> The voltage regulator does just that, maintain a fixed voltage. Typical > is ~13.8. The batteries current draw is based on its charge acceptance > which will be a function of state of charge, (SOC), and temperature. > The other limit will be the wiring resistance of the charging path. > Typically, a group 41 will draw about 20 amp/hours from 20% to 80% state > of charge. Then it will taper down to as little as 2 amps. > > Dennis > > > Just finished installing aux battery in my '90 Westy, using regular > group 41 and the > existing relay system. Everything is up and running fine. > Recent discussions about relays, isolators, separators, over or > under-charging, etc., > makes me ask this question.: > Does the voltage regulator sense when the main battery is fully > charged and slow > down the rate or something, and if so, what happens at the aux battery > if it was still at a lower state of charge? I guess what I did not realize and what Mark D. kindly pointed out:) is that with dual batteries and a relay the batteries are connected in parallel, so what the alternators voltage regulator senses is the demand in the system ( ie the demand from both batteries) NOT just the main battery so if the system demand drops off because BOTH batteries are charged then the regulator kicks in. So in this case if the main battery is fully charged but if the Aux is still in a discharge state then the voltage regulator will not kick in because there is still demand in the system by the aux battery. And the main battery will not be over charged because its 'charge acceptance' is low so no current will flow to that main battery (albeit current will flow via its + terminal because it is connected eletrically to the system) now if i still have this wrong hopefully Mark/Dennis will pipe up now i have a 2 question i would like confirmed Is an over charge condition to a battery only when the voltage supplied by the alternator is HIGHER than the voltaged required by the battery during re-charge Is an under charge condition to a battery only when the voltage supplied by the alternator is LOWER than the voltaged required by the battery during re-charge |
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