Wow! Sterling Power. Outstanding company.

[PetePetePete]

Not a plug, no interest, just sharing.
I had a complicated need that nobody could seem to figure out. Let me just say Ben Sterling (the owner) is nothing short of brilliant and VERY helpful. And honestly, in the grand scheme of boating stuff, considering it's shipping from England - reasonably priced.

I know Victron is beloved, and they do have their place. But with Victron you have to rely on the seller to help you with things. With Sterling, THEY help you and they really know their stuff.

People are quick to complain, but I thought it would be nice to share something awesome. I'm excited to get my stuff from them!

Pete

[Leadfree]

That was not my Sterling experience:

had a bat-bat charger failing a year into its use. Contacted Sterling Co, conversed back and forth, I provided detailed readings and measurements as to what was going on and all Sterling could do is blame my alternator. However, I had a second unit on the other engine which works perfectly, including when I switched it out for the failed unit which of course rules out alternator problems. As a matter of fact, I still have that one, it continues to work.

Not impressed with the support, not at all.

[Tupaia]

I have to agree with PetePetePete, Sterling have provided sterling service over the years. Inverter overloaded, out of warranty replaced free on return of blown unit. Diagnosed a power factor issue on a generator to BC connection (the generator was not theirs). Battery charger died (10 years old) over New Year in the Pacific replacement dispatched immediately partial refund on return of old unit. Ben diagnosed a problem with battery charger not charging that was traced to a dirty AC blade fuse. I now have Sterling AMPS LifePo batteries that are performing as they should. Full and detailed understanding and help with lithium install.



Ben is the amazing techie, the owner, founder and inventor is Charles Sterling (Snr) his son Charles Sterling (Jnr) a bit confusing now works in the business. In addition to the Sterling range they also produce ProMariner.


Very few "marine suppliers" get my praise but Sterling has proved to excellent in terms of product and support.



My one and only experience with Victron has been failed solar controller. I now use EPEver controllers.

[Snowgoose35]

Many in the UK trade will not touch them, myself included

Mr Sterling Jr is at least less angry and rude than his father but the staff I have dealt with have often had a poor understanding of product and concepts and the some of the kit has been terrible.

My experience with them on the AMPS batteries was terrible - my customer bought a dozen of them at great cost and they told him to connect to their Inverter charger that had no lithium setting or ability to program. The AMPS batteries in 2020 were simply cheap chinese with a Sterling sticker on and had a poor BMS and not great cells either - the exact same battery could be had then for 1/3 the price without the pretty AMPS sticker. I am not sure but I think they have changed supplier now but kept the name.

I spent an hour talking with them about these and explained how the charger they recommended would damage the batteries over time by leaving them on float charge at 14.4v as is LA. They literally had no idea what I was talking about because they had no idea about LiFePo chemistry and only knew they had to see something to make money and keep up with others

I explained carefully the issue and what really killed their credibility was the reply from the head of technical that they had a 5 year warranty and if after 5 years these batteries had lost a "normal amount " of capacity like 10-15% they would not replace them but if they had a sudden drop of say 40 or 50% capacity they would. Completely misunderstanding everything I had said.. To clarify for those that don't do this all the time, good LifePo should last 15 years or more - some have lost 0% of capacity after 15 years - my own tests lost 0.7% over 5 years of heavy use (cooking etc) and for anyone to think a 15% loss of capacity over 5 years is normal shows poor understanding and lack of care about doing things right and more interest in sell more over priced crap in 5 years.

Many of their products have issues, their instructions and even the design of the interfaces are terrible and many many people will tell you that they have been called idiots, sworn at and generally dismissed by Mr Sterling when calling for support .

I am glad the OP had a positive experience but after many years in the trade and dealing with them and trying to sort out issues with their products I will need to hear a lot more positives to convince me to even try their stuff again. I hate to denigrate a UK company, being English, but everything Sterling do can be had better and cheaper elsewhere from Victron, Renogy, Alfatronix etc .. except the A2B charger which seems unique to Sterling and is a simple and mostly reliable solution but becoming redundant these days.

[barcoMeCasa]

Originally Posted by PetePetePete

Let me just say Ben Sterling (the owner) is nothing short of brilliant and VERY helpful.

is he the son? ISTR Charles(?) the main guy was banned from any customer contact as it wasn't his strong point

Can't comment though, been using sterling kit for decades & not once had a problem with any of it.

[PetePetePete]

An interesting mixed bag of replies.

This is the first time dealing with them. Now that you mention it, I'm not sure if Ben is the owner, son, or an employee - but he sure helped like owned the place.

I needed a way to do a 12vdc to 48vdc to charge my lifepo4 pack from a 400ah lifepo4 house bank that was charged from 2 la starter batteries (off of outboards that don't have conventional alternators). He not only helped me with Sterling stuff but also helped me how I could salvage the use of some of my non Sterling stuff (Victron Battery Protect that we're using to turn the ignition switch on/off pending voltage.)

