Club 80-90 Forums

Anybody fitted one of these?
I currently have a National Luna split charge system in line with the vehicle and Aux battery.
Additional charge is with a small 20W solar panel which I can plug into either battery separately.
This looks like it could do all things in one box. Also it looks like it may charge the batteries up better off the alternator.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Fitted one of these to our G wagen a couple of months ago. Its fantastic. Does everything its supposed to and you really do not have to even look at the lights on it. Stop to camp, and you have a full leisure battery and cool beers and ice cream for a long time. recomended.
Much better than a split charge relay.

I fitted one after the house battery died well before it was supposed to.

With the CTEK, the new battery rarely needs charging even when I have run the fridge and lights overnight, then driven for a couple hours. The inbuilt solar regulator does everything you'd want (MPPT, etc.) plus when the house battery is full, the unit will direct charge from solar panel to trickle charge the starter battery. If you have a permanent solar panel mounted you'll probably never need to charge a battery again.

They sell an add on unit if you want to draw more than 20 amps plus adds some cleverness around charging and cutting off consumers when the battery is low.

Cheers.

Jon.

How does this compare to the Sterling battery to battery charger?

I went for this unit too, with the 'Smartpass' unit as well, which manages various inputs and acts as an 80A Low Voltage Disconnect to protect your leisure batteries from going flat (it allows you to connect critical items, like a radio if it's on a boat, directly to the battery, but I have all my 'consumers' going through the LVD). I also added the MXS10 mains charger. In fact, I originally fitted the D250S/Smartpass system so that the a mains charger could be used to intelligently charge both leisure and starter batteries, but since fitting the solar panel I hardly ever have to use the mains charger.

It's truly a fit and forget system, unlike the original Zig which relied on me remembering which position to have the switches in when driving or camping. With the CTEK system I can be sure that the best source of energy (solar, alternator, mains charger) is always being used to intelligently charge (via a multi-stage program) my bank of leisure batteries, as well as pulse charging my starter battery when the leisures are full.

The only thing I miss compared to other people's solar installations is a display of some sort to tell me how much current is flowing and what state the batteries are in. But I added a voltmeter in the cab area, so I can see the charging voltage, and that tells me all I really need to know.

All

Thanks for the info.

The system did look ideal as I have a solar panel as well so will be ordering one.

CJH looks like you have a well sorted set up there.

CJH

Very nice tidy setup, where did you locate everything?

cheers
irishkeet

CJH wrote:I went for this unit too, with the 'Smartpass' unit as well, which manages various inputs and acts as an 80A Low Voltage Disconnect to protect your leisure batteries from going flat (it allows you to connect critical items, like a radio if it's on a boat, directly to the battery, but I have all my 'consumers' going through the LVD). I also added the MXS10 mains charger. In fact, I originally fitted the D250S/Smartpass system so that the a mains charger could be used to intelligently charge both leisure and starter batteries, but since fitting the solar panel I hardly ever have to use the mains charger.

It's truly a fit and forget system, unlike the original Zig which relied on me remembering which position to have the switches in when driving or camping. With the CTEK system I can be sure that the best source of energy (solar, alternator, mains charger) is always being used to intelligently charge (via a multi-stage program) my bank of leisure batteries, as well as pulse charging my starter battery when the leisures are full.

The only thing I miss compared to other people's solar installations is a display of some sort to tell me how much current is flowing and what state the batteries are in. But I added a voltmeter in the cab area, so I can see the charging voltage, and that tells me all I really need to know.