Multiple Charging Sources

[Ramblinman]

Man ... it sounds like all these electrical "doo dads" cause a lot of head aches I think Hadley may have something with not having a battery.

 

[pods8]

At what point are we spending a ton of money to get either a few more amps out of our battery per cycle OR a few more cycles out of the battery over its lifetime?

That is why I am simplifying and just running large gauge wire from the truck without DC-DC stage charging and letting the solar do that.

 

[White Dog]

At what point are we spending a ton of money to get either a few more amps out of our battery per cycle OR a few more cycles out of the battery over its lifetime?


To some extent this is true but constantly charging batteries, especially conventional unsealed batteries, to 70% or 80% of their capacity is pretty brutal on them. They like to be brought up to full capacity and this is hard to do with just the standard truck alternator at the end of a long cable run unless the engine is running lots of hours every day. The 2 AGM batteries in my Grandby are worth close to $400. If I can double there lifespan, it's worth a bit of an investment and I get reserve power too.

 

[ntsqd]

FWIW, a 3 stage marine external alternator regulator: http://www.balmar.net/PDF/regulator%20info%20s/MC-614.pdf

I've asked an MS-EE friend of mine (who happens to be belly deep into EV's, so battery charging is something that he knows at least a bit about) about multiple charge sources. Hopefully I'll hear back from him soon.

 

[pods8]

To some extent this is true but constantly charging batteries, especially conventional unsealed batteries, to 70% or 80% of their capacity is pretty brutal on them. They like to be brought up to full capacity and this is hard to do with just the standard truck alternator at the end of a long cable run unless the engine is running lots of hours every day. The 2 AGM batteries in my Grandby are worth close to $400. If I can double there lifespan, it's worth a bit of an investment and I get reserve power too.


Plug it in at home overnight after a trip and it'll be topped off fine. Get solar if you don't want to do that is another consideration.


For what it's worth the 7.5amp powerstream unit I have would usually dump in some amps from my weekends usage on a few hour drive pretty well and longer drives completely charged things. I'm just not going to bother with it again since I'll have solar this round.

 

[White Dog]

Just to finish this thread off, here is a rather lengthy (and opinionated) blog by someone with a lot of experience. Lots of good advice particularly on wire sizes. Thanks to my brother for the lead Handy Bob

This blog references another source which is also full of useful information Jack Mayer.

If you make it through all this stuff, you probably are an inveterate tinkerer like me. I really 'need' to understand this stuff. Thirty years as a scientist does this to you (my wife suggested treatment but I'm having too much fun in retirement ). If you only have the patience for a 10-minute read, look at the section on gauging wire correctly. The advice is sound and cheap.

 

[ntsqd]

The "Handy Bob" blog is a bit laborious to read, but Extremely well worth the effort! Thank you for posting that link!