Solar panels in shade.

[plumbob]

Tiny bit off piste but............ I'm 75% through fitting a 175watt panel with a basic pmr controller to 1 starter battery and 3 house batteries all are 105ah. In the instructions it says the charge can be split between the banks at various levels anywhere between 10/90 to 50/50. It also says that once either bank is " fully charged", it will divert all the input to the remaining bank until that also reaches full charge.
Should I opt for 50/50 ?
Thanks

 

[Aja]

Tiny bit off piste but............ I'm 75% through fitting a 175watt panel with a basic pmr controller to 1 starter battery and 3 house batteries all are 105ah. In the instructions it says the charge can be split between the banks at various levels anywhere between 10/90 to 50/50. It also says that once either bank is " fully charged", it will divert all the input to the remaining bank until that also reaches full charge.
Should I opt for 50/50 ?
Thanks

When I had a Photonic Universe PWM controller, before I upgraded to Victron, I was able to charge both starter and domestic banks. I had this set as 10/90 with 10 going to the engine start battery as this requires the least topping up. Once this has been charged the controller automatically switched all input from solar to the domestics.

It worked well for weekend sailing, but with the larger panels and the Victron MPPT 75/15 controller we're not quite able to live "off grid" at 56°N, but easily on sunny days can run fridge and heating. The charging regime is handled by the Victron Energy Cyrix-ct splitter which can join engine and domestic banks, if necessary, but diverts charge from solar to each battery.

 

[B27]

I found it easier to just add a small old 10W panel for the engine battery in winter.
In season, I use the boat enough to keep the engine battery charged just from the alternator.

I like the engine battery to be properly independent of the house battery, that way, the house battery is a proper back up.

 

[Aja]

I found it easier to just add a small old 10W panel for the engine battery in winter.
In season, I use the boat enough to keep the engine battery charged just from the alternator.

I like the engine battery to be properly independent of the house battery, that way, the house battery is a proper back up.

The Cyrix does this for me. Both banks are completely separate but at the push of a button can be combined.

 

[plumbob]

When I had a Photonic Universe PWM controller, before I upgraded to Victron, I was able to charge both starter and domestic banks. I had this set as 10/90 with 10 going to the engine start battery as this requires the least topping up. Once this has been charged the controller automatically switched all input from solar to the domestics.

It worked well for weekend sailing, but with the larger panels and the Victron MPPT 75/15 controller we're not quite able to live "off grid" at 56°N, but easily on sunny days can run fridge and heating. The charging regime is handled by the Victron Energy Cyrix-ct splitter which can join engine and domestic banks, if necessary, but diverts charge from solar to each battery.

Thanks, I should have said it is a Photonic Universe controller but not their complete kit. I agree that 10/90 seems a better bet as a mobo we have a 80amp alternator so the engine start is very good, but we do sometimes run both fridges so that ratio should be best. Thanks