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hi everyone
jeff cote here with votingtechtalk.com
we've got a question about solar
charging with an alternator or even a
battery charger
what happens when they're all running at
the same time
and is that a problem probably one of
the most
common questions i get of all subject
matters
people worry about that and they have a
right to worry because in the past
having too many charging sources running
concurrently at one time
was a problem for sure it was and that
sort of fear that we have where we hear
from uh club members and voters that
have you know
lots of experience is definitely uh
relevant
but nowadays all the devices on our
boats are actually charging
and charging to specific target voltages
which means that they can actually be
running concurrently at the same time
so you won't damage your batteries by
having an alternator
on your engine turning and recharging
your batteries while also your solar
panels
are connected to the same battery via
solar controllers
and you can have them run concurrently
yes now there is a caveat
our alternators um are also deciding if
it makes sense to
run or not they're actually making a
decision and if your batteries are
completely full
it's very possible that your alternator
might say hey you know what i don't need
to do anything the batteries are
completely full
i'm actually going to turn myself off
and here's the challenge
the challenge is this is that a lot of
us on our boats
have our tachometer inputs on our boats
that actually come
from not actually the flywheel on the
engine but they come from an
alternator output so if your alternator
says hey i don't need to do any work
because you know the batteries are full
that's okay and that's
should that's good but then what happens
is your alternator is actually not
turning
and because it's not turning you're
actually not seeing your rpms
on your tachometer so you're thinking
you're looking at your engine pan you're
like what the hell my tachometer doesn't
work but my engine's running
obviously it's turning i can hear the
sound it's turning at about 2000 rpm or
1200 and we get used to knowing we get
the feel like i always close my eyes
when i'm actually turning my engine in
gear and i'm and i want to hear what it
feels like
at a certain rpm i want to know what it
feels like just from hearing alone
what my engine sounds sort of the geek
in me
but it's very possible that if you have
your solar panels recharging your
batteries and your batteries are full
your alternator might say i'm not
running and if it's not actually
outputting anything the tachometer
doesn't work
and so sometimes in those situations to
actually force the tachometer to
actually
give you a value you actually what you
have to do is you have to load up so you
like i've had that on my boat i'll turn
off some appliances on the boat that i
don't really need to be turned on just
so that the voltage drops a little bit
so the alternator says oh i got to help
and then it turns itself on because it
saw the voltage drop and now suddenly my
tachometer works
and that's generally going to happen if
i leave a dock and i've been at the dock
it's my home port and i've been there
and my batteries are charged if it's a
sunny day and i'm
motoring for a long period of time to
get to my next destination or anchorage
it's very possible that i might have to
actually turn on some lows on my boat
because my solar is actually telling my
alternator that doesn't need to do
anything
and it's not telling it but effectively
it is
and so i need to bring the loads a
little bit higher
so that my battery voltage drops and
once the battery voltage drops
then the alternate goes hey i should do
something about this it turns itself on
and it brings the battery back to where
it should be and in doing so
your tankometer starts working again so
don't worry about damaging the battery
it's just about the inconvenience of
potentially having your tachometer
on your boat not outputting because the
alternator is
doesn't feel a need to actually work so
that's a great question
and thanks for asking
thank you for watching this pys video if
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