Starter Battery Trickle Charge from Solar?

[Wissel]

Hey all,

What would be the best solution for trickle charging the vehicle battery from solar/ehu, if this wasn't taken care of by existing chargers?

Thanks,

David

 

[eddie]

A wire, a switch and two fuses

 

[eddie]

A wire, a switch and two fuses

And if you want to get “techy” a diode

 

[Wissel]

And if you want to get “techy” a diode

Hey Eddie, if you were say, fitting a complete Victron charger setup, and the setup needed SB charge as well, what would you recommend?
I guess your Battery Master?

Thanks.

EDIT: With LiFePO4

 

[funflair]

Hopefully Eddie say yes to that as I have just fitted a battery master between our LiFePO4 battery bank and the starter battery, our solar does trickle charge the starter but not when it's in a shed.

Martin

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[Flamenca]

Like others, I fitted a wire with fuse, switch and diode. I removed my 'battery master' as I did not find it very effective.

 

[eddie]

Like others, I fitted a wire with fuse, switch and diode. I removed my 'battery master' as I did not find it very effective.

Why? Was it one of mine or a "copy"?

 

[eddie]

Hey Eddie, if you were say, fitting a complete Victron charger setup, and the setup needed SB charge as well, what would you recommend?
I guess your Battery Master?

Thanks.

EDIT: With LiFePO4

Hopefully Eddie say yes to that as I have just fitted a battery master between our LiFePO4 battery bank and the starter battery, our solar does trickle charge the starter but not when it's in a shed.

Martin

Oooooooo Never do that

Yes we have had no issues whatsoever and we have fitted a lot of Lithium

 

[LesW]

I 'fitted' a battery master, works perfectly, keeping both leisure and starter batteries fully charged all year round.

 

[Wissel]

Yes we have had no issues whatsoever and we have fitted a lot of Lithium

Thanks Eddie, I didn't know if the lower charging voltage of LiFePO4 would stop it working properly (I know the Votronic version doesn't work with LiFePO4, I guess due to voltage).

That will do then. I'll add your Battery Master to my possible shopping list

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[eddie]

I 'fitted' a battery master, works perfectly, keeping both leisure and starter batteries fully charged all year round.

If it is one of ours, fitted properly then a 1amp trickle charge should be more than enough to keep up with the chassis electrics quiescent drain

If it is one of the copies that only works when the leisure battery reaches a certain voltage they often fall flat on their face in the winter when the solar panels fail to raise the leisure battery voltage high enough to work!

Daft really!

 

[eddie]

Thanks Eddie, I didn't know if the lower charging voltage of LiFePO4 would stop it working properly (I know the Votronic version doesn't work with LiFePO4, I guess due to voltage).

That will do then. I'll add your Battery Master to my possible shopping list

Cheapest place on the Internet is the motorhomers friend the MotorhomeFun Shop!

 

[Flamenca]

Why? Was it one of mine or a "copy"?

No Eddie. Not one of yours. It was manufactured in Italy. I thought that is where they all come from?

 

[eddie]

No Eddie. Not one of yours. It was manufactured in Italy. I thought that is where they all come from?

No the Battery Master was designed by me, originally made by me at night after I spent all day fitting alarms, and eventually I got a local small batch manufacturer to tidy up the design and manufacture them commercially.

 

[funflair]

No Eddie. Not one of yours. It was manufactured in Italy. I thought that is where they all come from?

If it was a CBE unit (Italian) then it would have the threshold of 13.6v that Eddie referred to earlier, so that means that it will not put anything over to the starter battery when the habitation is below that value, as far as I know Eddies is the only one that works differently in that it works on a differential in the voltages of the two batteries of about 0.65v from memory. So for example we have 320ah of LiFePO4 sat at about 13.2v so as soon as the starter battery gets to around 12.55v the "battery master" will do it's stuff

On our last van we had both the Italian CBE CSB2 that needed the threshold value of 13.6v which worked fine in good sun and then we had a "battery master" as well for when the van was in a shed and the habitation batteries would never reach the 13.6v level so then Gel batteries sitting at 13.ov for example the "battery master" would click in when the starter battery hit 12.35v.



