Typical charging rate of a car battery (from alternator)

I've had a few HF tools which did good. But, not very many.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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Until it catches fire and burns your house down. Every harbor freight tool I have ever seen has wound up failing in some way that got people injured, from the anvil that split apart leaving half of it to fall on my foot, to the spot welder that ignited in my friend's hands.

--scott

Reply to
Stormin Mormon
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A GENERATOR regulator regulated both voltage and current. An alternator regulator controls only voltage. The current is limitted by the power ouput of the alternator and the internal resistance.

Reply to
clare

It's "sorta" right. The current is limitted. But you CAN still short one out, and overcurrent CAN damage them. A shorted battery can kill an alternator pretty quick

Reply to
clare

And you would tear the batteries apart driving across town. You MUST have flexible connectors - for vibration as well as heat/cool expansion changes.

#14 house wire will NOT work to charge your batteries - and only a fool would use it in an automotive application due to vibration and work hardening, You NEED flexible cable - and the heavier the better. NOTHING less than a #8 - preferably a #6 - bigger if the cable is over

6 feet long.

The "sensible" way is the inverter in the car with heavy current cables as short as possible. Run extention cables out to the car for the high voltage low current.

You are going at it all backwards.

Idling the car with NO load burns as much gas as a good small generator set. Efficiency is pitiful

Reply to
clare

The entire thing has clearly been shown to be nothing more than an exercise in stupidity by an utter fool.

Reply to
No one

I don't see it that way. My battery is near the grill. I don't want to hole my firewall for heavy cables and deal with having them in my car interior when I may never even need the inverter. Even if I was using the inverter with this car on job sites to power tools, I'd still have the cables under the hood, and rig a shelter for the inverter when needed. Lots of ways to do it, depending on needs and vehicle.

Reply to
Vic Smith

Of course, you already knew everything discussed in this thread, right? Right.

Reply to
Existential Angst

You do not understand. The low voltage cables are heavy. The 115 volt cables are NOT heavy.

Do it your way - but there is a right and a wrong way - yours is NOT the right way.

Reply to
clare

My first college class included Thevenin and Norton Equivalent Circuit analysis, which of course that alone is guaranteed to fly as far over your brain-dead numb skull as does the exosphere.

Reply to
Gene E. Yuss

Well, you can't "short it out" if it is connected to a battery. You could short it out if you connect the BAT. terminal to ground :-)

However... as I said, you need to worry about the temperature of the alternator. There are temperature limits. see

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for examples of alternator specifications.

Reply to
John B.

Heh, Thevenin's Theorem is not taught in any "first college class", you poseur. AND, if you can cite a single relevancy of Thevenin's theorem to charging batteries -- aside from the detail of mismatched batteries -- I'll blow you in any venue you choose. No one is asking for equivalent circuits here.

You remind me of the asshole who brings up relativity in the middle of billiard ball collision problem.

Reply to
Existential Angst

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Your pathetically feeble attempt at deceit notwithstanding, I was quite certain, as you've provided proof positive, that both the concept and the point would far out reach your miniscule grasp.

Reply to
Gene E. Yuss

Right. I don't understand you want me unnecessarily punch holes in my firewall for the heavy low voltage cables. For an inverter setup that will be tested once, then rarely - if ever - used again. Think again.

Find a sap who will listen to bullshit. Wrong place here.

Reply to
Vic Smith

I don't punch holes in firewalls to run heavy cables. If they are heavy like battery cables they go under the car and come up through the back using grommets - often through existing holes in the body that have factory installed covers. If it is a simple accessory battery charging wire (not using the SLA battery to power the inverter) - #6AWG stranded is 1/4" in diameter, sometimes it can be routed back through existing firewall grommets, and follow the chassis harness back along the rocker panel area to the back of the car.Then the inverter gets connected to the batteries with the shortest possible cables.

I've been doing this kind of installation since the late sixties - when an "inverter" was a motor generator unit. (Rotary Inverter). Google it. Coach batteries in motor homes and travel trailers use the same wiring techniques, but back then ran everything on 12 volts DC.

Reply to
clare

Deceit?? YOU brought up Thevenins theorem, and YOU can't show how it applies here. The ball is still in your delusional court: Show me and everyone else exactly how you would apply Thevenin's/Norton's theorems to the discussion at hand. Show me and everyone else exactly what insights into this discussion these theorems would provide in the context of this thread, what contribution.. I'll answer it for you: NONE. But, I could be wrong. So show us. But, really, you just wanted to theorem-name-drop, flap your dick around. Good job. Like I said, if you can provide ONE instance where these theorems contribute one iota to the discussion, I'll blow you.

Reply to
Existential Angst

No, I will not further spoonfeed you, nor am I in the least interested in what you conspicuously consider to be an offer which someone of your miscreant ilk couldn't muster a refusal.

You're truly a pretentious, addlepated bore highly reminiscent of Monty Python's Black Knight. Here's a hint, with apologies to Will Rogers, when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

Reply to
Gene E. Yuss

Sounds very familiar... Oh yeah that's basically how the rear battery in my vehicle is set up. Except I'm running #4 because I had it in stock. I run a modified isolator with remote sensing so the "house" battery gets a full charge. That batt. powers the extra lights and an inverter. Now that LED are finally throwing some light so they can be used as scene lights the current use is WAY down over the old 30W and

50W halogens. Wish I could find good 90 degree replacement LEDs for my mini bar though.
Reply to
Steve W.

How much juice can a truck alternator put out? Big Rigs?? I'll bet big rig alts (with the attached apartment in the back) are good for 500 A.

Overall, I'm realizing this inverter thing isn't a super-practical idear ito an outage. It could dull the pain a bit, but not much else. I'm still going to experiment with this, bec that would just be one application of my setup, but too many pieces of the puzzle don't quite fit right.

Good info, tho.

Reply to
Existential Angst

Most are only in the 150 - 200 amps. Any higher and the wiring requirements go way up.

The LN alternators are also BIG HEAVY units. Rated for high output at lower rpm than the auto units.

FYI you should have an 80 amp unit in the Fit and a 100 amp in the Frontier.

Those are MAX output with proper cooling at 2500 - 3000 rpm.

Reply to
Steve W.

"Steve W." wrote in news:k6vppg$afo$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

You certainly wont get proper cooling without adequate airflow and the designers were almost certainly counting on vehicle speed to provide a good part of that.

IMHO this application would REQUIRE an external alternator controller (available commercially) with a temperature sensor on the alternator housing and probably a ducted in cooling air feed to the rear housing.

Reply to
Ian Malcolm

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