Solar in winter months?

I had hoped that some hard data on actual fuel consumption of an engine being used to recharge a battery would be of some interest.
In the limit it probably doesn't really matter unless it's the primary charging mechanism rather than an occasional fall back.
 
So at what point will a smart altonator do that? 800rpm amps ? 1200rpm amps? 1800 rpm amps? Over 2000rpm amps? If alternator can put out lets say max 75amp
Smart altonator , do the amps very at different rpm?
2016 sprinter
the vehicle is in gear and and moving driving 6th gear 65 mph or any gear speed shows 12.5volts .at lights stopped idling shows 14.2 up to 14.7 sometimes, I hope the china volts thing i have, has a bit of play built in.
Amp out is what are needed not volts

If I put headlights on at any time the voltage while driving as above 6th gear the volts go up to 14 volts from 12.5/4
So if you idling put lights on. I think your get more amps....
 
1 cup said:
So at what point will a smart altonator do that? 800rpm amps ? 1200rpm amps? 1800 rpm amps? Over 2000rpm amps? If alternator can put out lets say max 75amp
Smart altonator , do the amps very at different rpm?
2016 sprinter
the vehicle is in gear and and moving driving 6th gear 65 mph or any gear speed shows 12.5volts .at lights stopped idling shows 14.2 up to 14.7 sometimes, I hope the china volts thing i have, has a bit of play built in.
Amp out is what are needed not volts

If I put headlights on at any time the voltage while driving as above 6th gear the volts go up to 14 volts from 12.5/4
So if you idling put lights on. I think your get more amps....
Click to expand...
The thing about a smart alternator is that they are smart, trying to figure out what it does can drive you nuts. I've had smart welding plants and if you try to weld "out of parameters" they will fight against you.
 
SquirrellCook said:
The thing about a smart alternator is that they are smart, trying to figure out what it does can drive you nuts. I've had smart welding plants and if you try to weld "out of parameters" they will fight against you.
Click to expand...
The thing is that the smart alternator is about as smart as a "golden delicious" apple is golden or delicious. The smartness is really in the engine ECU, not in the alternator. Trying to guess what the ECU will do is too difficult!
 
Smart alternators do what they think the ecu thinks they need to - if you have two batteries they respond to the 'best' (usually starter) so need 'telling' that there's a flat battery elsewhere needing charge. That's where B2B chargers come into their own because they take whatever voltage there is available and increase it to what the leisure battery needs.
They also reduce any regenerative braking voltage spike down to a safe level to protect sensitive battery types.
 
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