Solving a Key Technical Challenge: How to Charge Both Batteries in Your Campervan from Solar.

One of the most common challenges faced by campervan, RV, and motorhome owners is keeping both their leisure battery and starter battery charged, especially when relying on solar power. While Victron Energy produces some of the most efficient MPPT solar charge controllers on the market, they do not manufacture a dual output MPPT controller—meaning you can’t charge both the leisure battery and the starter battery directly from a single device.

Fortunately, there’s a solution to this technical gap. By combining a Victron MPPT Solar Charger with a Sterling BM12123 Battery Maintainer, you can effectively keep your leisure battery fully charged from solar power and automatically maintain your starter battery at the same time. This setup offers an elegant, automated solution to the problem, ensuring that both batteries remain charged without manual intervention.

In this article, we'll show how these two products work together to provide the perfect power management system for your campervan, RV, or motorhome, solving the dual charging challenge while maximising efficiency.

The Victron MPPT Solar Charger: Efficiently Charging Your Leisure Battery

Solar power is a popular choice among campervan and motorhome owners, and for good reason. It’s sustainable, silent, and can keep your leisure battery charged while you’re on the road or parked in a remote location.

The Victron MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) Solar Charger is a top-tier product designed to optimize the energy harvest from your solar panels. By continually adjusting the power from the solar panels to ensure the maximum amount of energy is being transferred to your battery, the MPPT charger increases efficiency, especially in changing weather conditions. This makes it a superior choice over traditional PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) solar charge controllers.

Key Benefits of Victron MPPT for Campervans:

• Higher Efficiency: MPPT controllers can increase solar harvest by up to 30% compared to PWM controllers, especially in low-light conditions.
• Versatility: Compatible with various solar panel configurations (e.g., different voltages and wattages), making it adaptable to your system’s requirements.
• Smart Features: The Smartsolar Victron MPPT's come with Bluetooth connectivity, allowing you to monitor your solar input and battery status via a smartphone app.

The Victron MPPT ensures your leisure battery stays fully charged, but how do you ensure your starter battery stays topped up as well? This is where the Sterling BM12123 Battery Maintainer comes into play.

The Sterling BM12123 Battery Maintainer: Keeping Your Starter Battery Topped Up

A fully charged starter battery is essential for starting your engine. However, in campervans, starter batteries can sometimes be neglected, particularly if the vehicle is stationary for extended periods or being used mainly for leisure purposes. The Sterling BM12123 Battery Maintainer offers an elegant solution to this problem by redistributing excess power from your leisure battery to the starter battery, ensuring both stay charged.

How Does the Sterling BM12123 Work?

The Sterling BM12123 is a 12V-to-12V battery maintainer designed to transfer charge from one battery to another. Once your leisure battery is charged by the solar system via the Victron MPPT controller, the Sterling BM12123 steps in, allowing a portion of the surplus charge to be sent to the starter battery. This means you’ll never have to worry about a dead starter battery, even after long periods of parking.

Key Benefits of the Sterling BM12123 for Campervans:

• Prevents Overcharging: The unit smartly controls the charge, ensuring your starter battery doesn’t get overcharged.
• Compact and Lightweight: Easy to install in your campervan, taking up minimal space.
• Fully Automated: Once installed, the BM12123 works automatically, requiring no manual intervention. It continuously monitors battery voltages and sends power where needed.
• From any battery type to any battery type (Lithium, AGM, Lead Acid compatible).

The Perfect Pair: Victron MPPT and Sterling BM12123

When you combine the Victron MPPT Solar Charger with the Sterling BM12123 Battery Maintainer, you create a comprehensive power solution that ensures both your leisure and starter batteries remain charged and healthy.

How Do They Work Together?

1. Solar: The Victron MPPT controller efficiently harvests energy from your solar panels and charges your leisure battery, making sure you have enough power to run your devices and appliances in the camper.

2. Maintaining the Starter Battery: Once the leisure battery reaches its optimal charge, the Sterling BM12123 Battery Maintainer directs surplus power to the starter battery, ensuring it remains topped up and ready to go when you need to start your engine.

3. Seamless Operation: The integration of these two devices allows for a seamless and automatic power management system. You don’t need to worry about managing the charge distribution; the technology takes care of it.

4. Energy Efficiency: By making full use of solar energy to charge both your leisure and starter batteries, you minimize the need to rely on your vehicle’s alternator or external charging sources, improving fuel efficiency and reducing wear on your alternator.

Ideal for Off-Grid Adventures

This combined solution is ideal for campervan, RV, and motorhome owners who enjoy off-grid living. Whether you're parked up in the middle of nowhere or taking a short break on the road, you can rest assured knowing that both your leisure battery and starter battery are being taken care of.

• Self-Sufficiency: With solar power taking care of the leisure battery and the Sterling BM12123 maintaining the starter battery, your vehicle becomes much more self-sufficient.
• Peace of Mind: No more worrying about flat batteries or manual interventions. Your power system is fully automated.
• Cost-Effective: By keeping your batteries healthy and preventing them from over-discharging, you extend their lifespan, ultimately saving you money on replacements.

Why Choose Victron and Sterling?

Both Victron and Sterling are respected brands in the campervan and RV market, known for producing high-quality, reliable products.

• Victron Energy: Renowned for their innovative and reliable solar charge controllers, Victron is a top choice among solar enthusiasts.
• Sterling Power: A trusted name in battery charging and maintenance solutions, Sterling Power provides practical and durable products that cater to the needs of campervan owners.

By choosing these two products, you are investing in a system designed to keep your campervan’s power supply reliable and efficient for years to come.

Conclusion: The Perfect Solution for Your Campervan Power Needs

Combining the Victron MPPT Solar Charger with the Sterling BM12123 Battery Maintainer is the perfect solution for campervan, RV, and motorhome owners looking to keep both their leisure and starter batteries charged and in excellent condition. The setup is easy to install, fully automated, and highly efficient, allowing you to enjoy your adventures without worrying about power shortages.

If you’re looking to enhance your off-grid capabilities and ensure a stress-free experience on the road, consider integrating these two products into your campervan’s power system today.

All of our solar kits are compatible with the Sterling Battery Combiner, give us a call today to discuss the various options.