300w Solar Panel Installation for the Ctek D250SE
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2020
- This video shows you how I have set up my solar panels on the roof of my sprinter van. It also explains how to wire the panels in readiness to connect to the Ctek D250SE MPPT charge controller.
My calculations are based on 12volts but solar panels are not regulated at 12v and will vary depending on weather conditions, coupled with the hight of the sun (time of day/year)
Came here for the CTEK, stayed for the funky music!!! Good stuff
Cheers pal 👍🏻
Good morning. Great video, it's exactly what I was searching for. I have a question, potentially a stupid one (sorry). If I have a 100W pannel going to the CTEK do I still need the 30A fuse or can I use a smaller one? Thanks in advance.
Thanks. This video helps a lot! If you may I do have two questions. 1) I do have three AGM leisure batteries with 115ah each, can I still use the CTEK 250SE? I read that is limited to up 300ah. 2) I'm doing a research about the usage of CTEK Smartpass along with 250SE, which benefits I will have with that?
Hi, your batteries are border line but they never are what they say they are so you probably have about 300ah plus anyway, not 345ah. Especially as the batteries age they loose the ability to hold the full charge capacity.
That all said and done, you asked if you can get away with just the D250se without having to buy the smart pass too and my answer is yes. Give it a go and see how it works because the machine does not know what your capacity is. I believe the 300ah limit is only because there is not enough sunlight in a day to fully charge more than that. However you have agm lead acid batteries so you can only use 170ah therefore your well within fully charging your batteries inside a full sunny day so go for it. Also the machine has many safe modes so you cannot damage it. If you use 170ah in one day you will need a long sunny day to recharge because the D250se can only re charge at a max of 25amps per hour and thats if your lucky. If you do buy the smartpass then you would also need more solar panels to make a difference or if your charging from the alternator you would need a much thicker wire and fuse. I found when i had a small battery 45 usable capacity the cteck charged it back up in four hours on solar in summer so i had no need for a large battery. However in winter solar is poor so i bought 170ah lithium battery so i can have four days without any recharge. The smart pass will recharge fast but only if you have a large solar bank so no need to buy that unless you can fit plenty of solar panels on your van. Hope this helps. Please ask more questions if confused.
Here is my analysis:
SMARTPASS 120S
In a dual battery system, a B2B charger (e.g. D250SE) normally includes features such as :
battery separation,
simultaneous start/service battery charging from alternator.
In addition to these, SMARTPASS 120S also features:
Start assistance (not crucial but useful)
• SMARTPASS 120S automatically connects the service battery to the starter battery for 10 sec to assist, if the starter battery on its own is unable to start the engine.
Charging the service battery (hopefully covered by a B2B charger to a degree)
• charges a service battery at up to 120A (140A with D250SE) from the start battery when a conventional or smart alternator is running. This function is switched off when the engine is not running to prevent discharge of the starter battery.
• Dynamic overcurrent protection to shield the product. ...permits up to 350A to be sent from the alternator temporarily so that charging will be accelerated.
• Battery temperature protection - protects the battery by switching off charging if the service battery temperature rises too high.
Loads (a Low Voltage Disconnect module can do this probably)
• Over-discharge protection - protects the service battery from deep discharge (V < 11.5V). The consumers are reconnected after the service battery voltage has increased.
• supplies consumers from the alternator instead of from the service battery while the service battery is charging, which permits faster charging (Otherwise the consumers are supplied with current from the service battery).
• The consumer output terminal of SMARTPASS 120S supplies consumers with max 80A continuously.
Maintenance of Starter battery (a DC-DC Trickle Charger can do this)
• Starter battery trickle charging - The service battery trickle charges the starter battery without assistance from the solar panel or alternator (when service battery voltage is higher than that of the starter battery and the voltage of the starter battery is low).
These extra features are useful and will require extra equipment to achieve. The Smartpass does all this by itself, in a small footprint, harmoniously & intelligently.
you should have your solar panels in series to up the Volts to always have a generous amount of volts for your batteries. Almost no one does parallel on a van roof. For many reasons. your way is high amperage and low volts. Change your mppt. I got a couple of useful tips from this video mind and i recieved my solar array today so waiting for a dry day to fit it all. thanks a lot
Ram Z - The Human SoundSystem yer hear you but i wanted the cteck mppt solar charger which cant go above 23v. It cost £260 so cant swap that easy but will if im unhappy over a period of time.
