24 v charging?
 

Hi all

I am planning the electrical power for the van (MB 614), and not very sparky orientated. My first thought was to have a split charge relay from the 24v service batteries to the 12v house batteries, and just charge the house batts from the solar.

I am now thinking I should run the house batts at 24v, run the fridge and eberspacher at 24v and have a dropper to run the lights, stereo etc. at 12v.

I am told I can get 24v solar panels, or run 2 12v's in series, the question is do I need a 24v to 24v relay to charge the deep cycle gels from the alternator, or just run some wires across (with a switch), which will let the alternator charge both together, and the solar keep them all topped up?

Any ideas welcome, thanks

Bruce

If you go down the 24V route all you need is a 24V solenoid that senses when the alternator is running and opens up to allow the house batteries to charge.


If you install solar, you'll need a 24V regulator between the batteries and solar panels.


Personally I'd go down the 12V route as there are so many 12V accessories available - lights, fridges, heaters, cookers, roof vents, etc. etc.

You should check the recommended charging regime of your GEL batteries against what the engine alternator might deliver as GEL and conventional batteries are quite different.

I have a rig with 24 + 24 +12 and it can be a bit of a pain when needing replacement 24V items as they are far less common and usually a lot dearer to buy.

However there are big advantages in having the engine and house batteries the same. Emergency starting from the house batteries is one and for instance, once I drove half way around Australia running the engine from the house solar system after the engine alternator died

Charge!
 

Thanks for that, it is charging gels from the alternator I am concerned about, will speak to the battery supplier. It is only the fridge and eberspacher I would run on 24v, as they are the biggest draw, all the rest will be 12v.
I will have a controller for the solar, poetical!
Bruce

I used one of these on a 608 I had and then used a quality dropper for the 12v, all the interior bulbs I used 24v but that was before led but 24v led are available now.

Marine Battery Switch

worked a treat

Graeme

As long as it's not completely dead you can start a 24v from a 12v supply. I'm having the same dilema but decided that 12v accessories would be better for availability. If push comes to shove I could charge each battery on the 24v side seperately off the solar. would take a while but if your stuck in the boonies it'll get you going again