Great picture of the Dealer team who completed Northern Lights product training in Tortola w/c 13 July 2015.
Category: News
Northern Lights Service Training 14-16 July 2015
Northern Lights and Caribbean Distributor, Parts & Power Ltd of Tortola, will be hosting Service Training for Caribbean Dealers from 14-16 July in Road Town. 12 Caribbean dealers from 10 countries will participate in the training.
The training will be put on by Parts & Power Director of Technical Services, Dan Durbin, and Northern Lights SE Regional Service Manager, James Newball. Dan has over 40 years’ experience in Diesel Electric Service training, having taught for such companies and Cummins Engine Co, Ford Lehman and Northern Lights. Dan served as Northern Lights International Service Manager and Service trainer prior to joining Parts & Power in 1993. He continues to put on factory sponsored Service and Product training in Florida 3-4 times per year.
The focus of the training will be on current Northern Lights generator production, identification and serial number understanding; Northern Lights and CaribbeanNorthernLights.com website navigation; Engine troubleshooting & repair; DC theory, troubleshooting & repair; AC theory, troubleshooting & repair; Stand maintenance practices; Warranty training and processing; Marine exhaust systems; and a discussion of common and recent Service Issues.
The purpose of the training is to make sure that all Caribbean Northern Lights dealer technicians have the most up to date training so they can better service Northern Light customers in the Caribbean. To that end, all dealers participating in the training will receive the prestigious “Golden Wrench” next to their name in the Northern Lights Dealer Directory. This indicates that dealer has undergone the most recent training procedures offered by Northern Lights.
SUMMER TIME IS ANNUAL MAINTENANCE TIME FOR YOUR NORTHERN LIGHTS GENERATOR
Summer time is the off season for many in the Caribbean, whether you are a cruiser sitting out Hurricane Season or a Charter vessel taking a well-deserved break. Before you put the boat up on the hard, or leave it at the dock for the summer, do your diesel engines a favor. Before you leave your hard working Northern Lights generator for the summer, be sure to change the oil. The oil is the life blood of your engine. It holds all the dirt, acids, soot and by products of combustion in suspension. That contaminated oil sits on all the surfaces serviced by your oil and expedite corrosion if left for prolonged periods. In addition, oil oxides when left exposed to the air, reducing its effectiveness at lubricating your engine and holding contaminants.
So do your engine a favor and change the oil before you put it in storage. While you’re at it, why not do your Annual Maintenance?
Annual Maintenance? What is Annual Maintenance?
If you look at your Operator’s Manual, you will notice a section that says “Every 12 Months”. Everything in there is due every year. Generally this includes: Oil Change, Valve Adjustment, Air Filter replacement, Fuel filter replacement and Injector Testing. Check your manual to see if there is anything else included, but the above are fairly common with most diesel engines and Northern Lights generators.
We discussed the oil change. Even if you don’t have the 200 or 250 hours dictated by the oil change interval, remember that oil oxidizes even if not being used. So changing oil makes sense, but why check the valves? Besides making sure that your engine is “breathing” properly in terms or air in and exhaust gases out, it also can pick up signs or engine wear. If the valve clearances are narrow, that can mean that the valve in question is wearing the valve seat. This may be a sign that your engine is getting ready for a top end overhaul. If caught early, this is fairly routine. If caught too late, the repair could be far more costly. You could be looking at a new cylinder head, or a “dropped valve” which can be catastrophic.
You might think that, because your engine is clean, you don’t need to change your air filter. Many Northern Lights generators have foam air filters which, not only filter the air, but aid in noise dampening. These filters deteriorate with heat and over time. If not changed, they will start to turn into powder and fall apart. The foam will not hurt the engine but we have seen cases where large pieces of the air filter were sucked into the intake valves. In such a case, the engine loses compression (because the intake valve will not close completely) and will not start or run. This is not only difficult to troubleshoot, but requires the removal of the cylinder head. So the $20 spent on a new air filter is a very good and wise investment.
