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[Music]  good morning everyone good morning  thank you for a blue water cruising  association for hosting this event  so solar luckily solar  is not too hard to troubleshoot  i walk through a lot of people for  troubleshooting solar  the good news is  this is a typical setup okay we're going  to do just simply one panel one  controller or one battery  first step if you want to troubleshoot  solar and you're not sure what it does  or not doesn't do  is you would make sure that your boat  has  and this is good this is oh i even do  this with some technicians  lots of owners because we sell panels  not just to our clients but we sell them  to other businesses as well  and i walked through a lot of  technicians explaining to them that  a solar panel is not going to charge  your batteries if your batteries are  full  so i get alarm phone calls all the time  when boats are connected to shore power  the batteries are full  and people are worried that their solar  panels are not charging  and i remind people that that's a good  thing  you don't want to be force-fed food if  you're not hungry  right you don't want that and the job of  the controller  is to actually look at the battery  voltage and say you know what i don't  need to do anything  we're at a float voltage the batteries  are full there's no need for me right  now  to charge the batteries we're at a flow  charge because there's i don't know what  it is but we're at 13.4 volts  and the batteries are full so if you  connect a solar panel  suddenly to a battery bank that is  completely full don't expect your solar  panel to be at maximum output  because if it was in a week your  batteries would be fried  right that's the job of the controller  and i'll come to you  the job of the controller is to limit  and decide if it's good to have  solar recharge the battery at any given  time  okay so the first step i tell people is  like you want a maximum you want to see  if you're what maximum amperage output  you can get of your solar panels the way  to do that  is to have your battery banks in a  depleted state of charge  so bring your battery down to 75 percent  of capacity 80  of capacity don't have a battery charger  on don't have your alternator on  and then suddenly the solar panel is  going to see a depleted state of charge  and it's going to say the batteries are  at 12 4 let's say  i need to do something because then it's  going to wake up it's like there's a  problem  i need to help and it's going to say  let's use the sun to bring this battery  back to 100  but that will only happen if it senses a  low voltage  if it senses a full voltage at 13 4 or  13  8 this thing is going to come online and  it's going to say i don't need to do  anything  the batteries are full stand down  i have six solar panels on my boat  six controllers i have a methanol fuel  cell  i have a battery charger and i have a  high output alternator with an external  regulator  so i have nine charging sources on my  book  i've left an anchorage after four days  in an anchorage which i do i go to  easter for five days four days  and i stay generally in one anchorage  for four or five days  with friends we come back and underway  my engine is obviously running my  alternator is running  my solar is running if it's it's running  regardless if it's sunny or not there's  solar so i'm going to have six  controllers running  and i'm going to have my alternator  running and generally because i was able  to stay there for a long time i had my  methanol fuel cell running  so there's a there's a methanol fuel  cell so now i'm at eight charges  and then i might plug into the dock all  of this is still on  the engine is running and i might plug  in to shore power while the engine is  running as i'm sort of  bringing the boat down and we're gonna  leave the boat so it does happen in  april that i'm going to have  nine charges sources of power recharging  my battery  all of them are actually voltage  regulated which is good news because  otherwise none of this would work  they're all independent looking at the  battery voltage and they're making a  decision  should i help or not based on their own  algorithm and their algorithm is if they  were all set to 14  4 and maybe they're not because some of  them might be more precise than others  but if they were all  perfectly even the controllers are all  even they all know what to do  the charger i was able to configure  exactly what i want to do  the alternator i was able to configure  because i have an external regulator and  my efoy i was able to do so they're all  going for a target voltage of say 14 4.  they're saying we got to do something  the battery voltage was and they're  coming online and if  let's say the solar was on first and it  brought the voltage to  13 the algebra comes online it's like 13  that's too low i got to do something  brings up the voltage to 13.6 the  methanol fuel cell clicks in and says  because i have a big battery bank  methodol fuel cell comes online and says  i got to do something 13 8 that's not  you know maybe not it's not good enough  comes online  battery charger comes in it's like i  haven't been on for a while as soon as i  wake up i got to bring those batteries  to absorption i got  i got to do it that's my that's what  i've been told i got to bring them 14 4.  that's what i do i bring them to 14 4.  