Martin

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[Littlewheels]

Cheapest place on the Internet is the motorhomers friend the MotorhomeFun Shop!

How do you access the Shop? I can't seem to find any reference to it.

 

[funflair]

How do you access the Shop? I can't seem to find any reference to it.

Motorhomefun Shop

 

[Flamenca]

If it was a CBE unit (Italian) then it would have the threshold of 13.6v that Eddie referred to earlier, so that means that it will not put anything over to the starter battery when the habitation is below that value, as far as I know Eddies is the only one that works differently in that it works on a differential in the voltages of the two batteries of about 0.65v from memory. So for example we have 320ah of LiFePO4 sat at about 13.2v so as soon as the starter battery gets to around 12.55v the "battery master" will do it's stuff

On our last van we had both the Italian CBE CSB2 that needed the threshold value of 13.6v which worked fine in good sun and then we had a "battery master" as well for when the van was in a shed and the habitation batteries would never reach the 13.6v level so then Gel batteries sitting at 13.ov for example the "battery master" would click in when the starter battery hit 12.35v.



Martin

Thanks for the detailed information. That explains why my Italian device did not perform as I expected resulting in me ripping it out!

 

[Dorset Diver]

Motorhomefun Shop

My computer says the target of the link is unsafe. Why would that be?

 

[Pausim]

Hey all,

What would be the best solution for trickle charging the vehicle battery from solar/ehu, if this wasn't taken care of by existing chargers?

Thanks,

David

I started off with one of these because I had one lying around at home.

Sterling Power Battery Maintainer 12/12V 3A ? BM12123

Sterling Power Battery Maintainer 12/12V 3A ? BM12123 product brought to you by BMS Technologies LTD Offering free next working day delivery.

www.batterymegastore.co.uk

Because I have a LiFePO4 hab battery which stays at or above the 13.3V trigger point most of the time it was active most of the time. This proved wasteful and my Efoy fuel cell was using more fuel than it needed to.

I replaced it with one of these
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-...0001&campid=5338547443&icep_item=303591402831
and one of these, because I could then set the output voltage to suit the engine battery.

Victron Energy Orion-Tr 12/12V 9A (110W) Isolated DC-DC Converter - ORI121210110R

Victron Energy Orion-Tr 12/12V 9A (110W) Isolated DC-DC Converter - ORI121210110R product brought to you by BMS Technologies LTD Offering free next working day delivery.

www.batterymegastore.co.uk

It works really well. For 15 minutes a day it powers up and sends several amps from the hab battery to the engine battery. Both batteries are fine and the Efoy cuts in every week or two to top up the hab battery.

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[eddie]

My computer says the target of the link is unsafe. Why would that be?

Dodgy computer? lol

 

[funflair]

My computer says the target of the link is unsafe. Why would that be?

Mine said the same but I told it not to worry.

M

 

[Floydster]

Mine said the same but I told it not to worry.

M

Same here

 

[Two on Tour]

Fitted a Batter Master when we had a wet lead acid leisure battery, then switched over to a LifePo4 leisure battery and the Battery Master has performed faultlessly with the lithium battery.

 

[Gromett]

My computer says the target of the link is unsafe. Why would that be?

I have just looked at this and will fix it shortly. Thanks for letting us know.

It is currently using a self signed certificate instead of a one with a intermediate CA authority.

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[Gromett]

My computer says the target of the link is unsafe. Why would that be?

Try now please. Should all be good if you refresh.

 

[Dorset Diver]

Mine said the same but I told it not to worry.

M

Mine is stubborn and argumentative and still resisting .

 

[Floydster]

Mines fine now, thanks Gromett

 

[TinaLes]

We have an Eddievanvbitz Battery Master also, hell knows how it works, as it didn't come with a circuit diagram, and the whole thing has been dropped in a bucket of resin to make it tamper proof, water proof.
Thank Eddie.
LES

 

[Dorset Diver]

Try now please. Should all be good if you refresh.

It now goes directly to the site without protest but also says it is "not secure".

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