Not everyone checks injectors every year. If you are not putting a lot of hours on the generator, it starts quickly and is running clean, you might be able to skip this. But the service interval on injectors can be as low as every 700 hours (or once per year). In addition, an injector nozzle that is “squirting” rather than “spraying” can melt a piston in a very short period of time. So if you have a shop that can test the injectors, the process can offer great peace of mind.
Take the time to review your Operator’s Manual or discuss its maintenance with your local dealer. Your generator was an expensive investment. If given reasonable maintenance and operated properly, your Northern Lights generator should give 20,000 hours of operation or more. But we’ve seen improperly maintained units struggle to provide half that life. Doing your Annual Maintenance is a good way of assuring that your generator will give you the reliable life expectancy Northern Lights customers have come to expect from their product.
Northern Lights Visits Customers at Antigua Charter Yacht Meeting December 2014
From 5-11 December members from the Northern Lights family visited customers at the Antigua Charter Yacht Meeting (ACYM). The Charter Yacht Show was very successful with 105 yachts ranging in size from 60 ft to 295 ft. In addition there were another 40-50 yachts in Falmouth Harbour which were not in the Show.
Two Northern Lights representatives – Global Director of Business Development Mike Prado, and Product Development Manager Chris Krok joined Tom Gerker from NL Distributor Parts & Power visiting vessels on Falmouth Harbour Marina, the Yacht Club Marina, the Dockyard Marina and the Catamaran Marina. They found many of the yachts had Northern Lights products on them, both generators and Lugger propulsion engines. In most cases they received nothing but favorable reports from Engineers and Captains, and the crew was uniformly impressed and grateful that NL factory representatives were available to discuss their issues. A few vessels had questions or problems that Chris and Tom were able to address. In many cases they found a recurring theme that they had discovered at previous Shows. Many of the NL customers simply needed advice on how to maintain their Northern Lights equipment, and where to go to get information.
They found that, in some cases, customers were overhauling their generators prematurely. Because they had owned competitor’s products in the past who recommended overhauls at 10, 15 or 20,000 hours, they felt that they had to do the same on their NL product. One customer, who had always done meticulous maintenance, overhauled his 155 kw generator at 20,000 hours. He found so little wear that he was tempted to re-use his main bearings. Chris and Tom recommended using oil analysis and valve adjustment measurements to monitor wear, as many Northern Lights generators run well past 30,000 hours with nothing but routine maintenance.
Northern Lights was the only engine or generator manufacturer who attended the show, and have done so for over 15 years, to meet their customers and get their feedback on the performance of their equipment. Having the Product Development manager at the show allowed him to hear the Voice of the Customer to make changes and improvements to the current product and get an idea of what customers were looking for in future products.
After 4 days of visiting customers, Northern Lights, along with local dealers Seagull Services and Marine Power Service, threw a Crew Party at Temo Sports. The crew were able to relax without brokers and owners present. 115 past, present and future NL customers were in attendance. Master of Ceremonies, Chris asked Trivia questions and gave out prizes to the participants. It was a great crowd of engineers and other crew who mingled with their counterparts from other yachts. Wonderful fellowship was shared and a good time was had by all. The friendly staff at Temo Sports, as they have for many years, kept the drinks flowing and the crowd happy.
THE GOOD AND BAD NEWS ABOUT EMISSIONS REGULATIONS AND THEIR IMPACT ON NORTHERN LIGHTS MARINE GENERATORS
If you mention the words “emissions regulations” to anyone in the diesel engine industry, you will usually detect a noticeable cringing on their part. It is followed by bad news that is sometimes downright distressing. Yet the news is not all bad.
As far as the effect of EPA Emissions Regulations on Northern Lights Marine Generators the good news is that the product line under 40 kWw, which constitutes the majority of the product in the Caribbean, remains largely unchanged (IMO has no regulations for engines below 175 hp). The M673LD3 (5 kW @ 60 Hz) through the M844LW3 will not see any changes for the foreseeable future. The M944T will be changed to the M944T3. The only outwardly apparent difference will be a rating change from 38 kW to 40 kw in 3 phase configurations, but the 1 phase rating will remain at 38kW.
