Balmar died

[joe_db]

My nice shiny white Balmar that did such a nice job charging batteries died on me in mid-trip
Before it quit making electricity it dragged the belt and made nasty smoke too. Naturally I had a bunch of extended family aboard to ask "is your boat on fire"
They were impressed that 30 minutes later we were underway with the old Motorola in place. Nice to have a spare!
* I sure am glad I didn't buy that Balmar at the list price of several hundred dollars

[ndutton]

Have you done a post-mortem on the Balmar? It would be good to know why it died.

[joe_db]

Have you done a post-mortem on the Balmar? It would be good to know why it died.

No I have not. I just got back. My go-to alternator and starter guy retired as well, so it is DIY now or find a new shop

[ndutton]

Did your volt/amp meter array give any indications?

[joe_db]

Did your volt/amp meter array give any indications?

By the time I saw it, it was putting out a very low charge, maybe 3 or 4 amps at 13.2 volts. Jumping the field to full voltage did not change it.
What it seems like is there was an internal short of some kind, it burned out most of the diodes, and now barely works at all. I had to use oven mitts to hold it, it was hot enough to burn if you held it for more than a few seconds. The old one is working as well as it ever did now with the same regulator.

[ndutton]

Any idea of the engine RPM and charge load when it happened?

[joe_db]

Any idea of the engine RPM and charge load when it happened?

Probably 2000-2100 RPM and around 16-20 amps.

[ndutton]

Probably 2000-2100 RPM and around 16-20 amps.

Man, that should be nuthin' for the Balmar, low (%) output and good speed for the cooling fan.

[joe_db]

Finally got around to getting it fixed. The shop said it wasn't obvious what was wrong with it, but they put in new brushes and bearings anyway for about $70.