Out of stock!

As of today I am out of stock of the VSR Alternator Regualtors  - Please Email me before ordering to check on the latest status.

Sorry about this, and appreciate the continued support.

Screen Shots of a 'System' install

I have been using the soon-to-be-available simple 2" dash display, and today took some snap shots.  On Viking Star the VSR Alternator Regulator connected locally to the alternator and working in conjunction with an RBM (Remote Battery Monitor) .  From the VSR Alternator Reference Guide, here is how things are wired up:

Example 5:  System Installation  w/Alternator Current Measurement

 


With this setup the Alternator Regulator is wired locally at the alternator; monitoring its voltage, current, and temperature.  The Battery Monitor is back at the battery monitoring its voltage, current, and temperature.  A single CAT-5 cable is ran from the engine room back to the battery.  To connect the simple Dash-Display all I needed to do was continue this CAT-5 cabling from the VSR Alternator Regulator up to the dish display.  While running I took these photos:

Shown here are two screens, one for the Battery and one for the Alternator.  (Note, all these screens were automatically created by the simple Dash Display, no setup needed - just plug in the CAT5 cable).  Some details I wanted to point out:

• A key value of the RBM (Sensor Extender if you will) is that it simplified wiring.  Only a single CAT5 needs to be routed back from the Engine room.  The VSR Alternator Regulator is provided true Battery information in this way.
• This leaves the Alternator sensing wires to sense the Alternator, voltage and current.
• And to install the simple Dash Display, only a CAT-5 cable was needed.  No need to run ANOTHER set of sensing wires to the battery and alternator.

While running I also want to point out some details shown on the screen-shots above:

1. Note how the Battery Voltage is 14.4v (its target) while the Alternator voltage is a bit higher at 14.5v.  This is because of voltage drop of high current over the battery cables.
2. Note also how the battery amps are higher then the alternator output.  This is because I also have solar panels installed which are not (presently) participating in the systems communications network.

Fun and interesting if you like to watch things like this -- but one thought related to point #1 above:  If while monitoring you see the voltage difference between the battery and the alternator starts increasing, this is an indication of a wiring failure in the high current wires.   Being able to monitor and catch this is one safety ability a Systems Approach allows.

Gen 3B regualtors ready to ship!

The new batch is in, tested, flashed, and almost ready to ship!  All per-ordered units will be sent out the week of July 29th - once I get them confirmal coated.

Thank you all to those who waited SO long for this next batch; for follow on orders will be taking steps to try to reduce any potential delays.  And with the 3B regulators now available to ship the special per-order pricing will come to an end on August 10th.  In case anyone is interested. . .

Over the next month be looking for that simple 2" Dash Display to become available, as well as a per-machined plastic case for the 3B regulators design.  Plus (I hope) even more news this winter.  Already hear of a larger display in the works, and of course the App being worked on by Rick Bell (See link on hope page of this Blog).  2018 looks to be a good year for the VSR Alternator Regulator, with a lot happening around it.   2019 should be even better! 

And a Thank You to all who have contributed and support this effort over the years - 6 year now  (8 if I go back to the parent DC Generator Controller effort where this all started).    And an interesting thought: using David A. Wheeler's 'SLOCCount' tool the VSR Alternator Regulator represents over 18,000 lines of C/C++ code, 4+ Man-years of development effort with a development cost exceeding $500,000  -- proving you could find programmers for $50K a year.  And that is just the software side!

Firmware v1.3.1 released

Firmware version 1.3.1 has been released.  It is posted both in Source code and per-compiled binary in Github.  Remember, there is a simple to use (Windows only, sorry) update utility under the 'alt-Binary' link:


https://github.com/AlternatorRegulator/alt-Binary

https://github.com/AlternatorRegulator/alt-Binary


The three major changes for this release include:

• Improved load-dump handing - Regulator less likely to pull back 100% after major load removal.
• Better support for OSEnergy Dash Display
• Some feedback for dual alts.
   

Along with the above there continues to be edits and code shifting to allow for common source code reuse among different projects current under development.  Expect more in this area as other projects progress, and also to tidy things up.

Pre-release v1.3.0RC1 firmware

Today I pushed up a new revision to the firmware, called V1.3.0 RC1   This time I am doing things a little different mostly because there are more people out there who are interested and able to do some testing.  So rather then directly releasing this version after I have completed my testing, I am doing a pre-release.

