Quote:
Originally Posted by teoman
How do you stop the batteries from undercharging?
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He doesn't disable the alternator. It's "virtually" disabled from the fact that the battery is charged above ~14v. When the alternator detects voltages above this, it freewheels instead of generating power.
Once the battery drains below some threshold, the alternator detects this and supplies power, keeping the battery from further discharging.
I'm curious at what voltage threshold the alternator kicks in, as it matters from a battery health perspective. Too low, and there is risk of damaging the battery.
I bought a 5 Ah Li-ion battery so I can experiment with this. At $30, it's fairly cheap to play with to get a sense of how well this setup works. If it works very well, I might consider stepping up to a higher capacity.