Most of the load will be on the batts. The dynamics of music require quick demands for current which the alt is not fast enough to respond to. So the battery acts like a buffer for the fast changing current draw.See, this confuses me...
The alternator charges at a voltage of about 14.4V with x amps. (Theoretically)
In a case with my setup in which I have 4 runs of 4/0, where I can run some 350A about 20' with .32V drop, will it be pulling the current from the alternator as much as it can until it reaches down to the voltage of the D3100s, which are charged by the alt to 14.4? Will the load be distributed between the batts and the alt, or what?
This confuses me, I'm more of a digital person and RF analog, not generators.![]()
So say your batts are fully charged and your alt is running @ 50amps. Then you hit a loud bass note. Instantly the 50amps coming from the alt goes to the amp and the rest of the current is pulled from the batt. Pulling those amps from the batt will lower the voltage. After a few secs (not sure of timing specs) the alt will adjust itself to the new voltage and increase its output until the batt is full again.
If an alt could adjust its output extremely fast, we would only need batts for starting and not car audio.
But generators push power (you only get whats available) where batts power can be pulled (you get what you need).
Hope that helps. I'm sure there are some details that I missed.