Balmar Bummer!

[Hud3]

Since this thread is about a customer service experience with Balmar, I'll chime in with one of my own.

I decided to install a Balmar 210 Amp alternator on my engine, rather than cramming a diesel DC generator in one of the cockpit lockers. A mechanic installed it for me on a custom mount that he fabricated. When we cranked it up, the alternator would cut off after a few minutes, with severe overheating. I called Balmar's marketing vp, Rick Jones, about it.

Rick and Balmar's technical expert spent quite a bit of time on the phone and email with me trouble-shooting the problem. The company's owner, Steve Gammon even tried to help. I remember him talking with me from his home on a Sunday. They even sent me a brand new alternator, and bench-tested the original one in their shop. It tested OK, so they sent it back to me.

I still had the overheating problem, even with the new alternator. Finally, Rick and the tech guy came to my house in Virginia (they had been at the Boat Show in Annapolis, Maryland, about 3-1/2 hours away). They quickly determined that it was a faulty regulator. Rick pulled a new one out of his bag, installed it, and all was good! Never had another problem with it! I was heading off to the Caribbean about four weeks later, so Rick let me have the second alternator as a spare, only charging a "core charge" for it, which was a fraction of the discounted retail cost that my mechanic had charged me. I sent the spare back a year later, and received a full refund.

I have a hard time coming up with an example of excellent customer service to beat this one.

[donradcliffe]

If you want to know what the relationship with Prestolite (Neece Leville) and Balmar is, go the the Prestolite alternator website and put in the Balmar part number in thev cross-reference search. For example, the Balmar 712-110 is produced by Prestolite for Balmar as their reference 35214620 (and their drawing shows the correct dimension).

[Cheechako]

Yea, the original Balmars were obviously prestolite chassis'....

[Just a Tinch]

I don't know if these people can provide a solution for some of you or not, but a few years back when I wanted to boost my alternator output on our sailboat to recharge our house bank....I installed one of their 105 Amp alternators and it did a fantastic job.... ARCO Welcome

I will probably replace the alternators on my 6-354's with their alternators before too long.

[Stevens 47]

Since this thread is about a customer service experience with Balmar, I'll chime in with one of my own.

Hud I am not sure if it is about customer service...well I guess everything is. If some one was in a remote location and was ordering one of their alternators to replace a defective one and used there on-line specs, it would be a costly exercise to have it arrive only to find that the sheave alignment was out. How they dealt with such a scenario would be customer service. Based on my experience I wonder??

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

If you want to know what the relationship with Prestolite (Neece Leville) and Balmar is, go the the Prestolite alternator website and put in the Balmar part number in thev cross-reference search. For example, the Balmar 712-110 is produced by Prestolite for Balmar as their reference 35214620 (and their drawing shows the correct dimension).

The L-N Cross Reference Search page:
➥ Product Search | Prestolite / Leece-Neville

As donradcliffe noted, the BALMAR 712-110 returns to L-N part #35214620.
➥ 712-110 - Search results - Prestolite / Leece-Neville

Which is noted as a “private brand”, not available to the general aftermarket.
➥ 35214620 - Product Details | Prestolite / Leece-Neville

You can spend days noodling around the Prestolite/Leece-Neville site. It’s a veritable treasure trove of valuable information.