On 9 Apr 2009, at 07:37, [email protected] wrote:
> Why won't Bruce buy an Adverc then? Come on Bruce, spell it out...
> well, give us the headlines at least. I'm still at that naïve state
> of believing that its just a battery management system which keeps
> up my vo
Chris Gibson's page gives chapter and verse, but in summary, AIUI,
battery management systems came into being because the original
automotive derived alternators only ran at 13.8 V (to avoid boiling
starter batteries), and were machine sensed rather than battery
sensed, which meant that if you were using a splitting diode to
charge both domestic and starter batts, the voltage drop over the
diode meant that the alternator shut down prematurely.
Now we have twin alternator set ups, so we don't need a splitting
diode, and machine sensing and battery sensing should see the same
voltage, unless you've got an alarming drop over the cable between
the alt and the batt.
Modern alternators run at 14.4 V, and have much higher outputs of
course. (Because automotive requirements are now very similar to
ours: think of the kit a modern HGV cab has on board, and the
consequent domestic demand.) So most BMS's achieve nothing. The only
remaining advantage of the Adverc is the alternating higher and lower
charge voltage regime, and there's not a lot of evidence that this
actually achieves much.
So, if you have an older system, with one, low output, alternator and
a splitting diode, you'll get benefit from a BMS; ideally (according
to Chris!) the Smartbank system that uses the Smartgauge to control
the charge to the two banks.
If like us you have a modern Jap based engine with a socking great
dedicated domestic alternator (the latest versions do 170A) then a
BMS is a waste of money.
If I've got any of this wrong, I'm sure one, some or all of Messrs
Millin, Edwards and Brooks will be along soonish to put me right!
Meantime, HTH
All the best
Bruce
"The superior man knows what is right, the inferior man knows what
will sell" Analects of Confucius, circa 500 BCE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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