Can you trickle charge both batteries on a 260EC?

drgjackson

Hi . This is my first post here as only recently found this forum. Love that so many Rinker subjects discussed.I live in Australia in a very sunny part.I have a 2008 260EC with standard 2 battery setup.I used to be on mooring with power but now am on dry stack so batteries occasionally go flat. I recently bought an 80W solar array with regulator directly attached to starter battery to keep the starter battery charged when boat is on the rack and it works a treat. I always turn my battery selector to off when it is out of the water.
My question is would it do any harm to connect a second solar array to the house battery or is there a better way to keep both batteries charged? 

califco

No, the 80 watt will provide 5.3 amps that should be enough to keep the batteries charged if they are not drawing any current. Check the battery rating, you need around 3.5 watt per every 100 amp hour battery. 
Even though your array has a fuse I will still consider installing a blocking diode on the positive terminal along with a breaker to protect the system. 

califco

While it works you should consider connecting the solar array to a charger controller, this will prevent overcharging the batteries. if the voltage reaches 14.8V or higher it can damage the battery and possibly create gases that can explode. In addition, if you don't have a blocking didode it is possibly that during the night the batteries will drained back to the solar array.

MarkB

If you are dry docked then why not just pull the positive off the batteries. This will eliminate power consumption from Merc cathode and any bad grounds. 

You can lower and raise your hatch using a portable jumper battery. 

drgjackson

Thanks for your replies. This is a link to the unit I bought.http://www.springers.com.au/images/productdownloads/SPM80-120K_Instructions_Issue1.pdf
 It seems to have a controller. I suppose my major question was if I do charge this way do I need another separate array for the house battery ?