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bradg asked

Help setting up 2nd alternator with Balmar 614 to work with my VE. Bus BMS

Hello, all.


Im currently doing a camper van conversion and I’m trying to set up my Nation’s 2nd alternator regulated by a Balmar 614 to work with my Victron system. I have four 200ah 12v Victron smart lithium batteries being managed by a VE. Bus BMS. I was advised that I could use a Battery Protect in Lithium mode connected to the “allow to charge” port on my BMS. The battery protect is connected to the ignition wire of the Balmar voltage regulator. If ever the battery was under or over appropriate temperature for charging, the BMS would open the circuit on the battery protect thereby cutting the ignition wire to the alternator.

I wired up the system last weekend and the alternator was working fine until today when I programmed the battery protect into Lithium mode and connected it to my BMS. Now the circuit seems open as the Balmar regulator is not powering on.


Any idea why I’m not getting power to my alternator now?


Hope all of that makes sense. I’m a newbie for sure so any help you can offer is greatly appreciated.


Thanks

Lithium BatteryBMSBattery Protectvebusbalmar
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1 Answer
Paul B avatar image
Paul B answered ·

The ALTERNATOR MUST be connected directly to the battery at all times and its main output should not be open circuited EVER.

Having a alternator going open circuit under load is very unwise as there will be very high voltage spikes and if the regulators reference voltage is the battery terminal then the voltage will scream higher - way off the charts and destroy your alternators diode bank.

The correct way to do this is putting a relay in the F output wire from the balmar so that the field is turned off in the event of a high voltage trigger. this way the alternator cant go into a open circuit condition on its main output.

or even in the Balmars ign connection then the balmar itsself will turn off

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Related Resources

Additional resources still need to be added for this topic

Victron VE.Bus BMS product page

Victron 3rd party BMS compatibility page

Additional resources still need to be added for this topic

Battery Compatibility

Did You Know - How to create a battery profile for non-Victron batteries?

Victron BatteryProtect product page