Dual Alternator Option on Tow Vehicle

[TandT]

Jim,
I carried my panels out for a few months, but switched gears and permanently mounted the panels on the roof.

The reasons were threefold;

Carrying, moving and securing in wind became a hassle.

If they are sitting out unattended in plain site, more of a chance they may grow legs and walk away.

Last, you are not getting any charge while driving, so I was not taking full advantage of the charge capability of the system. Trace

 

[DirtyMax88]

Thanks everyone for all your posts, I appreciate it! We went Saturday and got us a new truck, picked on with the single alternator.

 

[caissiel]

I do a check of my duals by disconnecting one at a time and checking the voltage of the connected one. My duals are only for spare availability.
With batteries down I only saw 23 amps to the trailer with my increased power line. The trailer batteries would go dead after 3 days of travel in cold weather.

With solar they are fully charged all the time.

 

[Bohemian]

People have previously said on this forum that they got the dual alternators to keep their 5th wheel batteries charged. They also said they added a power line in the truck to carry the higher current back to the 5th wheel.

 

[MikeR]

I haven't found anyone to give me a definitive answer as to whether either of dual alternators on the Ford will continue to work if either of them failed. But, I have yet to hear of any of the 6.7 alternators failing.

I used to own a 2000 7.3L F-250 with dual alternators. At about 200k on the odometer, the main alternator failed and the secondary alternator was not charging the TV batteries. I was able to make it to a Ford dealer while operating on batteries only. I know the electronics in my 2012 are a lot more sophistacated, so I'm not sure if a system would charge off of the secondary generator or not. I have the snow plow option with the heavy duty alternator in my current truck.