Leisure battery charging question

[Pete C]

Hi,

New to the forum, and new to VW campers too, but know a bit about electrics (maybe).

I am in the process of converting a T6 to a pretty standard camper layout, and I want to get the design of the electrics sorted before I start installing furniture units etc.

I will have a leisure battery powering the internal lighting, fridge etc, and I realise that I will need a battery-to-battery charger to top the leisure battery up when we are driving. I also want to be able to charge the leisure battery from a portable solar panel (with charge controller) when we are stationary, and also be able to charge it from a standard mains powered battery charger when we have a hook-up on site.

Simple question - do I need to have a manual switch to control which charging source I want to use, or can I just connect all 3 sources to the battery, and power them up as required, not worrying that they are all connected in parallel.

Thanks,

Pete

 

[Loz]

You would do better with a Ring pr ctek dc-dc charging controller, both support regenerative braking and have solar inputs..

 

[Pete C]

You would do better with a Ring pr ctek dc-dc charging controller, both support regenerative braking and have solar inputs..

Thanks for responding - something like the C-Tek D250S ?

I guess what I would really like is a triple input device of this type, but I could always switch the solar/mains battery charger into the 2nd input on the D250S.

Pete

 

[snoop6060]

The ctek 250s is dual input, so you cannot use it as a mains battery charger too. Just get a decent intelligent battery charger to go alongside the ctek, like one of Victron ones. No switch or manual intervention needed then.

 

[Loz]

The newer D250sa also copes with the regerative alternators we have.

 

[andys]

I've been very impressed with my D250sa so far, but I would mention one strange glitch. Three times now I've heard my Thinkware say "Shutting down due to low battery" which has never happened before. I'm not concerned as the van still started each time without hesitation, but is it a sign that the Ctek really pulls as much as it possibly can from the starter battery, which could have implications when the starter battery starts to get a bit older? I'll stick a voltmeter on the starter battery when I get chance, and also check what voltage I told the Thinkware to shut down at.

 

[snoop6060]

My thinkware f700 has started doing this too. I just attributed it to the fact that's it's a royal PITA. I thought it was talking about it own battery not the vehicles. Makes sense what you say tho.

As an aside the thinkware does my head in!

 

[andys]

I like Thinkwares, have one on the van and one in the car. I don't have the parking mode enabled on the car but this is the first time in 6 months+ of having the van that it's done this, and it's too much of a coincidence not to be something to do with the change of battery charger