[P @ F]

Hi Nath , having been asked by Spruce how i was getting on , i thought i would ask you the same as i know you were going to bypass the Mppt and run direct like you originally did .
What were your findings ?
Did you bypass or not ?
How many charges on the bench if any ?

[nathankaye]

Sorry, only just seen post, not been on for days.

Ive probably bench charged battery about once a week or so.  I think this winter has been the worse winter for some years as I didnt see many days of sun.  Not overly convinced with my mppt controller as I linked in series  and fetching over 30v  but didnt see much output from the mppt as far as extra amps were concerned.
In the end ive just wired both panels direct to the mppt controller with seperate on/off switches as I have my panels facing each other and that helps. So depending how I am parked and depending on input from the panels, I can choose to have both panels pulling in power or just the one.

Because of the huge lack of sun this winter period, and having wires all over the van I chose to leave the set up as mentioned above. Mostly due to being lazy as I was getting addictive at one point where I was obsessed with checking the readings that it was slowing work production.
But with leaving the van parked in an idea spot over wknds when not in use, it topped up the battery nicely.  So ive roughly been bench charging perhaps on a week and half basis. Sometimes after 2 weeks.
However I have had the last 2wks off, which have been the coldest n cloudiest (lol if thats even a word) part ofthe winter so far

[P @ F]

I know what you mean about constantly checking the in and out amps , i did it to start with but it soon gets forgotten !
This winter has been dull , i was playing with the idea of a tilt device for my panels but to be honest i dont think much would be gained , if you cant see the sun then the angle is not going to work miracles .
In the summer with the panels fixed flat i was constantly in or near to float mode all the time so tilt in the summer would just be another job to do every time the van got moved , in winter i will just continue to bench as and when needed .

Today was pants , just under 1 amp in and 9 amps out , so 8 amps use for the day , thats 10% of my battery capacity , but being as you should only go as low as 50% total discharge i could safely go 5 days like that , but i dont feel that the battery would be best maintained that way , so 1 or 2 charges per week will do for me , its still better than dragging it in every day of the week !