Electrical strain on Alternator??

[sleazebagger 10+ year member]

I know people use to use digital isolators to charge their battery banks but I've noticed a ton of builds where most people just hook everything up to the alternator.

It seems that this would have a huge strain on the alternator due to the resistance.

Is there a reason why people dont use high end isolators to reduce the strain?

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[SourDeez 10+ year member]

To the alternator? You mean hooking up power cable to the alternator positive nut? I've never seen that done.. but I don't see why it wouldn't work

 

[sleazebagger 10+ year member]

To the alternator? You mean hooking up power cable to the alternator positive nut? I've never seen that done.. but I don't see why it wouldn't work

No, what I mean is using no isolator to regulate the charging to the battery's therefore all batterys demanding current at the same time rather then having a digital isolator switching through the battery's to charge each one as needed.

 

[SourDeez 10+ year member]

Oh, I don't run two batteries or plan on it. Alternators is where its at for me

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

i think the advancements in HO alts and battery technology have something to do with it... back in the day, it was pretty difficult to get a good HO alt, let alone multiple ones, and the batteries available werent anywhere near the quality of those available now... but now you can easily get an alt that can keep up with your charging needs, as well as better batts, that are specificly designed for car audio, so no need for an isolator

 

[sleazebagger 10+ year member]

i think the advancements in HO alts and battery technology have something to do with it... back in the day, it was pretty difficult to get a good HO alt, let alone multiple ones, and the batteries available werent anywhere near the quality of those available now... but now you can easily get an alt that can keep up with your charging needs, as well as better batts, that are specificly designed for car audio, so no need for an isolator

Crazy.. That makes sense. I know that 10 years ago an alternator wouldn't of lasted long on these setups.

Any Idea how the battery's are different?

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Car audio technology seems to have exponentially changed in the past 10-15 years just like the rest of electronic technologies. That would be my answer. Technically, I don't know why.

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

the materials used, as well as technology behind the build of them has drastically changed... when optimas first came out with with their deepcycle technology, it was the best thing around... now its not even comprable to some of the newer batteries out there (havent done too much research on new batt technology tho). just goes to show you how far the technology behind batteries have come in the last 5-10 years

 

[Falcons 5,000+ posts]

the materials used, as well as technology behind the build of them has drastically changed... when optimas first came out with with their deepcycle technology, it was the best thing around... now its not even comprable to some of the newer batteries out there (havent done too much research on new batt technology tho). just goes to show you how far the technology behind batteries have come in the last 5-10 years

and how poor it makes most of us look

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

I think you're confused on how isolators work...Why do you think they would be able to reduce strain on an alternator?

 

[sleazebagger 10+ year member]

I think you're confused on how isolators work...Why do you think they would be able to reduce strain on an alternator?

please enlighten me on how an older digital isolator works

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

please enlighten me on how an older digital isolator works

I'm not trying to attack, that's why I asked why you thought they would reduce strain. I thought you were talking about your standard battery isolator, maybe it's you that needs to enlighten me? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

he's talking about the ols school digital ones, where you could switch the flow of current in between different leads (batteries) ... these were required for large systems back in the day, due to the reasons I've listed... but aren't really a necessity anymore

 

[sleazebagger 10+ year member]

I'm not trying to attack, that's why I asked why you thought they would reduce strain. I thought you were talking about your standard battery isolator, maybe it's you that needs to enlighten me? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

from what I understand a digital isolator connects each battery separately and has a small return wire that relays the voltage info. It then takes the battery with the lowest voltage reading and charges that one and then switches to the next one and so on. Therefor reducing the amount of resistance and strain on the alternator.

I could just be taking out my azz here but thats what I think I know.

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

from what I understand a digital isolator connects each battery separately and has a small return wire that relays the voltage info. It then takes the battery with the lowest voltage reading and charges that one and then switches to the next one and so on. Therefor reducing the amount of resistance and strain on the alternator.
I could just be taking out my azz here but thats what I think I know.

pretty much correct... all though the older automatic ones proved to be unreliable at best... which is why most guys used manual ones