Connect solar to Blue Sea system combiner

[ned miller]

A decade ago, the PO connected a onboard shore power to a West Marine 10 Amp Charger to a Blue Sea Systems battery combiner/isolator and a 60 watt solar panel to a Sunsaver 6 controller. Never had any issues. Fantastic system! All wires run behind the inner walls and magically come out on the other side of the boat to the combiner switches, fuses, and 2 house batteries and one start battery. I have no manuals, wiring diagrams etc.
I want to add some solar panels but do not know where to attach the wires from the new controllers to this system.
Do I connect to Charger, the distribution box with Fuses, or directly to the batteries..(which I think would be bad because the combiner decides which batteries to charge?..the
PO,told me the system makes sure the start battery is charged first, but I don’t know if that is accurate.)
This is an older system and I can’t find anything in it. Any insights into how the system works would help, but mostly want to know where to attach the + and - from the solar controllers!

[Highlander]

First off u need to know what the max wattage the controller is before u add anymore panels !

J

[Russ]

I have similar.

My 110v charger has 2 charging outputs. One for each battery. They are fused and connected to each battery.
My Blue Seas Combiner will combine both ways. If the starter battery is charging and reaches ~13v it combines with the house battery.
If my house battery goes to ~13v it combines with the starter battery. If either battery is very low (~10v) it will refuse to combine.

My solar panel controller is fused and attached to the main lead to my 12v panel. Which when charging is connected ONLY to the house battery via a terminal fuse on the battery.
So...if the house battery reaches ~13v from solar it combines with starter battery.

There are other ways to do this. It just happened to work out logistically for me.

Now..adding more solar, Highlander is right. That's another question. How many watts and does the existing controller handle the load?

[ned miller]

Thanks!
I have a new 30 amp controller so am good there.
On the Blue sea system,
“My solar panel controller is fused and attached to the main lead to my 12v panel. Which when charging is connected ONLY to the house battery via a terminal fuse on the battery.”
Does that mean I can just fuse and hook the new controller directly to the house battery bank and some of that electricity will make it to the start battery or do
I have to put it upstream where the charger feeds the controller (if
I can figure out where that is)
Ned

[Russ]

Thanks!
I have a new 30 amp controller so am good there.
On the Blue sea system,
“My solar panel controller is fused and attached to the main lead to my 12v panel. Which when charging is connected ONLY to the house battery via a terminal fuse on the battery.”
Does that mean I can just fuse and hook the new controller directly to the house battery bank and some of that electricity will make it to the start battery or do
I have to put it upstream where the charger feeds the controller (if
I can figure out where that is)
Ned

Are you ADDING to the existing solar or replacing it with new?

It sounds VERY similar if not identical to mine.
When the solar panel is putting out juice, it runs through my switch panel to the house batter. When the house is charged to 13v it combines to the starter battery. The idea is the solar needs to feed house needs first and the starter battery is NEVER used for anything but starting.

If you are adding another solar panel/controller it may be wise to join them. I'm not sure how to do that. Or just run them parallel into the panel and let them do their stuff.

The Blue Sea Combiner is also idiot proof (if setup right). It combines when one battery is charging to 13v. So when the house is full, it will then flow into the starter battery.

All this is hard to describe.

--Russ

[Highlander]

I have something similar but instead mine go,es to the anchor winch battery in the bow which also serves as a back-up house bat bank , so three battery banks plus a booster for starter bat back up & also a separate independent small solar duel panel system which can b used anywhere on the boat with a rail/mobile mount system brkt for charging anything that needs charging

J

[ned miller]

I am replacing the old system, but the new combiner will be in a different location.
I guess It makes sense for me to determine the IN connection on the Blue Sea Combiner.
Thanks for all the help!

[Starscream]

This is how I installed my solar system with a Blue Seas Automatic Charging Relay (combiner?). The system allows a single MPPT charge controller (or the single-bank battery charger) to deliver amps to both batteries, but still allows the battery selector switch to control which battery powers the systems.