all of them  come out online the rate at which  what's interesting is let's say they're  all online now how are they going to  peel off are they going to all peel off  in unison  or are they going to peel off one first  and other ones  the ones that are the smartest are  generally the ones they're going to peel  off first  because those are the ones that are  asking quickly should i do something  should i do something should i do  something  it's like the keenest kid in the family  is the one that's going to help mom and  dad the most  right mom you need help you need help  you need help  the other brother that's not asking as  often is simply not going to carry as  much  load because the first one is asking mom  and dad constantly do you need help do  you need help do you need help  they're going to say yes now he's also  going to be the first one to get off  because if the other kid is on and he's  not asking if i need to help or not  the keen one is saying i need help and  i'm like no no we're good because the  other one has it now  so the one that pings the battery the  frequency at which it looks at voltage  the fastest is going to be the first on  first off  the one that is the slowest to look at  battery voltage  is going to be the last on last off  and that's why you don't see all solar  controllers  log on at the same time because then  there's a factor of distance some  controllers are further in the battery  than others  right and so then there's a factor of  distance how far are they from the  battery  and so it really depends that's a pretty  one  and long answer it depends but the one  that  pulses the fastest is the one that is  going to be first on  and first off and the one that does it  the slowest is going to be  last on last off so that's why you can't  expect all your controllers to do the  same thing  they're not synced they're independently  controlled and independently control  is that a good thing to not have one  brain decide everything  damn straight that's good because you  take one device out  the other devices do it on their own  honestly it's like a terrorist cell  that's what it is  you have distributed leadership you  don't want to have you take one down  then everything  falls apart and then what's the point of  having intelligence everywhere  like they're little robots all doing  their own little thing independently of  each other they're only caring about  voltage and voltage is the only thing  that matters  and that's how i get to install on some  boats  multiple chargers like on your boat for  example p  you've got two inverter chargers that's  not unusual on both of your size not  unusual at all  and you'll you can pull that off because  in the back in the day if they were  converters you could have never done  that  and that's where the old adage is in the  past if you can't have an alternator at  the same time as a charger  is they would ping so slowly that the  voltage would creep out and then you'd  have voltage spikes  but nowadays they're all very voltage  regulated very quickly and you don't  have voltage spikes  so the one way to test this solar panel  is the first thing is  you would disconnect it from the solar  controller and you would measure what's  called the open voltage  you literally put the lease at the panel  and you would see what's the open  voltage  you measure that number okay you write  it down  next up is then you connect it back to  this controller and you  well actually before you reconnect it  you measure what is the voltage at the  controller  before the solar panel is connected we  want to confirm  that that controller is connected to the  battery and the way to do that is  measure voltage of the controller  if there's no solar at the controller  and you have voltage at the controller  the only way you have voltage at the  controller is if it's connected to the  battery  because a solar controller cannot again  like the tv  tv can't be powered if it's not  connected to an outlet  so that's how you do that you connect  confirm that this has power to the  battery  and then when this has power to the  battery and you connect this to this  you check what is the output voltage  what was the different voltage before  connecting the solar panel and  after connecting the solar panel and the  way of connecting and disconnecting a  panel  you never do it under load i you never  disconnect a short power breaker from  yanking it from the wall you put a  blanket on top of your solar panel in  the sunlight  and you disconnect it or disconnect it  well you could do the fuses fine but not  not it's better it's better not to  because that's still not quick while  you're playing with a fuse it's not  instantaneous  our skills that breaking a circuit with  a fuse a circuit breaker is  instantaneous  practically right i mean it's in  milliseconds but when you're taking a  fuse out you might be  like that's seconds so the way to  disconnect  you never disconnect a charger  ever like a solar panel alternator you  put a blanket you disable the solar  panel then you can disconnect it  it's like when i was a kid i remember  all the bad things my mom was so patient  she tell me to help move the vacuum and  instead of going to the cord i'd yank it  from the wall while it was still running  and there'd be like arc flashes right  i did that of course never learned right  of course because i mean  i was an idiot but when you're doing  that you're actually