CTEK D250S Dual - Need Some Help

gwadir

Well-Known Member
Feb 2, 2013
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Albion Park, NSW
Hi All,
Since my first post there have been some developments. We have decided it's to be a new van we'll buy not second hand so with a final price in hand with our nearest Jayco dealer we are awaiting the arrival of another customers 18.57-6 just to confirm that's what we want and to finalise (or rather see) where the lights are mounted, i.e. LED's under the overhead cupboards and how many etc. Jackie has chosen her colours so it's all a go and we've been told by the dealership that the van delivery will be 90 days after the deposit is taken so all's good.

So my question is this, I have been checking out some threads, specifically about the wiring, solar set ups, DC - DC chargers and I'm wondering is the CTEK D250S Dual the unit that Jayco installs as standard as part of the solar package which we have specified in our quote. My reason is I have just been checking out the CTEK D250S manual online and on the first page under Safety, the first line says 'The unit is designed for 12V lead-acid batteries. Do not use the unit for any other batteries.'. Two things, I thought the supplied battery was an AGM at least because Lead-Acid inside the van under the seat is just asking for trouble, and 2) I notice ROnEM in his thread 'Who needs a powered site' shows a CTEK D250S in use I'm assuming with an AGM or Gell battery.

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
Dave
 

Mike7

Member
Nov 10, 2011
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G'day Dave,

AGM's are lead acid batteries so no worries using the d250. If you have a look at the tech specs of the charger in the manual under battery types it say the charger is compatible with wet cell,agm,gell etc type of batteries.You would have to ask your dealer what they are gonna install in your solar package, I don't think it's the D250 from memory.

My opinion only here but having the wiring installed for solar is a great idea as it can be daunting having to drill into your roof so best to have them do it but I would probably source the panels and solar controller elsewhere. I asked Jayco to include my d250 as the controller when I asked about the solar provision quote and they said they would only fit their own gear into the van (which was not a d250). If you have the wiring in place then it's relatively easy installing the controller and panel yourself later. However if you don't feel comfortable installing the panels etc no harm in having them do it. It's just gonna cost more.

If you are intending on getting a D250 then having Jayco install a complete solar package will cost you more as they will charge you for a solar controller, which you obviously won't need if you are getting the ctek. Their cost for solar panels is also high, you would get more wattage for the same price if you bought your panels elsewhere.

The D250 is also going to give your battery/ies a nice controlled charge if you are going to use the D250 as a DC-DC charger. As an example my van has AGM's fitted by Jayco that have a max limit of 30 amps charge current, my cars alternator is a 180 amp unit so it can crank out some good amps when needed but if I had my batteries connected directly to my tow vehicle it would be possible to see 90-120 amps according to my sparky which would shorten the life of my batteries.

Anyway enough rambling on by me.


Cheers
Mike
 

gwadir

Well-Known Member
Feb 2, 2013
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Albion Park, NSW
Thanks for that Mike, I should have remembered AGM's and Gel's are lead acid, we covered that in the trade course, silly me.

I suppose what I should do now is check further re: fitting panels to roof which shouldn't be that hard and I was thinking about the Redarc BCDC1240 as my controller, I already have the Redarc SBI12 on the cable through the car to supply power to the van with a 50A in line fuse to an Anderson plug. Alternator will output 120A so no prob's with output.

Saving money on panels & controller will allow me to look at other extras but getting it all pre-wired will make late installation easier, thanks for that.

Dave
 

Mike7

Member
Nov 10, 2011
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No worries mate, the Redarc gear is also good quality. I've installed panels on the roof of vans and its pretty straight forward.

Only thing I would think about with the Redarc gear from my research is the solar turn on/off threshold voltages , turn on at 17.5v and turn off at 17.2v which seems quite high. So unless your panels are producing above 17.5v my understanding is that you are not charging your batteries???? Which means that you are only getting a charge with the sun high in the sky and missing out on early morning/afternoon so it kind of negates the whole mppt thing. The ctek gear threshold for on/off is 12.8v so it would seem that it's getting a much bigger chunk of the day for charging.

