How To Charge Your Camper Vans Battery With Solar And/or The Engine

Question

Question:

I am doing a Campervan build/conversion myself and trying to figure out the best way to charge my house battery. I will will probably run the inside with two, 100 AH deep cycle batteries at first because of cost and availability but want to eventually go with a lithium battery set up. How can I use the engine to charge to my house batteries? I want solar of course but don't want to be completely dependent on that and since I will be driving a lot, this is for touring and not going to a place, plugging into electrical and staying.

asked by: Jonas G

0

Expert Reply:

I understand your goal here and we have exactly what you need. I highly recommend the Redarc In-Vehicle BCDC Battery Charger, # 331-BCDC1225D for a 25 amp unit or, # 331-BCDC1240D for a 40 amp. There are larger units available too, however, for your application it sounds like one of these two options will work best. This meets your objective because it is a dual input charging device, it will connect to solar panels (no need for a separate charge controller) and to your vehicles electrical system to charge battery bank when engine is running.

The DC-to-DC battery charger draws power from your engines charging circuit to provide power to house battery bank and it also has a built-in MPPT regulator to work with solar panels. This is a smart charger that works with lead acid and lithium chemistry battery banks. Once it detects the need to provide a charge, it provides a 3 stage charge profile, first, boost/bulk charge, then absorption charge stage and finally a float charge stage to maintain top off. You can use your deep cycle or AGM batteries to begin with but if you later upgrade/replace with a Li chemistry, it's a simple change. This DC-to-DC charger pulls power from your vehicle's start battery transferring up to 25 or 40 amps of current, depending on which model you select, to both charge and maintain your camper van's house battery. The first input accepts charge from your vehicle's battery. The second input on this dual-input unit is designed to receive power from solar panels. It also has a "Green Power Priority" feature, or primary solar selection option. This ensures that power is pulled from your solar panels first and that it then only draws from your camper van's start battery needed. Combine these features with the built-in battery isolator function that prevents the charger from pulling power from the start battery when the vehicle is off and it is the perfect component for a camper van.

The # 331-BCDC1225D will work fine your 200 amp hour battery bank but you think you may decide to go with a larger battery bank when you upgrade to a lithium chemistry then I suggest you consider the # 331-BCDC1240D.

Please note the linked product review videos below and let us know any follow-up questions you may have. Happy Camping!