POLYPHASE ALTERNATOR AND DUAL VOLTAGE BATTERY CHARGING SYSTEM FOR MULTIPLE VOLTAGE LOADS

A 24/12 volt battery power supply for a vehicle includes two 12 volt batteries connected in series, and having first and second 24 volt terminals to the opposite ends of the batteries and a 12 volt terminal to the center common connection of the batteries. The 12 volt loads are divided into equal right and left side vehicle loads and the right side is connected across one battery and the left side is connected across the second battery. A three phase wye-connected alternator has the winding connected to a full wave three phase rectifier, the D.C. output of which is connected to the 24 volt terminals. The center common connection of the winding is connected directly to the 12 volt terminal. The system operates with balanced currents and charges on the two 12 volt batteries so long as the 12 volt loads remain balanced. Control loads are selectively connected to the right and left side loads if a 12 volt load is lost, disconnected or otherwise changes to maintain the balanced system but only if the imbalance due to lost loads is large. In another embodiment, the full wave rectifiers are connected to conduct the opposite half cycles of the alternator output. The controlled rectifiers for each half cycle have the gates connected to a common gate source, and a logic circuit monitors the voltage of each battery and actuates one or the other of the rectifier groups to prevent one battery segment from significantly varying in voltage with respect to the other.