The other reason for this pre-release is there has been a few changes in the code, specifically around improving how twin engines cooperate:  balancing, and hand-offs when switching running on only one and then the other.   To be honest I have limited ability to test such a situation - being a single engine setup...

Those interested in doing some early validation testing please go to the source code at: 
    https://github.com/AlternatorRegulator/alt-Source

There is no pre-compiled version of this, but if someone is truly interested I can assembly a test package and make it available for the windows BAT file update utility.

If you do find issues or have comments, please open a comment or issue on Github.



Later the Reference Guide will be updated, until then here are two notable changes:

• Revised AST;  AltState encoding numbers
• Addition of new advanced high-reliability capability:  required Sensors.

 and here are clipping from the edits:

AltState:              Current state of the Alternator, per the following table:

1.2.x and below	1.3.x and above
0,1	0,1,4	– Alternator Off
2, 3	2,3	- Alternator FAULTED (See Fault Code)
4	10	- Alternator in delay mode while engine warms up
5	11,15	- Ramping towards BULK mode.
6,7	12,20	- In BULK mode
8	21	- In ACCEPTANCE mode
9	22	- In OVER CHARGE mode
10	30	- In FLOAT mode
11	31	- In FORCED_FLOAT mode (via Feature_in pin and CPE = #8)
12	36	- In OFF (Post Float) mode
13	38	- In EQUALIZE mode
14	39	- In CVCC mode (only available in system under direction of CAN master)

 ===================================

$SCA:    <reserved>, < Alt Target Temp >, <Alt Derate (norm) >,<Alt Derate (small) >,<Alt Derate (half) >, <PBF>, <Alt Amp Cap >, <System Watt Cap. >, <Amp Shunt Ratio>, <Shunt Reversed?>,<Idle RPMs>,<Warmup Delay>,<RequiredSensors>

 


 

Required Sensors:  <WHOLE NUMBER ( 0 à  255 ) >    Many capabilities depend on the presence of sensors.  Battery compensation requires the presence of a battery temperature sensor; Alternator Temperature regulation requires the presence of an alternator temperature sensor.  If one or more of these sensors are not installed, or fail during operation, results could be less then desired.  As a precaution against this, Required Sensors allows the identification of critical sensors, and if any of them are missing or fail the regulator will take action to reduce demands placed on the system.

Required Sensors allows the identification of critical sensors.  It is a number created by summing up the value associated with each potential critical sensor.  For example: if you wished to indicate the Alternator and Battery temperature sensors are critical, you would enter 3  (1+2).   The value of 0 disables critical Required Sensor checks and the regulator will utilize other existing fall-back modes.

Sensor	Value	Default Action of missing sensor
Alternator Temperature Sensor	1	Enable Half-Power mode
Battery Temperature Sensor	2	Force to FLOAT mode
Current Shunt	4	FAULT regulator  (See note**)
Engine Temperature Sensor	8	Go into Falf Power Mode, stop Watermaker
EGT Temperature Sensor	16	Go into Half Power mode, Stop Watermaker, Full throttle.
Sea-water(cooling) Temperature Sensor	32	Fault if missing
Watermaker PSI (pre / post) Sensors	64	Disable Watermaker
Force FAULT override	128	Overrides ‘Default’ action and forces regulator into FAULT mode.

Table 6 - Required Sensor Encoding

If at any time one of the Required Sensors are identified as failed or missing the LED will flash its normal patterns, but in RED. In addition if the Feature_out port is configured to drive a dash-lamp (compile time default mode) it will turn on the lamp full time indicating a fault. 

The VSR Alternator Regulator may also be configured to cause a non-recoverable FAULT condition, overriding the default actions listed in Table 6  by adding 128 to the summed number.  In the prior example of Bat and Alt sensors being critical, sending 131 instead of 3 will cause the regulator to FAULT if either is noted as missing or fails.

Note**   It is difficult to determine if an Amp Shunt has failed vs. if are truly reading 0A of current.  Because of this, the VSR Alternator Regulator will delay check for the presence of a working Current Shunt until after Bulk has been completed.  If at any time during BULK a current of greater than 5A was noted it will be flagged as the shunt is present and working.  Once this determination is made no additional checks will be made – as a valid operation condition for the regulator is a true 0A of current (example, when actively regulating current to 0A in FLOAT mode).

(Available with Firmware 1.3.0 and above)