you have to remember that any alternator will not charge an 18.0volt battery. you need about 2 more volts past that to charge it. and you're probably at 18.9. also, if your amps haven't been moded, chances are it only has 16 volts anyways. check that there 18volts. so that's your second problem. third is, should you solve these 2 problems, you can run the alternator directly to the batteries without having to use the ground of any connections through the car. that's how my husband has his system hooked up. his alternator powering ground wires go directly to his 8 batteries. remember you have to check your amps internal caps that they aren't 16 volt caps because if not you'll blow your caps or never get out of protection mode. you may never even find a battery charger that will not go past 18 volts unless you go into an industrial sized one. you maybe lucky and find an alternator that full fields at 18 volts. but make sure you have a good rectifier to control it and adjust your rmps so that it actully full fields at 18 ( must be under 2000 rmps as you already know ). i may not be 100 percent completely sure what i'm giving you, but i know my husbnad went with a 14 volt system ( 2 - 6 volts and 2 - 8 volts)only because his amps internal caps were 16 volts and he did not want to mod it. he went with the stock amp. i hope this helps out. good luck. keep us posted on your progress. [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

[ July 06, 2003, 12:42 AM: Message edited by: spl builders wife ]

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