I recently acquired a Kyocera KD140sx solar panel and a Morningstar Sun Saver Duo controller.
This PMW controller has the capability of charging two separate battery banks. You can set it to give 90% to one battery and 10% to the other OR a 50/50 split between the two battery banks.
Anyway, I have an existing Sure Power 1314 battery separator on board. This is currently wired with the (+) feed from my tow vehicle to the "main" post on the separator and the (+) house battery of the camper is wired to the "aux" post on the separator.
Since I have the ability to deal with two separate battery banks with this controller, would it make sense to attach one set of leads (feeding 90% of the solar panel's output) to the "aux" side of the separator and one set of leads (feeding 10% of the panel's output) to the "main" side of the separator to provide a trickle charge to the truck's batteries.
Or will this be defeating the purpose of the separator?
As I understand it, the separator only allows current to flow from the truck's battery to the house battery when the truck system's voltage surpasses 13.2 volts. So, once the panel is no longer putting out 13.2 volts, separation returns to protect the truck's batteries.
Now, when the solar panel/controller puts out more than 13.2 on that "main" side and the internal circuit in the separator allows this voltage to pass, is it effectively combining the total output of the entire panel simply going uniformly to ALL battery banks? Would this then be negating the 90/10 split?
EDIT: Try as I might, I could not get the above text to post going through RV.net for several days. And I have had to break it up into two sections through this portal or I get a message saying "incorrect formatting here. On RV.net, I simply got a "server error, no data" message. Any ideas whats going on?
If the Sure Power 1314 is bidirectional I would stick to charging one battery and let Sure Power do it's job. If one directional then I would apply 10% to the other battery assuming it is just a starting battery. If deep cycle 50/50 might be better.
(also posted through TL due to RV.net not working)
You want the solar controller doing 100% on the house batteries.
If the truck battery needs charging you can do that at the same time via the 7-pin which will bank the truck battery with the house batteries if it is a Chev and disconnect the 7-pin when the truck battery is charged up ok.
Not sure what your scenario is while camping but it seems maybe the equipment features are confusing things. You don't ned to use them if they aren't appropriate for your situation.
2003 Chev 2500HD Gas, 2003 Komfort 26FS 5er
See Profile for Equipment List
Offline
