Recent content by mechengrsteve

(Summarizing this case from ~20 years ago) I was using SB50 which are the two-pole housings with ~2' of 8AWG AWM wire on both sides and crimped with a hex crimp. They share the same contacts as the PP75. I instrumented all connections (terminals and connectors) with a 12 channel HP thermocouple...

Looking good! One thing I may have seen in the pictures under the front....looks like the passenger side sway bar link may be ruptured or it could just be flash....the driver side link, both upper and lower links look off-center from the bolt....again, it may be the angle or they may be...

You were meant to take away from my experiential examples, two things, 1) That NEITHER genuine Anderson nor their copies will support the load they claim. I do not believe that the copy I used was significantly lower in ACTUAL capacity than the genuine. By allowing excessive alternator output, I...

Two experiential examples with genuine and 'fake' Anderson connectors; 1) I designed and built a commercial product that had 2-100Ah Powersonic SLA batteries that powered an 850W inverter that usually ran about 250-300W. I did some pretty serious study on the heating of all the terminal...

I can understand how this is hard to wrap your head around. The most experience with this problem is in the boating community where stainless is common. You will find lots of forum threads on the topic with Nigel Calder, a legend in boat maintenance leading the cry to get this word out. Here...

Not a good idea to join battery banks that are not at the same SOC. What you describe is how these switches are intended to be used BUT and there is always a BUT, the more charged battery will immediately begin charging the less charged, even if are not using any electricity. If the charge...

Glad you agree. I have seen SO MANY garbage RV blogs that encourage people to 'get a portable propane heater, you'll love it' and many people will just suck up that BS without understanding what they are getting into. In particular, using propane as a fuel consumes a huge amount of space (if...

The idea may seem good but unvented propane combustion creates several hazards. Combustion of 1lb of propane results in the creation of 1.6 lbs of water which is a significant hazard in wetting interior contents, condensation everywhere, etc. There also is the potential for incomplete combustion...

1) Chinese manufacturers of small devices frequently lie egregiously on their ratings but for now, let's stick to what I suspect; The power bank is likely made from 18650 cells, likely in the 2200mAh to 2800mAh range (because that is what is most cost-effective). Assuming it contains, ~8 cells...

1) Genuine Anderson contacts are silver plated (dull silver). Most knockoffs are nickel plated (shiny silver) . The relative conductivity of the nickel is about half that of silver. This makes the connection hot and causes a voltage drop across the connector. 2) Ensure you buy the right size...

Alternator ratings are just a point on the power production curve and really only useful to compare alternators. It's not a maximum and definitely not a continuous duty. A 75A alternator WILL produce 75A at 6000 alternator RPM into a resistor load bank, (not a lead-acid battery). They CAN...

Do not assume the conductivity of metals is good simply because they are metal. Especially, copper-bearing alloys are similar to copper. A critical mistake many make is USING STAINLESS STEEL WASHERS in the current path of your system. By in the current path, I mean between two lugs on a post...

I have a dual alternator system with the second running a 220A/24V to my 17kwh Nissan leaf Battery bank. I have some prejudices against the Balmar reg. Got one sitting on my desk in front of me and not in my truck....Instead of typing along string, I will refer you to some of my YT videos, and...

Remember, that deep cycle batteries have higher internal resistance than starting batteries, even though are both lead acid and just by nature of having two different batteries in the system, you will not get good charging to either of your house batteries. In a perfect world where $ grows on...

Putting a fuse on an alternator charging circuit should be sized so that it can never overload and will only function from a short. If shorted, your cable would get LOTS of amps (200A easily) from batteries. 8 GA wire with 105C insulation (welding cable) is good for 80A CD (68A in engine...