Victron 12/12/50.

[Dilly-Dodd]

Hi All. If any one could help please.is 50a to much extra load on the smart alternator for Auto Trail 700 17 reg. thanks for any help Rob.

 

[TheCaller]

What's the base vehicle? If a Fiat then I think I'm right in saying that the X250 had a 150A alternator as standard, with 180A as an option. The 180A model then became the standard on the X290.

Unfortunately, the only way to be certain as to what an individual vehicle has got is to look at the label on the alternator itself. That requires crawling underneath with a torch, a mirror or an endoscope and a fair degree of personal flexibility!

With 180A I would say no problem. 150A should be ok, but don't leave it ticking over with lights, air con etc all turned on as well as the DC-DC charger, as the alternator might get a touch warm. There is limited cooling air flow at low revs, especially if stationary or in traffic.

You can dial back the output using the app on that unit, which could be handy if you ever do need to charge a flat habitation battery at the same time as putting a lot of other loads on the alternator.

EDIT: Just a thought - what battery (or batteries) are you charging?

 

[Lenny HB]

What's the base vehicle? If a Fiat then I think I'm right in saying that the X250 had a 150A alternator as standard, with 180A as an option. The 180A model then became the standard on the X290

I thought 120 amp was standard.

 

[Dilly-Dodd]

What's the base vehicle? If a Fiat then I think I'm right in saying that the X250 had a 150A alternator as standard, with 180A as an option. The 180A model then became the standard on the X290.

Unfortunately, the only way to be certain as to what an individual vehicle has got is to look at the label on the alternator itself. That requires crawling underneath with a torch, a mirror or an endoscope and a fair degree of personal flexibility!

With 180A I would say no problem. 150A should be ok, but don't leave it ticking over with lights, air con etc all turned on as well as the DC-DC charger, as the alternator might get a touch warm. There is limited cooling air flow at low revs, especially if stationary or in traffic.

You can dial back the output using the app on that unit, which could be handy if you ever do need to charge a flat habitation battery at the same time as putting a lot of other loads on the alternator.

EDIT: Just a thought - what battery (or batteries) are you charging?

Hi The Caller. I’m charging 2x 300 ahr lithium Rob

 

[TheCaller]

I thought 120 amp was standard.

You might be right. I'd got my info from fiatforum.com, which is no guarantee of 100% accuracy. It's also quite possible that different converters specified different alternator capacities when ordering base vehicles. I'd be surprised if AutoTrail specified an uprated version though, but maybe I'm just cynical. But that's why looking for the plate on the alternator is the only way to be certain.

2x300AH will pull the full 50A more or less continuously unless already pretty full, so that might strain a 120A alternator if there is a lot of additional loads from the base vehicle. A long drive on a cold wet or foggy night for example. At least that unit can be turned down a bit if there is any doubt.