pianotuna wrote:
Hi coolmom,
Nice that it comes with an inverter. How many watts can they do on a continuous basis? Pure Sine Wave?
See if a 2nd alternator is an option.
I do see pulses of up to 70 amps from the alternator my dual path charging system. At about 35 amps continuous voltage starts to drop on the engine side. At that point I sometimes shut down one charging path to limit amperage and not over load the OEM 130 amp Ford alternator. I've toyed with the idea of adding a second rectifier located away from the hot engine compartment.
Duty cycle is something to not ignore. It might be an expensive lesson to burn out an alternator.
Double conversion is rarely the best path for battery charging.
You have chosen an exciting project--I wish you great times while doing so.
coolmom42 wrote:
I'm looking at the Nissan NV or Ford Transit vans, and they generally do have a heavy-duty alternator. That's on the list to double-check when serious van-looking time arrives.
They also have a built-in inverter that would allow me to plug in the battery charger at any time the van is running. The inverter plug-in while driving would be a good way to top off the batteries, since most days I will be driving some.
I'm not sure about the inverter details. That's one thing I'm going to look at pretty closely. My understanding is that it's marketed towards construction/tradespeople, so is intended to run power tools. So it should be 15 amps or so.
A friend of mine burned out the alternator on his F-350 running a circular saw off the inverter, so I'm well aware of the potential for problems. Marketing and reality don't always match for sure.
Good point about the double conversion. You people will talk me into solar yet.
Nice thing about a project like this is that a person can start very basic and then add extras as desired.
