Keeping this thread in play.
TO WIT:
I have a new question round, based on observed measurements with the fully-charged house battery, placed back into van. (Battery was bench-trickle-charged to a comfortable resting voltage of 12.73 volts, which remained stable and unwavering for 4 or 5 days).
Q: What is the maximum/peak voltage output of the average E-series alternator?
I ask because of two things:
1) my SMB still has a SurePower isolator in place, a model which is reported to have approximately a
0.7volt "diode efficiency drop" between it and whatever it isolates
and
2) I have observed up to
14.8volts at the house battery while the van is running in some instances, and this is (from doing a lot of reading) an ideal "bulk charge" voltage to hit
Doing the basic math
(14.8v) + (0.7v) = 15.5volts that the alternator must be pumping out during these instances.
Does this:
A) sound possible
B) sound like normal operation
and finally does it:
C) sound like the starter battery is getting subjected to "too much voltage" during those instances? (assuming since it isn't on the "other end" of the 0.7volt-dropped isolator circuit like the house battery is, it is seeing the full 15.5volt output of the alternator?)
Lastly --- is my eye "not truly on the ball" with this line of questioning?
(Bearing in mind the total "charge amperage" getting to the house battery is a big part of the real story, anyway? (Amp-hours back IN the house battery, vs. amp-hours coming back OUT of the battery = total understanding of what percentage of full the battery truly is))
It just seems strange that the possibility exists for the alternator to be making 15.5volts, and possibly subjecting the starter battery to *too much* voltage. I know we talked about how "as a battery nears a greater state of charge, its resistance increases and it accepts less current flow," but it still seems like the battery has a 15.5volt potential applied to its terminals during the instances that I'm seeing 14.8 at the house battery.....
and I'm still trying to understand if that's bad. Admittedly I didn't measure the actual observed voltage at the starter battery when I measured 14.8 at the house battery, that's gotta happen next.
(Big apologies, btw, if it seems I'm a slow learner on some of this....don't schoolteachers go with the principle that "big concepts usually have to be repeated three times before they sink in"?
)
Thanks again guys!!!