Redarc or Ctek. Which one.

[Tonks]

What should i buy for my camper trailer set up,
I have a pretty basic set up, 1 x 60 litre ARB fridge and a few led strip lights,
I want to get a DC-DC charger,
The Redarc BCDC 1225 @ $ 339.00 or
The Ctek D250s @ $ 219.00,

What do you reckon,

Cheers Tonks.

[kevin07]

me I have the ctek and if you look harder you will get it cheaper than that

[Drewboyaus]

I'm looking at adding one of these.
At the moment I'm just using the Redarc SB12 isolator. Do either of these replace that or do they operate together with the Redarc isolator?

[Tonks]

Im on the understanding that it will replace the SB12 as the new one is an isolator & a charger as well.

I'm looking at adding one of these.
At the moment I'm just using the Redarc SB12 isolator. Do either of these replace that or do they operate together with the Redarc isolator?

[Tonks]

Ive looked harder but can't find.

me I have the ctek and if you look harder you will get it cheaper than that

[Family4x4]

The evil twin knows alot about power set ups. He pointed me in the direction of

REDARC SBI12D DUAL SENSING DUAL BATTERY SYSTEM ISOLATOR SUIT 4X4 4WD SBI12


http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/321089669...84.m1438.l2649

Very similar to the SB12 but it monitors both batteries.

Here is his post from another thread.

"If the batteries are close together IE in the engine bay using "battery" cable to connect then there is not much point to a DC/DC setup.
They are predominantly to compensate for voltage loss over long and lighter gauge cable runs.
Commonly that is from the Engine bay to a van/camper, different battery technologies between Cranker and House or in situations where the House requires higher charging voltages or has lower internal resistances and would otherwise steal the Alternator output from the Cranker

Don't forget to allow for the mounting of the chosen Isolator, if it is a DC/DC it must be as close as possible to the House or again there is little point. If it is a "standard" isolator it should in theory be as close as practicable to the Cranker

If you are not winching or cranking off the House Battery seriously consider circuit protection at each positive terminal and you can use much smaller gauge wiring.
If you are winching/cranking then you need heavy gauge wiring and circuit protection will be quite expensive and is often not used on the interconnect BUT the cable route and cable protection is given serious thought.

No matter what you end up with I would fit a dual sense Isolator such as a Redarc SBI12D or equivalent.
I use a lot of Intervolt programmable isolators but they are more expensive and an overkill for most reccy users.

Dual sensing is much more versatile and means that if the Isolator detects a charging source on either battery (Alternator/Solar/Charger/etc) it will interconnect both batteries OR if it detects either battery going low it will disconnect the other.
If you do (or plan to do) a fair bit of camping I would definitely go that way.
... I should have added that when my Patrol with the "Fortress of Evil" hanging on the tow bar are rigged for war I have 500 amp hours of battery capacity.
Any battery can be charged from any "source" or interconnected to power any system.
I can use the Camper to start the vehicle if needed or if I am camped up and my Solar is deployed, Mains available orGenny running, I plug the vehicle into the camper then the Battry Management will also charge the vehicle.

All that I use is 2 dual sensing Isolators (Cranker to House and Camper to Vehicle) a Solar Regulator obviously and a manual battery selector switch (to choose which Camper battery bank).

I have set it up that way because I have frig's in the Vehicle and the Camper and the only thing that pisses me off more than a flat battery is warm beer.
Since using this configuration E.T. has been one happy camper BUT what works for me won't necessarily suit everyone"

The Evil Twin.

[kevin07]

far from having any great knowledge of this stuff. the reason for dc to dc is they are a 5 stage charger that tops up the battery where the isolators only charge up to about 80% of its capacity therefore decreasing the life and the output of the batteries. please correct me if im wrong. kev. ps seems the ctek has gone up a mate of mine recently paid $200 delivered sorry.

[the evil twin]

Hiya Kevin,

The 80% is sales talk and will only happen in certain fairly crappy setups, perhaps a better way to look at it is this...

A "standard" Isolator has no effect on battery charging. All they do is isolate a battery if the load is draining it.

Bottom line - If you are using lead acid batteries close to Alternator with correct gauge wiring they are fine and the battery will charge exactly as if it is connected directly to the Vehicle Alternator

The DC DC chargers essentially sacrifice Current to raise Voltage. This is usually no drama because charging a battery doesn't use anything like the full output of an Alternator. It possibly becomes an issue if you have a large battery bank tho as an Alternator will charge that more quickly
The biggest advantage of the DC DC jobbies is that you can run lighter cable over long distances and not need to worry about the voltage drop at the other end affecting the battery charge as the DC DC jobbie raises the voltage back up to a suitable level

Bottom line - these devices are weapon of choice if you have a long run and/or excess voltage drop, a battery technology that is not exactly suited to your Alternator and needs a higher charging voltage or a variable output Alternator

[megatexture]

Ctek for me without a doubt . And if you have more then 300ah of house battery you could buy a smartpass also for not much more then a redarc unit

[Drewboyaus]

I know there is much debate on this topic. When you say incompatible battery types, what are you referring to?
I was thinking about the Redarc or Ctek to also accommodate solar panels down the track too.
Does the DCDC charger replace the SBI12 I already have or can I use the two together?