Hey All,
Planning an install on my boat with some Victron Lithium Superpacks and a Multi Plus. The batteries would primarily get charged with shore power or generator going into the Multi (the transfer happens at a switch panel before the multi). I'm good with those parts. Where I get a little fuzzy is on the alternator. While I'm underway I would like to get at least some charge out of the alternator. It would be charging both the Superpacks and an AGM engine battery. Right now they are connected to the alternator through a fairly old isolator. I've looked into the Balmar regulators to do the voltage regulation on the alternator. Very slick but I would love to avoid installing one if possible. Would it work to put a buck-boost or Orion between the alternator output from the isolator and the Superpacks and let that handle the voltage regulation? From the Victron documentation it seems like that would work but what I don't know is what happens when the multi starts charging at the same time and if this is a problem (connected to shore power or running the generator while the engine is running). I could have the multi trigger the buck boost to disconnect using the relay contacts but would that trigger a load dump on the alternator? Or is that not an issue since the AGM battery would still be connected. Open to any thoughts or if I need to go another direction with this.
