B2B Chargers

[philyoung]

What's everybody's thoughts on B2B chargers versus split charge systems? Was thinking about using A CTEK Dual 250s +/- a Smartpass - although I cant quite work out exactly what the smartpass does and it adds a good bit to the cost. Latterly though been looking at the Redarc units from Australia - some suggestion the solar MPPT in the redarc is better than the one in the ctek but it needs its own relay wiring in to switch between alternator and solar panel.

Split charge would be cheaper but would it be up to keeping a 200Ah leisure battery charged enough when the solar panel isn't doing its thing?

[MGP]

I use the ctek with a smart pass, the smart pass is there so that when the liesure battery is run low and the alternator would supply more than the 20 amps the ctek can, then the ctek is bypassed until the charging current from the alternator drops below 20 amps and the ctek then takes over again, the smart pass also has a low voltage disconnect built in to stop you damaging the battery by over discharging it.
I chose the ctek system because it was the only system that I found that took care of the entire charging system, including the solar panel which keeps the engine battery charged through the ctek as well as the leisure battery's.

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[philyoung]

Thanks, did you find it easy to wire up? I've seen some conflicting diagrams on the web. Did you wire the smart pass to the starter battery or the alternator?

[MGP]

The wiring is simple, from memory it's just the main feed from the engine battery to the ctek an earth connection for the ctek and from the ctek to the leisure battery, there is a connection for a solar panel if you have one, the smart pass is connected to the ctek with the supplied bus bars and has no effect on the wiring for the ctek, the smart pass has a connection for the consumers you want to connect through the low voltage disconnect.

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