Does Mercury have a charging regulator for gel cells?

I have a mercruiser 170 and I just got 2 gel cell batteries for my boat. I understand that gel cells are very fussy on how they are charged. Is there a regulator that can be installed in line with my alternator to properly charge the batteries? I've tried contacting Mercury and East Penn and they have no idea if they have the product.

Re: Does Mercury have a charging regulator for gel cells?

You have a external voltage regulator which is water cooled to do the job, and are big bucks. The charging is done off the front of the crankshaft under the balancer, by means of a stator. The voltage regulators are known to fail and over charge the batteries, and can damage electronics. Do you have a good volt gauge on the boat? Keep a close eye on it.

I have the 3.7 which is the same engine as yours but different year. Mine failed last season and it was putting out over 15volts.

The best long term solution is to replace the charging system with a belt driven marine alternator when yours fails, (unless yours has been upgraded already) which I don't believe mercruiser ever made a kit for that engine. There are some kits on ebay and breezeworks.net. The latter is a complete bolt in kit- brackets, alt, belt, any wiring and directions.

I actually made my own brackets I copied off a pic of a kit for sale on ebay. Bought a marine delco alternator and has been working perfect since.