Hi folks
I have just fitted a mains power battery charger to the system to maintain the house batteries and the start battery but I' m wondering if it's ok to have a solar source input similtaneously with the mains power input? There's nothing in the CTEK M300 manual about the question.Any ideas?
I think you will find your solar regulator should regulate your solar charge once it senses your battery charger input .
I have my battery charger and solar /wind controller all wired into house and starter via VSR and once the battery's are full both inputs will go to float until I put load on battery's.
example : when I'm motoring and my alternator is charging the battery's and they are close to fully charged the solar imput will show zero. Once the engine is shut down and I start using a load the solar regulator kicks in and starts putting amps back into my battery's.
There is a CTEK charger that provides for other inputs aside from 240 ac. About $700 I believe.
I think it is the D250SDual. Talk to a specialist about it.
view.publitas.com/ashdown-ingram/automotive-electrical-accessories-catalogue-2015/page/40-41
I had the D250 dual on my last yacht can't recall it was that expensive. I ended up removing my solar from the unit and hooking it direct to the battery as the five stage charger would take too long to charge my house battery's when disconected from shore power. I recall the first stage is like 3 amps or so for 6 hours....etc
Select to expand quotesouthace said..
I think you will find your solar regulator should regulate your solar charge once it senses your battery charger input .
I have my battery charger and solar /wind controller all wired into house and starter via VSR and once the battery's are full both inputs will go to float until I put load on battery's.
example : when I'm motoring and my alternator is charging the battery's and they are close to fully charged the solar imput will show zero. Once the engine is shut down and I start using a load the solar regulator kicks in and starts putting amps back into my battery's.
Agreed. This is the way it should work anyway.
Basically all charge sources - AC charger, PV charger, alternator - should be able to dump energy onto the DC bus (in turn connected to batteries). Each source should sense the voltage and back off accordingly.
