Ok here's the quick scoop. I have a 400 watt solar array installed on a VW Vanagon feeding an MPPT charge controller and into a 200ah battery bank. I have a Blue Seas ACR to charge both the starter battery and the solar batteries when the vehicle is running. Everything is working fine. Here are my 2 *questions*:
1) How shall I optimally charge the solar batteries from the alternator?
My immediate concern is that the voltage coming from the alternator is not high enough to fully top off the battery bank. When I drive for 30 minutes or so, the solar batteries only ever get charged to about 12.6v. These are VMax batteries and need 13v+ for full charge.
2) Is it possible/advisable to feed the alternator current directly to the MPPT charge controller and let it handle the 3 phase charge?
I haven't done this because my 4215bn charge controller maxes out at 40amps and I'm fairly certain the alternator would overload this. But is this even feasible or would it be totally ill-advised? I've done a number of searches online and haven't been able to solve this.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
1) How shall I optimally charge the solar batteries from the alternator?
My immediate concern is that the voltage coming from the alternator is not high enough to fully top off the battery bank. When I drive for 30 minutes or so, the solar batteries only ever get charged to about 12.6v. These are VMax batteries and need 13v+ for full charge.
2) Is it possible/advisable to feed the alternator current directly to the MPPT charge controller and let it handle the 3 phase charge?
I haven't done this because my 4215bn charge controller maxes out at 40amps and I'm fairly certain the alternator would overload this. But is this even feasible or would it be totally ill-advised? I've done a number of searches online and haven't been able to solve this.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
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