How much remaining alternator capacity?
My question is:
Is there a way to (somewhat) accurately determine the amount of available remaining amperage capacity of my alternator?
I ask this question to determine what current limit I should use for charging my lithium batteries and not burn up the alternator.
Here is an example of my current thinking. This is a factory alternator sized to keep the starting battery charged and factory electronics running. If the headlights take 10Amps on high beam, I would presumably have 10 Amps of available capacity with the lights off. I could continue down this line of thinking and turn everything on, measure current, and back calculate, but is there a better or easier way?
I can look at the alternator and find specs regarding max current, idle current, etc. but I'd like to to know what the van currently requires/uses in order to determine capacity available for my house batteries.
Although I hope this question can remain general, my specifics are:
2005 E350 V10
Renogy DCC50S MPPT charger (can set charge limits from 10-50 in 10A steps)
2 100AH Renogy lithium house batteries in parallel
Thanks in advance.
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2005 Quigley E350 EB V10, Fiberine Super Camper Top
2006 Quigley E350 EB 5.4, Fiberine Super Camper Top (sold)
1995 4x4 Chevy G30 Extended 6.5l NA diesel (sold)
1984 Dodge B250 Get-Away-Van camper conversion (sold)
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