[Joe]

A mate of mine scored this from a 4WD action subscription but he already has duel batterys in his cruiser so has no need for it so he has offered it to me.

Now what i want to do is be able to do is leave it in the car and charge it off my main battery like a normal duel battery system?
Normal duel batterys are no good for us as we want to be able to swap between the two different cars and also would like to take the fridge out of the car and have it next to our camp kitchen set up with the battery box.

So what are your suggestions will this do what i want or should i go with something like what Royce has built?

[shakes]

that will do most. Then run a controller on top, with an anderson plug in each car?

[Joe]

Yeah I've got some spare anderson plugs here that will most likely be used, a mate looked at it today and said we can hotrod it so ill post progress as we go

[Samurai81]

I too am interested in this but am heading more toward the Royce option with a couple of rechargable batteries + alternator + solar power + CTEK but removable from the vehicle over night. I had one of those power pack things but it let me down when I finally needed it:(. I'll be using the battery for a HAM radio plus a sleep machine (in that order).
Steve.

[shakes]

Samurai81 wrote:

I too am interested in this but am heading more toward the Royce option with a couple of rechargable batteries + alternator + solar power + CTEK but removable from the vehicle over night. I had one of those power pack things but it let me down when I finally needed it:(. I'll be using the battery for a HAM radio plus a sleep machine (in that order).
Steve.

You've just given me a good idea. Pack in the car charging off the alt... anderson-plug, CTEK stays with the pack then keeps the pack charged during the day with solar at camp while out driving. (pending people staying around to prevent oxygen thieves etc)

Exactly what Joe is trying to do?

Alt -> anderson plug -> (with solar) CTEK ->BattPack-> outlets/fridge


Am I on the right track? Maybe with a couple more plugs to make moving it easier?

[shakes]

Am I on the right track?

[Joe]

shakes wrote:

Exactly what Joe is trying to do?

Yeah that's what im after

[Joe]

Boobs

[Ridin]

Doesn't the ark box have a built-in charger so you don't need the C-tek? Or is the CTEK purely so you can connect solar panels?

And, Can you connect the CTEK only to the positive and negative wires on the battery OR do you have to connect the negative to the chassis? because that would be an issue for portability if it must be wired to the chassis.

[Joe]

Ridin wrote:

Doesn't the ark box have a built-in charger?

Yes but only 240v

[shakes]

Ridin wrote:

Doesn't the ark box have a built-in charger so you don't need the C-tek? Or is the CTEK purely so you can connect solar panels?

And, Can you connect the CTEK only to the positive and negative wires on the battery OR do you have to connect the negative to the chassis? because that would be an issue for portability if it must be wired to the chassis.

Why can't it be wired via a plug?

Or does it introduce too much resistance etc etc?

[Ridin]

You probably can. I'm not sure myself. I'm just confused by the CTEK wiring diagrams because they show the negative wired to the chassis or body of the car.
I think Royce made a battery box with a CTEK built into it. He may be able to help us out.

[royce]

What you are all proposing is exactly what mine does, until the other week when I took it back downstairs it was running my waeco in the kitchen with a solar panel outside and a waeco 12v power pack in the alternator slot to top up what the solar couldn't (only get a few hours a day of sun on the panel)

The Ctek needs to connect at least to the battery its charging negative, basic electrical theory means all other charging sources also need to connect to the same negative, so if you will charge off the alternator of course its negative (the chassis) needs to hook up as well, same with solar

If you are solar charging into the ctek then a chassis connection wont be needed at the time.

Joe I think those boxes are pretty shit electrically, i'd at the least wire in a battery isolator or ctek to charge the battery directly with an Anderson plug to plug into the cars, then keep the 240 charger it comes with to keep it charged at home.

[shakes]

Thanks, thats what I thought - For some reason my brain takes approximately 200 days longer than it needs to understand basic electrics.

Have you done much research into solar panels on what style etc is best?

[royce]

I think the easiest way to deal with solar is just buy more than you need, a Chinese panel will be just as bad as the best German engineering when its cloudy.

[got_bar_work]

Did u find one with a low enough voc for the ctek.
I have one in my camper and need to find a panel

[royce]

the only ones that are higher than 21v are the grid connect ones

[got_bar_work]

All the ones i keep finding are 22-23 voc