I should probably update the drawing: I actually used a 100amp circuit breaker, not a 90A fuse, I haven't yet installed the ignition interlock (and probably won't), and I installed the two panels in parallel, not in series as shown.

Adding panels becomes complicated: the wiring size has to be correct, along with the fuse size, and the charge controller capacity.

[yukonbob]

I like starscreams setup but would route the engine alt to the house bank as well. Problems can arise where solar and alt charging with the ARC simultaneously or worse running a dc/dc. Problem routing through the battery selector switch is when engine charging and someone cycles the switch to ‘off’, you’ll burn your rectifier out instantaneously.

[Starscream]

I like starscreams setup but would route the engine alt to the house bank as well. Problems can arise where solar and alt charging with the ARC simultaneously or worse running a dc/dc. Problem routing through the battery selector switch is when engine charging and someone cycles the switch to ‘off’, you’ll burn your rectifier out instantaneously.

Hi Bob,

I'd really appreciate it if you could provide more details on the dual charging problem, and what running a DC/DC means. Google didn't help me on that one.

I do know that we can't turn the battery selector to 'off' with the motor running. I think that's a common risk with battery selectors rather than my particular setup? The battery selector we have is make-before-break so we can switch between batteries with the engine on, but we all know not to turn the switch to 'off'.

I don't follow you on the motor to the house bank recommendation. The two battery negative terminals are connected together, so I think you're talking about the positive side? Sorry, I need help here...I thought I understood the wiring!

[1st Sail]

What gauge wire did you run for the charge and control circuits. Any chance you have a picture where you mounted the controllers and chargers?

[Starscream]

I ran 10 gauge wire for two 50W solar panels. That decision was based on recommendations from the experts on this forum, which, of course, were right.

Installation room is very hard to find on my X now, so I mounted the controller and battery monitor under the galley, up high on the hull wall. I can only see them if I lift out the Origo burner or crouch way down and look thru the galley door; either way is inconvenient. But, if the system is working, no need to look at it, and it only takes about two seconds to lift out the Origo. I put a small block of varnished oak on the ledge created by the hull chine, epoxied it in place, and screwed the electronics into that.

The ACR also is mounted on the starboard hull, but inside the battery compartment, just above the batteries. The 100A breakers are also right there in the battery compartment beside the ACR.
I remember researching the venting of H2 from the batteries onto the ACR and breakers, and I'm not worried.

I can take some photos next time I'm out on the boat.

[yukonbob]

Starscream see below link for ARC's. I think Maine goes into DC/DC as well. DC/DC (look up Balmar digital Duo for an example) They allow for a more precise relay between banks, also allows for mixed battery chemistry ( FLA house banks and an AGM start for instance)
https://marinehowto.com/automatic-charging-relays/

[Starscream]

I should probably add that I used 4 gauge wire to connect the ACR. The 10 gauge was for the solar panels. A 100A breaker on 10GA wire would be just silly.

I read the ACR how-to page and I still can't see the issue with my setup. I had to route the alternator to the selector switch because I wanted to be able to put the battery selector in the off position and ensure that the motor wouldn't crank with the key. That means that when the selector is on the start battery, the alternator will give a charging voltage to the start battery on one side of the ACR, while the solar panels are giving a charging voltage to the house battery on the other side of the ACR. I didn't think that was a problem?

[yukonbob]

When charging with the engine the arc will have to stay open until the house bank is charged flowing through the start battery which causes it to cycle sort of (more depending on the discharge of the house bank) which can shorten the battery life, more so if a regular auto start battery. The whole premise with the arc/vsr is to send all the charging to the most deeply cycled bank and temporarily charge a second smaller, less used bank (starting uses very little ah, for most mid sized gas outboards prob less than .5a) So when your start battery is 99.9% full it’s still getting a full 20amp(total guess at the output) charge, while discharging into the house bank at the same time. You could separate your rectifier (charging) to you house bank and wire the ignition into the start bank if possible. It becomes a bigger problem with bigger house banks. Like a single fla start battery attached to a 450ah deep cycle house bank.