The 30 kW (M944W3) is an unfortunate victim of the tightened emissions threshold. The engine cannot achieve emissions regulations at 60 Hz, but the 50 Hz version at 26 kW remains a viable and available product for appropriate applications. The 25kW-40kW rating gap (at 60Hz) is recognized as being a significant hurdle, and Northern Lights’ product development team is actively seeking alternatives to close this gap and fill out the product line.
Above 40 kW, the news remains largely good for any vessel under 500 gross tons as the Northern Lights product line meets emissions standards without after treatment. Beginning in 2016, vessels above 500 gross tons will need after treatment (in the form of SCR: Selective Catalytic Reduction) to achieve the NOX levels set by the IMO. Thankfully, most of us dodge the after treatment bullet until the regulations again change in 2021 for sub-500gt vessels. After that, any vessel with an engine producing 127 kW or greater will be required to have after treatment for NOX. However, Northern Lights will continue to stay ahead of the emissions technology curve and is already working to provide a fully-compliant package for the upcoming regulations around the world.
Interestingly IMO is not addressing “soot”, the bane of most marine diesel engine owners. Despite that, Northern Lights has been addressing soot for many years. Some may remember the old STARS units (Soot Trap And Regeneration System). It was very effective for treating soot in exhaust. It used heaters that doubled as a load bank and also heated the exhaust gas to a level where it could be catalyzed. Due to problems, mostly dealing with misapplication and maintenance, the product line was discontinued some years ago. Today’s solution is called a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) that does not need heaters. The DPF does need to be closely matched to the engine though to make sure that the generator Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) is high enough to be properly catalyzed. With the benefit of less complicated systems to clean our exhaust, comes the burden to periodically clean the catalytic “brick”. More maintenance! However, the fact that DPF technology has been widely adopted in both on-highway and industrial applications means that there are a number of outlets for DPF filter cleaning in most ports of call around the world.
So, it could be worse, as they say. Most of us can continue to use our generators in the manner that we have been accustomed to, due to some engineering magic done by Northern Lights. But changes will be felt by the larger yacht owner and crew. Years of experience has taught us that as soon as we learn to comply with the new regulations, there will be more on the horizon. However, the progressive team at Northern Lights will continually strive to keep us ahead of the regulatory curve, no matter what new challenges come our way!
KELLY SOARES LAUNCHES HULL #3
Kelly Soares is the voice many in the Caribbean Northern Light family are familiar with. She has been Service Administrator for Parts & Power for over 4 years. She has shepherded a line of Service Managers at Parts & Power including Dan Durbin, David Romasco and recently Stewart Dovey. She also manages to keep order among the Service Staff at Parts & Power. She has, for many years now, trained dealers on the process of how to submit Northern Lights warranty claims, issued warranty authorizations and liaised with the factory on the status of warranty claims for dealers and customers.
On 1 July she left for maternity leave to prepare for the arrival of her third child. Kelly is of fairly small stature. She struggles to achieve 5 feet in height. Normally of very slim build, her recent pregnancy seemed to have made her as wide as she was tall. It is hard to look and be tough with Service Engineers when your belly is so large that it would seem to only take a pin prick to pop. But she managed to do it over the last 3 or 4 months.
On 13 July, she gave birth to her third boy, who was 7 lbs, 8 oz. His name is Kehzai Elijah.
The entire Parts & Power family welcomes Kehzai. We expect him to be typically healthy, happy and good looking. And we look forward to Kelly’s return in October!
NORTHERN LIGHTS 2014 CARIBBEAN SPRING REPOWER SALE
From now through the end of May, Northern Lights Caribbean Dealers can take an additional 5% off your regular cost of a 5 or 6 kw Northern Lights sets, and an additional10% off your regular cost of a 9 – 38 kw Northern Lights marine generator set.
We are pleased to announce the Northern Lights Caribbean Dealers’ Spring Repower Sale. Big discounts are available on units purchased between now and the 31st of May 2014. Eligible generators are the M673LD3 (5Kw @ 60 hz, 4 kw@ 50 hz) through to the M944T (38Kw @ 60 hz, 32 kw @ 50 hz).
