BFL13 wrote:
Yes some fatter wiring would be better for the long ways between the front and middle of the MH. This test shows how it is now. Gives me a "baseline" for any improvements.
I was surprised revving did not make the amps go up any. Actually went down a bit compared with idling. I thought alternator voltage would drop to 13.8ish fairly quickly, but nope.
Huge PITA to improve that wiring any more than done already at the easy access parts, so have to decide if the extra amps would be worth it for any scenario that has alternator charging being important.
Not at all clear that getting say 35 amps is any better than 25 amps for an hour of idling. 10AH is peanuts.
Another thing with way higher amps is whether the battery bank would even be low enough to accept that many. Depends on the scenario, and how many times a year for each scenario when calculating "worth it".
You DO realize that a lot of the problem is the STARTING BATTERY, right?
The charging system is sensing a slightly higher voltage from the starting battery and IS going to taper down the voltage and amps. That IS how automobile charging systems are setup and pretty much nothing you can really do to force it to push more current..
Doesn't matter if you had a 1970s 30A alternator or a 2017 250A alternator, your only going to get a slight trickle to the house batteries.
The ONLY way I see this scheme to work effectively would be to REMOVE the starting battery out of the circuit after the engine has been started. Not to mention some huge, fat wires directly from the alternator to the house batteries..
You have two possible ways to do this, one IS to use a high power inverter located close to the starting battery then run 120V wiring back to your house batteries and then a high amperage 60A-100A converter/charger or power supply at the house batteries..
Second would be install a completely separate dedicated high current alternator with regulator then huge wires from the second alternator to the house batteries..
All that effort to pull about 2-3 HP off that engine, one heck of a lot fuel dumped out the tail pipe for the effort..
