Well the AC system was no longer needed, so they removed the compressor and replaced it with a simple pulley.
My AC compressor is now just a simply pully, a very heavy one whose pulley does not align to my other pulleys to my satisfaction. At some point my compressor bearing will fail, and I will need to rig up a simple pulley or rig up an alternator in its place
A secondary alternator is awesome for house batteries, as then one can use an externally regulated alternator, and then control it with a better voltage regulator Which WILL charge the battery faster and actually can fully charge it as fast as possible.
The problem with vehicles voltage regulators, is they are timid, for fear of overcharging the slightly depleted starter battery. When there are depleted house batteries to recharge this 'timid' voltage chosen is severly limiting the alternators ability to feed hungry house batteries, and how timid this is is highly dependent on the vehicle platform. Get a digital voltmeter and see for yourself. it might allow 14.5v for 15 minutes, perhaps much less, then reverts to 13.7v, and much much less amps flow into depleted batteries, but of course is still better than NO charging, but not nearly as good as charging at the acceptance limit of the depleted battery such as occurs at voltages ( electrical pressures) in the mid 14's.
The voltage regulator could be internal to the alternator, or Engine computer, or perhaps be a separate unit on the firewall, but this is less likely with a newer vehicle.
Mine was in the engine computer, and I tricked it with a 10 ohm resistor, and use an external adjustable voltage regulator whose adjustment know I relocated to my dashboard, next to my digital voltmeters(and ammeter) and now can always alternator charge as fast as possible with a battery that loves high amperage recharges.
more detailed write up here:
https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-Your-Vehicles-voltage-regulator
While it has been repeated often, basically 'isolators' have a diode in them, to only allow electricity to flow in one direction, from alternator to house battery. this Diode drops the voltage, upto 0.7v, basically ensuring the battery not only charges much slower, but also never gets fully charged. A diode requires a large heatsink, as it is basically wasting energy in the form of heat, energy better off going into the battery rather than the atmosphere.
A simple continuous duty solenoid drops only a few hundreths of a volt at max load or so, try to get one rated for well more than 90 amps continuous. Solenoid contacts do wear out in time. Some advertise silver tungsten contacts which will last much longer and have less resistance. When solenoids fail, usually the contacts fuse together and the driver is usually unaware they now have no battery isolation when engine is off.
The Solenoid does not have to be located in engine compartment. It can be closer to house batteries. I recommend fat red cable going from alternator (+) stud to solenoid to fuse, to house battery, and to ground house battery via same thickness cable to alternator mounting bolt or to (-) stud on alternator if it exists.
The following thread has more info on why This is better than putting the engine battery inbetween alternator and house batteries.
https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-Battery-setup-diagram-good-to-go
There are many ways to wire this up. My recommendation above of is to achieve maximum alternator recharging.
Also do not idle to recharge depleted batteries for more than about 10 minutes, the alternator can overheat and or wear out much much faster. Driving at speed flushes engine bay with cooler air, and turns the alternator fan faster. It can also produce more amperage at higher rpms.
Some Lesser AGMS say to limit current to 30% of battery capacity, so 30 amps per 100Ah of capacity. If one owns such batteries and the total capacity is such that the alternator rating exceeds that 30%, then thick short copper for maximum charging need not be sought. I feel these 30% limited AGMS can still safely be allowed to feed on more than this, but have not actually owned one and fed it higher than 30% while noting its temperature rise.
But it is a consideration those with less expensive AGMS should be aware of, and not simply ignore.
The higher$$ AGMS (Lifeline, Northstar, Odyssey) can greedily suck up everything most any charging source can supply, upto their absorption voltage, and are better off for it.
