Battery charging with dc battery charger/regulator and solar (Sterling)

[catlotion]

I know this is a (very) common topic, but couldn't find an exact answer. I posted a query on the Sterling website:

I'm interested in either the Alternator to Battery or Battery to Battery charger but not sure what is most suitable.

We have two 110ah domestic batteries and one 70ah engine battery which we'd like to charge from our Volvo engine with a 60A alternator. We also want to fit 100w solar panels and a Nasa battery monitor.

Can the solar panels be connected to either of the chargers without an additional regulator? Can the battery monitor be wired in normally?

thanks. ​

and received the following response: "You need solar reg. Connect to domestic bat wire amo hr ctr as normal". That was it. Not the clearest response! I've heard bad things about their customer service and this seems consistent with that. Maybe an alternative (Adverc?)

Has anyone got a set up like this?

cheers

 

[RAI]

Mr. Sterling does tend to give terse responses, I guess he gets a lot of email inquiries. Count yourself lucky, to a very similar question from me, I got the answer: "DC is DC". I saw his point.
So get a solar regulator (an MPPT one would be best) and connect it to the domestic battery bank. If you want your Nasa battery monitor to measure all the current flow, then all the current must pass through its shunt.

 

[Pete7]

Suggest you start by planning the layout and then wiring the battery monitor shunt in first. This must fit between the batteries and everything else. You may decide to leave the engine start battery out and just monitor the house bank as we do. You are going to end up with a lot of connections needing joining together, suggest you use a pair of blue sea electrical bars rather than trying to get half a dozen wires all on the same shunt post, then fit one HD wire from the electrical bar to the shunt.

If you have several 100w solar panels you may not need the alternator or battery to battery chargers, saving a few quid.

There are some examples of wiring layouts on the sterling website in the various product installation instructions.

Pete

 

[catlotion]

quick update - just spoke to a chap at Sterling and he was very knowledgeable and helpful so glad I called. I think I'm clear now...