I feel like I'm missing something when deciding how to handle DC-DC charging a house battery while the vehicle is running.
I'll have a 24v house battery (NMC) and a 12v lead acid starter battery in a Chevy Express 3500 based vehicle with a 105amp alternator.
What seems like the most common DC-DC charger is the Victron Orion Tr-smart. There are a number of options at varying price points, but the highest power option is the 12/24-15 which would give me 360w of charging and retails on Amazon for $227.
The other Victron option I'm seeing is their Orion DC-DC converter high power line, which has a 12/24-20amp option (480w) for only $157 on Amazon. As far as I can tell, the only things that you'd be missing out on is bluetooth/app functionality, and multi-stage charging profiles that you get with the Tr-smart. Both have remote shutoff (which I'd tie to a vehicle on/off 12v source, and possibly an additional in-line switch). Both have adjustable output voltages which I'd need for my NMC battery. Is there some other reason why the high power line from victron wouldn't work for house battery charging, or other features in the Tr-smart that would make it preferable?
Finding out about the high power option from Victron also got me thinking though, there are plenty of adjustable buck boost converters available on Amazon. $25 will get you an adjustable CC/CV DC converter that is specced up to 20amps. Grabbing three of these, paralleling them, and limiting them to 15amp each would give 540w of charging power. Paired with a high power relay (or multiple lower power relays) tied to a vehicle on/off 12v source would give you the most redundancy, charging power, and lowest cost. It would just take a bit more man hours to set up.
Anyone have thoughts on any of those options and the pros/cons to each of them?
I'll have a 24v house battery (NMC) and a 12v lead acid starter battery in a Chevy Express 3500 based vehicle with a 105amp alternator.
What seems like the most common DC-DC charger is the Victron Orion Tr-smart. There are a number of options at varying price points, but the highest power option is the 12/24-15 which would give me 360w of charging and retails on Amazon for $227.
The other Victron option I'm seeing is their Orion DC-DC converter high power line, which has a 12/24-20amp option (480w) for only $157 on Amazon. As far as I can tell, the only things that you'd be missing out on is bluetooth/app functionality, and multi-stage charging profiles that you get with the Tr-smart. Both have remote shutoff (which I'd tie to a vehicle on/off 12v source, and possibly an additional in-line switch). Both have adjustable output voltages which I'd need for my NMC battery. Is there some other reason why the high power line from victron wouldn't work for house battery charging, or other features in the Tr-smart that would make it preferable?
Finding out about the high power option from Victron also got me thinking though, there are plenty of adjustable buck boost converters available on Amazon. $25 will get you an adjustable CC/CV DC converter that is specced up to 20amps. Grabbing three of these, paralleling them, and limiting them to 15amp each would give 540w of charging power. Paired with a high power relay (or multiple lower power relays) tied to a vehicle on/off 12v source would give you the most redundancy, charging power, and lowest cost. It would just take a bit more man hours to set up.
Anyone have thoughts on any of those options and the pros/cons to each of them?