If you are out and away from the grid, I suppose this would suffice, but if you want to charge batteries, you would be way better off using a plug-in-the-wall battery charger. Diesel is expensive.
NiCads in a deuce? Do tell! The deuce alternator isn't really suited to charging NiCads. What are you doing?
-Chuck
Not the deuce, but could be. The 8x8 is equipped with two fuel burning heaters and if they run on the start batteries without the engine then they would not be able to crank it after some time, so the idea of "house" batteries came to be.
Since I wanted to be able to run the batteries down repeatedly without worrying about sulfation and also be able to charge them fast, a string NiCd cells was the solution.
Pictures show the cells and some control wiring. The ammeter shows about 80 amps, which the 100 amp generator can supply.
The Nicads are also used to crank the 10KW genset and an inverter has been installed as well.
Some numbers; It takes about 45 minutes to recharge the 60-70 AH battery bank (approx 1 gallon of fuel).
Charging is done "manually" under my observation with an eye on the cell voltages. The regulator should be set according to ambient temp and in general, IIMSS, perhaps not for everyone. It has worked very well so far.