@@diycampervanman1633 Hey! Nice vid - how have you found the Ctek so far? I am considering getting one for my van but don't know how much hassle they save/if they're better than split charge relay and solar charge controller. Thanks
@@olliegreen2118 i haven’t fitted the ctek mppt charger yet as the video is about installing the solar panels but i will fit the ctek unit in the next couple of months. I have just wired the solar panels up in readiness for the ctek charge controller thus in parallel but most prefer series to be used on a regular mppt charger. The cteck unit is not very generous in capacity so if you want a big set up then adding the smart pass allows you to make that big rig setup in the future if you need to power boost your existing set up. im thinking on making an awning in the future with roll up solar panels to increase the power when camps set up. Most people are happy with 300w of power but at some point you will still need to recharge your batteries if in the van beyond 3 days according to my personal calculation based on my consumption. Also In my opinion i think the ctek unit is better because no messing with a split charge relay, especially as vehicles are getting more sophisticated with smart alternators. To me maintaining the starter battery in those winter months could be a winner because the ctek will take energy from your solar panels once your leisure battery is topped up and dump the surplus in your drive battery. Clever little unit, makes you wonder how all that Technology can be crammed into a small box. Im no expert, im a 1st time novice myself fumbling my way through based on research but im happy to use a product made in sweden not china where electrics are concerned. Plus all the top vehicles like Ferrari, Bentley, Aston Martin etc.. supply them with their vehicles so that says it all. They are very expensive but a general rule of thumb is you get what you pay for. Im wary of some charge controllers that you get super cheap of the internet aside from victron etc but the ctek is know to overheat too if in extreme heat but it will cut out. Imagine if that cut out failed on a cheap unit and you came back to a burnt out van 😱
@Sky Dome Atlantis i got solid advice from ctek themselves to wire in parallel to be sure of what i was reading but im not going to use the smartpass, only if i want to increase my rig in the future, which i probably will lol. I would imagine you can wire series if your panels are low voltage but it states not to go above 23v for the single unit so parallel it has to be! Ive not looked into wiring a smartpass too, as you can put a massive load onto them combined then perhaps you can wire in series for that set up? Most people prefer series but use different mppt chargers that allow for much higher volts which is then manipulated in the charge controller to bring down to a usable 12 volts but i want the ctek unit as it does so many different tasks in one box, mainly maintaining two separate battery banks so i can either keep my drive battery topped up in those winter months when im going no where or can charge my hot water battery! Thats all in another video but im afraid i struggle with spare time to get on with these tasks. However i recon there will be a glut of more videos soon enough as ive started working in the van again after going off camping in it in summer without solar power!
Don’t wire your panels in series, you will push the voltage higher than the 23 v that ctec recommend.
Hi i have the same Ctek charger and about to add 2 x 100watt panels. As it doesnt have a visual display how do you check amperage its supplying.
Do you use a voltmeter on ctek terminals many thanks Dave.
Yes, i dare say that’s what I did to get me started before I fitted a shunt and battery monitor. Now my monitor shows me exactly how much solar I’m getting when I get it. Also shows me what I’m getting from the starter battery when the alternator is charging. The maximum I have seen the solar bring in on 300watts of solar is 16amps. The alternator produces 19-20amps but combined it will max out at 25amps unless you fit a smart pass charger too giving you 145amp capability. But you would need a lot of solar panels to get to that capability.
Hello dude, what did you do with the ignition live wires from the CTEK if your not attaching them to an ignition live? Struggling with my CTEK on my sprinter, cant seem to get it to charge and thinking it may not actually have a smart alternator, mines 2015, what year is yours?
Hi Francis, chances are your van has a smart alternator on a 2015 plate sprinter but dont take my word as gospel. There are two ways of checking. 1st - check if your starter batter has a black box on the negative terminal. This is always a good indication. 2nd - test the charge that is going into your battery when the van is running. If its between 12.5v to 13.5v after running for a while, then it will be a smart alternator.
