split charge V's twin alternators

hi guys,

I was initially looking at running a split charge like the X-charge system, but when I was looking on an auction website that there is another option, twin alternators.

what are the advantages of twin alternators compared to split charge? any experiances / advice and obviously **** taking aould be appreciated

Cheers

corbydog said:

hi guys,

I was initially looking at running a split charge like the X-charge system, but when I was looking on an auction website that there is another option, twin alternators.

what are the advantages of twin alternators compared to split charge? any experiances / advice and obviously **** taking aould be appreciated

Cheers

Click to expand...

a mate of mine has twin geni's on his heavy/lightwieght (200tdi disco engine) has a twin pulley on the water pump and geni fixed where the A/C would go. once he had it wired in correctly has been faultless.
on the other hand couple of my club members have split chargers and seem to have a good share of problems with them tbh

Benefits include reduced load on the alternators and the ability to run full electrics from second alt if need be. Weak part of a split charge system is the single alt. If this fails your stuck with no means to charge.

The other option is a twin battery setup with a twin battery switch. You can then choose between battery one, battery two, both batteries or neither battery by simply rotating the switch.

^ that's what we use on the boats at work, 1 on odd months and 2 on even, both if it's really cold and for charging

It depends on how much electrics you run. If you run a lot of high charge units together all the time twin alternators help keep things topped up and fully functioning.

If you have a winch, rarely use it, fridge, rarely use it, GPS/laptop on all the time, spots used now and again etc then a split charge will be fine.

If you use twin alts but dont 'need' them your going to wear them out quicker and its going to cost loads and be pointless.

I thought about it for my 2 batteries and trailer batteries using 2 100amp alts, but decided to just run 1 on split charge and carry the 2nd as a spare.

G

I thought about twin alts for me TD5, few things put me off though. Cost of a new alt for a TD5!!! (ive just paid £200 + VAT!!!) The work envolved to use a 2nd alt on a TD5 as you have to use the air con mount(if uve got air con already then your buggered)

And like Griff said, if you dont need that many bits running all the time then dont do it.

I have a t-max split charge and i cant fault it. It got me started the other day when i had a flat main battery. I power all accesories not in the car originally from it.

T-Max Dual Battery System / Split Charge System on eBay!

thanks for the replies, I'm after it for firstly a 3 week trip,
Fridge on constantly
awning and interior lights
and compressor if needed
I will be driving at least every couple of days
I'm thinking of rinning a winch at some point, so at the moment I'm thinking of a split charge system

Hello mate, have installed both systems on narrowboats and widebeams. Same principle for autos. The twin altenators will give you much more power in your batteries in shorter engine running time. I have lived/work on boats many years now and have run a 12 volt fridge constantly and 12 volt lighting etc with pure sine wave inverter for "clean" 240volt.

The battery switch works well but you are splitting the power of one altenator so to charge your batteries will take twice as long as the twin alt set up. Normally on a boat position 1 on the switch would go to the engine starter battery, pos 2 would go to your leisure/domestic battery bank.Or two seperate battery banks. This means that after charging(both) and turning to pos 2, if you flatten the batteries you can still start your engine on pos 1. This switch is like a manual version of a split charge relay. Its disadvantage (apart from less power from one alt) is you always have to remember to turn the switch to the relevant position for battery bank 1 and 2 and for charging.

How many batteries are you planning to have? The more you have the longer you will take to charge them. So big battery banks- twin altenators as batteries dont like to be left in a state of discharge, equally if they never get a full charge they will also suffer. "Wet lead" acid batteries can generally take a higher rate of charging so you can charge them quicker than gel and AGM batteries. You need to check electrolite levels regularly as some gassing will occur. Gel batteries on the other hand dont leak in the event of a roll over/fracture

Hope this makes sense and helps, have tried to keep science speak out of it and brief as poss!

so if I've got this right, that twin alts will charge both batteries quicker and be more reliable, sounds like it's the way to go to me

Its also the more expensive option and you need to fabricate various brackets to mount the second alternator where the air con compressor mounts.

there's a mounting kit, for the fender 200tdi uses the air con mount, comes with the brackets and belt costs £110 then £65 for an alt, the wiring shoudn't be too much of an issue so a bit more expensive than say the Tmax system, but not deadly still

HI, I had a split charge system on my Camper which I ran for several years. Never had any problems with it.
I would imagine your fuel consumption might be reduced running two alternators, but I am no expert.