Battery Chargers

Have been doing it for years and no problems.
cheers

Its just like your bank account John.
How well it gets topped up depends on how much you are putting in and how much you are taking out. The difference will be the contribution to your account, err, battery. It may go up or down.

But certainly there is no harm in drawing load from the battery whilst charging it.

Yes no problem I do it all the time. As long as the charger is hooked up to the battery it will be getting some charge ( what ever is left over after you run everything in the van ) assuming your charger has a higher capacity than what the van uses. You will have to add up the current draw the van requires to determine what size charger is needed
Cheers Kevin

Hi John (desert Storm),

The best idea is to have a multi stage charger to do this because if you have not used much power and the battery is close to full and you go away for the day sight seeing you could overcharge the battery thereby shortening its life span. A good multi stage charger will avoid this and you can do it with peace of mind.

I have my CTEK connected continually when on the road so that as soon as I connect to shore power (caravan park supply) I am charging the van batteries straight away.

This way the batteries are always topped right up for the free camps in between park stays.

Cheers, Bruce.

Thanks guys, some good information there.

John

John
I've just fitted a Projecta Intellicharger to do exactly what you have done.
Works well, since fitting it the truck has been in the shed so it is keeping the batteries up whilst running fridge and lights as solar panels are covered.
I've had two Ctek smart chargers for years and they have both worked perfectly without problems. When I went looking for another charger to fit permanently I heard good reports about the latest Projecta's from both retailers and users.
They have a few advantages over the Ctek's, ability to select battery types, ability to select charge levels, remote head (this is a huge plus in a van or motorhome as the charger can be operated remotely without getting into battery compartments, bins etc), plus they are slightly cheaper.
I've bought all three (2 Ctek's and the Projecta) from the one seller on ebay '4wdxtreme" no association with them, just a satisfied customer.