Yes by all means do a lot more checking for your own peace of mind and when you find someone that claims 14.2V at the back of the vehicle be sure to ask them if it was under load and what sort of load. Without a load the voltage at the alternator can be the same at the back of the vehicle and as the load increases in amps available from the alternator and the DOD (Depth of Discharge) of the batteries uses more amps to charge the voltage drop increases so the measurments taken need further explanation to prove possitive but even if they were possitive to the load this voltage is still too low to correctly charge a lot of batteries efficiently. To be fair to the readers I thought this aspect should be explained especially when most would need from 14.4V up to 15.1V depending on the battery type but then you could use a good High Recombination Low resistance AGM Battery at potentially double the price to do the job but that would make the fuse price look a bit sick wouldnt it. Ian
Egor said
03:39 AM Aug 27, 2013
After a lot of trial & error I now have a set-up that definitely charges my van battery as I drive. My van came with 1 Anderson plug (AP) fitting that when plugged into the back of my Pathfinder goes into the 12v side of the vans smart charger. I now have 2 AP on my Pathfinder. The 2nd plug which I installed myself works like this. Using a single heavy cable that just fits into the AP pins (soldered in) was attached to the + cable from the altenator & run to the rear of my Nissan, a short same size lead was used for the - & earthed at the rear to complete - & + on the 2nd AP. I then ran a dual cable, same size using an AP directly across the + & - on the van battery. After many klms of testing, connecting, dis-connecting & taking readings with my amp meter and of coarse using the van without 240v supply it has proven a great success. So now I can drive 4, 5, 6 hours whatever & know I have charged my van battery, obviously the longer you drive the more charge. So 12v power now comes from 2 sources. 1 to the smart charger to power the vans needs (fridge etc) 2 direct regulated altenator power straight across the van battery & with the heavy cabling it provides real amps to get charging that works. The secret is heavy cabling, no fuses/solenoids, using 50 amp AP's & running the + off the high end of your altenator cable at you vehicles battery. Oh & now my van fridge work as well on 12v as it does running on gas or 240v. Very happy now. Don't be misled with way to small wiring, it is impossible to get sufficient amps through small cables. Happy to discuss 0458 524 913 Cheers Scott
03_troopy said
03:38 AM Aug 28, 2013
Egor wrote:
After a lot of trial & error I now have a set-up that definitely charges my van battery as I drive. My van came with 1 Anderson plug (AP) fitting that when plugged into the back of my Pathfinder goes into the 12v side of the vans smart charger. I now have 2 AP on my Pathfinder. The 2nd plug which I installed myself works like this. Using a single heavy cable that just fits into the AP pins (soldered in) was attached to the + cable from the altenator & run to the rear of my Nissan, a short same size lead was used for the - & earthed at the rear to complete - & + on the 2nd AP. I then ran a dual cable, same size using an AP directly across the + & - on the van battery. After many klms of testing, connecting, dis-connecting & taking readings with my amp meter and of coarse using the van without 240v supply it has proven a great success. So now I can drive 4, 5, 6 hours whatever & know I have charged my van battery, obviously the longer you drive the more charge. So 12v power now comes from 2 sources. 1 to the smart charger to power the vans needs (fridge etc) 2 direct regulated altenator power straight across the van battery & with the heavy cabling it provides real amps to get charging that works. The secret is heavy cabling, no fuses/solenoids, using 50 amp AP's & running the + off the high end of your altenator cable at you vehicles battery. Oh & now my van fridge work as well on 12v as it does running on gas or 240v. Very happy now. Don't be misled with way to small wiring, it is impossible to get sufficient amps through small cables. Happy to discuss 0458 524 913 Cheers Scott
I think I'd install a decent sized circuit breaker though...
powerstream said
08:52 AM Aug 28, 2013
Many statements are made about charging from a car alternator and it is difficult to get it right and the biggest problem is understanding the battery type that you have and the thing that most people do not understand is what will you battery accept and this is governed by the battery resistance and the lower the resistance of your battery the higher the charge the battery will accept before the resistance reduces the alternator charge.
Voltage is another thing that is misunderstood and even though you have a 12V battery 12V will not efficiently charge a battery and a battery needs to be charged to 120% give or take the different battery types and the required charge rate the manufacturers specify so assume 14.4V to be a rule of thumb figure but could be from 14.1V to 15.1V
Modern vehicles in Australia are now following the European standards supposedly for fuel conservation and pollution reduction and this is causing alternators to maintain the cranking battery and then lower the voltage to a supply voltage for the normal car operations and this does not give any consideration for and is detrimental for charging auxiliary batteries.
DC/DC charging can assist in overcoming this situation but to be efficient the charger should be capable of using all the spare amps of your alternator especially if you discharge your auxiliary battery bank down to 50% Depth of Discharge or more because from your depth of discharge to the resistance level of your specific battery it is no good having a 10-20A charge if your alternator is larger as the small amp capacity strangles the output of your alternator until that resistance level in the battery is reached then the DC/DC charger can play catch up at its capacity which is governed by driving time so how long do you want to drive regardless to charge your auxiliary batteries.
Peter D simply answered the DC/DC query but if you do not understand more you may waste money on fitting something that is not as efficient as you would expect .
Peter in his product supply listing showed one from Bainbridge Technology as a BBW1260 and there is no such animal available in the world to date as pictured and the unit as displayed comes currently in only four sizes BB1250,BB122450, BB242430 and BB241230 and the last 2 digits represent the input capacity of the units.
Also the above units are subject to alternator voltage drop conditions and with the 12V they need 13.35 to 13.55 volts to operate efficiently and ramp up to full capacity but with a simple resistor charge they can be modified to accept lower voltage alternator input.