Then, to get past the issue where voltage of the input battery could give me trouble he did some reprogramming of the specific unit and taught me how I can still dial it back to 65% and 85% with the remote panel.

Victron, and the "dealers" I emailed never even got back to me... or got back to me with some nonsensical stuff that wasn't a help. Don't get me wrong, Victron is nice stuff, but the service is nonexistent. You have to use FB, forums, etc. to get anywhere.

Sorry to the folks that didn't have a good experience. If this thing works as it should, I'll be sold.

[barcoMeCasa]

Originally Posted by PetePetePete

Don't get me wrong, Victron is nice stuff, but the service is nonexistent. .

In the few questions I've ever had about Victron kit so far asking the community has always had speedy replies, not simple stuff either.
https://community.victronenergy.com/

[s/v Jedi]

For Victron support you need to find a certified tech, which every self respecting dealer/distributor has. Or if you are knowledgeable yourself, you can do the course for free: https://www.victronenergy.com/information/training

I have contacted Victron USA to help me find a distributor that was willing to deliver to me directly, has ample stock, good price and knowledge and they came up with a perfect choice, Wards Marine.

The problem is that people who have no knowledge on the subject want the manufacturer to design their system for free and guide them through installing it diy

[PetePetePete]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

For Victron support you need to find a certified tech, which every self respecting dealer/distributor has. Or if you are knowledgeable yourself, you can do the course for free: https://www.victronenergy.com/information/training

I have contacted Victron USA to help me find a distributor that was willing to deliver to me directly, has ample stock, good price and knowledge and they came up with a perfect choice, Wards Marine.

The problem is that people who have no knowledge on the subject want the manufacturer to design their system for free and guide them through installing it diy

That's not exactly the case.

There are times when you're designing a system and you have a unique variable that you need more info about that isn't published in Victron's documentation. And if you call the "dealer" they just essentially look in the book (the same one you were reading) and parrot back what you already know.

When you need nuances it is hard to get info.

Yes, the forums, etc. are helpful - but not always.

[PetePetePete]

Make no mistake, my entire boondocking RV is all Victron except for one Renogy component (and the batteries aren't Victron). They make good stuff, they just don't have the same level of support.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by PetePetePete

That's not exactly the case.

There are times when you're designing a system and you have a unique variable that you need more info about that isn't published in Victron's documentation. And if you call the "dealer" they just essentially look in the book (the same one you were reading) and parrot back what you already know.

When you need nuances it is hard to get info.

Yes, the forums, etc. are helpful - but not always.

That’s because you talk to the wrong person at the dealer (sales) or the dealer itself isn’t right. Simply ask to talk to a Victron certified tech.

Also, you can do the course yourself. It’s free and all remote using videos. Of course they assume a certain knowledge level but nothing absurd imo.

The Victron community forum is very good: the core developers are present there. If no good answer comes then you asked the wrong question (they don’t do general education nor support, just product specific issues)

There’s also a reasonable good Facebook group with Victron people present.

Last but not least, you can ask here.

[barnakiel]

I had a sterling charger (charging from the alternator) and it worked out of the box. Installed myself with some help from their online materials.


It was in the boat for about 10 years, till I left them. Not a single issue ever.


b.

[CaptainRivet]

Originally Posted by barcoMeCasa

is he the son? ISTR Charles(?) the main guy was banned from any customer contact as it wasn't his strong point

That's a very underrated comment :-)

As with a lot companies the old sterling products are very good, newer only the DC2DC shine...

[CaptainRivet]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

That’s because you talk to the wrong person at the dealer (sales) or the dealer itself isn’t right. Simply ask to talk to a Victron certified tech.

Also, you can do the course yourself. It’s free and all remote using videos. Of course they assume a certain knowledge level but nothing absurd imo.

The Victron community forum is very good: the core developers are present there. If no good answer comes then you asked the wrong question (they don’t do general education nor support, just product specific issues)

There’s also a reasonable good Facebook group with Victron people present.

Last but not least, you can ask here.

Well I requested several times in the victron forum how victron justify a 1000A rating on the lynx. The busbar is 8mm x 35mm and only cerified for 418-478A depending on the bus bar calculator and which external factors like temps you choose. Directly to techs and to all, never got an answer. Also ask in the FB group...no answer either.
My friend the Chief grid engineer responsible for the whole area Hamburg (1.9 Mio people and 2nd biggest german city) answer is 432A due to official calculator he is using to determine which busbars he needs...
Maybe you as EE can explain???

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by CaptainRivet

Well I requested several times in the victron forum how victron justify a 1000A rating on the lynx. The busbar is 8mm x 35mm and only cerified for 418-478A depending on the bus bar calculator and which external factors like temps you choose. Directly to techs and to all, never got an answer. Also ask in the FB group...no answer either.
My friend the Chief grid engineer responsible for the whole area Hamburg (1.9 Mio people and 2nd biggest german city) answer is 432A due to official calculator he is using to determine which busbars he needs...
Maybe you as EE can explain???

That’s not a question, it is an attack and they don’t respond because they have the courtesy to allow you to leave in peace