causing  a like literally a chemical change in  that joint you're causing a huge voltage  spike as you disconnect something right  as it's trying to create continue that  circuit  you don't want to have any arcing on  your boat things are pretty valuable  my mother's vacuum was valuable but i  didn't respect it because it wasn't my  own  but i'm telling you this is your boat so  you better do it right  so disconnect and connect a solar panel  with a blanket on top and now  you give me all those numbers to you it  might not make sense you send it to a  technician  somewhere who sold you the panel and you  give that data and then they'll be able  to tell you if you've got a problem or  not  and that's how you troubleshoot a solar  panel okay methanol fuel cells  conceptual diagram here  methanol fuel cell um pretty  straightforward device luckily  it's got an input voltage sense it's got  an output  and the input to run one of this is a  methanol  right here like anything sounds silly  but i'm going to say it  you know i get calls about people with  methanol fuel cells asking jeff help me  troubleshoot the first thing is  is the unit actually turned on at the  remote panel do you have it off or  automatic  first thing good point the other one too  and it happened  is the fuel tank you know is it full of  fuel do you have fuel in it  and we even had one problem one year  where the fuel tank was there but  the fuel pickup line had actually fallen  from the top of the fuel  tank like right at the lid and when you  shun the flashlight in you actually saw  that the  pipe was actually at the bottom of the  tank so we learned that one year we're  like oh the fuel pickup at the top of  the fuel fill up  or fuel pickup was actually disconnected  and so that's why the e-foil was not  working  generally um it's an overheating problem  right we talked about that briefly a  little bit  uh methanol fuel cells definitely need  some ventilation  to work and if they don't have  ventilation now in the winter time it's  easier because our boats are cooled  but in the summertime when it's really  really hot and if it's in a closed  lazarette  like on my boat i actually open the  hatch to let the air out  in the winter time it's fine i've never  had overheating in this in the  wintertime  because again the the surrounding water  around our hall is around 10 degrees 7  degrees 11 degrees  celsius which is about 50 degrees  fahrenheit  and it's cooling down the boat quite a  lot so the lazarette where this is  mounted doesn't have to worry about in  this winter time but in the summertime  if the water is 70 75 degrees fahrenheit  or 20  22 degrees celsius then you've got that  plus the ambient temperature that's  warmer  and then it makes a difference so you  got to have adequate ventilation you've  got to have a good fuel pickup  and other than that it's super  straightforward  the other thing too that i want to  mention is that if you have it installed  in an engine room  don't run it at the same time some  instances we've actually done that  although the manufacturer says you can't  but at one point  you eliminate all options and you've got  to do something i remind that to people  also i say no boat  exists in reality than other than paper  if you followed every manufacturer's  recommendation for your boat of every  product on your boat  a boat cannot exist it can't like you  look at vhf antenna placements  you look at all the requirements that  everything wants in terms of distances  between x and y  it can only exist in theory and not in  practice  so a boat is about finding compromises  living in a world of black and white  is not a place to be on a boat if you  want a world of absolutes  you should not be a boater a boater is a  place where you make compromises and  decisions  and you make the best decisions with  what you have and it's like that with  navigation  there is no clear right or wrong and  sometimes you're left with no other  choice you try all the other  alternatives and you say you know what  it can't fit anywhere else  but i need this device so i had one  owner we put it in the engine room  and he knows that he can't run the efoy  when the engine is running because  otherwise  it's going to overheat it's not ideal  but where else are you going to put it  there is no other place and we  definitely looked  okay anybody here in the room might have  any questions  with e4 it's a pretty straightforward  unit yes go ahead  the question was have i ever noticed a  e4  not shutting off when another charge  voltage comes in  no uh i've and i have one on my boat and  it actually pulls off pretty quickly  once the alternator comes online  unless the batteries are really really  depleted the batteries are really really  depleted  and my alternator is charging but it's  only got the batteries to 12.8 12.9  because i started charging at 12.2 but  my battery bank is huge takes a long  time to recharge  my battery bank yes the e4 but the e4  will generally be one of the first  things to come offline  before the alternator so it's actually  going to pull off  is an e4 smart enough to know how to  regulate voltage  when to start charging and stop charging  and the answer is yes  it is voltage regulated  yeah that's correct the other point that  was brought is you can set the  parameters it's either  on off or automatic  and even an off is a conditional off you  know if you have it off  