thomasonw
Veteran Member
I am new to the Trawler Forum as I tend to not use web-based forums, they are problematic when we have limited bandwidth / internet access. Have been poking around for the past few hours and am surprised at how much info there is here! And I have had a couple of people suggest the following might be of interest to Trawler Forum.
Two years ago I developed an integrated engine controller / alternator regulator for use on our home-built Kubota/Leece Neville DC generator / watermaker. It is based on the Arduino IDE and released under the CC open-source license - free for anyone to use (non-commercial use). Details here: Arduino based Alternator Regulator and Small Engine Control We have been using it for two years now and are very happy with it (We are full-time cruisers and away from the docks 8-9mo's out of the year).
Someone asked if I could pull out the regulator portion of that design and being as I was not feeling sufficient pain in my life I said Sure..
That resulted in a stand-alone alternator regulator: Arduino based Alternator Regulator
Perhaps the biggest feature of this design vs. most current external regulators is its ability to monitor current to the battery. In this way it is able to accurately measure a batteries state of charge when deciding when to terminate the acceptance phase; based on measurements - as opposed to a fixed amount of time. It address the concern over chronically over/undercharging batteries.
Other capabilities include:
I am on my 3rd (and likely last) rev of the PCB, and a small group of us are looking to have some assembled by a short-run PCB house. I am sending this Email to see if anyone is interested in joining 'the build'. If so, please contact me.
-al-
Two years ago I developed an integrated engine controller / alternator regulator for use on our home-built Kubota/Leece Neville DC generator / watermaker. It is based on the Arduino IDE and released under the CC open-source license - free for anyone to use (non-commercial use). Details here: Arduino based Alternator Regulator and Small Engine Control We have been using it for two years now and are very happy with it (We are full-time cruisers and away from the docks 8-9mo's out of the year).
Someone asked if I could pull out the regulator portion of that design and being as I was not feeling sufficient pain in my life I said Sure..
That resulted in a stand-alone alternator regulator: Arduino based Alternator RegulatorPerhaps the biggest feature of this design vs. most current external regulators is its ability to monitor current to the battery. In this way it is able to accurately measure a batteries state of charge when deciding when to terminate the acceptance phase; based on measurements - as opposed to a fixed amount of time. It address the concern over chronically over/undercharging batteries.
Other capabilities include:
- support for 12v, 24, 32/36v, or 48v
- P or N alts
- 8 built in charge profiles and the ability to fully modify them with an external computer
- 4/5 step charging to support manufacture charge profiles using an "overcharge" step.
- And more
I am on my 3rd (and likely last) rev of the PCB, and a small group of us are looking to have some assembled by a short-run PCB house. I am sending this Email to see if anyone is interested in joining 'the build'. If so, please contact me.
-al-