Caribbean dealers will receive the additional discount off of their net price for the unit only. All options will remain at the regular pricing.
Don’t forget to ask about our Special Pricing on the Technicold brand of Marine Air Conditioning!
For quotations on units please contact your nearest Northern Lights dealer or:
Drew Bremner ( drew@partsandpower.com ), Greig Warner (export@partsandpower.com ) or call 284-494-2830.
NORTHERN LIGHTS 2014 CARIBBEAN FALL REPOWER SALE
Until the end of September 2014, Northern Lights are offering a full 5% Discount on all Marine Generators from 5 through 20 kW (models M673LD3 – M844LW3)!
In addition, they are offering a full 10% Discount on Industrial Generators from 5, 6, 8, 9 &12 kW! This applies to the Generators only.
All Accessories and Options will be at Normal Discounts and Pricing.
This Sale Pricing is only available through Caribbean Northern Lights Dealers listed on the www.CaribbeanNorthernLights.com website. Please contact your nearest dealer for a quote on a Quality Northern Lights Marine or Industrial generator today. Hurry, as this Sale only applies to Generators shipped before 30 September 2014. Sale is subject to availability. Act soon before Inventory runs out!
Don’t forget to ask about our Special Pricing on the Technicold brand of Marine Air Conditioning!
For quotations on units please contact your nearest Northern Lights dealer or:
Drew Bremner ( drew@partsandpower.com ), Greig Warner (greig@partsandpower.com), Tom Gerker (tom@partsandpower.com) or call 284-494-2830.
www.CaribbeanNorthernLights.com
CARIBBEAN NORTHERN LIGHTS DEALER CONFERENCE AUGUST 2013
On Tuesday and Wednesday 20 & 21 August, Dealer Principles and Representatives met in Deerfield Beach, FL for their semi-annual Caribbean Dealer Conference. Dealerships from the USVI to Trinidad were in attendance. A wide range of issues were discussed, and factory representatives were updated on issues arising from Dealers’ Territories. The Caribbean is a prime cruising area for owners’ of Northern Lights Products and the factory encourages these meetings to get feedback from their customers and monitor the level of service their Caribbean Dealership is able to provide.
New products were discussed, including the new generator pan and sound enclosure designs. The combination has resulted in reductions of overall package designs by nearly 30%. Product changes initiated by suggestions from previous meetings, such as cast stainless steel exhaust elbows and attachment bolts, were shown. New generator models up to 500 kw, currently under development were unveiled.
A general discussion on what freight methods from the US to the Caribbean were discussed, with particular emphasis on the fastest method of shipping to each country. Ideas were also generated on how they could reduce the cost of shipping, to improve customer satisfaction. Although some countries are able to import items on a duty free basis for Yachts in Transit, all countries impose some costs, such as Brokerage Fees and Government surcharges. There is no solution for these charges and so parts prices suffer the unavoidable additional costs.
Comparison of the Northern Lights products vs other Marine Generators was discussed. It was generally felt that the NL product required less maintenance, used far fewer parts, was easier to repair, had far more parts redundancy, and ran longer than anything else on the Market today. The competition, with more than 30 ways to shut down, was generally felt to be less reliable. A major differentiator was the factory support that is offered by Northern Lights. Although most of the dealers attending are dealers for at least one other Marine Generator manufacturer, none had the level of support they experience with NL with any other manufacturer. The 3 levels of service and parts support they got from Parts & Power, the factory branch in Deerfield Beach, and the factory in Seattle allowed them to get assistance as late as 2100 local time for both technical and parts assistance. No other manufacturer even comes close to this support. The overall cost of ownership with Northern Lights was felt to be significantly less than any competitor, despite the fact that the NL product was slightly more expensive up front. All of these factors make the NL product uniquely qualified for customers in the Caribbean, as they put far more hours on their generators than most pleasure craft owners. Dealers reported that their customers routinely put between 1,000 and 4,000 hours per year, as opposed to less than 500 for the average pleasure craft owner.