and your batteries go down to a really  low battery voltage it's actually going  to turn itself on  to save the batteries so i think i know  even in the off position  you can set correctly start charging  that's right and then you can go in  automatic you can even customize it  yeah so it is it is absolutely voltage  regulated  and you can set it custom and it's  pretty smart  to be honest it's one of the reasons why  i like the e4  is that my boat is on the sunshine coast  far away  about three hours away two hours and a  half of driving if there's no traffic  and the ferries are good and i'm not  there in the winter time all the time  unfortunately like i haven't seen my  boat in now six weeks seven weeks  and one of the things that helps me  sleep better is that my methanol fuel  cell is there in the background  and if i lose shore power which can  happen and certainly happens in the  winter time  my e4 always has a fuel tank in the  winter and it's going to basically keep  my batteries more than topped off  and maintain my batteries even if  there's no battery charger on the boat  and even if it's sunny and it's snowing  because i don't expect  any solar output when my solar panels  are covered in snow  a methanol fuel cell is a single output  device  like an inverter charger therefore it  only maintains the battery it's  connected to  if you have a battery combiner as i have  an echo charger on my boat a directional  unit that is only 15 amps  it also if my house battery gets a  charge my engine battery gets a  so this charge work correct an acr would  and also that was your point an acr can  help to  share a charging voltage to another  battery  and so you can have a single output  device like a methanol fuel cell like an  alternator like an inverter charger  like a solar panel right and you can  have that charge shared with other  battery banks via  battery combiners question is could you  keep an e4 to maintain a car battery yes  you could but it's way too expensive i  mean this is you know  3500 5000 7000 canadian  it makes no sense you'll just replace  your battery every year for a very long  time before you recoup that cost  we want to be financially savvy here  we're boaters right we're always  reasonable with costs  we don't spend more money than we need  to better to do that is to buy a small  solar panel  on a trickle charge right to do that and  you see that all the time in parking  lots  like uh like not parking lots but  storage slots  they'll have you know maybe a tarp on  top and they'll have sewn a solar panel  i saw one guy who did it with duct tape  and there's a wire going back you know  under the hood and so the solar panels  on top  and it's getting a little bit of a  charge through a controller to the  battery  and that's how they're doing that  ac dc generators i wanted to recap we  did talk about chargers but it's good to  just  sort of think about this again  you know jeff my generator is running  and it's not charging the batteries why  well let's go down a rabbit hole  together because there's a lot of moving  parts  from starting a generator and recharging  a battery  and this is what's involved you know  think about this  your ac generator has  on it has literally a circuit breaker  right here  that could have blown first step besides  the fact that your generator could be a  problem  that's the first thing but let's assume  it's perfect you've got a circuit  breaker here  next if you've got a source selector  switch and it's rather old  they sort of become grumpy over time  they don't work forever and they start  giving grief they work sometimes they  don't work sometimes  trick is to actually turn it really hard  like hard over hard over and you start  it's almost like exercising you know  work it out stretch it out  so you might actually end up moving your  source selector hard over like  super hard thinking you're going to  damage it to just kind of like  make the contacts better and that's sign  for next time you're into port to change  that switch that switch is expensive  and then then it goes to the panel and  then the panel you need to have a double  pole breaker and  energize to energize the panel then you  need to have the  converter by the way that's common i  cannot stress that enough  most people don't understand that a  battery charger needs to be enabled  to charge their batteries i know it  sounds silly to some of us  but it is very common very very common  i come on boats and the battery charger  breaker is off  and the reason it's off is because the  alternators  pardon the alternators are relatively  keeping the batteries charged if they're  running the boat often  so they're not really noticing that  their batteries are drained because  they're using boat frequently  but in the winter time when they're not  running the alternators  maybe once every three months two months  that's when the batteries are really  aging  and that's the owners that their  batteries are changing after three years  of the battery  their batteries are dead and they're  like why the hell what happened well  they never had it on a charger even  though they had a charger they never  turned it on  because they didn't think they needed to  people are looking for  dramatic feedback you know they're  looking for  something's absolutely wrong but they  don't realize that a converter if it's  not on the battery can still  do the job is just going