Autotrail vline ..

[Mr and Mrs Tupcox]

Our soon ,new to have autotrail vline
It has a fitted solar panel.which has a cheap solar regulator which you have to switch manually between eg or lb.(charging)
We are up grading to lithium for lb side ,with new solar mppt charger b2b .direct to lb ..

So my question is if i change the factory fitted charger for a mppt dual and remove change over switch ,and set it to lead acid because of it charging eg as we'll , would it be ok to have 2 different chargers charging lithium one set at lead acid and one at lithium ..

The lithium battery will be fogstar 460ah drift.and victron mppt and b2b.

 

[Trotter]

It might be best, if you were to ask Phil.. And don’t forget, he has a discount code for Fogstar.
If in doubt, ask the boss.

 

[wildebus]

Our soon ,new to have autotrail vline
It has a fitted solar panel.which has a cheap solar regulator which you have to switch manually between eg or lb.(charging)
We are up grading to lithium for lb side ,with new solar mppt charger b2b .direct to lb ..

So my question is if i change the factory fitted charger for a mppt dual and remove change over switch ,and set it to lead acid because of it charging eg as we'll , would it be ok to have 2 different chargers charging lithium one set at lead acid and one at lithium ..

The lithium battery will be fogstar 460ah drift.and victron mppt and b2b.

What dual MPPT charger are you getting? Bear in mind the Votronic (the only one that comes to mind) has a very low output on the second (engine battery) connection and may well not be up to maintaining it.
Works for some, but worth checking as no point in buying twice when you find it is not doing what you need.

What do you mean by two different chargers, one lead, one lithium? Is this to do with the dual MPPT and having a lead and a lithium battery? If so, it is the one charger - you don't have the ability to select different output regimes, you would just set for lithium if it has that. The lead/engine battery output as mentioned doesn't need any kind of profile as the current is so low it doesn't 'charge' the battery as such, just tries to maintain a voltage.

 

[Mr and Mrs Tupcox]

What dual MPPT charger are you getting? Bear in mind the Votronic (the only one that comes to mind) has a very low output on the second (engine battery) connection and may well not be up to maintaining it.
Works for some, but worth checking as no point in buying twice when you find it is not doing what you need.

What do you mean by two different chargers, one lead, one lithium? Is this to do with the dual MPPT and having a lead and a lithium battery? If so, it is the one charger - you don't have the ability to select different output regimes, you would just set for lithium if it has that. The lead/engine battery output as mentioned doesn't need any kind of profile as the current is so low it doesn't 'charge' the battery as such, just tries to maintain a

What do I mean by 2 different chargers.

The factory fitted solar charging system is 100w panel a cheap regulator .which you manual switch between eg and lb.
I would change that to mppt dual and get rid of the manual switching.
So that would now charge lithium lb and acid eg.
I will fit more solar and mppt regulator direct lithium.
So 2 chargers one of factory panel with dual and one direct .of new system.
Thanks

 

[wildebus]

So more panels and essentially two different solar setups - a panel with a controller going to the Engine Battery, and another panel array with its own controller going to the Leisure Battery then?
If you did that, why would you need a dual controller though?

If it is more panels, but the single controller with dual outputs, it is still ONE charger, not two chargers in one box.

Not seen that controller before and it looks quite good. I like this feature:
Whether charging two leisure batteries or a leisure battery and a vehicle battery, the MPPT Pro concentrates power solely on the battery connected to its No 1 terminals until that battery is 70% charged and thereafter provides a simultaneous and equal charge to both batteries.
That looks a big improvement on the usual MPPT Duo Controllers.

However, reading about installing the controller, there is a major 'gotcha' and I don't understand why they have come up with a controller that, based on their advice, cannot be used in the great majority of motorhome and campervans
See the link on their website here - https://www.solartechnology.co.uk/c...Charge Controller - Common Negative final.pdf
Your new van will have a common negative between the two batteries. Their workaround in effect converts the dual output to a single output with an external control that you could add to any solar controller. I don't get it

 

[Livotlout]

Hi Mike....the P V Logic manual states there should be no connection between Batteries 1 and 2....which would rule out use of a B2B.
I would point out the poor existing installation....wire sizing to battery (brown wire) appears to be 1.5 mm....which after passing through a switch and then all the way to van battery would result in a voltage loss on nearly 2 volts!....Alec.

 

[Mr and Mrs Tupcox]

Hi Mike....the P V Logic manual states there should be no connection between Batteries 1 and 2....which would rule out use of a B2B.
I would point out the poor existing installation....wire sizing to battery (brown wire) appears to be 1.5 mm....which after passing through a switch and then all the way to van battery would result in a voltage loss on nearly 2 volts!....Alec.

Hi Alec autotrail wire are poor ..