Charging or maintenance charging of the starter battery (motorhome)
I have seen a couple of questions/answers in the community, but to be honest the topic isn’t yet clear for me ☹.
My van (electrical) set-up:
The battery bank (2x150Ah lithium) can be charged via shore power / Multiplus 12/3000 230-16, MPPT Smart Solar 100/30 and Orion TR 12/30. All devices are equipped with a Lynx Distributor connected to the battery bank. The system will be controlled by Cerbo GX.
I would like to have the opportunity to “maintain” the starter battery (100Ah AGM) with a maintenance/trickle charge (in case that the motorhome is not in use for longer time) and to be able to “charge/support to start” the engine in case of low starter battery. The starter battery is connected to the Orion via a 16mm2 cable.
In the Multiplus description there is a port G (TR-Charge). This connector should be connected to the starter-battery-plus pole. The starter battery minus pole must be connected to the minus pole of the battery bank. The battery voltage is probably tapped/measured through the wires (?).
- Can someone describe to me the function / mode of operation of the TR-Charge (i. e. under what conditions does it load)? Or is there any written description on Victron’s webpage (which until now haven’t found)?
- Charging of the starter battery (motor off) takes place only when the Multiplus is in operation and / or on shore power?
- Thus, the PV system does not contribute (?) or the current is “passed on” when the battery bank is full (but different (charging) voltages between lithium and lead (?)).
- What wiring size is recommended for the port G (TR-charge)?
- The "common groung" for starter and battery bank can be the van chassis?
Hope that you have already a good solution in place which you would like to share with me. Any further comments are welcome,
Frank