Sarah Fun
A short post on DC-DC chargers and why I’ve installed one with the new lithium battery bank.
WARNING: Lots of technical, little explanation. You've been warned.
Odyssey has an old-school alternator with internal regulator. This means that while the engine is running, the alternator will try to deliver everything it can as fast as it can until the battery is charged.
Regular battery chemistries like AGMs have a basic resistance that (usually) keeps the alternator from overworking itself and failing due to heat. Lithium batteries have a MUCH lower resistance and may just cause that poor alternator to melt, especially at low rpms.
What to do? Keep the start battery an AGM and then install a DC-DC charger between it and the lithium house bank. The charger will only operate when the engine is running and with the output rated somewhere below the full load amps of the alternator, it will keep the alternator from working too hard. The charger also isolates the house bank from the start bank so an ACR isn’t necessary. Our alternator is rated for 50 amps and the DC-DC charger is 30 amps.
An alternative would be to replace the alternator with something like a Balmer setup that has a programmable external regulator and will protect the alternator from overheating, but this is a much more expensive solution than the DC-DC charger and can complicate start + house bank systems.
WARNING: Lots of technical, little explanation. You've been warned.
Odyssey has an old-school alternator with internal regulator. This means that while the engine is running, the alternator will try to deliver everything it can as fast as it can until the battery is charged.
Regular battery chemistries like AGMs have a basic resistance that (usually) keeps the alternator from overworking itself and failing due to heat. Lithium batteries have a MUCH lower resistance and may just cause that poor alternator to melt, especially at low rpms.
What to do? Keep the start battery an AGM and then install a DC-DC charger between it and the lithium house bank. The charger will only operate when the engine is running and with the output rated somewhere below the full load amps of the alternator, it will keep the alternator from working too hard. The charger also isolates the house bank from the start bank so an ACR isn’t necessary. Our alternator is rated for 50 amps and the DC-DC charger is 30 amps.
An alternative would be to replace the alternator with something like a Balmer setup that has a programmable external regulator and will protect the alternator from overheating, but this is a much more expensive solution than the DC-DC charger and can complicate start + house bank systems.
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