Solar charging vehicle battery

KernowCdo

New Member
Hi all,
I’m not sure if this has been covered before, I’ve looked through the threads and can’t see anything like this.

I’ve got a 2010 4 motion SWB T6.

It has got a factory fitted Leisure battery ( and I presume a factory fitted split charge system ) to which I have added a second Leisure battery ( parallel connection ).
I have fitted 4x 80 Watt solar panels to the roof, which are connected to the Leisure batteries via a solar charge controller.
Is there a way I can connect the charge controller from the solar to the vehicle battery to maintain that battery ?
If I add a second split charge relay, will it conflict with the original one ?

Thank you for your time and help with this matter.
 
I believe that the Ctek smartpass System enables this, but it may only work with the Ctek split charge circuitry.
 
I have a votronic mppt solar controller which mainly charges the leisure battery but it also provides a low output into the starter battery for when the vehicle is left for long periods.

Also, you could get a battery master (or similar) which allows current to flow from leisure to starter battery when the starter battery is significantly less full than the leisure battery.
 
Thank you for your assistance with this.
I’m not sure which way I will resolve the issue but will update you when I have.
Regards.
 
Seeing as the factory fitted split charge is just a basic relay switched by the BCM, you could replace it with a 2 way voltage sensing relay like a Duratec. These close when the voltage goes over a certain level on either side of the relay. This would allow your starter battery to be charged by your solar panels.
 
I would advise using a "trend monitoring" VSR like the Cyrix_CT to avoid relay cycling on and off as the extra load comes on line and drops the voltage below the switching threshold of the relay.
 
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