guphware

The batteries have only dipped below 12v on two occasions, both in the last few weeks. When we notice them getting towards 12v the charger we currently have goes on to keep them topped up. The solar panel has actually kept them at around 14v for most of the day today as we've had a clear sunny day here, so we've had no issues at all, the batteries lasted fine over night. We don't think they're shot, but agree that if we don't get a proper charger fitted then we will have problems in the foreseeable future. We've just ordered a C-Tek, for delivery tomorrow. Thank you for advising on the brand. Just to clarify, our engineer advised the Sterling chargers, although brilliant, are known to have compatibility problems with certain solar control panels - ours being one of them, so he advised we looked at other brands.

Hi all, Thanks for all the replies. Just to clarify - the batteries themselves are fine (as far as we can tell), but once the sun goes down and the solar is no longer topping up the batteries the charge in the batteries is used through the evening on lighting the boat, keeping the fridge on, use of the water pump for washing etc. By morning we still have charge but not quite enough to have the light/fan on in the bathroom, the shower pump and water pump going to shower 2 adults. During the summer we had no problems whatsoever, we even ran the TV on the inverter for a few hours as well as all the above. We know we're not getting as much charge now, and as someone pointed out as liveaboards with only one solar we knew we would struggle, hence the need for a charger to top up as well. We did look at Sterling but were advised against them because, apparently, they don't play happily with our solar charge controller. Victron has been mentioned to us before, so we'll look at them. We were interested in how more experienced boaters managed it. Some great suggestions coming back, so thank you. Good to know it is okay to have both solar charger and 240v charger connected to the batteries at the same time. Wasn't sure if the different charging algorithms would try and compete with each other or something.

Hi all, We currently have 3 x 125ah leisure batteries powering the fridge, lighting (mostly LED) and water/waste pumps. The bank is charged by a single solar panel through an EPSolar MPPT charge controller. This was fine during the summer but with winter fast approaching we are finding that come the morning there isn't enough juice to power the pumps for a shower. We are mostly marina based so would like to add in a mains charger to top up the batteries once night falls. Electricity is metered so would only want to charge from shore power when necessary. Currently we achieve this by attaching a car battery charger using crocodile clips - it works but isn't a viable long term solution. The charger only has trickle or fast charge and is manually selected. I was also a little wary that I might be sending current to the solar panel instead of away from it, but it hasn't blown up yet So, my questions are: Is there such a device available that I can connect both the solar and a 240V charger to and it automatically selects which input to charge the batteries with, prioritising the solar? Maybe even with automatic health programming to allow the batteries to discharge periodically to keep them healthy? Failing that, if I just get a decent 240V charger that automatically switches charge mode, will there be any problems permanently connecting that directly to the batteries in addition to the solar, and just turn it on when required? Or should I connect them via, say, a rocker switch to manually change from solar charging or 240V charging? What fuses would be required? Can someone recommend a decent multistage 240V charger? I'm sure I'll think of something else as soon as I've posted this, but it will do for starters :-) Thanks in advance.