IDEA...charging house battery(set) underway.
It seems that the chassis alternator/VR system will often not fully charge the house battery(set) due to voltage drop between the two, or overcharge, boil the electrolyte away, for a deeply discharged...
Forum Discussion
wolfe10 wrote:
If you are willing to spend bucks on this, and your alternator has an external regulator (or could be wired that way) by far the best solution would be to fit a SMART REGULATOR. Similar to smart charger (120 VAC), in that it has different voltages for bulk, absorption and float. Inverting 12 VDC to 120 VAC and then back to 12 VDC has a lot of build-in efficiency losses and extra complexity.
Used this one on the sailboat 120 amp alternator-- did all the battery charging for months at a time: http://www.westmarine.com/high-output-alternators/balmar--ars-5-12-volt-regulator--7807969
Insofar as I am aware there is no method for "smart" charging of a battery while it's under significant load, such as is our RV chassis batterys underway.
