High amp charger wire in

[wfdTamar]

2002 Hymer. I intend to wild camp as much as I can so I'm putting a 200 watt solar setup properly wired in through the Electroblock. I thought I would add an additional higher amp charger wired direct to the batteries (starter and leisure), independently of the Electroblock, so if I needed to top up the batteries overnight or in a few hours I could book a powered site and get a higher charge rate than the Electroblock charging allows. I've bought a Victron Energy Blue Smart IP22 30A with 3 outlets before I actually properly thought about it or researched that charger. It may be too high a power charger too. 30A, is that overkill for a 100Ah battery?

I was thinking great - 3 outlets - connect both batteries (leaving one outlet spare). However the 3 outlets aren't run independently - it's merely 3 positive holes (but only 1 ground) to connect a wire to the charger, all the same terminal, so really not much use. What I should have got is a single outlet charger wired to a 3 way switch (Leisure, Off, Starter). What I could do with this one is connect both batteries and put a simple On/Off switch on each.

Any obvious flaws there?

 

[trevskoda]

Best way is fit two chargers or one with a 2 way switch,i had a two way splitter but it cuts the voltage down to 13.7 so im now fitting two numax chargers,10ah for two 90ah batterys and a 5ah for starter batt.

 

[wfdTamar]

Are they your only chargers? Does the motorhome have it's own already? I'm thinking the 3 way switch is a good idea so I can seperate the charger from the batteries to prevent the charger draining them or interfering with the Electroblock.

Trevskoda - implies (or is it infers?) you have a Skoda? I've got a 2008 Octavia 4x4 wagon.

 

[Admin]

I would be looking at adding a second battery. Having two batteries would be my first move.

 

[nabsim]

Have you checked what your electoblok will take on solar, many are 18amp or less, I know mine is. I ended up fitting votronic mppt for dual battery banks and bypassing the electroblok. My control panel didn’t display solay anywaybeing the dt101. When harvesting solar I have a steady 1amp trickle feed to starter battery (if it’s needed) with majority going to laesiure battery bank direct. I have the votronic solar computer/display to show what its doing. I have 300w of solar panels.

As I have 3x90ah batteries I added a second Schaudt mains charger which is plug and play with the electroblok I have, that gives me 2x18amp charger if I go on mains.

The final part of my solution was adding a votronic 30amp B2B and now manage for power maybe 9 or 10 months of the year if we get sun. I believe the Hymers come with proper cable sizing so oem setup should be good enough for keeping battery’s charged when you are moving without a B2B but best wait for Hymer owners to confirm that. The votronic is an easy fit if you have an elektrolok as you use existing cables breaking in before the EBL

 

[nabsim]

Damn autocorrect and predictive text, how many ways can it change elektoblok lol

 

[wfdTamar]

Yes, I’ve bought that same Votronic and display and sounds like you have similar van specs as mine. I only need to cover 4-6 of the warmest months, but I do tend to use a lot of power on tv and internet. May go for greater battery capacity. I’ll see how I go with what it has (haven’t used it yet). Pretty sure I’m within the Electroblocks solar limits. Haven’t actually seen the vehicle yet (gulp). Having to buy some in preparation for fitout presuming it’s in fairly standard spec.

 

[nabsim]

In summer with solar I have no problems, it would only be if there was no sun for an extended period winter. Put panels on and see how you go before spending any more ?