to have a much  shorter life  so having the breaker on is really  essential having a charger actually  seeing lights on the charger we talked  about that  you got to see some side of input and  then the input you need to make sure  that your fuses are still on  and or connected and the other thing too  is that this is  how it should be but remember how many  battery chargers are switched  lots so you could have your battery  charger and your switch is off and you  think you don't need those and the  reason they're off  like your engine battery and you don't  realize that if you have your engine  batteries off  your battery charger is not connected to  your battery  connected to the load side of the switch  it energizes  your engine panel like i've seen owners  where they literally have engine battery  switches off with the charger on  they turn the ignition key on the all  the gauge light up  there's no power coming from the battery  it's coming from the charger  then they go to start the engine they  can't can't start a charger with  a starter with a charger the voltage  drops  and then they go back again they're like  what the hell  it's insane start again voltage drop  what the  this is crazy and what they don't  realize is there their battery switches  are off  and they didn't know they were off  because they turned the execution key on  and there's actually voltage at the  panel magic  not magic badly wired right  you can have a battery switch off and  have your engine panel energized  if that does not freak you out my god  you could live in a haunted house  and look how simple a dc generator is  right it's like an alternator that's all  it is  super simple question yeah 98  of us are going to have ac generators on  boats very few  very very few practically no power boats  are going to have a dc generator  not that they shouldn't habits die hard  eventually eventually and this is going  to happen and it's starting  boats are probably not going to have ac  generators in 10 years 15  years most boats won't unless you have a  big boat  everything is going to be dc gen  everything going to batteries it's  already starting  and everything is going to be  inverter-based boating so you always run  your boat off inverters  always for whatever you want and you run  a generator recharge batteries and  that's all you do  and there's already a trend going that  way and this is happening up to about 80  90 footers  we're doing that on 90 footers now i've  got battery banks on  even i've done 100 footers that have  battery banks that are massive massive  like we're talking like  like this like 15 feet by  six feet of just batteries and the whole  boat can run off inverters  right so it's happening it's coming  smaller boats are doing it 30 40 footers  are doing it all the time  right sail boaters have dc gen they'll  have the panda they'll do it all the  time  it's going to come because not a lot of  us have to run  large ac loads for a short period of  time a lot of us are doing it  just to run a charger right and if you  could i'm doing that on a lagoon right  now  we're going to be running the water  maker which is ac off of an inverter  so you can start running if you have a  large enough inverter you can run a lot  of stuff  when you want without the sun of a  generator and so then you run your  generator just to recharge batteries  that's all you're doing  everything else runs off from the  batteries gives you a little bit more  flexibility  but for the most part this is the world  we live in anybody who's got an ac  generator that's the world they live in  so remember it's not simple  that's the point right it's not simple  so  you just got to chase it down one step  at a time  okay any other questions on generators  battery combiners you got a house  battery and an engine battery  and it's a way to share a charging  voltage from either battery  so whenever it senses on either this  post here or this post here a charging  voltage  it says land of plenty let's share right  pretty straightforward  and never seen one fail ever ever in my  life seen a battery combiner fail from  any manufacturer in my life so  they're very reliable  what happens is the fuse is protecting  those devices  end up being either undersized  or because the battery banks are uneven  and there was a very crazy  uh difference in state of charge the  moment those two batteries were in  combined  the influx going from the high battery  the battery with a good voltage to the  dead battery was so severe  that it exceeded the 120 or 300 amps  that you would have thought would have  been reasonable  because some people think oh if i've got  a 50 amp alternator and this is a  common error they'll say i've got a 50  amp alternator the maximum amperage that  can ever go to this battery bank  or vice versa is 50 amp because that's  all the amperage that could ever go here  what they're not thinking about is  uneven battery banks  like i was talking about hydraulic hydro  direct hydro  electric dams the moment you have a  differential in water level  the bigger the differential the more  power is generated right  and so people think the limiting factor  is the charging source thinking oh  you know my inverter charger here for  example is 150 amps or 100 amps  therefore this will never see more than  100 because how could it  you know it's can't where is it going to  have more  well it's going to have more than 