Balance charger - for PB charging from solar/alternator?

[G]

Not expecting there to be much knowledge in this niche area of a niche area here, especially as I have tried elsewhere too, but...

Anyone have knowledge of/experience using a powerful (ie something like a Powerlab 8 or one of the 1kw ones) to...

Charge a lead acid battery bank of 100ah-400ah at 24v instead of a 'smart charger'.

While powered...
Directly from solar panels (no solar charger).
From a 24v alternator.
From a 24v 30a (27.5a spec listed) 'dumb' battery charger.

[unitynotsocri...]

No , the batteries are too heavy for my mountain bike but fire away.

assume you have a switching box to switch source charger circuits in .
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nearly a normal tax paying tosser.......with ferrileness suzi100,cg125,cb125scb100n,cb175,cd100,cj250t,kh250,c15,125 bantam,super 6,rickman gs750,xt500,250rs,dt175,lifan125,dolomite1850,metro,Morris220ld,morrisfg,leyland princess,range rover,corsa,vw camper .now struggling with legs. MORE ORDER = MORE CHAOS

[G]

Just trying to work out if it's a possible solution, especially in regards to how well they work as 'smart chargers' for lead acid; but yes I'd have some switching mechanism - possibly relay based, but also could be switches or just moving wires.

Apparently they can charge the batteries they are being powered from without causing a quantum singularity (though, of course not actually usefully charging - just slowly draining a little power) - so it wouldn't be the end of the world if things didn't get switched properly.

From further reading up, it does seem like solar is out, or at least not without a specific solar controller. Especially if I plan to have multiple solar panels.

[unitynotsocri...]

i'd say for small scale solar , like a van /boat/caravan for weekenders , one 100 amp batt with a 5 amp solar charger and small regualtor is enough to power a small inverter , charge phones/laptops and a small tele / stereo .

For bigger power stuff solar is out .....unless you want a superboat /car /bike that needs 3 days charging for a 5 mile 50 mph dash ...

With bigger batteries its important to have matched pairs when raising the voltage . this keeps the charge and load even to prevent plate wear . Keeping a closer charging / discharging cycle helps .

if you have 24 volt , and 4 x 12v batteries then its easier to keep the batteries on a more even cycle .

solar charging is not usually a constant , without a charge controller a lot of power is wasted and the batteries are more unevenly charged . you do need 5 amp really to start charging bigger lead acid batteries . a solar charge controller can keep the voltage and power more stable as the sunshine fluctuates . On dull days they are really good . Panels without controllers are best left to garden lights .

see CPC farnell and Maplins for panels .

it would stress batteries more being charged by different sources so its best matching solar to different compounds .

a modern alternator should ensure that the charging current / waveform aids battery life . If you charged/discharged your batteries extremly with a severe cycle then they would last a few hundred times .....however old or new they are ....if you had a gentle cycle then they could last a thousand times and 15 years if looked after .
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nearly a normal tax paying tosser.......with ferrileness suzi100,cg125,cb125scb100n,cb175,cd100,cj250t,kh250,c15,125 bantam,super 6,rickman gs750,xt500,250rs,dt175,lifan125,dolomite1850,metro,Morris220ld,morrisfg,leyland princess,range rover,corsa,vw camper .now struggling with legs. MORE ORDER = MORE CHAOS

[G]

I'm well aware of power requirements etc. Currently have 100ah * 24v and hoping to double that soon.

Will be getting probably 185w or more solar (24v, again). Ideally doubling that.

Of course, having more batteries means lasting longer between charges. It also means a higher charge rate works ok, so less time using a generator/alternator is needed, if they can chuck out enough.

A decent balance charger should be able to take a variable input and make the most of it with the constant and most useful output voltage/amperage.

CPC Farnell and maplins are both well, well over priced for solar panels, consindering the current very competitive pricing available elsewhere (try around 4x more for CPC, similar for maplins.

I would never use more than one charging source at a time.

A modern car alternator isn't designed to run that well at idle unfortunately. You can buy systems that well make it work better, or a better alternator.

I've researched this whole area a fair bit (I did put a longer post up elsewhere).

So I'm specifically interested if anyone has used one powered from a solar panel?
Powered from a 24v alternator?
Powered from a vehicle battery charger?

I'm also interested to see if anyone's got them to come on automatically in certain circumstances.

[G]

What I'm basically looking for is something to replace a Sterling Alternator to Battery charger (well, apart from doing the funky stuff to make the alternator output more power), for less money - and this way I get to charge my lithium batteries quickly too .

[G]

The company I contacted got back to me and the answer is basically 'no'.

However, this, I believe, would solve most of my problems.
https://www.bimblesolar.com/offgrid/inverters/PIP-2424MS
It does MPPT and 3 stage 30a mains charging in one, along with the bonus of a 2.4kw inverter (so power most stuff bar the compressor and welder).
Cheap Chinese box, but sold by a recognised UK company.

Then maybe get an advanced alternator regulator at some point.
(But with 30a charging from mains, the generator will be a much more efficient use of fuel than it is now at least.)

[sickpup]

[G]

Cheers, but I was specifically looking to run the balance charger directly from the alternator, which is not possible, it seems.

Running through a fancy charger like that has various benefits - all sorts of monitoring options and can download data to a computer, program it to do exactly what you want and the like.

The FFR alternator probably has a good - at-idle power. Most alternators don't work amazingly efficiently in the way they produce power as far as charging batteries goes. Fine if you're driving a lot as they can produce more than is needed in total, but if you're only running the engine specifically to charge batteries for long periods, more of a problem.
My current one probably doesn't do very well; the advanced alternator regulator or similar would get more out of it and let it charge the batteries faster while still not damaging them (but involves taking it apart I believe and I don't even know it's rating).

I would like a Sterling 24v 140a alternator - they're designed to be good at low rpm:
https://www.sterling-power.com/images/product/page24/graph2.gif
90A at idle; then producing the same power as a household socket with the engine at 1500 rpm.