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We have a Geist Spirit 6650 motorhome fitted with Electrobloc EBL
99G and a 60watt solar battery charger system.
We need to leave the camper unoccupied on site without mains power
for 10 weeks and want to know whether the solar charger will maintain
both the living area battery and the vehicle battery in good condition?
I am afraid not. The vehicle battery will only get a float charge on a hookup.
There are various ways around it, the simplest being to run a wire from hab battery positive (+) to vehicle battery positive with a 10 amp inline fuse. Actually, with a 60 watt panel, a 5 amp fuse would do you.
Others will be along with some of the other options but if this is a one off situation, why spend a lot of money.
My Uncle Moishe drummed that into me.
______________________________________________________________ Diplomacy is overrated.
"The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage". Thucydides 460 - 404 BC
As 747 said it is a good easy way to go. I have told loads of M/Homers to charge batteries this way. Use at least 1.5mm cable 2.5mm is better less volt drop. Still use a 5 to 10 amp inline fuse
If your panel is connected to a Schaudt LRS1218 solar regulator (or the earlier LRS1214) and this is connected to the EBL99, not directly to the leisure battery, then the starter battery will also be charged by the panel. The leisure battery(ies) have priority. If your panel is connected via some other regulator (probably straight to the leisure battery) then the starter battery will not be charged, and one of the solutions suggested earlier may be required. Alternatively, buy a Schaudt LRS1218 and connect it between the panel and the EBL.
http://www.aireandsun.co.uk/index.php?item=73
yep , they are the ways to get power to all batteries, but looking at my 60w which is still fitted on days like today i m lucky to catch it sending 2w to the batteries .....
I have a VanBitz Battery Master fitted that trickles juice from my 60W solar panel and what used to be an iffy starter battery when left for long periods, starts from a full battery every time now.
Alan
I'm not offering this as advice as it may well be way off the mark, however we bought a new to us van recently and it has an 85 watt solar system, the battery and solar terminals are connected as expected, however it also had wires on the load terminals. I traced these load wires and they went to the engine battery, I assume this was a mechanism to charge the engine battery as I can't think of any other reason for it being connected like that.
With my limited knowledge in this area I have the following assumptions which may be wrong;
1. As the load connection is an output; power won't run back from the engine battery through the charge controller.
2. As the engine battery won't actively be trying to draw power maybe nothing happens in this scenario.
3. Maybe if the voltage present at the load terminals from the panel is higher than the voltage in the engine battery, the battery will be charged.
4. Maybe the charge controller is designed that it can charge a battery through the load terminals.
Lots of maybe's I know, I'm just posting this as it may be something you would want to consider researching and a similar setup may solve your problem.
Hopefully someone that knows more will post about this, it's just that I can't think of another reason why it was connected this way. I had a spare solar charge controller so removed the load wires to the second controller which is fed from its own panel.
I believe that some form or relay device is required to protect the system, which is where the VanBitz Battery Master comes in. There is plenty information on both these pages and from www.vanbitz.com/product/Battery_Master_BMaster.
Good luck!
Alan
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