dwh
Tail-End Charlie
There is a lot of good information in this thread, I am glad I used the search function. I have a question about setting up my ACR which I didn't see covered. The generalized cartoon Blue Sea uses to show how to set it up looks like this:
View attachment 278291
The geometry of my engine bay is that the alternator is across from the starting battery, but right next to the house battery. I was wondering if there were any issues with wiring the house battery through the ACR directly to the alternator, and also leave the connection between the alternator and starting battery? Like this:
View attachment 278290
That would work. Doesn't matter which end of the alternator->engine battery wire you connect to. Only possible gotcha is that the factory alternator->engine battery wire is almost always undersized. Fine for a quickie recharge of an engine battery that just started the truck, or running the normal vehicle loads. It'll even serve to charge a second battery since the engine battery recharge is usually like 1 amp*hour or less after starting the truck.
But if you had a situation where something (FatAss(tm) inverter?) on the aux side racked up a huge draw, and needed to suck up more than the aux battery + alternator could supply, the extra current to feed the load would have to come from the engine battery - and that factory alternator wire would have to carry it.
So it would work, but (depending on the situation), I'd be looking at (maybe) upsizing the wire between the alternator and the engine battery (but probably wouldn't be needed).