A very common set of questions in the beginner and the vehicle mounted systems subforums concerns charging a LFP house bank from a vehicles starting system (alternator). The most commonly used and recommended devices for this purpose are DC-DC chargers (also often called Battery to Battery (or B2B) Chargers). This thread is intended to be an index of the various options available as well as a catchall thread for questions and answers, discussion, etc.
Disclaimer (and request for help/collaboration): I do not own and have not used any of these. I have compiled this list because its a very common area of interest and confusion and also for my own interest. Some of these products I have researched in moderate depth, others I have barely read the product description and/or datasheet. There are bound to be errors, omissions, inaccuracies, etc. And there are some aspects that are just hard to represent neatly in a table. So take the accuracy with a grain of salt (especially anywhere you see a red ? or a *) and please help me improve the info if you see something that needs correcting or can think of another specification that should be added.
Charger Only
(DC-DC / B2B)
*Not available in all input voltages
**Not all models shown/listed in link or table
***Input current (output current not specified)
Dual Function Charger
(DC-DC + MPPT)
Triple Function Charger
(DC-DC + MPPT + AC Charger)
Disclaimer (and request for help/collaboration): I do not own and have not used any of these. I have compiled this list because its a very common area of interest and confusion and also for my own interest. Some of these products I have researched in moderate depth, others I have barely read the product description and/or datasheet. There are bound to be errors, omissions, inaccuracies, etc. And there are some aspects that are just hard to represent neatly in a table. So take the accuracy with a grain of salt (especially anywhere you see a red ? or a *) and please help me improve the info if you see something that needs correcting or can think of another specification that should be added.
Charger Only
(DC-DC / B2B)
Brand / Model | Max Current 12/24 | Input Voltages | Output Voltages | LFP compatible | Parallelable |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victron Orion-TR Smart (Isolated) | 30A / 17A | 12, 24 | 12, 24 | Yes | Yes |
Victron Orion-TR Smart (Non-Isolated) | 30A / 17A | 12, 24 | 12, 24 | Yes | Yes |
Sterling Power Pro Batt Ultra** | 70A / 35A *** | 12, 24 | 12, 24, 36*, 48* | Yes | Yes |
Renogy DCC1212** | 60A / -- | 12 | 12 | Yes | ? |
40A / 25A | 12, 24 | 12, 24 | Yes | ? | |
Votronic VCC | TBD | 12, 24 | 12 | Some Models | ? |
**Not all models shown/listed in link or table
***Input current (output current not specified)
Dual Function Charger
(DC-DC + MPPT)
Brand / Model | Max Output | Input Voltage | Output Voltage | Max Solar Input Voltage | LFP Compatible |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Renogy DCC | 50A / -- | 12 | 12 | 25 (?) | Yes |
Kisae DMT | 50A / 30A | 12, 24 | 12, 24 | 50 | Yes |
CTEK D250SE | 20A / -- | 12 | 12 | 23 (?) | Yes |
Redarc BCDC | 50A / 20A | 12, 24 | 12, 24 | 32 / 28 (?) | Yes |
Triple Function Charger
(DC-DC + MPPT + AC Charger)
Brand / Model | Max Output | Input Voltage (DC) | Output Voltage | Max Solar Input Voltage | LFP Compatible |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Redarc Manager 30 | 30A | 12, 24 | 12, 24 (?) | 30 (?) | Yes |
Votronic VBCS | TBD | 12 | 12 | TBD | Yes |
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