Opinions on Ctek gear..

[mistericeman]

Looking forwards to fitting extra batteries (at least 300ah) in the near future and solar....

When I built the transit to be self sufficient power wise (300ah leisure batteries/solar/Durite VSR/cheap pwm solar controller....
It worked great, and we were never short of power....
BUT I'm looking to up the game a bit on the Swift....
Fancy the ctek 250s and smartpass to cover engine charging and solar (the split charge on the Swift seems decidedly weak after the Durite...)
The ctek isn't the cheapest by any means BUT seems to have a good reputation for efficiency AND reliability....
I was considering the Ring rscdc30 BUT a good few bad reports out there regarding reliability.

 

[Trotter]

It’s too early for me to give a definite answer. Fitted the ctek d250 a couple of weeks ago. Not used the van since.. I’ll be able to tell you more after the Holmfirth meet at end of this month. What I have seen is 14.6 volts on the Chinese knockoff volt meter, with the engine running, definitely putting in power after 20 mile road test.
Being a belt and braces believer, I’ll put it on EHU before I leave home so I know I’ve got power for the weekend. Then, he said hopefully, by the time I get home, the batteries will be fully charged again.
Neil, Nabsim, has gone the voltonic route, it’ll be interesting to compare results.

 

[wildebus]

The CTEK 250 plus Smartpass is not the cheapest but for £/Amp it is (potentially) good value compared to the alternatives.

But ... I would consider just getting the kit WITHOUT the Smartpass add-on first and see how it goes. It is very easy to add on the Smartpass Module with very little effort and you can cable up ready for it initially without using it just in case.

I have a 40A B2B (Redarc BCDC1240) and it sits at the full 40A for very little time and is usually putting in a fair bit less. A Smartpass to take a B2B to 100A would be overkill for most setups (but extra charging potential is always handy I guess )

 

[mistericeman]

The CTEK 250 plus Smartpass is not the cheapest but for £/Amp it is (potentially) good value compared to the alternatives.

But ... I would consider just getting the kit WITHOUT the Smartpass add-on first and see how it goes. It is very easy to add on the Smartpass Module with very little effort and you can cable up ready for it initially without using it just in case.

I have a 40A B2B (Redarc BCDC1240) and it sits at the full 40A for very little time and is usually putting in a fair bit less. A Smartpass to take a B2B to 100A would be overkill for most setups (but extra charging potential is always handy I guess )

I did wonder that.... I used to regularly see 80 amps through the durite (after a night's heavy use of electric cooking)
However in the Swift we shouldn't be using anywhere near as much as cooking will be mainly gas.
I'm hoping to squeeze in at least the same 300ah battery bank we had in the transit (if not a tad more) as I'll be binning the 3 way fridge in the fullness of time (running the 12v waeco 24/7 365 just made life sooo easy not having to pfaff swapping power sources over)
And eberspacher for winter time.

 

[wildebus]

I did wonder that.... I used to regularly see 80 amps through the durite (after a night's heavy use of electric cooking)
However in the Swift we shouldn't be using anywhere near as much as cooking will be mainly gas.
I'm hoping to squeeze in at least the same 300ah battery bank we had in the transit (if not a tad more) as I'll be binning the 3 way fridge in the fullness of time (running the 12v waeco 24/7 365 just made life sooo easy not having to pfaff swapping power sources over)
And eberspacher for winter time.

Interesting. I have a 110A VSR installed as well (I switch between the two if I think the batteries will take over 40A) and I only really see that hitting a high current if I have the inverter running with a heavy load at the same time. You probably had a lot more charge to make up than I have done.
(in bulk mode, the batteries will take whatever charge is being chucked out so a basic Relay works as well as a B2B at that time and is a lot cheaper than a B2B of the same power rating)

 

[Minisorella]

I looked at the Ctek D250 plus Smartpass too... there was so much good feedback on the web. Then I realised that a lot of the feedback was from 6 years ago and Ctek haven't brought out a newer model. I know, if it ain't broke and all that but it made me look at other options. In the end I've decided to go with a Victron MPPT, plus (with advice from the boss) a battery combiner to take care of the engine battery. We all know I'm useless with electrickery but, attempting to read up on it, it looks as though these 2 Victron gizmos will do everything the Ctek and Smartpass can do but at almost half the price.

 

[Trotter]

To add, I’ve not fitted the smartpass. I’m not convinced I’d need it. As Dave has said, I can always retrofit. It’s not a big job.

 

[debs]

I've had three vans with Sterling gear and the last two vans with C-tek, got both components, the 250 and the smartpass, the solar get's connected to it, and it sit's there and just gets on with its job. Yes it's expensive to buy initially, but it's reliable and robust, you do need to pay attention to cable sizing, I have 16mm sq, with very short cable runs, and I think it's a great bit of kit.

