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stevebald avatar image
stevebald asked

Can I charge the start battery from the house bank with DC-Dc Charger?

I have a Balmar 175A alternator with an external Balmar programable regulator, battery and alternator temp sensors, and a Balmar alternator protection module, charging my 400Ah lithium house bank. Given these alternator protections, is there any reason I can't run a DC-DC 30A Smart charger to charge the start battery?

battery charging
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stevebald avatar image stevebald commented ·
Thank you for the response and advice about the setting the charger to float mode, as all that is going to be on the starter battery is the starter. Given that, I will plan to install the BMV 712 shunt off the lithium negative and I should have pretty accurate results for the house bank on the battery monitor.
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pwfarnell answered ·

You should be able to run an Orion DC to DC charger for this service. If the starter and house bank negatives are connected you can use the non isolated version otherwise if the negatives are not connected then use the isolated version. Do you have loads other than starting on the starter battery. You could set the Orion up in power pack mode at the starter battery float voltage as it will be kept permanently at this voltage rather than setting it up as a 3 stage charger.

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