Increasing Capacity and Capability

[sternwake]

I got things back together, sans battery heatshield. 

There is now, a  dedicated 50/120 Nippondenso alternator ammeter, which is dedicated to feeding underhood Northstar-31.

I left my 3 decimal voltmeter in place measuring field voltage, and drove up into the hills to a friend's ritzy property where I spent the night.

The newest activated ammeter is the one that also displays volts amps watts and tries to indicate state of charge %.

Previously, during testing, I noticed this ammeter drifting, showing charging current, when there is none, and more so the more it is left plugged in and not zeroed, by pressing the lower button for a few seconds when there is no current flowing through sensor.

This drift makes it even more useless as a battery monitor, but as long as it is rezeroed before starting the engine the amperage reading can be trusted within 2.5% or so.

Here is an amazon link, as ebay links seem all too temporary:
https://www.amazon.com/Voltage-DROK-Batt...B096DVSLNX


I'd not recommend this ammeter for use as a battery monitor, and the fact that it drifts means one cannot trust it unless it is zeroed just before use, and the longer it is in use the more likely the amps are reading too high.


I just Ziptied the two new ammeters together, and they rest on my engine cover easily seen from drivers seat.
One basic ammeter is on the Northstar's 2awg ground cable, the other is on the 2awg feed from Nippondenso alternator.

So one shows total amperage into battery, the other shows total alternator amperage.

Basically the engine itself at idle requires no less than 9 amps of the alternator output, and increased rpm drives this to about 13, engaging overdrive or lock up adds 3 and 6 amps respectively, to hold those solenoids in the transmission closed.

On return to my spot, with full engine temperature and a Northstar requiring ~ 15 amps to be held at 14.7v, hot idle, in drive, foot on the brake, all possible DC loads turned on, the ND was capable of 42 amps output.
Hot idle in neutral/park, 55.7 amps output.

My tachometer is still disconnected, but previously  in drive, foot on brake vs neutral/park hot idle, this was observed to be a difference of about 150 rpm.

I still have the 3 decimal voltmeter's V sense wire attached to the transpo 540HD voltage regulator field output.

Fully fielding it, yields a field voltage a tenth or so below battery voltage, and previously I had my clampmeter over this field wire and measured a max of 5.4 amps.

Basically field voltage at idle is much closer to battery voltage with a significant DC load on system, and the higher the engine rpm, the lower the field voltage, but this is without the battery being able to suck up more than the alternator can make.

But this shows how Idling to recharge  a depleted battery is not just harder on the alternator, it is harder on the voltage regulator.  The alternator fan(s) at idle, do not move much air, and with max VR field current passed to rotor, the alternator will be generating the most heat, asd passing that much field current to rotor, the voltage regulator will be creating the most heat. and there is the least underhood airflow and the alternator fans are spinning slowest.

Many vehicles have the voltage regulator INSIDE, the alternator, leading to a double whammy making idling just to recharge for more than say 8 to 10 minutes, even less wise.

My dash installed ammeter reads amps into battery, and not total Chrybosch output amperage.
I have another basic ammeter, but need to extend the 3 wire ribbon cable to reach dash from where I would locate the sensor, close to the 140 amp 'absolute' brand circuit breaker, in cabinet on electric wall behind driver's seat.

I do not have a good spot for these 3 ammeters, and honestly the total alternator output is not going to be interesting to me anymore in a few weeks, once I see their individual capabilities at various rpms and temperatures.

The two ammeters just loose and ziptied together, will likely get the third, and I might run some V sense wires to each transpo540HD, and mount the 3 ammeters, and 2 voltmeters, on a piece of acrylic.

Right now the field voltmeter is in my glovebox, and driving with it open is not a huge deal, but I'd rather it be more visible, and I'd like to gather field voltage data when the NS or Deka battery can accept much more than ~ 15 amps @ 14.7v from either alternator.

Anyway it does seem the ND alternator is performing better in this new location with fatter cabling to battery, but it was not totally heatsoaked.

After engine shutdown my IR gun aimed at battery casing in various spots yielded 95 to 96f, and ambient temp is in the low 80's.  Keeping this battery from experiencing heatsoak from engine bay heat, is rising higher on the list of ways to increase battery longevity, other than proper quick and full recharges achieved often.

The Northstar is a 420$ battery, so it behooves me to insure that it does not degrade prematurely just because it is near a heat source.

How much of that increased battery temperature is from solar and alternator charging, is as of yet unknown.

The engine computer casing, was reading 136f when first opening the hood.
  I need to protect that from heatsoak as it is mission critical, and heat is the primary electronics killer.

Dedicated ECM ventilation is being considered.  Right now there is a 1.25 inch diameter hose and the engine sucks underhood air through the ECM.  There is no temperature sensor inside measuring ambient or ECM temperature, so having it not suck underhood engine/radiator  heat through it is desirable.

I need to adhere thermocouples to alternators and batteries to really explore what is occurring, all the while knowing ignorance was bliss, and missing being happy because of being ignorant/ incurious.