So I'm still looking at the best way of charging my 200ah LFP aux battery in my camper conversion.
The more research I do, it seems like all a DC-DC charger really does is limit the current from the alternator to protect it. From what I can tell, it seems like if I had an alternator that was capable of supplying enough amps, I could just connect the LFP directly to it and it would charge without issue.
This would be via the starter batt of course so there wouldn't be a worry about dump spikes.
I'd much rather spend a few hundred quid on a high power alternator and have the ability to recharge a lot quicker vs a few hundred on a DC-DC charger which would recharge a lot more slowly.
I'm an experienced electrical engineer, but this is my very first time with LFP so I appreciate all the info I can get. Thank you!
P.S. bonus question: If i went down the DC-DC route - Is there a reason why I couldn't use a 30A 12v (or 14v) regulator to charge the LFP battery? They cost a fraction of the price of a DC-DC charger - I'm not necessarily considering this as an option but it was a thought I had.
Thanks!
The more research I do, it seems like all a DC-DC charger really does is limit the current from the alternator to protect it. From what I can tell, it seems like if I had an alternator that was capable of supplying enough amps, I could just connect the LFP directly to it and it would charge without issue.
This would be via the starter batt of course so there wouldn't be a worry about dump spikes.
I'd much rather spend a few hundred quid on a high power alternator and have the ability to recharge a lot quicker vs a few hundred on a DC-DC charger which would recharge a lot more slowly.
I'm an experienced electrical engineer, but this is my very first time with LFP so I appreciate all the info I can get. Thank you!
P.S. bonus question: If i went down the DC-DC route - Is there a reason why I couldn't use a 30A 12v (or 14v) regulator to charge the LFP battery? They cost a fraction of the price of a DC-DC charger - I'm not necessarily considering this as an option but it was a thought I had.
Thanks!