Thread: Charging D4 battery when camping

Originally Posted by theins

... can I connect the solar panel to the Anderson plug to charge the battery when stationary?

Provided you have a solar charge regulator between the panel and the rear Anderson plug then yes.

(which is wired directly to the battery terminals (fused, but no isolator))

If this is correct, it is the wrong way to wire anything in a D3, presumably a D4 as well.

Nothing should be connected to the negative terminal of the starting battery as it upsets the battery monitoring sensor.


On my recent big trip I met a guy in Kakadu in a D3 who had troubles with his aux battery system. He was left with not enough charge to start the car and all batteries being very low.

He had an isolator system (which consisted of 3 boxes) and it was wired to both battery terminals. I tried to get him to remove the wire from the terminal and relocate it to an earth stud.

He wouldn't do it because he wanted to wait till he got to Darwin to ask the dealer.
Oh well you can only try.

He said the 3 box system was a DC-DC system which has worked well for years on previous trips.

But when quizzed it appears previous trips were across the Simpson where he would drive for many hours at a time.

This trip was basically an hour or so driving then camping overnight so the batteries never got a chance to fully charge, (would have been better being charged direct from the alternator ala Traxide.)

I have a Traxide system and had NO problems with my batteries being charged even though I was travelling the same way as him.

I have a Traxide dual battery system in my D4 and have often charged the batteries using a mains charger connected through the anderson plug.
When camping over a couple of days my intention is to use a solar panel mounted on the roof rack to provide charging, via a regulator and 12s plug, connected to the white trailer plug[pin3 earth/pin4 positive] and the anderson plug to power lights etc.AFAIK this should be ok.Tim your valued opinion?

Hi eddy and that is the ideal setup.

Originally Posted by ytt105

(which is wired directly to the battery terminals (fused, but no isolator))

If this is correct, it is the wrong way to wire anything in a D3, presumably a D4 as well.

Nothing should be connected to the negative terminal of the starting battery as it upsets the battery monitoring sensor.

.

Well, I had LR install the Anderson plug at the rear of the car. I will open the battery box and have a look how they connected the leads...

And yes, I do have regulators on the panels (1 at 100W, the other 140W).

I do not have a dual battery system in the car.

Originally Posted by theins

And yes, I do have regulators on the panels (1 at 100W, the other 140W).

Something to consider .... if you want to run both panels at the same time I believe you'll need to go through a single regulator, which will need sufficient capacity to handle the amps coming from both panels.

You don't want a setup where the regulators fight each other.

Regards,
Scott

Originally Posted by LRD414

Something to consider .... if you want to run both panels at the same time I believe you'll need to go through a single regulator, which will need sufficient capacity to handle the amps coming from both panels.

You don't want a setup where the regulators fight each other.

Regards,
Scott

I am not particularly experienced in car electrics - hence would not consider connecting both at the same time - would always be either or....

Hi Scott and theins, you can run two separate solar setups through two different solar regs and have then connected to a common point, like the terminals of a single battery.

If the battery is low and the sun is high, both panels will supply what they can.

Once the battery best near a full charged state, the solar reg with the lowest maximum ( simplified statement ) voltage setting, will simply turn off ( usually by going into float mode ) while the other will continue to charge the battery until it too goes into float mode.

This is no different to having a battery charger and a solar reg connected to the same battery, and this is a VERY common type of setup.