Redarc BCDC1220 Triple Batteries & Solar?
Submitted: Sunday, Aug 26, 2012 at 16:37
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craigandej
Hi,
I have the above charger installed in my troopy, working with 2 batteries. Will the redarc charge a third battery via anderson plug in a caravan? I also want to install an 80W solar panel on the troopy permanently, will a solar reg. work in conjunction with the redarc? And just to confuse things a bit more, starting battery is Delkor 27h-710 90AH Calcium and aux. is Delkor DC27 Calcium MF 80 AH Battery. Redarc shows these as agm/gel so seems an installation error with the wiring.
Does the third battery in the van need to be calcium as
well? I think so??
Regards
Craig
Reply By: olcoolone - Sunday, Aug 26, 2012 at 17:49
Sunday, Aug 26, 2012 at 17:49
Calcium battery's are not AGM or Gel construction, calcium battery's require a higher charge rate to charge them over a SLA, AGM or Gel battery.
A vehicles charging system will not charge a calcium battery properly unless the vehicle came out with a calcium battery as standard.
Calcium batterys were introduced in automotive because they had a size vs weight vs output advantage over traditional battery's.
The ideal way to charge your aux battery's is one BCDC for the two in your troopy and another BCDC in your caravan.
The BCDC1220 can not accept a solar input.... the BCDC1225 and 1240 both have MPPT solar regulators so it might pay to use the 1220 in the application where you are not going to use solar and one of the others in the solar application.
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493660
Follow Up By: craigandej - Sunday, Aug 26, 2012 at 19:30
Sunday, Aug 26, 2012 at 19:30
Will adjust the wiring to suit the calcium batteries. Why couldnt I wire a solar regulator straight to the aux. battery in the troopy? Wouldnt the redarc adjust its input into that battery anyway?
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: olcoolone - Monday, Aug 27, 2012 at 17:10
Monday, Aug 27, 2012 at 17:10
It's good practice to only have one charger running and not two...... a solar regulator is a charger.
This is easily done with a 70amp change over relay.
FollowupID:
769335
Follow Up By: Nomadic Navara - Tuesday, Aug 28, 2012 at 12:37
Tuesday, Aug 28, 2012 at 12:37
There is nothing wrong with having 2 or more chargers connected to a battery. I have 3 on my van battery, a Ranox battery booster, a 3 stage charger solar regulator and a smart battery charger. They do not fight each other. If they are all set correctly to charge your battery you will not overcharge your battery. You can guarantee that there will be slight differences in the absorption voltages of the chargers. What happens is the one with the lower absorption voltage will be the first to go into float mode and so on up the chain. The charger with the highest absorption voltage will be the one to finish off the charge, if it is programmed correctly then your battery is safe from overcharging.
Craig, you need to connect the
orange battery type configuration wire to the correct source. Consult your boosters handbook to
check what to do. If the handbook is missing you can download it from the Redarc site.
FollowupID:
769423
Follow Up By: craigandej - Tuesday, Aug 28, 2012 at 15:11
Tuesday, Aug 28, 2012 at 15:11
Thanks Peter, all is just as I thought. I bought the troopy second hand so the batteries may have been changed to calcium after the redarc installation.
Regards Craig
FollowupID:
769440
Follow Up By: craigandej - Tuesday, Aug 28, 2012 at 17:42
Tuesday, Aug 28, 2012 at 17:42
info from the guys at Redarc...............
Lex@Redarc 3:52PM Hi craigandej,
If you run a wire from the auxiliary battery to the trailer battery you will get some voltage drop which may either limit the maximum charge to the trailer battery or extend the time it takes for that battery to reach 100% charge. Although not essential, the optimum setup would be to have a separate BCDC1220 (fed directly from the start battery) on the trailer battery.
You can have a regulated solar panel charging the auxiliary battery without adversely affecting the BCDC1220. In this setup, you would find whichever charger (BCDC or solar/reg) is putting out the highest voltage will be doing most of the work.
It does not make any difference to the BCDC1220 what type of starter battery you have but it is important that you set the BCDC1220 to suit the auxiliary battery. If you use a BCDC1220 to charge more than one battery, you should ensure they are both the same type.
If you require further detail, please feel free to call.
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