What Is the Voltage Drop for a DC to DC Converter Compared to a Fet Battery Isolator?
Transcript is auto-generated.
foreign [Music] welcome to another a boating Tech talk question we've got a question from a boater Fabio asked Jeff I'm wondering if a DC to DC converter has a voltage drop similar to a FET isolator do you have any insight on that that's a good question now the advantage let's talk about the two devices a fet isolator is basically what they used to be called battery isolators and they used to be done with diodes and there would definitely be an inherent voltage drop on that the modern battery isolators are done with fets and there is a voltage drop albeit way less than a diode base one so better efficiency hence why most people are choosing fat battery isolators over diode battery isolators now here's the Fabio's asking a comparison uh what about a DC to DC converter does it have uh any voltage drop well here's the difference is the DC to DC is actually targeting voltages and so the voltage drop is not going to be the issue what you're going to actually lose out on is the amperage so whenever you convert from one voltage to the other what you're doing is you're taking some of that power for the conversion so yes you're going to lose there are inefficiencies of course or if you know changing anything costs something albeit the cost is not that great it's not like a diode where you would lose a significant portion I would consider it more comparable to a fet so a DC to DC charging converter is going to be more similar to a fet in terms of its efficiencies I.E whenever you do something you're it's there's going to be a cost to it but nothing like a diode-based battery isolator so the voltages are not going to drop but basically the unit is going to take more current uh to create those set point voltages so it's a little bit of different sort of approach right the battery isolator is just shares and as you're sharing and it goes everywhere it's not modulated it's just simply allowing certain things to not see each other so there's no back current right everything becomes directional from alternator to batteries but not battery to battery and with a DC to DC charging converter you've got battery to battery you can still do this but the difference here is you're actually going from one voltage an input voltage to another voltage but that voltage is very specific so it might be 14 4 it might be whatever it is at that point that that device figures out it needs to do to recharge the second battery so you're not going to be seeing lower voltages than anticipated you're just going to be utilizing more current or more energy from the other battery to recharge perfectly the second battery that you're charging with the DC DC charging converter so that's a really good question and a good little nuanced question for Fabio if you any of you have other questions or trials and tribulations of using uh DC to DC charging converters please post them on the link below sharing is caring and to all of you out there safe boating and thanks for watching so if you're curious again go on our website and find out more answers and solutions with this sort of setup and thanks for asking and thanks for all of you for listening and tuning in English Videolytics Tools Compare SUMMARY
