I have a 5W solar panel and my motor puts out 60W. Is there any reason they can't both be connected to the battery at the same time, provided I don't overcharge it of course?
multiple charging sources on a single battery?
- Thread starter Gene Neill
- Start date
Depends on how frequently you want to replace that battery.
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/do_i_need_a_controller
Left unattended even a 12W panel can cook a 220Ah bank of Lifeline AGM batteries. When " full" a 400Ah bank of Trojan's needs just 0.1A to maintain 14.4V but you don't want to be at 14.4V continuously and you need to not go over 13.8V in float, which requires even less current than 0.1A...
When using the boat no need for a controller. When you leave the boat unattended, no controller can cook the battery so might as well have one.
The problem with no controller and multiple charge sources is you can drive the other charge source into a shut down, turn on, shut down, turn on state and actually slow your charging.