Dual Battery Setup

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Giltos

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Mar 13, 2012
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Hi Guys,

I've been reading a lot of the dual battery threads on here for my 4WD only - no van. There's some great advice on setups and have settled on dual battery system with a Fullriver 105AH in tray, CTEK D250S and a solar panel. Can't fault the CTEK, the smarts of charging starter battery once AUX is full is really handy.

Installed and been using for about six months, works well, really happy with the investment. I've been using the solar to keep both batteries topped up.

I don't drive my Nav much during the week, just down to the station and back, so the battery is not getting a charge very often, and haven't been able to get away as frequently. The gap I want to fill now, as we approach winter is to be able to hook in 240V every so often while I'm at home.

I've already paid for the multi-stage charging in the CTEK D250S, ideally would like to be able to input charge to that from a 240V source, rather than paying for the same smarts in a separate 240V charger. Initial thoughts are to get a 240V transformer and end up with something in the range of 18-22V with about 20 to 25A,. that I could input into the solar side of the CTEK and allow it to charge as normal, once I'm home and car's sitting in driveway.

Thoughts? How are other people charging their setups once home? Old Tony what do you do with your setup over winter if you not getting out much?
 
Even if you buy a cheap small amp charger and input that into the Ctek's solar it will maintain a float charge in your Aux of "around" 13.5 and feed the Cranker a small charge as well. I would think if your parked in some sort of sunlight without any load your panel should keep everything in order.
 
My Navara lives outside and gets driven all the time. I'm no longer working, my wife can no longer see well enough to drive a car so her car is gone and I can't take the family out on the Goldwing so my Navara does most of the work.

However, if I were in that situation, I'd have two main choices depending on what I could hook up.

If I were in a sealed secure garage where I didn't have access to sunlight (house roof) within 8-10m I'd go the 240V route, BUT I'd be using something like this (manufactured by an electrician only): 240 male plug on a 10m lead to a box containing a 240V-activated relay that switches the solar panel input to the D250S over from the solar panel to a 18-22V DC power supply (10A is enough, that's 80Ah of charge overnight). You can't put the relay in the output of the 18-22V DC power supply because solar input could trigger the relay.

If I had access to the roof, it's a piece of cake - whack an unregulated 80W or better solar panel on the roof, with at least 8Ga cabling down to the car. Change the D250S's solar input so that it has a pair of Anderson plugs coming off it, the car's solar panel goes to one and the external goes to the other when at home. If you can take that camping with you, you now have a bonus power supply and can not only run the fridge and a couple of lights, but you can run a portable stereo, laptop, charge phones without worry.
 
Thanks guys. Id like to put solar on canopy roof permanently, but parking at train station is a worry. Give it max a month before someone takes off with it! Will try out as above and post results in a while. Thanks as always for your wisdom!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 

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