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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.

Just starting to think about solar as otherwise I'll be missing out on "free" power this summer. Looks like I'll want an mppt type controller and a fairly hefty one at that. 60a Victron coming in at best part of £300, other much cheaper options available so I'm after your thoughts and suggestions, please. It may be that I'll be wanting to start of with one solar panel due to budget constraints and add them as I go - hopefully ending up with several 100/150w panels, or maybe more. That's if I can ever decide between flexi's and rigids. But the ability to just add on more panels would be good. I heard there is a thing called a combiner also? Or do some mppts do that too? Am I correct in thinking that you can have more power (in terms of panels) than the mppt can use, so it just goes to waste rather than damages anything? As I'm thinking that the main advantage of having lots of panels would be not so much peak output under ideal conditions, but to still get something worthwhile out of them at other times. thanks

Hi, My narrow boat came with two solar panels: 1. Uni-Solar US-64 MC - http://www.energoberen.hr/index.php/en/Fotonaponski-Moduli/Uni-Solar-US-64-MC.html 2. Suntech STP065-12/Sb - http://www.arcmansolar.com/products/53.aspx?cid=7-12-11 I took apart the cabling used by the previous owner while painting the boat and I am just about to put it back together. I noticed the + and - cables on both the panels are approx 4mm2 but the previous owner had connected both cables up to 2.5mm2 cable and run it to the solar panel controller (Pro Star 30 - http://www.morningstarcorp.com/pro-star). I was just wondering if this is safe and/or able to receive the maximum amount of charge? i.e. Should I buy some new cable, if so what thickness or should I just use the 2.5mm2 cable the previous owner used? Many thanks for any information and advice you can provide!