Battery charging from solar

[Reallyretired]

I have a gel leisure battery and a flooded starter battery. The solar charger charges both but can only be set to a single charging profile. Currently set to gel but which should it best be set to? While the motorhome is not in use practically all charge goes to the vehicle battery zs no load on the leisure one, the opposite being the case when it's in use.

 

[Burgo]

Set up the solar to charge the leisure battery and fit a vanbitz battery master to look after the starter battery.
Simple, cheap, foolproof, reliable.

 

[Lenny HB]

You don't mention what solar regulator you have but normally the feed to the starter battery is only a trickle charge so you normally set the regulator to suit the leisure batteries.
I have a Votronic which gives the starter batter a 1 amp trickle charge.

 

[Reallyretired]

The regulator will send all the charge to leisure or starter if the other battery is fully charged. Think its Epever.
The question is is it less damaging to a gel battery to charge with a flooded profile, or to a gel battery to charge with a flooded profile. The 1A charge is why I have avoided the Votronic regulator as while in storage in the winter months the starter battery is the one I want to prioritise as itsrunning alarm, tracker etc while the leisure battery is powering nothing and just needs a maintainence charge.

 

[Lenny HB]

On a LA setting a Gel battery will never get a full charge as it needs at least 4 hours preferably longer to take it from 80% to a full charge after reaching 14.4 volts.
LA charged with a Gel setting, the voltage is normally the same but if they can handle the long absorption phase, depends on the construction of the battery. But because you normally only send a 1 to 2 a trickle charge to the starter batty in practice it is not a problem.

The 1 amp from the Voltronic is more than enough to keep the starter battery topped up, especially where you live. The parasitic drain on my starter battery is around 70ma with tracker & alarm, so around 1.7 amps for 24 hours.

Which model Epever?

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[Reallyretired]

Many thanks Lenny HB. Bearing that in mind I will leave on the gel setting.
Can't give you the model of regulator as mh is in storage, and I have to dismount the regulator as all the info is on the back of it.