100  amps if the battery banks are on  seriously uneven and especially if  you've got a battery bank that is  massive  right and a other battery bank that is  smaller then that battery might be doing  everything it needs to do to just fill  that battery back up and with that high  in rush  the fuses end up blowing so  you know as an owner of a boat  what i always like to emphasize is you  should be able to confirm if things are  working or not  before they don't you should be curious  it's time to not troubleshoot but to  confirm behavior when things are working  like for example when you start your  alternator  in a short amount of time  once you've started your alternator you  should be seeing a delta a voltage  difference on your house  battery your alternator is going to  start it's going to raise that voltage  about 133 once that battery gets to 13.3  this thing is going to say good let's  share  and then your house battery is going to  get a charge  you want to confirm that that works you  want to know  because you want to see yeah now i know  my  combiner how it works i see it work and  next time every time you start your  engine and i do that on my boat because  i have an echo charge  mine goes from alternator over here back  to engine battery i always look at my  engine battery voltage  prior to starting the engine and after  starting the engine  and i'm looking for a nominal change i  want to see a delta  if i was at 12 6 i want to see something  if i was at 12 2 i want to see a rise  if it doesn't rise either my echo charge  fuses blue something is broken or my  alternator is not working  but something's wrong i got to figure it  out i'm always looking to confirm  behavior  and if you don't care you can do that  but the challenge is is that  sometimes that battery is doesn't even  have a voltmeter on it right like a  battery thruster for example  how many thruster battery banks have  volt meters connected to them  practically none you know why because  people that install  thrusters aren't electricians they're  general boat people  general people don't think about  electrical systems because they worry  about general stuff  one of the most common things we do in  audits is saying to people if you've got  a battery bank every battery bank should  have a volt meter  every single one you need to know what  the state of battery is is that battery  getting a charge or not  and so what we end up doing either we'll  put a little volt meter near the  thruster battery bank up front  or we'll run a wire all the way back to  the voltmeter panel and you know on  voltmeter panels you have a little  toggle switch and you say battery one  battery two battery three battery four  so you're not buying a different volt  meter you're just simply having the wire  go to the switch and you say position  four  is thruster battery bank and you want to  confirm that when your alternator is  running  that battery is getting a charge and the  way to do that is by measuring the  voltage  and you've got to be curious and if  you're not curious then one day  remember you know how thrusters die or  windlasses die or starters die  are they badly produced or alternators  especially starters windlasses and  thrusters  they don't die because it's a production  error  they die because they're under-voltaged  right that's how they die windlasses die  because of low voltages  thrusters dies because of low voltages  and starters die because of low voltages  so now changing a thruster is a pretty  expensive affair  if you value money and your time you do  not want to change a thruster  thrusters are not cheap not cheap at all  and you could lose your thruster because  you don't have a way to recharge your  thruster battery bank and you're  hammering your thruster because it's a  pretty scary docking situation  and you're all hands on deck and your  thruster will do whatever you ask of it  until it dies and remember how at the  beginning we were talking about  wattage divided by voltage equals  current  and we had an example of the 1200 watt  wind list divided by 12 volts equals 100  amps  and then we said oh well if you divide  by 13.5 it's 89 amps  right higher voltage means lower current  well the inverse is also true if you  divide a 1200 watt  let's say windlass divided by not like  12 volts but 10 volts  that's 120 amps and  a windlass is not meant to 120 amps  the current breaker and a lot of the  breakers are not properly installed  there might not trip and you're running  it really hard  and that's how thrusters die because  they're worked  hard on low voltages hence why  when you have a battery combiner you  should have a voltmeter on every single  battery that's connected to the battery  combiner  so that you can confirm the behavior  that when your charger is turned on  and i do that every time i leave my boat  i make sure that whatever i turned on i  see battery voltages  that are charging voltage i an increase  in voltage from before i started the  charger and after  on my boat my alternator can take a hell  of a long time to recharge the battery  bank  and for some hours if my battery bank is  really depleted my engine battery is not  getting a charge at all through an echo  charge because it's not sensing it  it's like i'm not at 13.3 we're not  there yet there's no time of plenty even  though my  alternator is running my alternator is  running but it's not enough voltage  to trigger