Mark Grasser Alternator Regulators

[Opie91]

Anyone have any experience with the Mark Grasser alternator regulators? Did a forum search and did not find much. Any comments or suggestions? Good/Bad?

[colemj]

He just started that business product recently, so not much info to find yet. He uses the Sterling regulator as a base and has reprogrammed it with additional functionality. Owning two Sterling regulators (not Grasser ones), and having dealt with Mark Grasser in the past, I have high regard for both and suspect that his products are very good. He is an upstanding businessman.

Mark

[captfolly]

we installed a "smart charge one" regulator on a modified hitachi 55 amp alt a few months ago and it has worked perfectly with our small bank of gel batteries...nice that the reg comes with both alt temp and batt temp sensors....a cooling fan too, it barely gets warm when on...the circuit board is not encased in resin as with some others, so the reg needs to be mounted where it will stay reasonably dry...fair winds...George

[sgtPluck]

I just bought one.
Will update once I have it installed and running for a while.

If anyone has any further comments or tips on them would be interested to hear.


-S

[svlamorocha]

Originally Posted by Opie91

Anyone have any experience with the Mark Grasser alternator regulators? Did a forum search and did not find much. Any comments or suggestions? Good/Bad?

One of these alternators is in my shopping list. Does anyone have any feedback on Mark Grasser alternators? Thanks!

[DeepFrz]

Information from Maine Sail in this thread.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...it-116623.html

[svlamorocha]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

Information from Maine Sail in this thread.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...it-116623.html

Thank you very much DeepFrz. In that thread Maine Sail says a few good things about MG´s alternators and his word is as good a recommendation as I need. I looked at lots of threads but did not find that one. Thanks again!

[Hoghead]

Any more feedback on this as I too am considering 1 + spare

[a64pilot]

I'm running both his 140 amp alt and his smart charge one with the button for force to float. I'm using a Balmar serpentine pulley kit.
I didn't know about Mark's serpentine kit before I purchased the Balmar one, that is I believe actually someone else's, just Balmar sells it?
Anyway apparently Mark's serpentine kit basically overdrives the alternator which gives more power at a lower RPM and also keeps the alt cooler as the fans are turning a higher RPM.
Being that I almost never exceed 2200 RPM with my motor, I think it would have been a good fit for me.
But so far installation was easy, very simple and it has worked well, as advertised, no issues, plug and play.
Only thing I'd add that is not in his instructions is apparently you can mount the temp sensor on either side of the alternator, but the side that is inboard on a Yanmar is the side of the alt that get hottest and is the best side to mount the sensor.
Get the one with an isolated ground if you desire to install an ammeter to know alternator output, one can be put on the positive side, but it limits your options and is best put on the negative side. I believe also he can remote mount the diode pack, removing a lot of heat form the alternator, but am not sure as I didn't go that route.
I'd suggest giving him a call and discussing with him your needs unless you know exactly what you want


Rich Boren, SV Third Day, also of Cruise RO fame distributes Mark Grasser's products

[groundtackle]

Installed his 200amp model and smart charger using his serpentine kit. He hadn't done a Perkins 4-236 serpentine kit before so we had to make some mods. I think he's got that figured out how and my setup is working well


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[carstenb]

I installed his 160 kit earlier this summer. I'm electrically illiterate and had help, but the instructions were fairly clear - even to a dummy like me. He also sent the serpentine pulley kit and all was well except for a couple of bolts and spacers which were the wrong size. I called mark with the correct measurements and he made and shipped FEDex express (at his expense) the correct bolts and newly made spacers the next morning. I had them here in Europe 2 days later.

Excellent customer service on his part and the unit is now charging my 600amp AGM bank easily.

One note - the unit doesn't charge much while my Yanmar 4JH4E is at idle. It likes some rpms - but once you get abot 15-1600 it starts cranking out hte amps

[a64pilot]

I'm going out on a limb and say something that I'm sure someone will tell me I'm wrong about, but I believe a high amp small frame Alt can't or at least won't make high amperage at low RPM for long, reason is cooling, I believe I will put a 3" bilge blower directed at mine with the inlet of the hose down low in cool air to assist in cooling, I haven't had a problem, but believe if I can help it run cooler, it will last longer.

160 to 200 amps is a huge amount of power, the venerable little Honda if I do the math correctly is only capable of 114 for instance (at 14V), generating that much power has to make considerable heat

Carsten, how are you monitoring your alternator's output?

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I'm going out on a limb and say something that I'm sure someone will tell me I'm wrong about, but I believe a high amp small frame Alt can't or at least won't make high amperage at low RPM for long, reason is cooling, I believe I will put a 3" bilge blower directed at mine with the inlet of the hose down low in cool air to assist in cooling, I haven't had a problem, but believe if I can help it run cooler, it will last longer.

160 to 200 amps is a huge amount of power, the venerable little Honda if I do the math correctly is only capable of 114 for instance (at 14V), generating that much power has to make considerable heat

Carsten, how are you monitoring your alternator's output?

At the moment no - but I've having that fixed next week.

[HappyMdRSailor]

All great info here guys!

[a64pilot]

I have a ammeter and shunt sitting in my boat I'll install soon, have other maybe more pressing projects first though. I was wondering how you were monitoring your's output as I don't think it's common to be able to?

If I had thought about it before, I would have ordered the Alt with isolated ground, but I didn't.