The CaribbeanNorthernLights.com website was discussed and ways to make it more attractive and user friendly were suggested. Parts Specials are being advertised on the website currently.
Warranty policy and claim procedures were discussed. With a 1 year parts and labor, second year parts and limited 5 year policy, the NL warranty is the best in the Industry. Means of submitting warranty claims on line was demonstrated. It was revealed that warranty on the NL product was less than 1%, which is the lowest in the Industry.
The Technicold brand of Air Conditioning, Refrigeration and Load Banks was discussed. Northern Lights design criteria were used in designing the products. Robust 316 s/s is used throughout the constructions. Off the shelf, non-proprietary, controls assure that the products can be repaired anywhere in the world. Automatic load banks are freshwater cooled and far outlive the competition. In fact, NL has never sold a heating element replacement part in their long history of providing the load banks. Several Dealers expressed interest in becoming Technicold dealers after seeing the features and benefits of the product line. The robust construction and reliability are important to their customers.
The subject matter was interesting enough that all the participants remained on at the Conference well after the planned ending time of noon on Wed.
CARIBBEAN NORTHERN LIGHTS DEALER CONFERENCE 20-21 AUG 2013
Northern Lights and Caribbean Distributor, Parts & Power, are holding a Caribbean Dealer Conference on 20 & 21 August. Representatives from Dockyard Electric in Trinidad, Grenada Marine and Palm Tree Marine in Grenada, Marintek in St. Lucia, Dominica Marine Center in Dominica, Seagull Services and Marine Power Service in Antigua, Electec in St. Maarten, All Points Marine and Plan B in St. Thomas, and Parts & Power in Tortola will be in attendance.
The two day Conference is an opportunity for the Caribbean Northern Lights dealers to get together and discuss how they can improve customer satisfaction with Northern Lights generators, Lugger propulsion engines and Technicold Air Conditioning, Refrigeration and Load Bank products. New products that are being launched currently, and in the near future, will be unveiled. Feedback from customers’ experience in the field will be discussed, and conveyed to Design and Engineering Teams. It will be a unique opportunity to translate information on customers’ comments and suggestions into modifications and changes in the Product lines. EPA and European emissions law changes, future regulations, and how those will force changes to the products in next few years, will be discussed. Service topics will be shared from the Factory to Dealers and Dealers back to the Factory.
The constantly evolving Technicold Product Line will be introduced to many of the Caribbean dealers in attendance. Technicold’s high quality stainless steel Air Conditioning products will be displayed and demonstrated with particular attention paid to the features and benefits of the product. Dealers will also be introduced to Technicold s/s Refrigeration products and the Automatic Load Banks. Technicold Load Banks are fresh water cooled, designed to utilize a small footprint for installations, are standard with Digital controllers, and are offered with PLC full color LCD screen as an option. These systems allow the vessel to manage loading of generators to ensure better engine performance.
We will be introducing the new Northern Lights HybriGen system. HybriGen is the result of the collaboration between Northern Lights and BAE systems, a worldwide leader defence technologies, electronics and military equipment. HybriGen is the first truly variable speed power generation system which can be used for ships service AC power, and as an AC propulsion system simultaneously. HybriGen is a completely load dependent system so the engine only runs at the speed required to make the power that the vessel needs and, when used in conjunction with a battery storage system the engine will shut down once the batteries are charged allowing the vessel to run quietly and cleanly on batteries only.
Unlike others in the market, the HybriGen system is the only one on the market which is a completely engineered, tested and commercially fielded system in the world with over 4000 operating in major city busses worldwide every day.
Previous Caribbean Dealer Meetings have produced changes such as changes to s/w pumps from lip to mechanical ceramic seals and hex head as well as slotted screws on cover plates; introduction of stainless steel exhaust elbows to replace cast iron ones; addition of coolant recovery bottles, reduction in overall package size, the change to all s/s bolts and screws on the generator set and many others. Customer feedback and dealer ideas on how to make the Products more customer-friendly, more reliable, and longer lived will, once again, be translated into product improvements and changes.
Stay tuned for updates on the ideas and developments coming from the Conference.