Ultimate Goal Zero In-Car charging

[snowblind]

If you have a single battery system....could you have a dc to dc charger in the engine bay running to a blue sea fuse block in the back of the vehicle? Then from the fuse block to a Anderson connector plugged into the Yeti 400? Would this work? Thanks.

Because my vehicle has a "smart" alternator and if I get a AGM battery, I am thinking I need to get a charger anyway in order to properly charge the AGM battery. I have read that the smart alternator does not effectively charge AGM batteries.....There fore I would just get a dc to dc charger to accomplish this. Then could use the charger to charge the Yeti in the back of the vehicle through the Anderson connector. Will this work?

Sorry for the late reply. You might have already fixed this but...

I don't see any reason for you to get a DC-DC charger. Lithium batteries may need a higher charge voltage but AGM is fine with 14-15v

I believe that you are overthinking the situation. Your vehicle's "smart" alternator is probably not as smart as you think. I'm betting it's primary design is to "put out enough energy to meet the draw".

The charge controller for the battery is in the Yeti. The charge controller "asks" the alternator for electricity. The alternator has no idea if it is powering a charger or a lightbulb.



Matt

 

[aaronrules]

I have an always on fuse block in the back of my truck that is wired to the trucks battery. I have a switch that I can flip that will kill the power going to the fuse block. I am wondering if I can charge my Yeti 400 AGM off this fuse block. I plan to charge through the 8mm port and will eventually add a couple batteries daisy chained off the Yeti. Will the Yeti continue to “ask” for power from my truck battery when the truck is turned off? I have also “hard wired” my fridge to this same fuse block. I can’t figure out if it would be better to power it with the Yeti as a “second” battery type system or keep it hooked up to the trucks battery. Also if I have a couple batteries daisy chained to the Yeti, will this all end up putting too much drag on the alternator? I do not have anything else of consequence running on my vehicles as far as power goes. I also have a GZ 100 watt solar panel that I would like to be able to hook up when parked for more than a day or so.

 

[Wallygator]

If the Yeti is getting power from your battery through it's charger and has a load on it, it will continue to ask for power from your truck battery. So simply unplug the Yeti until you need to recharge it. If you daisy chain a few more batteries to the Yeti than it may be better to switch the fridge to them while stationary and hook the solar panel to them also. This would take the fridge load off of your vehicles battery while camping. I don't think having the Yeti battery bank hooked up while driving is going to be an issue on your alternator but I am no expert.