Alternator/Split Relay issues

[nathlaw]

Hya. Can anyone help with this.
i installed a split charge relay and it all
Worked fine with the leisure battery, AC/DC, etc. I have done around 2500 miles since then and the alternator has gone bust.
would this be related to me tapping into the wiring near to the alternator.? and would this happen again if I tapped into the new alternator.?
thanks

 

[cmcardle75]

It is possible, but generally involves fat cables to lithium batteries, which can take almost any current you can throw at them and can burn out a dumb alternator when idling with little airflow for cooling.

If you're worried (and also want to protect your batteries from overcharging), replace the split charge relay with a proper B2B charger which will restrict the current flow to a sensible value and provide better life to the battery as well as the alternator.

 

[mitzimad]

If you had done something wrong with the wiring it would have shown immediately how old was the alternator ?

 

[nathlaw]

Cheers Mitzimad.
that’s what I thought. The van is a 2005 so it’s possible the alternator has not been replaced in that time and this incident is coincidence.
has anyone heard of people having any similar issues.?

 

[Lenny HB]

Normally when wiring items to the D+ on the alternator it is done via a relay or control box so that the D+ output is not overloaded as it can only take a small current. If you fitted a high current relay the coil current of the relay may have been too high for the D+ to support.