Sunday, Mar 16, 2014 at 16:55
Hi Brenden,
My apologies - I missed your reference to a camper trailer - dunno how, it's pretty obvious, but that was what was behind my queries about why you need an anderson plug.
For your purposes I'd definitely go with the anderson plug and some good solid cabling from the engine bay to the back of the vehicle. In some cases you can get away with using the 7 pin connector or, its 14 way big brother, but the anderson plug is a much better way to go.
The alternator is an interesting (and not straightforward) question. Many recent vehicles use computer control of the alternator voltage, where in older vehicles the voltage was set by the alternator characteristics and battery's requirements.
You need about 14.4 volts delivered to your trailer battery to charge it fully. Few alternators, especially the computer controlled ones, will provide this, especially if there are significant losses in your cabling. (That's why heavy cables are recommended.) Suggest discuss this with your sparkey. Mention of dc-dc chargers often starts a fight on this
forum, but they can be a good way of increasing the charging voltage available to the trailer battery. That's what Evaready suggests below when referring to the BCDC 12/40 LV. (If you do go that way, suggest you insist on the LV version.)
HTH
John | J and V
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