Multiple charging sources, how should they be tied to my house batteries?

[Scoutman]

So the power converter in my truck camper has left my house batteries fried because I left the camper plugged in and apparently never thought to check the battery fluid level and that the converter was charging 100% of the time. I need to come up with a better charging plan as I'm about to put in a bigger sealed gel cell battery as it's replacement.

Currently I have a terminal block that brings in 12v from the truck as well as the 12v feed from the converter and then puts those to the battery terminal. I also need to work in a solar charge controller. I was starting to look at something like this automatic charging relay but I'm not sure if that's what I need or not. I want something that regardless of the input power supplied it will only give the battery what it needs and then float charge to maintain. The camper converter seems to put out power 24/7 so if the battery isn't checked it'll damage it.

Any suggestions or threads I may have overlooked?

Input powers
-truck 12v
-camper converter
-solar controller

 

[unseenone]

How many batteries are you running? On the AC charger side, you can get a two or three independent battery charging system. This would monitor individual batteries and float if charged, something like that might make sense. It kind of seems like these days, battery charges of old, are not up to the task because they need to detect the battery state, and then behave accordingly.

 

[Scoutman]

At the moment i will only have one battery.

 

[unseenone]

A lot of folks have had great luck with the CTEKs. They are mentioned in several threads here. You can also connect through an Anderson Plug and wire somewhere on the vehicle if you need to use it regularly. I've decided to go solar, as it's a pain to me to mess with chargers.

 

[4RunAmok]

CTEK all the way, and you can use a Marinco Shore Power plug to just plug an extension cord in at the outside of the vehicle, and just wire the CTEK to the Line and Neutral posts of the Marinco.

It sounds like your power converter is "DUMB". In other words, not smart enough to know when a battery is charged and to stop sending bulk voltage and amps, and DEFINITELY not smart enough to charge a GEL or AGM battery, which require VERY SPECIFIC charging profiles.

You should specifically look for the CTEK D250S, which supports AC charging, Solar Charging, and Alternator Charging, without the need for combining batteries. If you require the need to combine batteries, for the purpose of maybe self-jumping, you can ALSO install a (minimum) 250 amp solenoid that will combine when you press a momentary switch on your dash (powered by the house battery) so that you may self-jump.

 

[Scoutman]

Yes I would say my converter is dumb and definitely not up for properly maintaining a gel battery. I'll do some reading up on the CTEK chargers.

Since most of the places we camp have lots of tree cover I can't rely on just solar to keep me topped off. My wife bought me a small 15w panel with controller that I may try to incorporate in to keep the battery topped off between trips since the controller will be doing the management. That will keep me from having to run an extension cord to the camper. I'll just plug in 110v to get the fridge cold before a trip. When the camper is plugged into the truck it will keep the battery topped while driving. When I get to camp (depends on the CG) I'll either plug into shore power or rely on the truck or solar. The solar system she got me is a pretty small system. I don't expect much out of it other than keeping topped off between trips. I've converted all my lights to LED, have a F.Fan, fridge controls, water pump, cell phone charging, and furnace fan. I may be ok for most trips unless I'm running the furnace but most trips aren't but a few nights at a time.

 

[4RunAmok]

On Solar watts. it's WATTS divided by VOLTS to find the AMPS that will come out of the controller. And that is a HIGH ESTIMATE. What you'll actually get depending on situation is less.

So 15 watt solar / 12 Volts = 1.25 amps.

Not very much, pretty much just enough to keep a battery from sulfating while it sits without charging.

The minimum solar watts you want is 60.

 

[Scoutman]

On Solar watts. it's WATTS divided by VOLTS to find the AMPS that will come out of the controller. And that is a HIGH ESTIMATE. What you'll actually get depending on situation is less.

So 15 watt solar / 12 Volts = 1.25 amps.

Not very much, pretty much just enough to keep a battery from sulfating while it sits without charging.

The minimum solar watts you want is 60.

Yea I realize its not much but that's why I wasn't going to permanently mount it. I figured I would set the panel on top of the camper in full sun and plug it into the controller to keep it topped off. There shouldn't be much draw as everything will be off. I just wasn't comfortable mounting something to the roof that wasn't going to stay there.

 

[jdinevens]

CTEK all the way, and you can use a Marinco Shore Power plug to just plug an extension cord in at the outside of the vehicle, and just wire the CTEK to the Line and Neutral posts of the Marinco.

It sounds like your power converter is "DUMB". In other words, not smart enough to know when a battery is charged and to stop sending bulk voltage and amps, and DEFINITELY not smart enough to charge a GEL or AGM battery, which require VERY SPECIFIC charging profiles.

You should specifically look for the CTEK D250S, which supports AC charging, Solar Charging, and Alternator Charging, without the need for combining batteries. If you require the need to combine batteries, for the purpose of maybe self-jumping, you can ALSO install a (minimum) 250 amp solenoid that will combine when you press a momentary switch on your dash (powered by the house battery) so that you may self-jump.

Not to derail but with the 250S and the Smartpass would it sill be limited to 20A solar?

 

[Scoutman]

Not to derail but with the 250S and the Smartpass would it sill be limited to 20A solar?

Yes it would appear that way.
http://smartercharger.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/manual-d250s-dual-and-smartpass.pdf

 

[Scoutman]

So the more I read the manual on the 205S the more I don't think that it has a 110v input. It seems that what it specializes in is taking 2 different 12v charging inputs either from the truck, solar, turbine, etc. and managing them both to the batteries hooked to it. It decides which charge source is better suited to keep the battery charged so in the case of a running truck and shaded solar panel, it would take the juice from the truck. At the cost of $260 Amazon (I know cheaper elsewhere) that's too steep for me to justify.

 

[unseenone]

If you want an A/C version, check my and other original posts. CTEK seems to work well.

 

[Scoutman]

If you want an A/C version, check my and other original posts. CTEK seems to work well.

So far it looks like it's coming down to the CTEK 3300 or the 7002. I think the major differences are the 7002 has a supply mode where it can put out power regardless of whether a battery is present or not and it puts out 7A of charge vs the 3300's 3.3A. It's also costs about twice as much.

 

[4RunAmok]

Hmm, I had not noticed that the D250S did not have an AC input.

As far as the maximum amp input from solar, 20A, that is PLENTY. Before completing my dual battery setup, my aux battery was installed without vehicle charging, and relied completely on my 7A solar system with a Morningstar 10A charge controller. The fridge, and other accessories ran 3 days without issue at the Desert Rendezvous, and only fell below 13 volts during the night when there was no sun to charge with, and immediately maintained over 13 when the sun came back up.

 

[unseenone]

I have used the supply mode quite a bit when doing stuff like programming vehicle ECU's etc. Or at times when you are running some load. I've got the 7002 it's worked ok, it's slow, but works.