iuri
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2020
- Messages
- 6
Hey!
I have a boat with three separate battery banks. A battery for the engine, another one for a bow thruster and windlass, and a lifepo4 bank for the house. The plan is to use the alternator to charge the engine battery and various DC/DC chargers for the house bank and bow thruster battery.
For now I have a battery isolator (legacy from the old setup) with the alternator wired to the input post and the bow thruster and the starter battery each wired to a different output post. Then two Orion DC/DC chargers go from the starter battery to the house battery bank. In the near future I want to get rid of the isolator and have another Orion for the bow thruster battery.
The problem I have is that when the engine is running and the Orions start charging, there's a +1V drop at the isolator, which causes the chargers to throttle and not charge at full capacity. It's an old diode isolator so I think that's expected.
As temporary solution Would it be ok to wire the house bank Orions at the input terminal of the isolator, together with the alternator? Basically tapping the Orions directly from the alternator and bypassing the isolator?
I think it should work ok, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything.
Thanks
Iuri
I have a boat with three separate battery banks. A battery for the engine, another one for a bow thruster and windlass, and a lifepo4 bank for the house. The plan is to use the alternator to charge the engine battery and various DC/DC chargers for the house bank and bow thruster battery.
For now I have a battery isolator (legacy from the old setup) with the alternator wired to the input post and the bow thruster and the starter battery each wired to a different output post. Then two Orion DC/DC chargers go from the starter battery to the house battery bank. In the near future I want to get rid of the isolator and have another Orion for the bow thruster battery.
The problem I have is that when the engine is running and the Orions start charging, there's a +1V drop at the isolator, which causes the chargers to throttle and not charge at full capacity. It's an old diode isolator so I think that's expected.
As temporary solution Would it be ok to wire the house bank Orions at the input terminal of the isolator, together with the alternator? Basically tapping the Orions directly from the alternator and bypassing the isolator?
I think it should work ok, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything.
Thanks
Iuri
