Caravan/ 4WD Charging
Submitted: Sunday, Dec 25, 2011 at 01:40
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4 runner
Merry Xmas
Looking for some assistance on a charging dilemma, at present I have a Goldstream camper that is fitted with a decent deep cycle battery and a not so flash charger, I also have solar panels (Not connected to anything) EU10i Generator and a 1200 watt inverter.
Been having some issues with flat batteries on
the beach (Running fridges and lights for few days at a time) and was trying to top up with the solar panels and the generator (When not running something else) but found that the batteries were draining quicker than what it was charging at.
After some digging in my shed, I found a CTEK 15000 charger (Bought and forgot about years ago)
Trying to get my head around if I use the 240 volts from the genny with the CTEK and connect this to the batteries would it be quicker than the 12 volts straight from the Generator, it looks like the Generator only puts out 8 amps which is a lot less than the CTEK can take.
If there is no benefit I would probably just replace the charger in the caravan with the CTEK.
Reply By: Ozhumvee - Sunday, Dec 25, 2011 at 07:28
Sunday, Dec 25, 2011 at 07:28
Charging from the 12v output of agennie is a waste of time as the voltage cannot get high enough to actually charge the battery.
Your gennie will easily run the 1500 Ctek on 240v, my 1kva Yamaha runs a 25 amp CTek with ease. I would also suggest running anything that can be run on 240 on 240 when the gennie is running up to around 8-900watts total load on the gennie so that thebatteries can be charged quicker.
If the soalr is connected to the battery in daylight and put away at night then you may get away without a regulator but it would be better if there was one.
A 1200watt inverter is way too big for one battery if used at anywhere near its capacity and not particularly efficient when used for charging things via plugpacks.
AnswerID:
473281
Reply By: Gronk - Sunday, Dec 25, 2011 at 10:28
Sunday, Dec 25, 2011 at 10:28
You probably need to answer a few questions 1 St......are you running 1 or 2 fridges ?.... how big is the battery in the van? Are you running the battery down past 12 V. ?
Yes the c tek will be fine....and no, you don't charge batts with the 12 V supply of a gennie..
You say you have solar panels. ? How big and what sort of regulator have you got. ?
Sounds like you have all the right equipment, but maybe not hooked up the best way. ?
AnswerID:
473285
Follow Up By: 4 runner - Sunday, Dec 25, 2011 at 11:47
Sunday, Dec 25, 2011 at 11:47
Running one fridge (Sometimes two 1 x fridge 1 x freezer) The battery in the van is an ac delco deep cycle has 140amps.
The panels are 80 watts and the regulator (have no idea) it's just fitted in line with the cable prior to the battery clamps.
The hilux also has two ND70 batteries that I use via outlets for the fridge/lights/tv etc.
Yep agree that I have enough gear but have no real idea the best way to put it together.
My best guess, is to run the panels during the day and use the ctek charger via the genny when the panels cannot be used.
All adds up to a lot of gear to keep the battery charged, I initially thought the panels would keep the battery topped up, however they only put out 4 amps which does not cover the output from the fridge.
FollowupID:
748087
Follow Up By: P2D2 - Sunday, Dec 25, 2011 at 15:15
Sunday, Dec 25, 2011 at 15:15
What you need to look at fitting is a Ctek D250S Dual DC/DC charger to keep your battery correctly and fully charged while travelling and connect your solar panels to the Ctek as it is an MPPT solar regulator as
well. Throw the supplied solar regulator away and wire the panel direct to the Ctek D250S Dual.
When travelling power the fridges from the main vehicle start battery.
FollowupID:
748097
Follow Up By: Nomadic Navara - Sunday, Dec 25, 2011 at 21:44
Sunday, Dec 25, 2011 at 21:44
Regulators on the backs of solar panels are often of an unknown quantity. They may or may not be tailored to your particular battery. Not only may they put out sufficient voltage for your battery, they are supplied with a piddley small lead that produces a voltage drop at full output. This further reduces the voltage necessary to push sufficient current into your battery.
I would recommend that everyone that has a portable panel to get a better regulator. Also get heavier cable to connect it to the panel. Also mount any charger as close to the battery and use heavy wiring to connect the two. If there is any great voltage drop between the charger and the battery then the charger may not be producing the correct change over points.
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