Now you know what it is you can make the correct wiring choice.
Smart alternator version - connect your ignition wire to a wire off the vehicle fuse board that only comes live when you turn the van on. You can do this by piggy backing off an existing fuse using a fuse piggy back connector or find a spare empty fuse port and connect to that but check its only live when the van is switched on.
If you don’t have a smart alternator then your ignition wire is just redundant and do nothing with it.
Also my van is 2008 and i believe smart alternators didn’t get fitted to any vehicle till 2010 so your van could have a smart alternator.
@@diycampervanman1633 Cheers man, will investigate further over the weekend, thanks for the advice and keep up the good work with the channel!
@@diycampervanman1633 You have this backwards. A smart alternator will vary the voltage depending on the (starter) battery charge level. Smart alternators CAN drop the voltages down below 13v depending on the electrical load/charge level and the issue here is that VSRs won't trigger, or may switch off early before your secondary battery has a chance to charge fully. The CTEK takes care of that by boosting the voltage back up over 14v to charge your secondary battery.
The CTEK will work with or without a smart alternator. If you leave the ignition wire floating (not connected), it will assume you have a traditional alternator. In this case, your smart alternator will still charge the secondary battery, but possibly not fully. The manual is pretty vague about the necessity of this wire, but my understanding is that it will tell the CTEK when your engine is off and stop charging. Otherwise, it will take a few minutes to stop charging because it will need to wait for the starter battery voltage to drop below its cut-off threshold. So I think you have something else wired incorrectly as it should work with any kind of alternator.
Hello
May I ask, the maximum open circuit on your panels, and my 100w renogy is 21.6v, the ctex states a maximum of 21v. Have you experienced any problems being you exceed it by .6v
Hi, absolutely no problem what so ever. 21.6v is under factory conditions but you will never produce that, plus there are losses anyway in the wires to the ctek charger so you get my guarantee it’s safe. None liable guarantee though lol.
Maximum solar panel power 50-300 W (Max OCV solar panel 23V) Exceeding these parameters will damage your D250.
@@conandrum74 hello
Thanks for taking the time to comment. You are correct in that my system will not damage the CTEK, as confirmed after direct contact with CTEK customer support.
Those holes you drilled for the cables where u put the grommets, I hope you protected the cut metal with paint or those bad boys are gonna rust like hell. That cable passthru thingy is a condensation maker2000, at least now when you prevented air to circulate in the cable gland by putting grommets on the cable pass thrus.
Haha you caught me out there! No i never but I did sikkaflex around the grommets to stop water slipping around the edges so that should be air tight enough. Also i sealed the glands too with sikkaflex which are suppose to be water tight anyway. Ive had access to the wires on the inside for 6 months and no sign of rust but you know what, i think ill inject a little liquid grease around the grommets to be sure now you mention it! 😊 cheers pal.
@@diycampervanman1633 That might be a good idea yea. There are also these paint type liquid that prevent rusting and turn already existing rust back. Saw that you used a lot of sikaflex so that won't be the problem for sure, but moisture will eventually attack bare metal even if it not out in the salt and rain. I liked your video, was thinking about doing the same, still figuring our tax-evasion van to day camper weekend camper style thing. The taxing in Finland is awful. Have you looked at the panels, are they out in the open? As Finlands also a pretty rainy and lush country with a long and wet autumn, I'm wondering if the panel get bio and industrial fallout a lot, and how easy it is to clean all that gunk and leaves from them.
@@Ricqu i fitted three panels 5 or 6 months ago and the fourth three days ago. You can see the UV light has discoloured the panels ever so slightly against the new one but regards dirty panels, the rain keeps them relatively clean lol. Ive never washed them but will do when i connect the charge controller up soon, although they look still clean enough. If you are referring to the green algae or moss stuff on the roof it was like that when i bought it. I wont allow that to happen again on this van now in my ownership lol. Not sure what you mean about tax in Finland? People here in the uk buy a van through their business for 100% tax relief but secretly use it for pleasure not work lol. Thats one way of dodging your tax over here but if you Dont have a business you cant do that. Im to frightened to try that so i paid for my sprinter privately not for my business.