Having the panels flat on the roof doesn't help our charging either, the loss can be up to 30% so having a controller that will work at lower volts to me seems a must.

I would check with Redarc on this as I could have misunderstood the manuals intentions

Cheers
Mike.
 

gwadir

Well-Known Member
Feb 2, 2013
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Albion Park, NSW
Thanks again Mike, I will check that out, this certainly is a steep learning curve but in the end should be worthwhile, we have been off grid campers for a long time, love free camps beside rivers and streams with the birds to wake up to.

Just checked out the Redarc BCDC1240 manual http://www.redarc.com.au/images/uploads/files/bcdc1240_instruction_manual.pdf

Page 4 Threshold voltages is 17.5V on 17.2 V off.

Checked the CTEK manual http://www.baintech.com.au/view-document-details/108-ctek-d250s-battery-charger-user-manual

Threshold voltage is 13.4V on 12.8 V off

Judging by this I have some more homework to do.

Thanks again Mike, looks like I might go the CTEK and I may include a Smartpass unit as well, more reading to do.

Dave
 

Mike7

Member
Nov 10, 2011
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Hi Dave,

Thanks for the link, it's a subtle one but make sure you are looking at the D250s DUAL and not the D250S, they are two different chargers.

The 13.1 cut in is for the DC-DC function to cut in so the alternator has had time to charge the car starter battery first, and if you have the unit plugged in it will disconnect from your caravan at 12.8v to save the start battery. The D250S Dual certainly ticks a lot of boxes, it's a DC-DC charger, a battery isolator and a mppt solar controller.

I had a word to Bainbridge about all this as it can get very confusing and they recon the d250s dual uses the same component for solar charging as the unit uses to disconnect from the car at 12.8v so apparently the solar side of things all happen at 12.8v, also make sure you insist on version B50 of the ctek charger. Retailers are still selling the B36 version which is the older software.

D250Sdual manual FYI
http://www.ctekbatterychargers.com.au/uploads/3/6/2/9/3629451/d250s_dual_manual.pdf

The Smartpass is also a great unit, it will do the high amp charging and as the batteries get towards full it will switch over to the D250 to finish off, so it's a way around the 20A max charge of the D250

I hope I haven't made it too confusing mate. I know what you mean about free camping by a river, fly fishing is my religion so I tend to get out there as much as possible, which lately hasn't been that often.

Cheers
Mike
 
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gwadir

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Feb 2, 2013
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Albion Park, NSW
Hi Mike,
Nice morning to be sitting in bed and doing some homework.

I've just been through the CTEK manual and that looks like the way to go, I think the CTEK D250S and a smart pass will do for starters and I'll go with the Jayco installed battery charger for the time being, down the track I'll probably upgrade that to the CTEK M300 which looks the goods too.

Now next question is batteries, I'll have to check with Jayco dealer and find out what the size of the battery is they install as standard, I have a new 105Ah AGM sitting here so I'm guessing the standard battery plus another 100Ah battery should be sufficient for what we want to do. Then its just a matter of getting the van and doing the install, can't wait.

It would be good to know what soughts of capacities others have set up in the rigs just for a comparo, any thoughts.

Dave
 

Mike7

Member
Nov 10, 2011
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Gday Dave,

Yeah I know what you mean about the weather, unfortunately I was up at 530am in it goung to work.

The M300 is a great unit, being marine it has a function where you can turn the cooling fan off at night so it doesn't disturb you, amazing how loud things sound in a quiet caravan at night.

Mate with the batteries the best thing to do is work out how many amps you think you will need a day out of them then add about 15% to that figure as a buffer. bearing in mind you dont want to discharge the batteries much past 50% or battery life will suffer.Make sure your panels will put that back in with about 6 hours worth of sunlight. If you are getting another battery try and have it fitted at the factory before delivery to you, if you install it later the weight of the battery will come out of your payload figure, my vans payload is about 325kg so 35kg out of that is significant. if they fit it at the factory they weigh the van and it becomes part of the "van weight" and your payload is intact. I have 2 100ah batterie in my van. I think the type and capacity may vary between the different dealers so you need too check with them.

