SOLAR QUESTION -BATTERY MASTER (1 Viewer)

[iammerlin]

I have noted that it is a good idea to get a "battery master" so that any excess energy generated by a solar panel to the leasure battery is then trickled to the main cab battery. Do I need this, as the MH I have is a 2013 Burstner and I seem to remember reading that it has the facility, when on EHU and the leasure battery is charged, to then pass a trickle charge to the main battery. Having installed a 150W panel with a MPPT charge controler connected just to the leasure battery, will the system not facilitate a trickle charge to the main battery? Or do I have to add the extra battery master. Thank you all in anticipation of some pearls of wisdom as I may currently be blissfully ignorant!!

 

[the1andonly]

I know nothing about how your burstner is set up, however, to test if you have a charge going to cab do as follows.
Check cab voltage and LB with no solar input ie in dark or with panel covered or disconnected.
Check again with solar active ie connected in daylight.
If cab same and you have charge going to lesuire bat then no charge
If voltage higher then we have charge.
This assumes you are not running the engine and no ehu charging.
Also assumes you have a dmm, digital multimeter or voltmeter, check at batteries and not any control panel displays.

 

[iammerlin]

Wow that was quick..Thanks for the input.
So there is a chance that the system may do as I thought..That would be good. I will get the Multimeter out and follow the advice..but I am off to Spain (flying) on Monday so better doff the cap and do as the Wife needs! Lol
Upon my return I will follow your words of wisdom.Thanks again

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[funflair]

It depends on what box of tricks is sending the charge to the starter battery when you are on hook up, very often it is set up to only start feeding the starter battery when the leisure batteries reach a threshold of something like 13.6V so for this to work with solar the leisure battery bank needs to be fully charged and plenty of sun which is not always the case, the "battery master" and a couple of others work differently and may well do what you want but first you need to work out what you already have.

 

[The Wino]

It sounds like our system our solar only charges the hab battery but when on mains the vehicle battery gets a charge once the vehicle battery is fully charged. We thought about a battery master but as we leave it on hook-up at home have decided its probably not worth it.

 

[Diabalo]

My Autotrail has the ability to charge both the hab and cab batteries via solar, it works well in the summer months but not in the winter. Due to the parasitic drain from the Sargent control unit in the winter I shut it down and rely on a Vanbitz battery master to keep the cab battery topped up, it works a lot better for my van setup.

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[Stealaway]

I think your biggest problem will be feeding a pair of 4mm cable's to be starter battery

 

[Richard n Ann]

Our mppt Votronic Duo solar controller maintains the starter battery with up to 1 amp. All I did was thread a 0.5mm cable to the positive battery terminal

 

[The Wino]

I think your biggest problem will be feeding a pair of 4mm cable's to be starter battery

It might not be needed. When I looked at fitting a battery master I was planning to fit it between the two battery relays as they have an unswitched positive from each battery. Also I thought 2.5mm was fine its only a low ampage from a battery master. I'd also looked at the vitronic battery maintainer does it work well?

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[Stealaway]

I did what I know best. KISS
I fitted a dual battery solar controller and ran two sets of cables totally independent of everything else.
With this setup you can adjust the charging priority summer or winter

 

[The Wino]

I did what I know best. KISS
I fitted a dual battery solar controller and ran two sets of cables totally independent of everything else.
With this setup you can adjust the charging priority summer or winter

But that's different to a battery master. Depending on your setup all the power from your solar could go to the vehicle battery a battery master only supplies 1.1 amp maximum I'm no expert but the 4mm cable would be way over the top.
Just put it through the calculator it says 1.5mm sq but I think the votronic one recommends 2.5mmsq

 

[Stealaway]

Yeah sorry
Battery master is completely different and a ok alternative but I still thought you would need to run some new cables to the starter battery

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[Richard n Ann]

But that's different to a battery master. Depending on your setup all the power from your solar could go to the vehicle battery a battery master only supplies 1.1 amp maximum I'm no expert but the 4mm cable would be way over the top.
Just put it through the calculator it says 1.5mm sq but I think the votronic one recommends 2.5mmsq

I used the 0.5mm cable I put in for the battery monitor seeing as it was already in with a 5a fuse. Works great, I can check the voltage with the monitor and it's usually on 13 point something. Means we can use the van radio

 

[David and Sally]

Our 2019 Burstner did not charge the cab battery from solar. The solar controller will have wiring to the cab if yours does. We added a BM

 

[Stealaway]

Our 2019 Burstner did not charge the cab battery from solar. The solar controller will have wiring to the cab if yours does. We added a BM

My 2019 690g came with just that.
I added a second solar panel but using the existing wiring and fitted a 20A dual battery controller.

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[autorouter]

Does your Burstner have an Electroblock (EBL), and if so what number is it? Most EBLs have a mains charger that has a trickle charge output for the starter battery. However it's only the internal mains charger that does this, so anything like solar or a second charger won't necessarily do this.

There are dual battery solar controllers that are designed to trickle charge a starter battery as well as charge a leisure battery. Votronic Duo or the Schaudt LRM for example.

If you already have a solar controller and are happy with it, then a Battery Master is a good option. Because it's a trickle charger, the amps is very low, so a thin wire is quite OK. It needs a connection to the starter battery and the leisure battery. A convenient place (in theory) is the split charge relay, which already has a heavy-duty connection to both batteries. However that relay is probably built into the EBL, so you might need to investigate the connections further. The EBL models are all slightly different, so the wiring details will vary.