It could be that that the van battery has a drain. If the voltage falls below a certain level (10.5 volts IIRC) then the Ctek won't pulse charge it, irrespective of state of charge of the leisure battery.
Main battery dead despite ctek and solar
- Thread starter phoenixfc7
- Start date
-
- Tags
- ctek leisure battery solar
No - don’t need ignition live for this mode of operation - the leisure battery does need to be fully charged though
starter battery charges leisure battery when ignition live ( or starter battery voltage is high enough I believe)
Simon
The starter had a 12,1 reading and the leisure 13.2 and still the ctek was flashing to say current saving mode, no charging in progress. This could mean that the ctek has done it's job? Draining wise I have the vw logo puddle lights and I am not convinced that they ever go out?? One had blown and the other has melted the vw sign so it is unrecognisable (suggesting it was on for a long period). I spend hours at the van with doors open working on it, I have turned all courtesy light off or removed in the case of the side step? I'm puzzled as during the week the van is just sitting there and at weekends I'm working on it?
The starter had a 12,1 reading and the leisure 13.2 according to the multimeter
I've just had another read of the manual - I think its a formatting issues which makes it misleading
On page 4 left hand side it has functions of D250SE including
• Trickle charging of the starter battery from a solar panel The D250SE trickle charges the starter battery from a solar panel at intervals of 3 seconds if the service battery is fully charged.
On page 4 right hand side it lists functions of SMARTPASS120S.
On page 5 LHS it continues with functions of SMARTPASS
• Battery temperature protection SMARTPASS 120S protects the battery by switching off charging if the service battery temperature rises too high.
• Starter battery trickle charging The service battery trickle charges the starter battery without assistance from the solar panel or alternator to compensate for the self-discharge of the starter battery. The service battery charges in 3-second pulses when its voltage is higher that of the starter battery and the voltage of the starter battery is low.
but this is directly below the D250SE functions on the page before
So I think
D250SE - only trickle charges starter battery from directly connected solar panel
SMARTPASS 120S - Starter battery trickle charging - The service battery trickle charges the starter battery without assistance from the solar panel
You should Contact CTEK to confirm
Simon
On page 4 left hand side it has functions of D250SE including
• Trickle charging of the starter battery from a solar panel The D250SE trickle charges the starter battery from a solar panel at intervals of 3 seconds if the service battery is fully charged.
On page 4 right hand side it lists functions of SMARTPASS120S.
On page 5 LHS it continues with functions of SMARTPASS
• Battery temperature protection SMARTPASS 120S protects the battery by switching off charging if the service battery temperature rises too high.
• Starter battery trickle charging The service battery trickle charges the starter battery without assistance from the solar panel or alternator to compensate for the self-discharge of the starter battery. The service battery charges in 3-second pulses when its voltage is higher that of the starter battery and the voltage of the starter battery is low.
but this is directly below the D250SE functions on the page before
So I think
D250SE - only trickle charges starter battery from directly connected solar panel
SMARTPASS 120S - Starter battery trickle charging - The service battery trickle charges the starter battery without assistance from the solar panel
You should Contact CTEK to confirm
Simon
Assuming your solar panel has an open circuit voltage of <23v, you could try connecting it directly to the CTEK rather than the MPPT controller it is currently connected to. That way you will benefit from it being able to charge your starter battery as well. As others have said, the CTEK will charge leisure first and once it is fully charged, apply a trickle charge (from solar) to the starter battery. Unless your solar panel has a VOC >23V, it isn’t clear to me why you need a separate controller as the CTEK has one built in.
The panel has a VOC of 21.1v. Thank you, I bought the electrics package from a retail forum member, paid £1770 in all (plus another £200 on additional cable, lights etc.), not too happy with the news that the starter isn’t getting charged, thanks for the workaround.
So I went back to the company who supplied the elements for the system and questioned the need for separate Victron MPPT, the reply was preference. However the advice was to disconnect the victron positive from the leisure to the in on the ctek. This would charge the starter first? What do we think?
All these trickle charge type solutions are exactly what they sound like, they trickle a little bit of current into the starter battery when leisure battery has substantially more charge than the starter. This is very useful if your van stands unused for a while or, for example, you go wild camping a lot and it sits there for a week or so with some drain for doors etc on the starter.
However, it won't help meaningfully if there's an actual issue with the starter battery. The issue could be with the battery itself, e.g. it's a Moll one with known issues, or you have some significant drain on it whilst it's parked. You really need to check whether either of these is the case before worrying about the trickle charging system.
However, it won't help meaningfully if there's an actual issue with the starter battery. The issue could be with the battery itself, e.g. it's a Moll one with known issues, or you have some significant drain on it whilst it's parked. You really need to check whether either of these is the case before worrying about the trickle charging system.
If your starter is currently basically flat and you just need it back up, sticking a mains charger on it would be the quickest and easiest way. If you don't have a mains charger, then I guess you could wire it straight up to the solar as you say above but, unless the weather where you are is better than I can see out of my window currently, it could take a while! If you do this, make sure you obviously disconnect the leisure from the solar charger before connecting the starter, or sparks are going to fly!
Nope
According to most posts on this thread it does.
I’ve not seen on eBay wires like that then I would isolate everything from vehicle electrics and use only a split charge that was one way, but that just be me not wanting to run the risk of damaging anything, but why is your vehicle battery going flat anyway ? Shouldn’t be using vehicle electrics when parked up in my opinion
Although it’s now given me a thought as my lesiure battery charger has two outputs, of which I’m only using one so I will connect the other bank to the vehicle battery before the split charge relay which is only triggered at approx 13.5 volt and charger does not put that out it won’t trigger it allowing me to charge both when hooked up at mains or site, only this thread made me think of that
It does, but only if you have solar input on the CTEK and only when the Leisure is full. I can confirm it does work like this as I‘ve tested it on mine. It is only a trickle charge, not a full charge
I think what is being suggested is to connect the output from the Victron MPPT controller to the starter battery connection on the CTEK (not the solar in). In theory this will then use the solar to charge the starter battery and when the starter gets above a preset voltage (I can’t remember what this is), the CTEK will kick in and start to charge the leisure battery. When you start the engine, the CTEK will kick in regardless of the starter battery voltage. I can’t see any problem with connecting it this way and giving it a go.
That sounds more logical as the starter battery should be normal working voltage and there fore like your saying basically the overspill would charge the lesiure battery
Hi, Thanks so I use the output on the Victron mppt to the 'In' on the ctek (not solar in) and the negative to ground, is this right?
Yes that’s right.
Similar threads
