Chinook RV

Does anyone here have any experience with Ctek? As part of my "project" includes re doing the electrical in the back I found this product in my research. It looks really good.

I haven't looked at the Ctek in depth, but my sense is that they are similar to the Sterling B2B type chargers. In other words, they "condition" your alternator power something like a regular "good" shore or solar charger.

Now, do you need to do this? That depends. As much as I like "good" charging, I have not installed this sort of device on my Chinook. What I DID do was put a big hefty wire (in place of the un-fusable 4AWG that Chinook used), and fused it properly at both ends. I think this is step one.

Now for me, I'm fine with my alternator being "bulk" charging power. I have my solar panels to finish the absorb off nicely. I also don't rely on alternator power for charging my house bank all that often. However, this summer I did use it quite a bit. What I found was that I could run with the two banks connected (I use a manual switch) and easily get my batteries up to 85% (all bulk charging), and then my solar panels would finish the charging within a couple of hours (basically just the absorb stage). It was then fine to go without putting my panels out for a few days of traveling (from time to time).

Generally, I don't connect the two banks though, as my solar panels will charge the house bank to 100% nearly every day. So, no need to subject my alternator to extra strain (when I do combine, I generally make it a practice to not do it at night when running headlights - that may not be a problem but to my mind I'm being kind to my alternator.

If you are going to rely on alternator power for your main charging source, then I think a B2B charger is something to consider. As usual, make sure it has on-battery temperature compensation and that it has actual customizable settings, not just generic "flooded," "AGM," or "Gel" presets (I find they don't tend to match my batteries' charging specs, if if I "match" the preset category).

I do think the larger, properly fused wire is essential and it would be the first thing I'd do (and did).