Will Solar Panels and a Battery Charger Overcharge my Battery?

Question:

First thing, I wanted to thank you for posting your seminars, sharing your opinions and real world experience .  I started watching your YouTube videos  and the amount of knowledge I have gained from you and you team is priceless. Your approach and presentation is intriguing so thank you.  My question, when adding an onboard battery charger with a solar charger how would you approach this ? What I’m trying to accomplish is having a solar charger and an on board battery charger/shore power. I was thinking I need to add some type of selection switch so that I could never have two charging devices on at the same time . Am I over thinking this?  - Adam

Answer:

Hi Adam, good news a solar panel with a controller and battery charger can happily coexist and charge the same battery without having you manually switch which charging source will charge your battery. Both the solar controller and the battery charger are voltage regulated and won’t overcharge your battery, even when both are charging. For instance on my own boat I have 6 solar controllers and a single inverter/charger and all the charging sources co-exist and potential charge simultaneously.  - Jeff