I have just read that the Ctek DS250SA, (SA stands for SMART ALTERNATOR), will charge the house battery and when it is full will charge the crank battery (when not traveling) from the solar panels. I have a motor home Looks like you can not program the unit, but as I read it, if a wire is attached to the AGM house battery it will charge it correctly, It does not say but I assume that the the unit will know what type of battery the crank battery is. Any body use this DC2DC charger? Any comments on this unit? Laurie
Laurie, We have a DS250s in our vehicle and when running from the solar panel, charges the house battery. When the house battery voltage (100ah lithium) reaches about 14.4v it then switches to the crank battery. There are no special setups required and DS250s auto-sences battery type. Certainly very happy with the performance of this after 5years, B.
Laurie, We have a DS250s in our vehicle and when running from the solar panel, charges the house battery. When the house battery voltage (100ah lithium) reaches about 14.4v it then switches to the crank battery. There are no special setups required and DS250s auto-sences battery type. Certainly very happy with the performance of this after 5years, B.
Many folks have the Ctek units and are very happy with them, but let me clear up one thing.
The Ctek DCDC does NOT autosense your battery type.
Ctek DCDC chargers only have one charge pattern that is designed for flooded lead acid batterie. This is so close to the requirements of gell or agm that very little damage is done, but, as the distributors will tell you, they are definitely NOT suitable for Lithium unless the battery has its own cell balancing and charging circuitry.
I have just read that the Ctek DS250SA, (SA stands for SMART ALTERNATOR), will charge the house battery and when it is full will charge the crank battery (when not traveling) from the solar panels. I have a motor home Looks like you can not program the unit, but as I read it, if a wire is attached to the AGM house battery it will charge it correctly, It does not say but I assume that the the unit will know what type of battery the crank battery is. Any body use this DC2DC charger? Any comments on this unit? Laurie
What Hylife above has said is correct
I have the older type DS250S and it puts out 14.4 volts, which they say is the average for flooded/GEL/AGM batteries
I have had no problem with mine (I do not have a smart alternator on my vehicle)
If I did have a smart alternator, then I would use this newer CTEK DS256SA charger
Laurie, We have a DS250s in our vehicle and when running from the solar panel, charges the house battery. When the house battery voltage (100ah lithium) reaches about 14.4v it then switches to the crank battery. There are no special setups required and DS250s auto-sences battery type. Certainly very happy with the performance of this after 5years, B.
Hi Kiwoz
Can you tell me what brand/type of lithium battery you have
Below is the charging chart for my CTEX DS250S DC/DC charger
As you can see it has desulphation and pulse mode, which I am led to believe the Lithium battery does not like
