110V/220V Battery and Solar Charger

dwh

Tail-End Charlie
Hi,

I'm looking for a way to charge my IBS dual battery system http://dinoevo.de/2010/06/dual-battery-system/ with ONE charger which can handle a solar panel and AC power. I like the simplicity of the CTEK, but they don't support a solar panel.

Does such a charger even exist?

Thanks

Generally no. I'm not familiar with all the various models but I think Outback and perhaps Xantrex make units that can do it - but they are huge and expensive.

I have a split-charge relay in my camper van, and will be changing out the battery charger sometime this summer for a Samlex SEC-1215a (mains powered charger) which can do multiple batteries (up to 3) and has internal isolation to keep them separate.

If and when I add solar, I'll almost certainly go with a Morningstar Sunsaver Duo solar charge controller which can charge two separate batteries.
 

Herbie

Rendezvous Conspirator
Just to confirm with dwh, 'cause he's more experienced with this stuff, but there's no problem connecting multiple "chargers" to a battery, right?

It seems like there shouldn't be, but I worry about the times when two might be trying to put power in at the same time (like when the sun is shining and you're connected to mains or driving down the road). At the worst, adding a few cutoff switches so only any one system was in use at a time would keep things happy...
 

dwh

Tail-End Charlie
Just to confirm with dwh, 'cause he's more experienced with this stuff, but there's no problem connecting multiple "chargers" to a battery, right?

It seems like there shouldn't be, but I worry about the times when two might be trying to put power in at the same time (like when the sun is shining and you're connected to mains or driving down the road). At the worst, adding a few cutoff switches so only any one system was in use at a time would keep things happy...

It's generally not a problem. First, they all protect themselves from backflow from the battery, so it's not like one charger will overwhelm another. They won't butt heads.

The only real issue, is when the battery is low. If one charger is supplying 13.8v to the bus and the other is supplying 14.4v, then power will flow from them both into the battery until the battery voltage hits 13.8 and then power will only flow from the higher voltage charger.

That's a non-issue if the chargers are constant voltage type, since the battery is just going to absorb whatever it can absorb, regardless of whatever the max capability of the charger is. But if they were both constant current type trying to stuff their full amperage into the battery, then it could be more charge current (amps) than the battery is rated for.

That won't happen with alternator + solar charger since the alternator is constant voltage type charger. It also won't happen with a normal car charger + a solar charger, since the normal car charger is also a constant voltage type charger.

The only time it could happen, is if the mains charger and the solar charge controller are both multi-stage and are both in bulk stage (constant current mode).

If the battery was rated for say 30a max charge current and you had a 15a solar and a 15a mains charger hooked up, then no problemo. If you have a 30a mains and a 15a solar then you could supply too much IF both are in bulk stage.

So it depends on how much the battery can handle, how much the chargers can put out, and what type of chargers they are.
 

wrcsixeight

Adventurer
Sometime I have to resort to trickery to get my Schumacher automatic charger to turn on if my solar has the batteries above 12.8 volts.

I turn on the lights and blower motor until the voltage drops to 12.6, then the schumacher will turn on and add 25 amps(initially) to whatever the solar is outputting. Those 25 amps taper pretty quickly when the batteries are that high of a state of charge.
If I do not trick the charger, it just goes right into float mode and adds very little to the solar amperage.

When my batteries are above 85%, and the engine is on, the solar charge controller goes open circuit and does not add anything to the alternator amperage.

On another forum, a poster regularly connects 4 B&D 40 amp chargers to a large bank of batteries, and they work nicely together. I would not expect all brands of chargers to work nicely together though.
 

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