ChrisCM Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 Hi Guys, I have recently fitted 100w x 2 Victron Solar panels charging 190Ah battery bank via a Victron 75/15 solar charge controller to my PVC. I've noticed over the past few weeks that whereas my Leisure Batteries are always showing a very healthy state of charge the Starter Battery has slowly declined over the past few weeks, I've topped up the battery with a Ctek Smart charger but I think a better solution would be to use a battery to battery trickle charger such as these: https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/votronic-12v-standby-charger-trickle-charger.html https://sterling-power.com/products/battery-to-battery-charger-maintainer They both seem to have roughly the same specifications The Votronic outputs 3A to the starter battery but the cut in voltage isn't specified, the Sterling unit cuts in at 13.3V and outputs 1-2A. The Votronic unit is about £20 cheaper but the specs of the Sterling (nice low trickle charge) and the info supplied seems better. Has anyone used either of these units? What are your views? Recommendations? Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 At the price of Sterling it must be close to being worth ditching your Victron and getting a twin output charge controller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCM Posted October 1, 2019 Author Share Posted October 1, 2019 I rather like the functionality of the Victron (apart from the dual charging), It has a bluetooth connection to my iPhone/iPad which gives me real time and historic charging info, also links to my inverter and battery monitor so the cost of say the Sterling unit @ £50 it's far better value than switching to a completely new dual controller without the functionality of the victron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickVanBitz Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 There are several products on the market that offer the ability to send a reliable trickle charge from Leisure to Engine, this is one we have had going since the late 90's and still going on today: https://www.vanbitz.com/product/battery-master/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deneb Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 Votronic solar regulators all include a facility to direct a small maintenance charge to the vehicle battery. I'm surprised that the Victron doesn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 Probably the cheapest well regarded solution is the CBE CSB2. The specs are transparent re operating voltages etc. Should do what you want. (Though be careful with any solution if it parallels vehicle battery charging from the mains charger) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCM Posted October 1, 2019 Author Share Posted October 1, 2019 Yes, it is a bit surprising! They actually do do one with twin battery charging but it appears to me to be a rebadged version of the cheap generic Chinese chargers. It’s a PWM controller and doesn’t have blue tooth or the other connectivity of the MPPT controllers. https://www.victronenergy.com/solar-charge-controllers/bluesolar-pwm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCM Posted October 1, 2019 Author Share Posted October 1, 2019 Thanks, I’ll take a look at the CBE. Re your warning re paralleling, my factory fitted psu/charger, an EC155, only charges either the leisure or starter battery when on mains hook up not both together so shouldn’t happen ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirou Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 The only thing bothering me about the CBE unit is the low voltage disconnect. At 12.5V almost all VRLA batteries will already be quite discharged. I really don't see the point why that's chosen as the limit. It could just as well be 13.2V or so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirou Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 Nick, what are the connect/disconnect parameters of your product? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickVanBitz Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 spirou - 2019-10-01 2:52 PM Nick, what are the connect/disconnect parameters of your product? The Battery Master remains at a 0.5/0.6v difference between the Leisure and Engine Battery Voltages. This means if there is no input from Solar or Mains, the Battery Master will offer support from the unused leisure batteries if the power is available. Even with the lowest of input from the solar in winter months and there is that 0.5/0.6v difference, it will send up to 1.8A from the Leisure side to the Engine Battery so it doesn't wait for confirmation that one Battery Bank is charged before offering support to the other. This can be of significance when using Dual Regulators/Some Mains chargers, as some only send power to the Secondary Battery connection once the Primary has reached a certain level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 spirou - 2019-10-01 2:49 PM The only thing bothering me about the CBE unit is the low voltage disconnect. At 12.5V almost all VRLA batteries will already be quite discharged. I really don't see the point why that's chosen as the limit. It could just as well be 13.2V or so AIUI, 12.5V is well above the 'recommended' maximum 50% discharge for any battery type, and I would interpret it as being there to protect the same in pretty unusual circumstances. Under normal circumstances, one would expect the unit to kick in at "charging" voltage, and charge both banks. One would also expect the demand from the vehicle battery to be low in most everyday circumstances. Whilst ever charging remains present, there really should be little issue, particularly if the vehicle battery is satisfied. Any possible (but mainly unlikely) concerns arise when the charging is removed. At that point, any residual demand from the vehicle battery might be satisfied from the leisure battery(ies). This is unlikely to be high demand under most real circumstances; the worst common case would be that of a vehicle battery under constant drain over time being charged by unreplenished leisure batteries then you would end up with 'disconnected' undamaged leisure batteries, albeit depleted, and probably a still workable starter battery. Seems OK to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirou Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 As it happens we just got rid of our old van this morning and got the new one an hour later :) Anyway, on the old one we had a victron cyrix VSR that separated the batteries at 12.8V. Which is perfectly fine for most batteries. However, our gel leisure battery had a resting voltage of 13.2V, Varta LFD is supposed to have a resting voltage of 12.95V etc. Clearly a disconnect at 12.8 or even lower is not a satisfactory solution in such cases. The starter battery (with a resting voltage around 12.5) keeps draining the leisure battery until both are at the same voltage or until the VSR/whatever kicks in and disconnects. If, on the other hand, the disconnect voltage would be something like 13.2+V, or even better with a D+ signal, then you know the connection is only active under charging conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 spirou - 2019-10-02 12:38 PM If, on the other hand, the disconnect voltage would be something like 13.2+V, or even better with a D+ signal, then you know the connection is only active under charging conditions. ....but that your starter battery may continue to drain. If you're simply looking to split the charge, then fine. If you're also looking to safely protect against vehicle battery drain whilst laid up without charge, then not so fine. You pays your money..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCM Posted October 22, 2019 Author Share Posted October 22, 2019 I got the Sterling battery maintainer. Easy to wire up and seems to work well with a healthy 13v+ on the starter battery. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveandlisa Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 We have the CSB2-CBE fitted to our motorhome via solar panel or EHU. It really takes the worry out of flat batteries. https://www.cbe.it/en/csb2/ Very simple to wire in too ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niktam Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 We have a Truma dual controller and 100w solar panel fitted but it is only wired up to the single leisure battery an AGM. I'm told that the controller will not over charge the battery. Clearly the instructions state that you can wire a second battery to the controller preferably the same type but of course the van battery is a wet acid so the controller should be set to AGM(for both). Evidently, Peugeot advise against anything permanently attached to the van battery. Has anyone conected the van battery to a controller and solar as well? Reading the specifications the Marquis(special) Autoquest range has both batteries connected already? I just want to keep the van battery topped up due to the loss from the alarm system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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