Is it bad for the starter to be being charged 24/7 with trickle chargers?

[12-volt-vanlifer]

Does it being on 24/7 with a trickle charge from the solar damage the starter by being overcharged? I suppose that the leisure battery is always in a state of charge like this from solar and is not seen as bad is it?

Anyway regardless of that, as I am wanting to conserve power, it is wasting energy beyond a certain point of maintaining the starter battery.

I just want it for covering the drain of peripheral components while driving very little which does not require it to be topping off at 100%. Just over the sulphation point.

 

[Nabsim]

Check what it says on the trickle charger, I would think it would turn off/stop charging when battery is fully charged. That's what your solar controller does with leisure battery. One of my controllers sends a 1A trickle to the starter battery but I don't recall if it stop when battery is full. I seem to think it does but would have to check

Edit: Then again, my parasitic drain means its not a problem for me anyway lol

 

[Fisherman]

Does it being on 24/7 with a trickle charge from the solar damage the starter by being overcharged? I suppose that the leisure battery is always in a state of charge like this from solar and is not seen as bad is it?

Anyway regardless of that, as I am wanting to conserve power, it is wasting energy beyond a certain point of maintaining the starter battery.

I just want it for covering the drain of peripheral components while driving very little which does not require it to be topping off at 100%. Just over the sulphation point.

It depends on your solar controller. Most solar controllers have three stage charging. Bulk when the batteries are below 80-90% then absorption, then when the batteries are fully charged float. In float there will either be a very small charge or even no charge at all. If you don’t have an MMPT charger I would recommend one, Victron chargers are highly recommend, and so long as they are set up properly use software which will maintain your battery. They also are more efficient than the cheaper chargers and use bluetooth connectivity making setting them up easier, and giving you better control of what’s going on. Also remember that with solar you never get a 24/7 charge, solar only operating during the day.

 

[trevskoda]

AS above, most good MPPT regulaters are ment to be on 24/7 going through there smart cycle.
Same if you use a smart mains to battery charger over winter darl mths, leave it on.

 

[merl]

Does it being on 24/7 with a trickle charge from the solar damage the starter by being overcharged? I suppose that the leisure battery is always in a state of charge like this from solar and is not seen as bad is it?

Anyway regardless of that, as I am wanting to conserve power, it is wasting energy beyond a certain point of maintaining the starter battery.

I just want it for covering the drain of peripheral components while driving very little which does not require it to be topping off at 100%. Just over the sulphation point.

Ahhhh, the sulphation point. That's fractionally below the 'over charge point' and is temperature dependent......good luck with your quest
Personally I use one of these

High performance DIY Battery maintainer.

I posted details of my DIY battery maintainer on here a while ago, https://wildcamping.co.uk/threads/charging-cab-engine-battery-from-solar-panel.94106/post-1317302 I've had it installed in my van for a few years and although it's worked well, keeping my starter battery topped up over a couple...

wildcamping.co.uk

Losses are practically zero and it usually sits delivering about 200mA into the starter battery so uses about 5aH/day.
This keeps my starter battery on constant trickle at about 13.5v, this is about 100mv less than ideal so theoretically still risking sulphation to a tiny level (temperature dependent ) but it's a lot better than anything else I've found commercially.

 

[trevskoda]

Ahhhh, the sulphation point. That's fractionally below the 'over charge point' and is temperature dependent......good luck with your quest
Personally I use one of these

High performance DIY Battery maintainer.

I posted details of my DIY battery maintainer on here a while ago, https://wildcamping.co.uk/threads/charging-cab-engine-battery-from-solar-panel.94106/post-1317302 I've had it installed in my van for a few years and although it's worked well, keeping my starter battery topped up over a couple...

wildcamping.co.uk

Losses are practically zero and it usually sits delivering about 200mA into the starter battery so uses about 5aH/day.
This keeps my starter battery on constant trickle at about 13.5v, this is about 100mv less than ideal so theoretically still risking sulphation to a tiny level (temperature dependent ) but it's a lot better than anything else I've found commercially.

You require 14.4v to get a full charge, then cycle down to 13.3/7 before a pulse mode, this helps stop sulphation, constant tricle chargers are old hat.
A 5/10 amp smart charger left on 24/7 is the job, very cheap these days.
This is whats in my van, i have a switch which will link/charge all batteries if required. not for lipo4 though.

 

[izwozral]

Ahhhh, the sulphation point. That's fractionally below the 'over charge point' and is temperature dependent......good luck with your quest
Personally I use one of these

High performance DIY Battery maintainer.

I posted details of my DIY battery maintainer on here a while ago, https://wildcamping.co.uk/threads/charging-cab-engine-battery-from-solar-panel.94106/post-1317302 I've had it installed in my van for a few years and although it's worked well, keeping my starter battery topped up over a couple...

wildcamping.co.uk

Losses are practically zero and it usually sits delivering about 200mA into the starter battery so uses about 5aH/day.
This keeps my starter battery on constant trickle at about 13.5v, this is about 100mv less than ideal so theoretically still risking sulphation to a tiny level (temperature dependent ) but it's a lot better than anything else I've found commercially.

I totally agree with Merl, although when I was sulphated I really got the jabbers, you couldn't shut me up for love nor money!

Them were the days.