Charging external battery
What are the pro/cons/concerns? I want to charge my trolling (marine semi-deep cycle) battery (80 AH) using solar in the afternoon after its been discharged 30-50%. House batt SOC would be 90% or ...
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I see now your Solar system is a bit smaller
Even with your system YES it can and will help
What type / model solar charge controller do you have?
What is the Voc of the array?
Can you change the operational mode easily?
Connecting the array directly to the batteries can result in unwanted results
My system has a 40Voc - no way ever will I EVER connect the array directly to the batteries
Disconnect the house batteries if they are already charged up
Let the PV array via the charge controller do it's thing directly with the trolling battery (make sure at least one of the batteries is connected to the charge controller otherwise things could get ugly)
Several hours in the afternoon charging should easily give you a good top up charge
As stated above been doing it for several years with the trolling batteries
I expect 6 to 8 years of life from them after that will simply replace them with the same COSTCO GC batteries
Even with your system YES it can and will help
What type / model solar charge controller do you have?
What is the Voc of the array?
Can you change the operational mode easily?
Connecting the array directly to the batteries can result in unwanted results
My system has a 40Voc - no way ever will I EVER connect the array directly to the batteries
Disconnect the house batteries if they are already charged up
Let the PV array via the charge controller do it's thing directly with the trolling battery (make sure at least one of the batteries is connected to the charge controller otherwise things could get ugly)
Several hours in the afternoon charging should easily give you a good top up charge
As stated above been doing it for several years with the trolling batteries
I expect 6 to 8 years of life from them after that will simply replace them with the same COSTCO GC batteries
