I am trying to limit the amperage to a device in a parallel circuit. To be specific:
My friend is trying to do the van life thing, basically he has an extra battery in the back of his car, and he has an inverter hooked up to it. So my idea to keep that battery charged is to tap into the car's ignition circuit, and run a wire from the front of the car to the back where the extra battery is (This battery's only job is to power the inverter). That line will connect to the positive side of the battery, and then it will be grounded to the frame. This way when he is driving and the alternator is generating power, it will charge the battery. But, I don't want to strain the electric system in his van, so I only want to send about 5 amps to the second battery. So using a resistor is not a good option, because resistors simply convert the excess heat to thermal energy right? I have some things that I don't know the answer to, such as how many amps would flow to the second battery if I directly hooked it to the ignition circuit? Is there a way to figure that out? And is there some kind of device that I don't know about that can only let regulate the amount of amps? Thank you, I'm trying to learn more about circuits, but I still have some areas where I get stumped. Any help is appreciated
My friend is trying to do the van life thing, basically he has an extra battery in the back of his car, and he has an inverter hooked up to it. So my idea to keep that battery charged is to tap into the car's ignition circuit, and run a wire from the front of the car to the back where the extra battery is (This battery's only job is to power the inverter). That line will connect to the positive side of the battery, and then it will be grounded to the frame. This way when he is driving and the alternator is generating power, it will charge the battery. But, I don't want to strain the electric system in his van, so I only want to send about 5 amps to the second battery. So using a resistor is not a good option, because resistors simply convert the excess heat to thermal energy right? I have some things that I don't know the answer to, such as how many amps would flow to the second battery if I directly hooked it to the ignition circuit? Is there a way to figure that out? And is there some kind of device that I don't know about that can only let regulate the amount of amps? Thank you, I'm trying to learn more about circuits, but I still have some areas where I get stumped. Any help is appreciated