battery charging
Submitted: Wednesday, Aug 08, 2018 at 19:32
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Wayne G9
if i plug a solar panel into the anderson plug at the rear of my tow vehicle (where the caravan plugs in )will it charge both my car battery and my secondary deep cycle battery...without doing any damage ???
also if i leave the car and caravan hooked up,will the solar panels on the van charge the batteries in the car
Reply By: IvanTheTerrible - Wednesday, Aug 08, 2018 at 19:47
Wednesday, Aug 08, 2018 at 19:47
Depends on what Dual battery control you are running. If it's electronic then it wont charge. If you are running a dumb solenoid you can get it to charge if you have the ignition on or with something like the SBI12 it will if it has to have the over ride activated
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Wayne G9 - Wednesday, Aug 08, 2018 at 19:53
Wednesday, Aug 08, 2018 at 19:53
i have an ironman dc-dc charger for the car and caravan..i have a deep cycle in the rear of the dual cab and two deep cycle in the caravan, i have two solar panels on the roof of the van
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Follow Up By: Hoyks - Wednesday, Aug 08, 2018 at 20:18
Wednesday, Aug 08, 2018 at 20:18
Then I highly doubt it.
The isolators and DCDC chargers work by the starter battery getting up to voltage and then feeding power backwards.
If the starter side of the system doesn't get up to the trigger voltage, then the secondary batteries get no input from that end and can't feed power forward.
You could fit an anderson plug to the main battery or that side of the isolator/controller and use the portable panel to charge the starter battery and once it gets up to voltage it will start pushing it down to the secondary batteries.
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Follow Up By: IvanTheTerrible - Wednesday, Aug 08, 2018 at 22:01
Wednesday, Aug 08, 2018 at 22:01
If you are running DC-DC then the answer is no.
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Follow Up By: Gbc.. - Thursday, Aug 09, 2018 at 08:40
Thursday, Aug 09, 2018 at 08:40
Smarter DC chargers like the Ctec 250 feed back upstream off solar so it isn't as cut and dried as DC=No.
As stated above, you could fit an Andersen to the start battery for the portable panel.
You could also move the feed for the caravan off the DC charger and onto the second battery in the car. That will allow the van panels to charge the car's deep cycle, and will also make the charger see only one big battery when it is running which may yield better charging results.
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Follow Up By: Wayne G9 - Thursday, Aug 09, 2018 at 09:36
Thursday, Aug 09, 2018 at 09:36
Trying to understand are you suggesting the Anderson plug from the van to the deep cycle in the car. Would charge from the van solar system
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893072
Follow Up By: Gbc.. - Thursday, Aug 09, 2018 at 09:53
Thursday, Aug 09, 2018 at 09:53
Yes.
Mine is set up that way. You can then also plug the (regulated) portable panel straight into the Andersen on the rear of the car and charge it. I have another DC charger in the camper as
well. I see ironman have an optional jump start module available for that model of yours as
well if your start battery ever fails.
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893074
Reply By: Malcom M - Thursday, Aug 09, 2018 at 06:35
Thursday, Aug 09, 2018 at 06:35
some dc-dc chargers have a dedicated solar input. Does yours?
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620593
Follow Up By: Wayne G9 - Thursday, Aug 09, 2018 at 09:39
Thursday, Aug 09, 2018 at 09:39
Yes it does it’s similar to ctek
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Follow Up By: Malcom M - Thursday, Aug 09, 2018 at 10:00
Thursday, Aug 09, 2018 at 10:00
why wouldn't you plug your panels into that then?
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893075
Reply By: RMD - Thursday, Aug 09, 2018 at 10:01
Thursday, Aug 09, 2018 at 10:01
Wayne
I have recently modified all my charging systems and use a DC/DC unit running off solar and engine battery when running.
What it seems you are asking will not work and any battery connected directly to that panel without a regulator will become over charged/destroyed.
However, it is possible to have the solar input provide power to the DC DC unit and IT'S output can be used to switch on a VSR, voltage sensitive relay to become acitve and connect the output to the any battery ONLY when the engine is off. ie, the Engine battery system has to auto disconnect the charge action, whenever the engine is running. It can be done but requires a few different components, some voltage sensitive switching and interlocking/ inhibiting so the output of the DC DC isn't EVER fed to it's input while solar is used with engine.
Not as simple as it seems.
AnswerID:
620596