Balmar 7-series 80a alternator at Defender

Mark Maulden

Mark Maulden

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Jan 25, 2011
2,439
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
Defender is blowing these out at $299.00. They are single foot 1" mounts. Sorry I got the last 2". The Defender website states they are internally regulated but Balmar states they are not which is fine with me as I'm going to regulate external anyway. You will not find them on Balmar's website so I called them and asked about the series 7 wondering if they had issues and why Defender has put such a good price on them and why they are no longer advertised. The saleswoman at Balmar was very responsive and open with me stating that the series 7 was being made in Argentina and the Argentin govt came in and took over their production plant. Balmar decided to pull out of Argentina and they cut a deal with Defender for the rest of their stock. She stated there are no known issues with the series 7 and they are good products. As I write this there are 13 left.....Just sharing a little discovery....
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

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Feb 6, 1998
11,759
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
Mark,

Those 7's are a very good deal..

The 7 series for Balmar was sort of a redundant product with the 6 Series but the 6 series offers isolated ground and both internal and external regulation. The 6 is a very hot seller. The 6 series is also based on the Delco CS130D so general parts can be had nearly anywhere in the world.. IIRC the 7 is / was based on the Presolite AVI series and was built in Prestolite's Argentina plant...

The 7 series lacks: Universal multi-position adjuster arm ear, isolated ground terminal and internal regulation..

If any of those items matter to you then get a 6 series, otherwise these 7's are a great deal!!

Also any 1" foot alt can easily be made into a 2" foot alt but a 1" or 2" can not be made into a saddle mount, such as would fit a Yanmar or older Mitsubishi/Westerbeke's..

BTW that price is way below what I would have paid even as a Balmar dealer for the 7 series..... Stephan must have bought those things really well....
 
John Nantz

John Nantz

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Jul 1, 1998
3,062
Hunter Legend 35 Poulsbo/Semiahmoo WA
you mean, Argentina "Nationalized" the plant?

Mark - From what she said, it sounds like Argentina "Nationalized" the plant?

Mark Maulden said:
The saleswoman at Balmar was very responsive and open with me stating that the series 7 was being made in Argentina and the Argentin govt came in and took over their production plant. .
Click to expand
The Government is going through some really difficult financial times and they've got runaway inflation.

For what it's worth, they've also trying to take over the Falklands again by cutting off commerce and doing other things to make it difficult for the Falklanders.

As annother aside, "Sequitur" (they had a very interesting blog and posted here a couple years ago) sailed from Vancouver, Canada, and down to Cape Horn. They stayed away from Argentina because of their unfriendly attitude and instead went to the Falklands. Bypassed Argentina as they went up the east coast of South America. Couldn't find their blog but they have a book out abut their trip: http://yacht-sequitur.ca/ They really raved about Chile.
 
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