 

[Trotter]

I've had three vans with Sterling gear and the last two vans with C-tek, got both components, the 250 and the smartpass, the solar get's connected to it, and it sit's there and just gets on with its job. Yes it's expensive to buy initially, but it's reliable and robust, you do need to pay attention to cable sizing, I have 16mm sq, with very short cable runs, and I think it's a great bit of kit.

Yes, I’ve put 25mm.sq cable in as recommended by Dave (Wildebus) because of the length of the 5mtr cable run, and tbh ,it was cheap enough. This way I’ve future proofed it if I want to add the Smartpass.
I’ve left the solar alone atm, it’s still running through the original mppt controller and working well. I’m thinking of upgrading from 100w. to 270w again from Complus Energy after the Spanish trip. Then I’ll go via the ctek,freeing up some wardrobe space.
Don’t be afraid of doing this yourself if you’re fit enough. If a dummy like me can do it,anyone can

 

[wildebus]

yup, putting in bigger cable on longer runs is very worthwhile to avoid voltage drops
A very short run like a metre the difference between 16mm and 25mm is something like under 0.1V so just noise. But go to a 5 Metre run using a smartpass and if you used 16mm instead of 25mm you could lose over 0.5V - that is a lot on a 12V system!

This is a simple to use calculator to help see the difference between cables gauges - https://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html
You can change all the values bar 'wire size' to what you need, and scrolling down you can convert metric cable size (the 7th column) to the AWG value to enter in the calculator.

(just as an aside, this table does not cover max current rating - that is a different calculation)

 

[wayne townsend]

I agree you can never go wrong with bigger cables . The smartpass will particularly benefit as it has no inbuilt boosting capacity . The ctek is only 20A and in my view that's a bit small for a 300Ahr battery pack . I've used the Ablemail AMC12-12-30 and it delivers 33 -36A which as Wildebus says is not exceeded for very long on my 220Ahr pack . The Ablemail unit is British made which I like and very compact .

 

[debs]

I agree you can never go wrong with bigger cables . The smartpass will particularly benefit as it has no inbuilt boosting capacity . The ctek is only 20A and in my view that's a bit small for a 300Ahr battery pack . I've used the Ablemail AMC12-12-30 and it delivers 33 -36A which as Wildebus says is not exceeded for very long on my 220Ahr pack . The Ablemail unit is British made which I like and very compact .

You say the Smartpass has no inbuilt boosting capacity, and yet the Smartpass can be used on its own as a B to B charger, and when used in conjunction with the 250 you add the two rated output values together, so in theory my system has a maximum 100amp charge rate and has to be fused accordingly, and they are Smart chargers, so deliver power according to the state of the battery. This is information given by Ctek with the equipment and on their website.

 

[hairydog]

It is wise to limit the maximum charge rate to a fifth or even a tenth of your battery capacity. Read the maker's recommendations.

A 40A B2B charger will protect the batteries from excessive inrush currents if an SCR or a VSR cuts in and connects the bank to a starter battery being kept at 14.4v by the alternator.

Then as the input voltage falls, a B2B charger will maintain the optimum charge voltage and current.

 

[hairydog]

. I've used the Ablemail AMC12-12-30 and it delivers 33 -36A which as Wildebus says is not exceeded for very long on my 220Ahr pack . The Ablemail unit is British made which I like and very compact .

Any idea of what they cost and where you can get them?
Their website links to their ebay shop, where they have a grand total of 0 products on sale, including sold and completed items.
They have no feedback as a seller on eBay.
[later] found this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182609301068

 

[wayne townsend]

I rang them up and 18 months ago and it cost £170.00+vat

 

[wayne townsend]

You say the Smartpass has no inbuilt boosting capacity, and yet the Smartpass can be used on its own as a B to B charger, and when used in conjunction with the 250 you add the two rated output values together, so in theory my system has a maximum 100amp charge rate and has to be fused accordingly, and they are Smart chargers, so deliver power according to the state of the battery. This is information given by Ctek with the equipment and on their website.

 

[wayne townsend]

I've had another look at the data sheets and think the wording is carefully selected . A VSR charges a secondary battery and so this does not automatically give the Surepass a boosting capability . I note it does control the battery temperature and the current so this is a significant improvement on a VSR . A VSR and a boosting B2B would indeed deliver the sum of the 2 in the right conditions . (Flat leisure battery , alternator output high) So it is sensible to rate the cable and fusing to cover the sum of both . If the Surepass could deliver 100A with boosting why would anybody buy a D250s? I believe the Surepass is a clever VSR which has features to work with the the D250S and nothing in the datasheets undermines this view . One final point a battery absorbs current dependant on the the state of charge so any fixed voltage power supply will deliver power(current) according to the state of the battery .