Really good price, the lowest ever IMO, for a pretty decent product if you are in the market.
This is a pretty good video explaining the product https://youtu.be/R0Sa1q9zYUE?si=bSOnWxzx9cOdBmq6
Really good price, the lowest ever IMO, for a pretty decent product if you are in the market.
This is a pretty good video explaining the product https://youtu.be/R0Sa1q9zYUE?si=bSOnWxzx9cOdBmq6
Yeah … but Kings!
Yes, I had a 20A one and it did a great job before my upgrade to Victron.
Good for you, my reply was taken wrongly, Kings has stuffed me around, it's all landfill, never again! customer service is poor & they don't keep spares for stuff they delete, even expensive stuff, have a generator I can't source a carby for, the carby broke , not got dirty or needed some manual work to get it running again, a part snapped off! shortly after warranty was out & they no longer sold it & didn't bother to think to support the saps who purchased one, bought the newer model, changed the oil after 5 hours (50 hours is the recommended) of use and every 5 hours, was only used a few times in the wet season & the thing died beyond eco repair at 13 months! woeful company who treated me like crap!
currently $189
Must've gone on special since this morning.
My ranking
Kings
XTM
Renogy/Projecta
Victron
Redarc
Apparently renogy after sales support is woeful
As is Kings (personal experience!)
Why Redarc and Victron last on the list? Price?
i have a victron tri smart a victron mppt and i am replacing these two devices with renogy. all one device and most important for my boat application ip67 rating. i had two renogy solar panels i had purchased from ebay and after 2 years when they had issues, Renogy refunded me the full price
Victron usually the most expensive but also the best with features, reliability, updates, interoperability. In case people aren't familiar enough with this area to know that this ranking is from worst to best
Check the specs. My old Renogy would do MPPT or DC-DC (alternator), but NOT both at the same time. So zero solar while engine is running.
Best…
Every Victron thing I own (off-grid) has done extremely well, not so for my Renogy stuff!
Hence my rating it at the top with redarc
you rated it at the bottom lol
@teacherer: I had a Redarc in my previous van using it for 2 years full time without any problems.
Now using a 30A Dune dc-dc charger from Annaconda also used it 2 years now full time
without any problems. I do have a dual charging set up for a solar charging back up,
able to switch between the Dune and a Victron Smartsolar charge controller 100/20
in case the Dune failed, but find leaving it on so I charge with both at once whils driving.
Seems to work well, both been working well like this without issues so far.
Tempted with this one for my next Van or 4 x 4 project as it sounds like it has good features.
Weird question…how much of a drain/strain do these DC-DC chargers put on an alternator, and therefore the whole engine of a vehicle? If I had a vehicle with a smaller engine (1.5 litre turbo diesel) would I be better off sticking to a 25amp DC-DC, so it's not so hard on the little engine? This Renogy, at 50amps, is getting up there, is it not?
making an alternator run at full load will increase fuel useage slightly, say 1-5%. A smaller 1.5 turbo would most likly have a 70-100amp alternator so it might not even hit full output.
The renogy DCDC charger is configurable in max amp output, so you can limit it to say 15amps draw from your alternator. It also has solar preference, so will charge off solar first, then use the alternator.
I ended up grabbing one of these yesterday from supershit to replace an old MPPT charger, will get it installed on the weekend and see how it goes. Very well priced for the specs and IP67
You aren't going to hurt the engine, although if its a vehicle that already struggles to get out of its own way maybe you don't want to be sapping too much more power off it. A 50 amp dc-dc charger could potentially cook an alternator, particularly if you're trying to charge a large lithium battery that's in a low state of charge. Most alternators in most modern vehicles are rated at 100 amps or more, but they're built to a price and often aren't fit to run at or close to their rating for hours at a time.
Thank you!
And yes, occasionally it struggles to get out of its own way, it's not particularly great off the lights🤣, but it's completely fine up long climbs -and at 1000kms+ per tank real world driving in Sydney traffic, I wouldn't have it any other way. Who needs a hybrid 😉
Its a valid question, But its not about your engine, its about your alternator. It will try to pull up to 50A from your alternator. Unless you have that much capacity going spare on your alternator then the alternator will drop its output voltage and the DCDC will start pulling current from your main battery as well.
You can't really damage an alternator as long as its got good airlfow, its self protecting and will derate naturally as it gets hotter.
If this newer model is anything like my Renogy 50A non-waterproof one, you can adjust the 50A down in 10A increments to suit your vehicle.
Awesome reply, thanks so much. Really helpful. Thanks!
I think the load would depend on the size of the secondary battery(ies) you have and how much/fast it is being depleted, as once at capacity, the charger will be putting minimal strain on your alternator/engine to trickle charge it.
Also, if you don't require 50A, then why not spend less and get a smaller amp DC-DC charger?
For example, I have a 50Ah battery and charge it with a 25A charger (both iTechworld).
Awsome price. The andersons eill make this a super simple connection to my frankenstein battery box. Cheers
Great price for sure! Even the Kings 40A closest equivalent is RRP of $229 and its only 40 Amps.
Renogy is a good brand and this is 50 amps!