Keep us appraised with how you go with your van order, exciting times.

Cheers
Mike
 

rjstokes

Member
Jun 5, 2013
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Perth, WA
hi guys,

I've recently purchased a Ctek 250 dual charger for the caravan. I'm going to wire it to the 12 pin trailer plug that exists, hopefully overcoming the voltage drop issues and charging the agm battery properly. I'm also going to install an Anderson plug on the outside of the van. I was planning to wire that anderson plug to the solar input on the ctek so one day if I use portable solar panels I can connect them via that anderson plug.

I've also got a battery box I'd like to plug into that anderson plug to supplement the existing caravan battery when not using solar. I'm just not sure if having it connected to the Ctek solar input will work. I guess i'll have to wire the anderson plug in parallel with the caravan battery. If that's the case I'll need two anderson plugs, one for solar, one for the battery box.

Any thoughts or am I missing something?

Cheers.
 

gwadir

Well-Known Member
Feb 2, 2013
626
353
63
60
Albion Park, NSW
hi guys,

I've recently purchased a Ctek 250 dual charger for the caravan. I'm going to wire it to the 12 pin trailer plug that exists, hopefully overcoming the voltage drop issues and charging the agm battery properly. I'm also going to install an Anderson plug on the outside of the van. I was planning to wire that anderson plug to the solar input on the ctek so one day if I use portable solar panels I can connect them via that anderson plug.

I've also got a battery box I'd like to plug into that anderson plug to supplement the existing caravan battery when not using solar. I'm just not sure if having it connected to the Ctek solar input will work. I guess i'll have to wire the anderson plug in parallel with the caravan battery. If that's the case I'll need two anderson plugs, one for solar, one for the battery box.

Any thoughts or am I missing something?

Cheers.
Hi @rjstokes you have got it in one, you'll need 2 Anderson plugs, your second battery will have to be wired in parallel with the (house) battery and the solar has to be connected to the solar terminal on the CTEK.

Dave
 

David Johnson

Member
Jul 29, 2015
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Ravenswood, WA
Capture.PNG
hi guys,

I've recently purchased a Ctek 250 dual charger for the caravan. I'm going to wire it to the 12 pin trailer plug that exists, hopefully overcoming the voltage drop issues and charging the agm battery properly. I'm also going to install an Anderson plug on the outside of the van. I was planning to wire that anderson plug to the solar input on the ctek so one day if I use portable solar panels I can connect them via that anderson plug.

I've also got a battery box I'd like to plug into that anderson plug to supplement the existing caravan battery when not using solar. I'm just not sure if having it connected to the Ctek solar input will work. I guess i'll have to wire the anderson plug in parallel with the caravan battery. If that's the case I'll need two anderson plugs, one for solar, one for the battery box.

Any thoughts or am I missing something?

Cheers.

I see you wanted to supply the CTEK via the 12pin on the trailer plug my question is will this supply enough power to run the CTEK charger i seen on the oweners manual that you must run larger cable size the further the unit is away from the battery is this true??
 

gwadir

Well-Known Member
Feb 2, 2013
626
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Albion Park, NSW
What I've done is left the fridge powered through the 12 pin plug, run a 6B&S cable through from the alternator to an Anderson plug at the back with a Redarc battery isolator in circuit to cut off power when the car battery voltage drops. Then I've run the 6B&S cable through to where I've mounted the CTEK and batteries in the van. I have also got fuses at both ends of the cable, by that I mean 1 in the engine compartment and 1 just before the CTEK. I have then run a 8B&S cable in from the drawbar to the CTEK for the supplimentary solar panels (I have 2 x 120W panels on the roof) and fused it appropriately.

Dave
 
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