battery charge question
Still figuring the rv thing out. I was under the impression that the alternator charged the house batteries it seems that it maintains it more than charges it? My kids had dvd players and tablets char...
Forum Discussion
Gjac wrote:bidhounds wrote:This might not be the case. When my stock alternator failed it was replaced with a 180 amp alternator because I was on the road and a std replacement could not be found. I thought that it would charge the batteries much faster. I would read 14.2 v to the chassis and thought all was well. When I installed a cheap volt/ammeter with a shunt I was only reading 5.5 amps going to the 2 6 volt chassis batteries from the alternator at 50% SOC. So I'm not sure if it has to do with the starting battery having to be charged first or thin wires as waxmen described was limiting the charge rate. Maybe someone on here can explain what is happening.
We didn't drive the hours that you mention. If I wanted to increase charging amount it sounds like a different alternator is the way to go?
Indeed, you need to troubleshoot this. See where the voltage loss is-- I say voltage, as 14.2 VDC at a 50% discharged battery will show way more than 5.5 amps. Could be small wire size. Do you have a diode-based battery isolator? If the alternator does not have an external sense wire to the battery side of the isolator, you will be looking around .7 VDC across the isolator.
Let us know what you find.
