Thread: Auxillary battery charging question.

Disregard : did not search 100 amp alernator for 4bd1 . Sorry

Originally Posted by Bazzle218

Currently driving 130 300 tdi, fitted with disco 100 amp alternator. In the back I have a massive 250AH deep cycle battery. (80kgs) I have an Enerdrive dc to dc controller. Basic operation is that when i am driving it charges aux battery and when i stop it switched to 200 watt solar panel mounted to canopy. Never had and issue. In the next few months I will be changing engine to 4bd1/t and it runs an 70 amp alt. Now to the question. My controller can do lithium batteries, and i am considering getting two 100ah lithium's. Will save approx 50 kgs. Will the 70 amp alternator charge the lithium's. At the most i will be running 2, fridges. Any advice appreciated.

One tip with the Enerdrive DC-DC is to run your solar through a separate controller. This way while your driving you will get charge from both solar and alternator.

Re: 70p alternator, Worst case you’ll have 30amp at your disposal, I have no idea how many amps you need to run an old school 130.....I reckon you’d be fine, just don’t run six spot lights.

Originally Posted by Bazzle218

Disregard : did not search 100 amp alernator for 4bd1 . Sorry

Cools, you’ll be fine....consider separate solar controller to make use of you solar while driving.

Hi Bazzle, how long are you planning on stopping between drives?

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi Bazzle, how long are you planning on stopping between drives?

Over night to we get to our camp site near Laura, usually move car into sun and if required (rarely) Run fridges off generator to give battery a chance to recover, vehicle used intermittently during the stay of up to 2 weeks . I have never had an issue even after a few cloudy days. Its the 70amp alternator i have for the 4bd1 conversion im worried about , if i go to lithium will it be able to charge batteries whilst driving. Most of my driving is daytime as im over night drives. Minimal use of batteries other then fridges (Engels) and minimal led interior light usage at night. Ta

Hi again Bazzle, not sure why you have such a large battery capacity?

This is just one option and probably the cheapest but most efficient setup.

If you had one of my isolators, and a SMALL auxiliary battery mounted under the seat, with your cranking battery, you would more than likely meet your needs.

One addition I would suggest is that of more solar power.

Your 200w solar setup should easily allow you to stay in one place and run everything off the smaller setup, but if you found you were still needing more battery power while camped, increase you solar panel array rather than increase your battery capacity.

Furthermore, as you have mentioned, you have a small alternator. By using one of my isolators, you would get ore alternator output going to your batteries then you will with a DC/DC device.

This is because DC/DC devices are inefficient and will simply waste the limited amount of alternator charge you have available.

You will still need a separate solar regulator, but you will have faster charging of your batteries while driving, then you will have with any form of DC/DC device.

Bazzle, i used a traxide usi160 and 3 optima d34 batteries, plus a 105ah agm in the camper with my 4bd1 set up and 70amp patrol alternator, never had an issue. You can get bigger alternators if you desire for patrols that you could use.

I agree The current battery is hugh, but got it for the right price, second hand for $ 200 so i cant complain. Currently on evil bay 1 can get a 135ah lithium for under $500 with 2 year warranty (I know its an unknown) The saving in weight is massive. Just exploring options at this time as conversion is still a couple of months away. Advise muchley appreciated and more to think on. Baz

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi again Bazzle, not sure why you have such a large battery capacity?

This is just one option and probably the cheapest but most efficient setup.

If you had one of my isolators, and a SMALL auxiliary battery mounted under the seat, with your cranking battery, you would more than likely meet your needs.

One addition I would suggest is that of more solar power.

Your 200w solar setup should easily allow you to stay in one place and run everything off the smaller setup, but if you found you were still needing more battery power while camped, increase you solar panel array rather than increase your battery capacity.

Furthermore, as you have mentioned, you have a small alternator. By using one of my isolators, you would get ore alternator output going to your batteries then you will with a DC/DC device.

This is because DC/DC devices are inefficient and will simply waste the limited amount of alternator charge you have available.

You will still need a separate solar regulator, but you will have faster charging of your batteries while driving, then you will have with any form of DC/DC device.