stranded
Well-Known Member
I confess my complete inability to grasp electrical matters at the outset to avoid ignominy by a thousand gaffs.
I am planning for a first UK winter without shore power. We have a Mastervolt Mass Combi Ultra 12/3000/150 charger with a built in mppt charger, and 2 x 100w Victron panels wired in parallel. When it works, it seems to work OK, but the main charger has to be on so consumes around half an amp 24/7. But sometimes solar charging doesn’t kick in. I am guessing that it is something to do with the start-up voltage specified in the manual as 25v and a crap summer, though I am not sure how our parallel wired panels can ever deliver that, yet more often than not it does seem to work. Doubt it will in the winter though.
I also have in a cupboard somewhere a Victron mppt smart controller which I was planning to (re)install as less power hungry. But even that says start up trigger is battery voltage +5v, which I have read elsewhere is considered relatively high. So I am concerned that that too may not be triggered in the depths of winter.
I am yet to discover how little sun our mooring (Dittisham on the Dart - very steep surrounding hills) will get in winter but I am guessing not a lot.
I don’t need much - just a trickle to keep the batteries sweet + the charger consumption. But I need more than nil if the charger won’t start.
So is there a better way? Should I wire the panels in series for the winter to concentrate on getting starting voltage over max output? Could I maybe just wire one panel direct to the battery? Or, preferably, is there a decent solar charger that needs a rather lower starting voltage?
I am planning for a first UK winter without shore power. We have a Mastervolt Mass Combi Ultra 12/3000/150 charger with a built in mppt charger, and 2 x 100w Victron panels wired in parallel. When it works, it seems to work OK, but the main charger has to be on so consumes around half an amp 24/7. But sometimes solar charging doesn’t kick in. I am guessing that it is something to do with the start-up voltage specified in the manual as 25v and a crap summer, though I am not sure how our parallel wired panels can ever deliver that, yet more often than not it does seem to work. Doubt it will in the winter though.
I also have in a cupboard somewhere a Victron mppt smart controller which I was planning to (re)install as less power hungry. But even that says start up trigger is battery voltage +5v, which I have read elsewhere is considered relatively high. So I am concerned that that too may not be triggered in the depths of winter.
I am yet to discover how little sun our mooring (Dittisham on the Dart - very steep surrounding hills) will get in winter but I am guessing not a lot.
I don’t need much - just a trickle to keep the batteries sweet + the charger consumption. But I need more than nil if the charger won’t start.
So is there a better way? Should I wire the panels in series for the winter to concentrate on getting starting voltage over max output? Could I maybe just wire one panel direct to the battery? Or, preferably, is there a decent solar charger that needs a rather lower starting voltage?
