If you actually read the links, the primary suggestion is to actually run the alternator output (AO) directly TO the house bank.
Just like your car.
A regulator is not in the AO wiring. A regulator regulates the alternator's output voltage.
Just remembered this OP has a Beneteau
Beneteau Wiring Diagrams - Maine Sail's corrections - Just in case you have a friend with a Beneteau and want to help him with his unusual switching Reply #8
One black and two red electrical switches
Beneteau Wiring Diagrams - Maine Sail's corrections - Just in case you have a friend with a Beneteau and want to help him with his unusual switching Reply #8
One black and two red electrical switches
Fair point about the links you provided @Stu Jackson - they clearly discuss wiring the alternator directly to the battery. And provide some excellent information about why the proposed schema is better than other methods.Let's clarify a bit here, please.
If you actually read the links, the primary suggestion is to actually run the alternator output (AO) directly TO the house bank.
Just like your car.
A regulator is not in the AO wiring. A regulator regulates the alternator's output voltage.
But I've never owned a boat wired that way - they've all been wired from the factory to a switch, and then to the battery. Or to an alternator regulator, to a switch, and then the battery.
Not debating which is better, or which is "correct", just what I've seen as common. And knowing nothing about the OP's H450, but owning an H36 I have two hypotheses about what he's probably got as a setup.
Thanks for your kind note, much appreciated.
Just for the record, for others since you've said it three times now:
Alternators ARE NOT wired "...to an alternator regulator, to a switch, and then the battery." ALL alternators have regulators, whether internal or external. They have to to be able to work to "regulate" the voltage and not cook batteries. They CONTROL the alternator output voltage. ONLY the AO either goes to a switch or directly to a bank.
I agree, thanks, and is what each of my links says: these are all options. How to you wire and manage your boat is your choice.
So here's the wiring diagram for a Balmar external alternator regulator from the Balmar manual. Its not clear to me how "...the AO either goes to a switch or directly to a bank". In this diagram it appears to go to the external regulator and then to the house bank (switch is missing in this diagram). Or is that Connector 1??
Genuinely trying to understand here.
Genuinely trying to understand here.
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That' the diagram for connecting the reg to the alt not alt to the DC system..
Good question. Here's how to look at it:
1. Understand what connections numbered 2 & 9 actually are. #2 shows a 10A fuse and # 9 shows a 1A fuse. This means that they are signal, not power wires. (#9 is volatge sense [of the battery bank being charged] & #2 is power to the regulator; neither is the AO)
2. Recognize that even OEM alternators are usually a minimum of 30A alternator output (max. cold) and you'll see those wires couldn't possibly handle the actual AO.
3. The AO to the battery bank or switch is NOT shown on the Balmar wiring diagram because it is independent of the signal wires needed to connect a Balmar external regulator.
tfox2069 , from the Balmar Max Charge MC614 Manual page 3 describing Terminal 9:
"9. POSITIVE VOLTAGE SENSE - Connects to battery being charged. Use RED fused pigtail connector (included) at battery end of user-installed wire. THE SENSE WIRE MUST BE INSTALLED FOR THE REGULATOR TO OPERATE. "
Here is an image from Marine How To (better known as The Bible) that shows the alternator output taken off at the large B+ terminal, through a service disconnect switch to the positive terminal on the battery.
"9. POSITIVE VOLTAGE SENSE - Connects to battery being charged. Use RED fused pigtail connector (included) at battery end of user-installed wire. THE SENSE WIRE MUST BE INSTALLED FOR THE REGULATOR TO OPERATE. "
Here is an image from Marine How To (better known as The Bible) that shows the alternator output taken off at the large B+ terminal, through a service disconnect switch to the positive terminal on the battery.
On my beneteau the alt was originally wired directly to the starter. Changed it when I added new balmar alt based on discussions with mainsail.