Sterling power has been working to offset the voltage drop alternator which he refers to as RGBF ( Regenerative Breaking Friendly) and has tested a prototype BBW1260A unit which overcome the problem but is yet to become commercially available.
The first unit that has been developed is the BB12100 RGBF DC/DC Charger that is half the size of the one wrongly displayed on the Bainbridge link and if the size and shape of the Sterling AB1280 or AB12130 alternator to Battery Charger and is available in small quantity at the moment through RV Powerstream that has represented Sterling products for a decade now in Australia.
The new BB12100 RGBF also has been built to have more selectable battery types of battery charging algorithms which include Calcium and Lithium and at 100A input current limited it can certainly do what most people hope to get and that is charge your batteries while driving with capacity and efficiency.
Ian
Some people sell boxes
Some sell technology.
-- Edited by powerstream on Wednesday 28th of August 2013 08:58:26 AM
Without a load the voltage at the alternator can be the same at the back of the vehicle and as the load increases in amps available from the alternator and the DOD (Depth of Discharge) of the batteries uses more amps to charge the voltage drop increases so the measurments taken need further explanation to prove possitive but even if they were possitive to the load this voltage is still too low to correctly charge a lot of batteries efficiently.
To be fair to the readers I thought this aspect should be explained especially when most would need from 14.4V up to 15.1V depending on the battery type but then you could use a good High Recombination Low resistance AGM Battery at potentially double the price to do the job but that would make the fuse price look a bit sick wouldnt it.
Ian
After a lot of trial & error I now have a set-up that definitely charges my van battery as I drive. My van came with 1 Anderson plug (AP) fitting that when plugged into the back of my Pathfinder goes into the 12v side of the vans smart charger. I now have 2 AP on my Pathfinder. The 2nd plug which I installed myself works like this. Using a single heavy cable that just fits into the AP pins (soldered in) was attached to the + cable from the altenator & run to the rear of my Nissan, a short same size lead was used for the - & earthed at the rear to complete - & + on the 2nd AP. I then ran a dual cable, same size using an AP directly across the + & - on the van battery. After many klms of testing, connecting, dis-connecting & taking readings with my amp meter and of coarse using the van without 240v supply it has proven a great success. So now I can drive 4, 5, 6 hours whatever & know I have charged my van battery, obviously the longer you drive the more charge. So 12v power now comes from 2 sources. 1 to the smart charger to power the vans needs (fridge etc) 2 direct regulated altenator power straight across the van battery & with the heavy cabling it provides real amps to get charging that works. The secret is heavy cabling, no fuses/solenoids, using 50 amp AP's & running the + off the high end of your altenator cable at you vehicles battery. Oh & now my van fridge work as well on 12v as it does running on gas or 240v. Very happy now. Don't be misled with way to small wiring, it is impossible to get sufficient amps through small cables. Happy to discuss 0458 524 913 Cheers Scott
I think I'd install a decent sized circuit breaker though...
Many statements are made about charging from a car alternator and it is difficult to get it right and the biggest problem is understanding the battery type that you have and the thing that most people do not understand is what will you battery accept and this is governed by the battery resistance and the lower the resistance of your battery the higher the charge the battery will accept before the resistance reduces the alternator charge.
Voltage is another thing that is misunderstood and even though you have a 12V battery 12V will not efficiently charge a battery and a battery needs to be charged to 120% give or take the different battery types and the required charge rate the manufacturers specify so assume 14.4V to be a rule of thumb figure but could be from 14.1V to 15.1V
Modern vehicles in Australia are now following the European standards supposedly for fuel conservation and pollution reduction and this is causing alternators to maintain the cranking battery and then lower the voltage to a supply voltage for the normal car operations
and this does not give any consideration for and is detrimental for charging auxiliary batteries.
DC/DC charging can assist in overcoming this situation but to be efficient the charger should be capable of using all the spare amps of your alternator especially if you discharge your auxiliary battery bank down to 50% Depth of Discharge or more because from your depth of discharge to the resistance level of your specific battery it is no good having a 10-20A charge if your alternator is larger as the small amp capacity strangles the output of your alternator until that resistance level in the battery is reached then the DC/DC charger can play catch up at its capacity which is governed by driving time so how long do you want to drive regardless to charge your auxiliary batteries.
Peter D simply answered the DC/DC query but if you do not understand more you may waste money on fitting something that is not as efficient as you would expect .
Peter in his product supply listing showed one from Bainbridge Technology as a BBW1260 and there is no such animal available in the world to date as pictured and the unit as displayed comes currently in only four sizes BB1250,BB122450, BB242430 and BB241230 and the last 2 digits represent the input capacity of the units.
Also the above units are subject to alternator voltage drop conditions and with the 12V they need 13.35 to 13.55 volts to operate efficiently and ramp up to full capacity but with a simple resistor charge they can be modified to accept lower voltage alternator input.
Sterling power has been working to offset the voltage drop alternator which he refers to as RGBF ( Regenerative Breaking Friendly) and has tested a prototype BBW1260A unit which overcome the problem but is yet to become commercially available.
The first unit that has been developed is the BB12100 RGBF DC/DC Charger that is half the size of the one wrongly displayed on the Bainbridge link and if the size and shape of the Sterling AB1280 or AB12130 alternator to Battery Charger and is available in small quantity at the moment through RV Powerstream that has represented Sterling products for a decade now in Australia.
The new BB12100 RGBF also has been built to have more selectable battery types of battery charging algorithms which include Calcium and Lithium and at 100A input current limited it can certainly do what most people hope to get and that is charge your batteries while driving with capacity and efficiency.
Ian
Some people sell boxes
Some sell technology.
-- Edited by powerstream on Wednesday 28th of August 2013 08:58:26 AM