I finally ran a charging cable from my car battery (2012 Ford Edge) to the
auxiliary batteries in the back of the car. The system consists for a 100A fuse
mounted at the battery, cable to the rear of the passenger compartment, a
marine style manual disconnect switch and two 6V 210Ah golf cart batteries in
series. The plan is to disconnect the aux. batteries when the car is turned off
and when starting. I cant use 6m for anything other than local contacts when
the car is running, so often need to turn it off.
After getting all of this wired up yesterday, I was happy to see voltage climb
to 14V on the aux. batteries and everything looked good. I left the car idling
in the driveway and returned 20 minutes later to see voltage at 12.8V. Thinking
I popped the 100A fuse in the charging line, I checked under the hood and saw
the car battery at 12.9V and the fuse looked fine. I turned off the car and
turned it back on and voltage came back to 13.8V for maybe 10 minutes, then
dropped to 12.7V. At this point there is NO load on the aux. batteries at all
(the main fuse for the amp rack and radio gear is pulled). The mobile radio in
the car (simply plugged into the accessory port of the car) showed 12.4V.
This morning, the car has been idling for 30 minutes and voltage is good at
13.9V. The car battery is at about 14.1V and everything looks good. No change
in setup from yesterday. However yesterday was a hot day and the hood was
closed when idling (which is probably not a good idea for various reasons).
Today is cooler and the hood is open as I take measurements. Is it possible
that the voltage regulator doesn't like heat and simply keeping the hood
cracked open will solve this problem? Or maybe there is something else I dont
understand. A search of the internet says I need to replace my alternator. I am
not so sure.
Any rovers or car guys have any thoughts on the cause?
Thanks,
Jarred - KF2MR
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