@@diycampervanman1633 When we buy a new van, and register it for the first time, not only do we pay for the vehicle + vat, but on top of that we have this "temporary (been temporary for 35 years lol)" import tax that was introduced for couple of years back in 80's to boost economy. Its totally dependable for vehicle class and nowadays to the emissions. It can be from couple of percents to as high as 50% the value of the car if its a big gasoline engine like 6liter v8 or something. Our cars are taxed as "multifunction" use vehicles, which will be import taxed fully and you can do anything with those vehicles, build a circus inside it if u can. The vans on the other hand are only taxed in the cabin area and have only 35% of the full import tax figure, as the back of the van is supposed to be used to haul things. You can't have anything solid there, no benches bed etc. It basically has to look like a builders or plumbers van from the cargo area. And the price for a T6.1 van with the relief is about 50.000€ but you can get them registered as 'multifunction', then you have to pay the full tax and then there's some of the yearly taxes that go higher too, comparable to road tax. That vehicle can be something like 65.000-67.000€. So that's why its a cat and mouse game here to modify the van to be the kind that MOT worker or police officer will still think its a 35% van. So basically I'm gonna build mine with cargo rails on the floor and try to attach my bed and Dometic chest fridge and a sliding drawer to that so it might look like its "not solid" if you can get it out in matter of seconds.
@@Ricqu interesting and also complex but similar regards a concession on tax relief for cargo vehicles here. Also here for commercial vehicle if you convert a van here into a campervan then your vehicle can be down graded from class 7 to class 4 meaning cheaper MOT and you can drive as fast as a car because in the uk you cant drive as fast in a van by law unless re-registered as a motorhome.
However the answer to your problem is something i thought about myself and that is to make a camper pod that slides into the back of your van when camping and comes out when you need a cargo van! Lol not so simple but something i thought about instead of having two vans lol. Anyway i decided on two vans to keep it simple but much more expensive. Happy new year, its just about to happen here in the UK although no pubs no drinking, nothing this year.
Hi, just bought a ctek s250 and a smartpass combo and I’ve found your video helpful. Just got a question. I have 600ah lithium and I want to be able to charge my battery mainly from solar so aiming for 600-700w of solar. Will the ctek and smartpass together be able to handle that much solar output? Thank you.
Hello, as far as Im aware you can add much more than 700w of solar when adding the smart pass to the 250se.
You see the D250SE on its own can only handle 20amps of solar (300w) but as soon as you add the smart pass the two combined can handle 140amps so you can add much more solar panels yes. However always be mindful of how many amps your batteries can handle on a fast charge as the more solar you have, the faster the charge as more amps will be delivered. The question
you need to ask is to the battery manufacturer and i would ask them I have 600ah of a battery bank wired in parallel, can it handle a 700w or say equivalent of 50-60amp charge. Im my opinion you will breeze it but always check the charge ratings of the battery your charging too when beefing up your solar array.
One more thing, only the D250SE can charge lithium so you must have that version. The other is an older versions.
@@diycampervanman1633 I think you are dangerously mistaken on this point.
Maximum solar panel power 50-300 W (Max OCV solar panel 23V)
Nowhere in the Smartpass manual does it state you can add more than 300W of solar to D250SE.
Solar is handled by the D250SE and that is its max handling capability.
Charging on the other hand is handled by the Smartpass 120S (when connected to D250SE) which can handle much more - 120A continuously (from the starter battery when an alternator is running) plus 20A max from D250SE (i.e. from its solar input).
20Amps is considered the MAX that the D250SE solar should ever have to handle.
Correct me if I am wrong (I do not think I am).
