Split charge relays and smart alternators
Has anyone had any experience of split charge relays and smart alternators? My car is a 2015 focus.estate and is fitted with a smart alternator. The smart alternator will only supply enough voltage to satisfy the needs of the vehicle battery which means that for most of the time it is only supplying about 13v as opposed to the 14v from a standard alternator.A typical split charge relay switches over at about 13.5v and switches back at about 12.8v consequently the switched supply to the fridge with a smart alternator is only active for very short periods. I have done a bit of research on this and the upshot appears to be is that split charge or voltage sensing relays do not work with smart alternators. Possible solutions are battery to battery chargers or DC to DC chargers but these are several hundreds of pounds. As most cars that conform to Euro 5 and 6 will probably have a smart alternator I was just wondering if anyone had come across this issue.
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When we got our Touareg in 2017 we did not realise the problem of getting the caravan battery and the caravan fridge to work properly on 12 volt. However when the problem became obvious, the battery needed for the mover was found not to be charged on arrival at site or home, I fitted a Sterling B2B charger at a cost of about £200. We have since not had a problem.
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As you've probably figured out the split charge relays are quite basic and when combined with a smart alternator and its variable voltage, don't work the best. I would suggest something like the DCDC chargers, I used a Renogy 30A DCDC charger, as I wanted a solar connection as well for charging an onboard leisure battery and top up the starter battery as well, but there are plenty of options.
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