C tek dual D250S charger anyone?

[CazPaul]

Does anyone else have one?

We have 2 100 ah batteries and 165 watt of solar.

If the batteries are around 85%-90% discharged then the ctek puts in around 10 amps,( sometimes 9amps, then 12amps, then 10.5amps etc). We have a Victron battery monitor.

Does this sound about right, the ctek is a 20amp unit but I presume that 20amps would be if the battery was 50% discharged as 20amps is the maximum. Or is ours not working correctly?

Has anybody ever fitted the Smartpass unit with this charger and have you found a big difference? After a night or 2 wild camping in winter which we love need to put some juice back in quickly before the next stop, say from 85% discharge. This 2005 Eberspacher heater doesn't half use a lot of power.

We have always had Sterling B2B's and found them great.

Another thing I have noticed is that the solar side of this charger is no where near as good as our old Votronic mppt charger.

Regards.

Paul.

 

[ericroy]

Yes, we have the CTEK D250S with 240 watts of solar panel and 225Ah of batteries. We see a similar charge rate of 10-12A from the alternator but, as our batteries are rarely below 80% charge (according to our NASA BM1 monitor), I do not find this especially surprising. We are OK with that and have not felt it worth spending the extra to get the SMARTPASS.

I do know of someone with 400Ah of batteries who has fitted both D250S and the SMARTPASS but have not heard yet how that performs. The efficacy (how often do you get to use that word?) might be limited by alternator output. Do you have a heavier duty alternator capable of feeding a thirsty SMARTPASS?

 

[CazPaul]

Thanks Ericroy. It sounds as if the engine charging side of it is working as it should do. The original split charge we had was rubbish it used to put in 5amps from 90% and then trickle to virtually nothing as the percentage went up.

Think the alternator is 90amp one.

Have you monitored the ctek against a previous solar charger, as I say ours is no where near as good as the previous Votronic mppt one.

Paul.

 

[ericroy]

No, we went for the CTEK D250S from day 1 on our self-build. Up until September, the solar alone provided more than we needed even taking into account our compressor fridge.

For more information on the build I mentioned using both CTEK D250S and SMARTPASS, see .

Foolish me! "wissel" is a member on here and has posted his experiences already at http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/ctek-d250s-dual-and-smartpass-review.72045/

 

[PhilandMena]

If the batteries are around 85%-90% discharged then the ctek puts in around 10 amps,( sometimes 9amps, then 12amps, then 10.5amps etc). We have a Victron battery monitor.

You should never, never alow your batteries to discharge by this amount. (Probably knackered now) absolute maximum 50%, ideally no more than 25%.

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[CazPaul]

You should never, never alow your batteries to discharge by this amount. (Probably knackered now) absolute maximum 50%, ideally no more than 25%.

http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/insurance/motorhome-insurance/preserving-your-motorhome-battery/

No I mean 85%-90% remaining in them.

Paul.

 

[mjltigger]

Probably. But not definitely.. mine has recovered from reading under 6v to now being fully charged... Had already bought a new one so now keeping it as a spare.

 

[jonandshell]

You should never, never alow your batteries to discharge by this amount. (Probably knackered now) absolute maximum 50%, ideally no more than 25%.

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It depends on your battery quality.

We discharge to 80% (11.65 open circuit voltage) and our traction monoblocs are 7 years old now.

I know Banner leisure batteries will soak up similar discharge duties with no problems.

The 50% rule is good to prolong the life of rebadged starter batteries sold as deep discharge types, so it is a good rule of thumb for those with mere mortal batteries onboard!