You are absolutely correct I learnt after this vid was made. It’s very confusing to anyone new to this product. When I added my fourth 100w panel I wired it to a separate cheaper solar controller then wired direct into the mains line via a bus bar. It’s fine to have multiple chargers so long as your wiring and battery can handle the extra charge but 100w don’t produce that much more. Especially laid flat and yes the smart pass is to beef up power from your alternator generated power. One day I’ll do a sequel making this point how I got round adding the fourth panel as only three go through the D250se
@@conandrum74 correct as far as I can see too. I’ve emailed CTek for the definite answer but is a little confusing for novices.
did you connect your additional mppt + output, to the bar going to your service battery + terminal? The - to common ground I suppose.
But is the solar controller a mppt ? If not you will not get so much as 5 amp in charging. Anyway great video!
yes its an Mppt charger. Ive been getting upto 16amps on good sunny days. on average it sits on around between 5-10amps. I get 19-20amps from the engine battery when driving and upto 25amps combined at the same time. The machine only allows 25amps max but you can add the smartpass if you want more solar etc..
it is a dual battery controller too so it also keeps my starter battery topped up from solar and never goes flat.
Ive not completed the van but well on the way and lots of new vids coming in the winter when i have more time, Ive got all the footage saved. I have been monitoring the use of the charger during my trips away and I can honestly say I have never had to plug the van into 240 hook up to recharge the battery all year, ever! however in scotland at christmas I had to hook up to keep an electric fireon but now I have a mini electric oven and microwave so I upgraded my battery to a big lithuim for faster charging and a bigger power bank.
Thanks for watching,
karl.
Hi I noticed u have a vent infromt of your solar panels thar is the size I am trying to get can u provide the supplier for me cheers dave
Hi, so sorry, the vent you refer to .Im not sure you mean the extractor one or the back one. These where the first things i bought before i even bought the van and are no longer listed on my ebay account. The back was a 50x50cm fiamma but i don’t recommend for a van as its not deep enough. Its more for a thing roofed caravan. However i still fitted it and made my own deeper surround for it using the spare shower pvc cladding. See link on instagram.
instagram.com/reel/CiOXbf7jvja/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
The extractor is an unbranded 40x40 but again that listing has long gone although they are easy enough to source online. Sorry i cant help you.
Renogy 2pcs 100 Watt 12 Volt Monocrystalline Solar Panel (Compact Design) Ideal for Off Grid PV System on Motorhome, Caravan, Campervan, RV or Boat and Other Off-Grid are these the panels u wanted instead of the ones u got
The renogy compact where not available in the uk during the pandemic early days. So i settled for the ones you see me fitting as they where available but produced slightly less amps. However they work fine and keeps my battery topped up. I did buy the renogy inverter and lithium battery and ill do a vid on that. I totally recommend renogy products. As i say in the vid, renogy seemed to have superior connectors. I bought separate renogy connectors and put them on my system as they seemed much more water tight
@@diycampervanman1633 so using Renogy 2pcs 100 Watt 12 Volt Monocrystalline Solar Panel (Compact Design) 2 will be ok with ctek 250se ???
@@andytawa1114 yes absolutely, you can go up to 300w with the D250se
Don’t forget you need to wire in parallel.
@@diycampervanman1633 thxs for that i am using 2 panels i have bought the double ones so i can run in parallel
@@andytawa1114 ma il ctek arriva a 23 v, mentre i renogy da 100 arrivano anche a 24 volt di tensione massima?
Your calculations at 25:08 are incorrect. You'd need to figure out the output voltage of the panels on a sunny day, under load, then divide 100w / voltage. You assumed 12v, which is not correct for an unregulated panel. A regulated panel would put out more like 14v to charge a battery, but an unregulated panel would vary in voltage depending on the sun they receive.
Yes correct again but i can’t do a calculation as it always changes so i chose 12v. I did a quick test on the video of one panel and it was producing 18+volts and that was an overcast reading outlined in text across the screen. If i increase the volts in the calcs as you say i will end up with less amps so i am defo in for safe use of the D250se. I guess it was a safe case scenario as its advertised as 12v panel i use that calc before purchase. Its good I’m challenged so i learn. You seem very confident in your comments, is it your profession or just take an interest in these things yourself.i could argue the calculation is correct, the situation isn’t. I think i should highlight your comment though on the next video that shows the wiring up of the full system.
Also Ive put an additional comment in the description to make people aware of what you said.