Charger and solar panel permanently connected to battery ?

[jakeroyd]

At present I have a CTek 8amp intelligent charger and a Marlins 13w solar panel.
The solar panel connects to the battery via a regulator.

Normally I connect which ever I need at the time. But this does mean having lots of trailing cables.

I am planning to connect both permanently to the battery.

Its a single battery system.

The solar charger can be disconnected from the regulator when not in use leaving the regulator wired to the battery.

My question is will this cause any problems.
The charger will boost the battery voltage to say 14 odd volts when charging ramping down to its maintained voltage. The regulator will see this.

The regulator can be turned off but I do not know if this is a double pole switch etc.

Can forumites please advise if this will cause any issue with the battery , charger or solar panel.

I guess the charger could be running when the solar panel is also charging.

Tia

 

[VicS]

You dont say what type of regulator... not that I'd expect that to make any difference.

Unless the instructions for the CTek or the regulator say otherwise I'd leave both systems connected and operational ( via appropriate fuses of course) although unless you have some drain on the battery ( bilge pump etc) with a solar charger in operation you should not need to leave the Ctek operating

 

[jakeroyd]

Thanks Vic
As you say I don't know what type of regulator a simple one I think.

I should have mentioned that the panel has a diode to prevent discharge at night.

The CTek has an automatic float charge mode and a maintain mode for use where there is a drain on the battery.

 

[BruceDanforth]

I have a battery charger (not always plugged in) and a solar panel (10w) both permanently connected to a single battery with no regulator. It has been set up like that for several years and nothing bad has happened.

 

[VicS]

Thanks Vic
As you say I don't know what type of regulator a simple one I think.

I should have mentioned that the panel has a diode to prevent discharge at night.

The CTek has an automatic float charge mode and a maintain mode for use where there is a drain on the battery.

The simple regulators, the ones that disconnect the panel when the battery volts reach a certain level an reconnect when they fall to some lower leve,l are apparently not the most efficient / effective in fully charging the battery.

PWM ( pulse width modulation) is better.

MPPT ( max power point tracking) ought to be the best but their are a lot of cheap MPPT regulators about that are not so effective at MPPT as others.

( so I learn mostly from those who know on these forums )

There has also been debate about the diode. One argument is that the nighttime discharge is so low that you loose more through the volts drop across the diode when it's charging than you save when it isn't.

My panel has a built in diode. I don't use a regulator because the panel is small enough not to need one. I don't have a battery charger on board.

 

[vyv_cox]

I have solar panels controlled by a dual bank PWM controller that are permanently connected to domestic and starter banks and a mains charger permanently connected to the domestic bank. At times the mains charger and solar panels are charging the domestic bank, although usually when this happens the controller switches the solar charge to the starter battery. Have had this arrangement for well over 10 years, no problems at all.

 

[doug748]

A schoolboy point, but:

Any wiring, joints, tags, or switches that are always left live, need to be impeccable. Careful placing of the fuse helps but there is often an unprotected run. A dead short can be a very lively affair.

 

[nigelmercier]

My new CTEK chargers came with ring terminals for direct connection to the battery. No fuse.

 

[vyv_cox]

A schoolboy point, but:

Any wiring, joints, tags, or switches that are always left live, need to be impeccable. Careful placing of the fuse helps but there is often an unprotected run. A dead short can be a very lively affair.

Very true. When I posted the picture below around a month ago I avoided giving any detail about the cause in case any insurance claim might be adversely affected. We now know that the liveaboard owners were uninsured. The owner had upgraded his solar panels in the few days that he was in the boatyard. The panels were probably not fitted with fuses and we know nothing of the quality of the work done. Within hours of launching this was the result.

 

[whiteoaks7]

At present I have a CTek 8amp intelligent charger and a Marlins 13w solar panel.
The solar panel connects to the battery via a regulator.

Normally I connect which ever I need at the time. But this does mean having lots of trailing cables.

I am planning to connect both permanently to the battery.

Its a single battery system.

The solar charger can be disconnected from the regulator when not in use leaving the regulator wired to the battery.

My question is will this cause any problems.
The charger will boost the battery voltage to say 14 odd volts when charging ramping down to its maintained voltage. The regulator will see this.

The regulator can be turned off but I do not know if this is a double pole switch etc.

Can forumites please advise if this will cause any issue with the battery , charger or solar panel.

I guess the charger could be running when the solar panel is also charging.

Tia

You don't need a regulator on a 13W panel (you do mean 13, not 130?). The most current you would get is less than an Amp on the brightest day at noon and into any 'normal' sized battery this wouldn't lift the voltage to a level that would give concern. Even though you have a diode in the panel to do what you want I would fit a Schottky diode between the panel and the battery. These are special low-voltage-loss diodes that maximise the amount of volts reaching the battery. Then I would put another similar diode (of suitable current rating) in the feed from the charger BUT I personally don't know enough about chargers to be definitive here so check with someone more knowledgeable about whether the diode would screw up the voltage sensing at the charger. In other words, the diode might fool the charger into thinking the voltage is different to what it actually is. It would be nice to have an answer to that point - anyone help?

David Berry