D250sa With Solar Panel - Need A Solar / Battery Monitor

[kn0bby]

Hi Chaps..

Have a Ctek D250SA with a solar panel directly connected to the CTEK with no controller. I want to a battery monitor / Solar monitor to see the status of the batteries charge status and drain aswell as being able to see the PV input..

looked at the Victron BMV-712 but it doesn't appear to cover the PV.

Any advice appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Dellmassive]

im not sure if what your looking for is availible . . . . . no monitor for the CTEK, and a battery monitor wont report on the solar . . . . .

but . . . .

the victron kit is awsome,


why not get the BMV-712 bluetooth

BMV-712 Smart - Victron Energy


then just offload the solar onto a new bluesolar MTTP 75/15

SmartSolar MPPT 75/10, 75/15, 100/15 & 100/20 - Victron Energy


then you can have everything logged on your phone via bluetooth, and im sure the victron MPPT will be much better than the CTEK solar input?

 

[t0mb0]

Given the ctek doesn’t have monitoring you’re either going to need a separate shunt on the solar input or a dedicated solar controller with monitoring.

For the battery status, the victron bmv 712 is good for instantaneous measurement but, slightly annoyingly for a £200 gizmo, it doesn’t give detailed timeseries information.

 

[andys]

I think the solar charge controller in the Ctek can only handle up to about 23v so if you're ever planning to go above that you'd be better with something like the Victron solar controller, or one of the others that can handle larger panels, then you'd get the monitoring you want via Bluetooth

 

[kn0bby]

Thanks for the feedback. I didn’t think there was anything available.

The CTEK kind of suits me. At this stage I don’t plan to expand to two panels.

I’ve got the CTEK battery Bluetooth monitor that works well but wanted something that did both.

 

[Tony Morris]

I have fitted a Votronic battery monitor with shunt. It seems to offer the info you are looking for. Battery charge state, time remaining at current discharge rate, charging amps (solar or dc charger) etc. Maybe worth a look.

 

[Keaney]

Bringing this back to life, I have a d250sa and a 140w panel… have no idea if it’s working or not and wanted to add a flexible 200w to go over my windscreen cover as a extra boost.
Have no solar controller other than the d250sa which doesn’t have the fancy stuff as the Victron.

@Dellmassive to your point could I add a victron smart solar to the solar cable that goes into the ctek. Add a further solar if need be then this use the battery output from solar to the d250sa to push it through the split charger? Then giving me the fancy stuff and if need be add the bmv

 

[Dellmassive]

@Keaney yes & no.

you can ADD a Victron MPPT solar controller, then move you existing solar panel over to that.

it will work along side your CTEK DC_DC,

you can then add the additional external secondary panel to the Vic MPPT . . .

you will be able tio use the Vic MPPT APP to monitor ALL the solar activity on your system.

The CTEK DC_DC will work indipendantly to charge the LB when the engine running.

++++


you can then ADD the Vic SMART SHUNT or BMV712 to the LB . . .

this will then give you the same monitoring APP but will show you all the data from the CTEK as it will be going through the SHUNT.

 

[Keaney]

Cool to Victron wise I have a 140w and if I was to go bigger or better I may change that to a 300w with a additional 100. Not sure which one I need with regards to series or parallel running though so open to the safest idea to allow flexibility incase I do change setup. Any thoughts?

may need to change my ctek in future if change to a lithium LB but that’s a different idea if the additional solar is pants.

 

[Keaney]

I have a ctek battery sense so maybe don’t need the smart shunt. Just want to know total power input from solar panel really while camping etc to help with monitoring of fridge.

 

[Dellmassive]

@Keaney

rough sketch . . .

 

[Dellmassive]

Solar is 6A per 100w roughly.

So 300w is 18A (parrallel)

So i would go for the 100/20 Vic MPPT.

That will give you 20A parrallel max or 100v series max.

It you wanted more.... look at the 100/30.

Thats what i use with 400w.

.

 

[Keaney]

Dude this is a massive help!

so the positive Victron goes direct to the LB positive, the negative Victron to LB too?

was thinking do I put positive battery output from Victron to the ctek positive in to push it through the smart charger and connect negative Victron to ground of ctek?

 

[Dellmassive]

@Keaney

yes . . Both POS and NEG from the Vic MPPT go direct to the LB. (well the NEG can go to any ground)

remember to correctly fuse any battery connection.



the MPPT will run in parrallel with the CTEK.


see here for scematics:

Diagrams, Schematics & Wires -- How I Done It --

Diagrams, Schematics & Wires -- How I Done It -- ************************************************** Dellmassive`s -- "how I Done It" -- Thread ************************************************** Kit List And Stuff -- How I Done It & What I Use --...

www.t6forum.com

...

eg:





.

 

[Dellmassive]

more info here:

[Guide] DC-DC Charger (for leisure battery) -- How I Done It --

DC-DC Charger (for Leisure battery) -- How I Done It -- ************************************************** Dellmassive`s -- "how I Done It" -- Thread ************************************************** Kit List And Stuff -- How I Done It & What I Use --...

www.t6forum.com

[Guide] Mobile Solar Panels ? . . . - How I Did It -

Mobile Solar Panels ? . . . - How I Did It - There is loads of background to this . . . . . but for now here is a vid for you all. =] Just remember W = V*A and as a general rule a good 100W panel will give you up to 6A charge with good sun. 25w = 1.5A 50W = 3A 100w = 6A 200w = 12A 300w = 18A...

www.t6forum.com

Battery Monitoring -- How I Done It --

Battery Monitoring -- How I Done It -- Part #1 Battery monitoring is a very important part of your 12v system . . . . whether its just the vans starter battery or your leisure setup keeping an eye on the power in your battery bank will keep you from breaking down and make sure your weekends...

www.t6forum.com

.

 

[Dellmassive]

so the positive Victron goes direct to the LB positive, the negative Victron to LB too?

- Yes.


+++

do I put positive battery output from Victron to the ctek positive in to push it through the smart charger and connect negative Victron to ground of ctek?

- No



+++++++++


Then if you wanted to add the SHUNT . . . that would go IN-LINE with the LB NEG-to-GRND link cable.

 

[Dellmassive]

this example shows the SHUNT being added.

Diagrams, Schematics & Wires -- How I Done It --

Diagrams, Schematics & Wires -- How I Done It -- ************************************************** Dellmassive`s -- "how I Done It" -- Thread ************************************************** Kit List And Stuff -- How I Done It & What I Use --...

www.t6forum.com

.

 

[Dellmassive]

see it all here --->

Dellmassive’s "How I Done It" blogs.

-- Dellmassive`s -- "How I Done It" -- thread -- ************************************************** Dellmassive`s -- "how I Done It" -- Thread ************************************************** Kit List And Stuff -- How I Done It & What I Use --...

www.t6forum.com

.

 

[Keaney]

Wow mind blown, time for some reading! Thanks @Dellmassive

 

[voltswagon]

Ah nice reading this. I went another way.

There are now more solar panels on the market with the lower voltage input so I went with 2x 120w panels with a max open circuit of 22v (the ctek's max is 23v) & up to 6amps each. So in parallel they give 240w 12amps at max 22v and so this just goes into the ctek 250 se.

FIREFLY ENERGY 120W Monocrystalline Solar Panel All Black Module Solarpanel for RV, Boats, Trailer, Camper, Marine, Off-Grid System

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0C1G8SCR2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I use a viltron bluetooth shunt to monitor batteries. It will tell me how much input & draw there is on batteries but won't differentiate if it is from alternator or solar panels.