Ducky's Dad
Explorer
?
The big Odyssey needs 14.7+, per Odyssey. Not 14.6. My truck's electrical system will sometimes touch 14.6 briefly, but settles in at about 14.2 on long cruises, so not enough for whatever chemistry Odyssey is using. On the trip that triggered that call to Odyssey, I had just driven the truck about 1300 miles in 56 hours, mostly in daylight at 70mph+, no fridge or other odd loads. Got home, checked resting voltage next morning, battery was at about 80% of full charge. Called Odyssey, was told that even 1300 miles was not enough to fully charge the battery because voltage was too low, and I had probably sulfated that battery by never reconditioning it on an appropriate charger. I had been using an Optimate (not Optima) AGM charger. Called Optimate in Canada, and they told me that their charger maxed at 14.6V, but they were bringing out a new version that would go to 14.7V specifically for the Odysseys. So I spent a pile of money on an Odyssey 40amp charger (because the 50amps were gone), and started using that charger/conditioner. After a couple of months, the Odyssey charger cooked my battery and Odyssey was good enough to replace the battery under warranty. That's when I installed the 270amp alternator in the truck as a failed attempt to overcome the inadequate voltage from my regulator. Did not work. Still have to do frequent shore power conditioning cycles to keep the battery functional, mostly because the truck is not a daily driver. Can't change the regulator voltage because it's programmed into the truck's ECU. So, my latest plan is to put a solar panel on the roof with a controller that will dump 15V into the battery with an appropriate AGM charge profile. I have zero problems with smaller Odysseys or with my G31 Northstar.
