[VHFcontesting] HIGH POWER

[w8zn at comcast.net]

Hi all, 


No, not kilowatts of RF, DC power! I have a power question about car charging systems. I installed a 200A alternator in my little truck that is going to be used as my rovermobile. The output side of the alternator goes to a 200A battery isolator. One port of the isolator goes to the vehicles' battery and the other port to my battery bank which is 5, 160AH deep cycle marine batteries I run in parallel to charge and switch to series/parallel to operate for my 28v amps. So all this is pretty straight forward. My question is, the voltage regulator monitors the voltage accross the main battery in the vehicle and as it reaches full charge, the alternator is throttled back. What happens if the 5 batteries I've been killing for the past hour are not fully charged? Is it as simple as the batteries needing charge keeps the overall voltage down so the the main battery doesn't fully charge until the remote batteries are full? I would think that the diodes in the isolator would not have as much drop to the main battery as the remotes if the remotes are full. 



I'm almost thinking a 200A relay in place of the isolator is a better idea. The relay would only energize when the truck is running so when shut off and operating, I'm not draining the truck battery. 



Any thoughts?? 



Terry