Charge Batteries by Idling Tow Vehicle?
This may be a dumb question, but since every tow vehicle has a generator which is connected to the batteries and they charge while driving, how about hooking up and charging at the campsite while idli...
Forum Discussion
pianotuna wrote:
Ok hairpin alternator--but is there a brand name? Or one that is easily available for a Ford v-10 in an E-450 chassis?
Don ... I may have missed it, but I don't think I saw a definitive/clear answer to your question other than some suggested aftermarket alternators.
Perhaps/probably your(?) E450 V-10 already came stock with a "Hair Pin" configured alternator.
Study the Ford stock 130 amp alternator curves that I linked to, earlier, representing the alternator that came in our 2005 V10 E450 Itasca. Now study and compare those to the 270 amp Hair Pin alternator curves that Mex showed. My conclusion is that my stock 130 amp Ford alternator performs almost identical to the 270 amp one - except for delivering around 1/2 the amount of current at all RPM points.
Does this mean that the stock Ford alternator is a "Hair Pin" one .... and a pretty good one, at that? I'm willing to bet "yes". :C
P.S. So far I haven't ruined my alternator by letting it dump huge currents into our AGM battery bank with the V10 only running at idle RPM. Maybe I should knock on wood ... after all ... I did manage to ruin my rig's original 5R110 E450 transmission after only ~51K miles!
