I am a big fan of CTek charging equipment, but regarding to charging a leisure battery I am struggling to understand what the benefit is of installing a D250SE DC to DC charging system at circa £220-£250 cost as opposed to a £50 split relay connection, other than the ability the CTek gives you hook in solar panels out of the box? What am I missing???
I have one I got it due to it dealing with solar and alternator inputs then smart charging the battery’s so they charge faster and prolongs to life of the battery’s in one neat box that’s hidden away.
The CTek does a better job of actually charging the leisure battery than a car alternator. Basically the alternator voltage needs to be higher than the voltage regulator wants to output. The alternator voltage regulator is intended to top off a mostly charged battery after it has been slightly discharged by starting the battery, and then to provide current to run lights and accesories effectively directly from the alternator. I have a Sterling Digital alternator regulator on my boat, where it boosts the alternator output to actually charge the flattened batteries back up in a shorter time, purchased 24 years ago, in conjunction with a 20 watt solar panel to trickle charge the batteries. But unless you are running the engine for several hours a day to recharge the batteries, you need hookup or solar power to actually do the work.
I Thought there was a reason, makes sense and CTek stuff is always good. Presumably you can/need to add a separate trickle charger for when hooked up??
Yes, I have saved a couple of effectively dead expensive batteries with the recon mode on CTek chargers, they know how to keep their batteries healthy, thanks for the reply.
Yes, the D250SE has low voltage inputs from the alternator and solar panels, if you want to charge while hooked up, you’d need a mains charger.
