I’m chasing information on the trickle charger function. Either I’m looking in the wrong locations or there isn’t much information available. Does anyone know any specifics on how it works? Does it use the same charge profile as the house battery but limits the current to 4A? I have lithium house battery and lead acid starter battery.
It's just a transistor and it's always active.
I would not recommend to use it in a setup with lithium and lead. There will always be a current flow from the lithium batteries to the lead battery because the lithium has a slightly higher voltage level.
I use it to keep the starter battery charged 24/7. Starter voltage is then ~ 0.6V - 0.7V lower than the house battery. Quite handy during the winter, when the camper van is rarely used.
At the beginning, I used one of the Cerbo's relays to switch it, but since I run out of relays, it's permanently on. No issues at all. By the way, house battery is lithium ;-)
I disconnected the starter battery from my Multiplus. 2 years ago there was a offshore power shutdown and no sunshine for several days. My started battery died and also all my service batteries. Since this time I'm using a 3A B2B charger instead of the starter battery output of my multiplus. No issues again since this modification.
