Connecting solar to 3 separate batteries

[Dirtyfuzz]

Hi lads hope this hasn’t been done to death but I want to connect solar to 3 separate batteries. 2 start batteries on either side at transom and a house battery up the front, port and house batteries are connected together via a 3 way switch and starboard also has 3 way switch but is independent from the other bank, was thinking the easiest way would be to just run power from victron controller directly to each battery but this may not be wise to do so or maybe two separate controllers, have a schematic I drew up but won’t give me an attachment option from phone for some reason

[Dirtyfuzz]

C9524D4B-0171-45F7-AE25-F790CD510161.jpgWorked it out

[baitable]

how big is your solar panel? i cant see it giving too much energy back into each battery and being effective. Is it for float charge? You need to look at your wattage of what it can generate, In an ideal world you might want one solar panel per each battery. Your crank batteries should be feeding the house batteries using a dc2dc charger or VSR so no need to connect them to solar (unless you just want to float charge). If you're out fishing i would just connect the solar into the house battery as the outboards should look after the crank.

[Dirtyfuzz]

Sorry mate, forgot to clarify boat stays in dry storage while not in use with no access to power and want the solar more so for trickle charge, house battery is charged from motor via the 3 way switch

[baitable]

Do you have access to a GPO? I'm using a product that uses wifi to remotely switch on a GPO via phone to charge my batteries. Its easy, leave1 charger on crank batteries, leave 3 way switch on all, place charger direct to crank batteries and power will flow through all the batteries. U just need power and wifi. If you dont have this, i would just connect the solar through to one crank battery and leave system on all which should allow charge to flow through both cranks but i dont know how your house battery is connected to cranks. Assuming its connected via dc charger, you will need a voltage imput of over 13.8 v to allow charge into house battery.

food for thought but you really need to examine each component of your system and how it all works.

[chocolatemoose]

For a trickle i would utilize a DSVR to charge through the batteries. how big is the panel. and how much sun is it likely to recieve?

[stevet]

Hi Moose

would it be possible for you to put up a diagram on how you would set it up?

here's hoping!
stevet

[scottar]

I would suggest looking at a dual output solar regulator - as an example https://www.victronenergy.com/solar-...roller-lcd-usb and either change your switch set up for the start banks or also add a VSR for the third battery.

Ideally you don't want to leave the boat "live" for charging. You could via the use of three separate switches (port, starboard, parallel) connect the two start batteries into one bank with the house being the second. The other option is to supply solar charge to both start batteries with a VSR providing charge to the house (you may already have this set up for house charging) from one start battery.

Both ways do have a downside. Option 1 leaves the possibility of a faulty start battery killing both. Option B runs a risk of flattening the start battery should the solar charge fail - the slight current drawn by the VSR's monitoring will flatten it eventually if no charge is incoming for long enough.

I haven't been able to find a 3 bank solar regulator with a brief search but it may be worth a call to someone like Enerdrive to see if there are any options.

[gazza2006au]

How do u stop over charging on a system like this 3 batteries 3 times the amount of over charging a battery u cant pack the sun away once your batteries are all at 100% surely there would still be a trickle of power going into the batteries or whatever is stopping the power would act like a heat sink to disapate that produced electricity?

Sent from my SM-G900I using Ausfish mobile app

[Dirtyfuzz]

I would suggest looking at a dual output solar regulator - as an example https://www.victronenergy.com/solar-...roller-lcd-usb and either change your switch set up for the start banks or also add a VSR for the third battery.

Ideally you don't want to leave the boat "live" for charging. You could via the use of three separate switches (port, starboard, parallel) connect the two start batteries into one bank with the house being the second. The other option is to supply solar charge to both start batteries with a VSR providing charge to the house (you may already have this set up for house charging) from one start battery.

Both ways do have a downside. Option 1 leaves the possibility of a faulty start battery killing both. Option B runs a risk of flattening the start battery should the solar charge fail - the slight current drawn by the VSR's monitoring will flatten it eventually if no charge is incoming for long enough.

I haven't been able to find a 3 bank solar regulator with a brief search but it may be worth a call to someone like Enerdrive to see if there are any options.

I havn’t purchased a panel yet it will get the biggest single that I can fit on the roof,thanks Scottar you are right I did have the house connected to the port battery via a vsr but disconnected it as it was draining the batteries due to the monitoring, the victron dual regulator is the one I’m looking at, I guess the easier setup is to reconnect the vsr and connect solar to the house that will in turn top up the port battery and connect the other outlet from regulator to directly to the starboard battery

[scottar]

I havn’t purchased a panel yet it will get the biggest single that I can fit on the roof,thanks Scottar you are right I did have the house connected to the port battery via a vsr but disconnected it as it was draining the batteries due to the monitoring, the victron dual regulator is the one I’m looking at, I guess the easier setup is to reconnect the vsr and connect solar to the house that will in turn top up the port battery and connect the other outlet from regulator to directly to the starboard battery

That will be your easiest option provided you have a DVSR (will connect if either bank is charging).

[Dignity]

How do u stop over charging on a system like this 3 batteries 3 times the amount of over charging a battery u cant pack the sun away once your batteries are all at 100% surely there would still be a trickle of power going into the batteries or whatever is stopping the power would act like a heat sink to disapate that produced electricity?

Sent from my SM-G900I using Ausfish mobile app

Regulators Gaz. Common as bat shit.

[scottar]

How do u stop over charging on a system like this 3 batteries 3 times the amount of over charging a battery u cant pack the sun away once your batteries are all at 100% surely there would still be a trickle of power going into the batteries or whatever is stopping the power would act like a heat sink to disapate that produced electricity?

Sent from my SM-G900I using Ausfish mobile app

PWM controllers like this one essentially disconnect the batteries to limit incoming charge to various extents depending on where they are at in their charging cycle.