12 Volts info/solar power forum or links plz

[Overland Tonka]

Thanks...I am not that bad lol. Yes you say they are wired together but if I say the battery is a bucket of water we now have the capacity to fill 2 buckets in your trip rather than 1...using the same amount of fuel? or am I missing the point....

You have one batt, so if you use it for your lights it will last less time than mine because I have two batts. This is the reason our trucks have a winter two batt set up....two batters will turn over the engine more times than one batt.

The Alt on our trucks is quite a low output...60 I think.....Toyota MR2 ones are 80 I think, and my fit. What would you be "filling" in your example with the alt on your trip.? and why waste fuel keeping the engine running when you don't have to??

[madcampbell]

You have one batt, so if you use it for your lights it will last less time than mine because I have two batts. This is the reason our trucks have a winter two batt set up....two batters will turn over the engine more times than one batt.

The Alt on our trucks is quite a low output...60 I think.....Toyota MR2 ones are 80 I think, and my fit. What would you be "filling" in your example with the alt on your trip.? and why waste fuel keeping the engine running when you don't have to??

Have to pop out will try to post a better question later, thanks Mark

[wishbone]

2. for the altenator to create its max power does it put a bigger demand on the engine and hence use more fuel?


Yes.

The easiest option for what you want is to install a split charge relay with a leisure battery.

The solar panel will help out a bit making your battery deplete slower. Unless you're in Spain I wouldn't bother - I'd use the money towards a bigger battery and possibly a DC - DC charger for the truck (charges battery better than the alternator will)

When doing your calculations work them out with the battery only going to half charge. (ie if you want 60 Amp hours then buy a 120 Amp hour battery)

My 115 Amp Hr battery is good for running a fridge for 3 days in Wales type weather. (Possibly 4 days but I was only camping for 3 nights so haven't been unplugged for longer - usually use electric hook up)

I use an Anteres split charge unit.

Rob.

[Overland Tonka]

Good advise......I have a split charge relay set if you need one as I decided not to use it...just P.M me.

2. for the altenator to create its max power does it put a bigger demand on the engine and hence use more fuel?


Yes.

The easiest option for what you want is to install a split charge relay with a leisure battery.

The solar panel will help out a bit making your battery deplete slower. Unless you're in Spain I wouldn't bother - I'd use the money towards a bigger battery and possibly a DC - DC charger for the truck (charges battery better than the alternator will)

When doing your calculations work them out with the battery only going to half charge. (ie if you want 60 Amp hours then buy a 120 Amp hour battery)

My 115 Amp Hr battery is good for running a fridge for 3 days in Wales type weather. (Possibly 4 days but I was only camping for 3 nights so haven't been unplugged for longer - usually use electric hook up)

I use an Anteres split charge unit.

Rob.

[Apache]

Right ....

1.So when parked with and the engine is running in tick over if there are no lights on or any other ancillary thing on is anything demanding power from the battery?

With the engine running, you should NEVER be consuming power from the battery. It should ALL be coming from the alternator on a properly designed power system.

If NO then the altenator is spinning anyway with a potential to create power but not being used for power so in my eyes a waste of "potential electric"

Yes, there is potential to create power, but as soon as you demand power from it, you load the engine more and use fuel. The law of conservation of energy dictates that you consume more energy in diesel than you gain in electricity because of efficiency losses.

2. for the altenator to create its max power does it put a bigger demand on the engine and hence use more fuel?

Yes, and as I said, at a lower than 1:1 efficiency

3. I have a sinlgle battery but can run with 2 battery's so am I only using half the eletric available "free power as I am wasting it" ?

No you're not wasting anything. An alternator will only produce as much current as required by the load (battery plus vehicle systems). Add another battery, and the engine will consume more fuel (when charging the batteries)

As you can see I am missing the foundations and have looked for a link to a Fwits site that I can get a good back ground knowledge without being blown away by rocket science....Yes I should have listened in school

I do understand the post so far but want to get my head around the basics as an example I have 4 led lights I use for camping the have 3 aaa 1.5v batteries in now if I want to rig them to the 12v battery they will go pop (I now have 3 left) how do I drop the power to get them to run? :

Regulators, but probably not worth it. Just buy a 12V-14.4V one

The post so far have lots of the Ideas I want to try but only when I understand the subject better

Cheers

Mark

.

[soramad]

Does that not depend on parallel or serial ....not that I full get that concept either..

two 12v batteries in parallel ie pos terminals connected together, neg terminals connected together will give you twice the capacity of the single battery provided the ampre hours are the same , 60 a/h x 2 = 120a/h , 90 a/h x 2 =180a/h the voltage will be 12 volts .
two 12v batteries in series ie neg of one battery connected to pos of other battery will give the same amper hour as single battery but at 24 volts for which you would need a 24 volt electrical system usually found in lorries.