I have a 12v 100W PV panel left over from a prior project that I would like to use as a battery maintainer for the vehicle's 24v battery bank.
What is the simplest way to go about this?
The 24v battery bank is strictly for the vehicle, not tied to the habitat system.
If only for vehicle battery, any cheap 24V / 10A MPPT or PWM controller will do. It needn't be a Victron. But if you want a Victron, a BlueSolar 75-10 will do fine, as it supports 24V out to battery. See the BlueSolar/SmartSolar comparison chart here.
Most MPPT controllers are not boost controllers, they are buck controllers. They will not boost from a PV Voltage which is lower than the battery Voltage.
The Victron controllers need the PV Voltage to be at least 5V above the current battery Voltage to start and then need the PV Voltage to be at least 1V above the current battery Voltage to keep running.
I don't know of any MPPT controllers in the market which do have boost converters.
what if the MPPT controller went to a 12v to 24v buck/boost converter before the battery?