that to think that there's  enough voltage to chair  and that's the beauty with a battery  isolator  that's why i love battery isolators and  guess it's on my hot list  for my boat hence the perfection thing  that i was talking about  it's a never-ending story right i'm  always chasing it echo charge was the  right thing  and then battery isolators come out and  i'm like god i need one of those  question is given a choice why would one  choose to have an alternator choose a  house which is a large house battery  at the expense of not having your engine  battery get a charge  while the house battery gets a charge  great question  now there's a good reason  if you have your alternator a large  alternating connected into an engine  battery and this by the way happens  so i learned from all of your mistakes  by the way thank you okay honestly  all of you thank you no joke i learned  from all of us that's that's  none of this is in a manual they don't  write this in the product specs  large alternator battery bank  really large battery watch what's going  to happen  and this is real alternative charges  that  in an instant brings that battery  voltage to 133  instantly no problem 13 3 comes here  my god land of plenty we're at 14 4. no  problem  suddenly this senses let's  close the circuit let's allow current to  go through  as soon as the moment that this lets  current go through  and it's connected to a battery that  it's a 12 or 12 two that's huge that's  eight times 10 times that battery's bank  size  the voltage drops 12.4  12.5 this sense is 12.5  let's open the circuit then this closes  wait 30 seconds  census 13 3 oh it's good enough let it  through  shut off this ends up going on off on  off on off  on off on off on off on off on off  on off and you hear them clicking  in the engine room  it's constantly going on and off because  as soon as i put them in parallel the  voltage drops below  12 8. hence  why i don't have a high output  alternator on the engine battery  the real one that needs it is this and  honestly an engine battery  on most boats diesel boats draw almost  no power engine panel  if you have a blower sure fuel pump is  nothing and it's fine on its own for a  few hours  and if i'm really worried then i'll do a  manual combine  like i'll just force them to be together  for a period of time because i have an  on off parallel switch  we talked about it yesterday this is the  isolator right  the great thing about an isolator is  that it will never have more input than  the output of an alternator an output of  an alternator is known  a 100 amp alternator will never give you  200. it's just never  it's never going to happen 100 amp  alternator will always give you 100 amps  and never more but  if anything less this is deterministic  we know exactly what that is  right so then i know what this wire size  can be i know what this wire size can be  i know what this wire size needs to be i  know what this wire size can be i know  what this fuse is i know what this fuse  is  i'm done there will never be nuisance  tripping with this setup ever  ever you put it in you don't even have  to worry about it it's guaranteed  you'll never have any surprises with a  battery isolator to share  a alternator the battery combiner can  share a fuel cell can share a solar  controller can sell a wind turbine can  sell an inverted charger  right all these devices can go here and  then back here  but an isolator can only do one can only  do an alternator  so to share an alternator amongst  multiple battery banks  in the past some designers would choose  to do it  although it was a very hard decision  they would do diode battery isolators  but they were very efficient you would  lose 0.7 volts  but for reasons of automation you would  do it but it was a painful decision you  would choose automation at the expense  of losing  a huge percentage of your alternate  output for automation when you have an  isolator do you need  a combiner not necessarily if your only  source of charge that you're  wanting to share is your alternator for  example  if you had a multiple output battery  charger here  right you could have one lead going to  the house battery another lead going to  the engine battery right  and this setup here  battery charger multiple output they  both go to each battery  the battery isolator is doing the exact  same thing  the exact same thing it's going one  input to two places  so this setup is perfect right  honestly it's perfect and maybe you have  solar here but then this won't share  solar there but your engine battery  doesn't need to have a charge  all the time it's not like your house  battery  right it's the land of compromises  right land of compromises yes jonathan  there is no such thing as a device that  limits  current you do not have a single other  than a load  right a load limits current but there's  not a single choke point that says  you can let 70 amps in but nothing more  than 70 amps  it's fuses circuit breakers all those  devices  are on or off there's not a single  device that says  i'm only going to let a certain amount  of amps and no more  that does not exist so yeah pretty  straightforward  um generally when they fail it's the  device itself that fails  i haven't seen an argo fet fail i've  seen a pro-mariner  prosol charge fail they had a model and  that was  giving a lot of grief and we had a lot  of pain but it was the device  itself failing