Invertor chargers for generator + solar question

[UK4X4]

With todays awsome intelligent charging systems..........how do you get two systems to play nicely together ?

This is for my trailer - but equally applies to an off grid cabin

On our last trip the batts on my trailer die in one night after charging for 7 hours and 2 hours of the furnace fan.

So they are going to get replaced by probably 4 off 6V golf cart batteries.

7hrs of charging on what is meant to be a 100amp charger/ convertor should have been enough to fully charge my 160amp/hr present batteries even at half the rate

The furnace is not that much of an ampage hog and we've used it all night before.

So being my site and trailer is in the sunny western slope of CO i have an abundance of free power.

But heres the kicker. how do you get a generator charger system and a PV charge controller to work correctly together.

Ie I've been looking at the xantrex gear they have both invertor chargers and also solar charge controllers- they even seem to have a xan bus comms system, but not sure of its interconnectivity control

The chargers both work off the battery voltages, if the solar is on its max setting then I turn on the generator...the invertor charger will see a nice high voltage and probably go into float mode rather than adding in the extra amps available.

Anyone looked at this and found a solution ?

[Squirl]

Good question.

160 amp hour is low for most 6v golf cart batteries that I have seen.  Most are 215 or 225.  That is 3.8 KWH.

Some charge controllers let you set the voltages for bulk and float charging. 
This can happen in systems when there is more than one charging source.  I also thought this would have to have been worked out a while ago when more than one set of panels or wind turbine are connected to the same power source. Since many of each let you set their voltages you can probably pick which one you want to be dominant.  There was a similar question in the past issue of homepower.
http://homepower.com/article/?file=HP148_pg40_ATE_1


I would also worry about overcharging.  You definitely don't want to dump double the amperage when you get to the absorb stage.

[Squirl]

Also from the limited amount I know,  I believe when the batteries are in the bulk charging stage, the battery bank drops the voltage enough that both should be charging at the same time.  Say it is a 12v battery bank that is very low.  The generator will be putting out 14-15v, but the battery bank will drop the voltage to around 13v for the bank.  So both charging sources will still register the voltage at 13v and to pump the maximum amount of power in.  The conflicts come when the batteries are closer to the absorb/float stage.  That is just based upon my reading of voltages during battery charging stages.

[UK4X4]

"160 amp hour is low for most 6v golf cart batteries that I have seen.  Most are 215 or 225.  That is 3.8 KWH."

Thats the present crappy 12v batteries from interstate- I'll be going to a 4 off 225amp/hrs at 6V - giving me a 450 a/hr set

an improvement already-

yep from further reading things seem to work together, most people seem to link their diferent charging systems to a diferent set - or pair of batteries in the system.