DCDC Chargers
Overview
Overview
DCDC Chargers Overview
About DCDC Chargers
About DCDC Chargers
The alternator does not know what the second battery wants. A DC to DC charger does.
An alternator is built to keep a starting battery topped up, and it does that with whatever voltage suits the vehicle, which on a modern engine is often less than a deep cycle battery needs to fill. Run the auxiliary straight off that and it sits at eighty percent forever. Run a lithium battery off it and the battery management system may refuse the charge altogether.
A DC to DC charger sits between the two. It takes the alternator's output, whatever it is, and turns it into a proper multi-stage charge at the voltage and profile the auxiliary battery actually wants. Bulk, absorption, float. AGM profile or lithium profile. The battery fills properly on the drive, which is the whole point of having it.
Some units take a solar input as well, so one charger handles the roof panel at camp and the alternator on the road, with a single profile applied regardless of source.
Size it to the alternator first. A charger rated higher than the alternator can supply will pull the starting battery down while it works. Then size it to the battery, because a big lithium bank on a small charger takes all day to fill.
Complete power systems with the charger mounted, fused and wired sit here too.




