>From Jarred:
> I finally ran a charging cable from my car battery (2012 Ford Edge) to
the auxiliary batteries in the back of the car.
> . . . 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.
Apparently this is common on newer cars - they want to save energy in any
way they can, so charge is cut back
once the battery is recharged from starting. From what I have read, some
even measure the current out from the
battery to know how much to put back in.
This can present a problem if you are connecting the aux batteries to the
starting battery, and taking power from
them. The charge system cutting back when "enough" energy has been
supplied to the starting battery won't put
enough in to make up for running the radio from the aux battery system. In
some cases, the current sensing is in
the *negative* lead to the battery.
Beware of the voltage drop in the wire to the rear batteries, as it can
reduce the charge voltage so they don't get
fully charged in reasonable time. You may need a separate charger for the
radio batteries in the back of the car.
Alan
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