Hi from uk

[gstuart]

Hi

wished to say hello to everyone from the SE of Kent UK, , been Messing around with land rovers for the last 30 x years as a keen diy’er

recently purchased some renogy solar bits for my discovery 3 in order to keep by main and aux batteries topped up

DCC50S 12V 50A DC-DC/ BT-2/ Bluetooth hub/battery monitor screen /
RNG-175D 175W solar panel

starting from scratch so wish to read up and learn how to install everything correctly, was directed to this forum after being highly recommend , hope I can also contribute where possible

many thks

gary

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Welcome.

Please be advised that unit is very limiting for a MPPT. You can't install a solar panel with Voc > 25V on it unlike most other MPPT. Any additional panels you add will need to be in parallel - never in series.

Many find a better solution to be a regular DC-DC charger for alternator charging and a separate MPPT dedicated to solar.

Please note that if you ever read a % charge from a device like a charger, it's complete junk. It's voltage-based, and it doesn't mean much of anything. The only thing that reports an accurate charge % is a battery monitor that actually counts the amps in and out of the battery via a shunt or hall effect sensor. It then compares the counted value to the programmed battery capacity and reports a % charge.

 

[gstuart]

Welcome.

Please be advised that unit is very limiting for a MPPT. You can't install a solar panel with Voc > 25V on it unlike most other MPPT. Any additional panels you add will need to be in parallel - never in series.

Many find a better solution to be a regular DC-DC charger for alternator charging and a separate MPPT dedicated to solar.

Please note that if you ever read a % charge from a device like a charger, it's complete junk. It's voltage-based, and it doesn't mean much of anything. The only thing that reports an accurate charge % is a battery monitor that actually counts the amps in and out of the battery via a shunt or hall effect sensor. It then compares the counted value to the programmed battery capacity and reports a % charge.

hi @sunshine_eggo

bless u for the quick reply and for extremely helpful information

have started a thread here of what I’ve done so far

Renogy battery Bluetooth setup

Hi firstly I hope this finds everyone is keeping well was wondering if anyone would be so kind to help me plse , wish to install a solar setup in my discovery 3 with a split charge system , have bought the following Renogy DCC50S 12V 50A DC-DC controller / BT-2/ Bluetooth hub / battery...

diysolarforum.com

will only be fitting a single panel, reason being as the D3 is very power hungry if I don’t use it for around 6 x weeks I need to charge the battery

currently do that by plugging my CTEK charger in via my 12s towing socket , my thinking was to fit the single panel to keep the main and aux battery topped up

I assumed the renogy DC to DV controller would automatically charge the main battery first then the aux battery

wonder If it would be worth buying one of these instead of using the renogy DC to DC controller , as indeed would rather do that and not have issues down the road so to speak or would victron be better plse

also many thks about shunts will have a look through the forum as I expect there’s a thread on them already

thks again for the sound advice , have also added some pics to my other thread

CTEK D250SE Dual Input DC-DC Charger & MPPT Solar Controller

The CTEK D250SE is a dual input 20A DC-DC (battery-to-battery) charger & MPPT solar controller for Euro 5 & 6 vehicles. Suits lead-acid & Lithium batteries. From 12 Volt Planet

www.12voltplanet.co.uk

 

[rpdom]

Hi

wished to say hello to everyone from the SE of Kent UK, , been Messing around with land rovers for the last 30 x years as a keen diy’er

Greetings from the other side of the river

 

[gstuart]

Greetings from the other side of the river

bless u for the kind welcome