Has anyone used the Kisae DMT1250 Abso 50A DC-DC Battery Charger with MPPT?

[Sgt Raven]

FYI. If you download the PDF of the manual and print it on 8.5" x 11", it is easier to read and you can put it in a binder with all the other manuals for your stuff. I wish Kisae would make a PDF of the Flow chart for setting the parameters on one page. I'd take and have it printed on 11" x 17" card stock.

 

[jayswain]

Thanks for the help @chevymike and @Sgt Raven

I've a followup question.

Referencing this:

Maximum Solar Panel Input Port (CH2) Current: 30A (self-limited)

in post #33

What does "self-limited" mean, and I'm assuming I still need a circuit breaker between the panels and the charger. Would a 30A fuse be the right choice here?

(fwiw I'm also eyeballing the documentation regarding fuses for solar input: https://www.kisaepower.com/wp-conte...nual_DMT12V_24V-Series_Rev-D_190612_Print.pdf)

 

[Sgt Raven]

Thanks for the help @chevymike and @Sgt Raven

I've a followup question.

Referencing this:

in post #33

What does "self-limited" mean, and I'm assuming I still need a circuit breaker between the panels and the charger. Would a 30A fuse be the right choice here?

(fwiw I'm also eyeballing the documentation regarding fuses for solar input: https://www.kisaepower.com/wp-conte...nual_DMT12V_24V-Series_Rev-D_190612_Print.pdf)

I'm not sure, but if it is like the voltage limiter, it turns the unit off if it goes over the limit.

I don't have a circuit breaker, just fused. On the solar input I have a 11" 10 AGW pigtail, fused on both +/- and terminated with a 45A Anderson Power Pole. On the House and Starting Batteries terminals, I have 4 AGW cable with 120A Power Poles. That way I can easily disconnect any or all of them.

 

[PriusFan]

So are people using these successfully?

 

[Pyke13]

I've been using one for 2 1/2 years now with no problems. Well apart from when I accidentally turned it off and didn't realise, took almost a week to find the issue. I can't really see mine and don't have the remote.
When the engine is running I get the full 50 amp, it disconnects the solar feed rather than splitting the input

 

[Sgt Raven]

I've been using one for 2 1/2 years now with no problems. Well apart from when I accidentally turned it off and didn't realise, took almost a week to find the issue. I can't really see mine and don't have the remote.
When the engine is running I get the full 50 amp, it disconnects the solar feed rather than splitting the input

What were you doing that you accidentally hit the switch? That thing is buried and hard to get to with my big fat fingers. The eraser end of a pencil helps reach it for me.

 

[Pyke13]

What were you doing that you accidentally hit the switch? That thing is buried and hard to get to with my big fat fingers. The eraser end of a pencil helps reach it for me.

I was moving it about 3 inch to the side, at night when it was shut down anyway. Must have switched it off and clean forgot about the switch on the bottom. Didn't remember until the company that I bought it from sent me a replacement and I seen the switch. Switched mine on and it worked as it should, sent the replacement back that day. Phoned them up and let them laugh at me for a while

 

[Sgt Raven]

I was moving it about 3 inch to the side, at night when it was shut down anyway. Must have switched it off and clean forgot about the switch on the bottom. Didn't remember until the company that I bought it from sent me a replacement and I seen the switch. Switched mine on and it worked as it should, sent the replacement back that day. Phoned them up and let them laugh at me for a while

They say the memory is the 2nd thing to go. Now what was the 1st thing?
I suffer from CRS at times, too.

 

[GooseF16]

Anyone else using this? the either / Or alternator priority prevents me from using this as a primary unit. instead of using the full 50 amps if you have both alternator and engine, but the renogy splits the current 25/25 when both are present.. so the DMT1250 seems to be a better solution since you get the full 50 amps using alternator priority?..

I was going to use this as a primary alternator charger off my chassis 12v ford alternator, and it would pile on to my 2nd Balmar 170a alternator, and solar.. the batteries are lithionics with full BMS each. so the Lithium profile looked ok. I was a little worried about the different charge profiles of each unit, but it has the west wind and Zamp, and Inverter profiles running all at the same time now. and the BMS can handle it. Targeting 250 amps max.

this unit will likely a solar plug hanging off the side under the seat to add some portable panels to it when parked..or I will hook it into the external plug I have now.. to prevent the over amp that will run independent of a future MPPT upgrade of roof solar in series.

I looked at this unit, the Renogy 50 DC/DC, and the victron Orion 30s (2), but the first two allow me to stub additional solar in without touching my roof array when not running chassis engine.

what am I missing? This unit is the best bang for the buck when running my engine alongside the Balmar 170amp and 30 amp solar.. and yes I will have to probably upgrade my busbar fuse to 300. I also have a chassis boost button for emergencies of low chassis batt..

Thoughts?

 

[Lblamboy]

Anyone else using this? the either / Or alternator priority prevents me from using this as a primary unit. instead of using the full 50 amps if you have both alternator and engine, but the renogy splits the current 25/25 when both are present.. so the DMT1250 seems to be a better solution since you get the full 50 amps using alternator priority?..

I was going to use this as a primary alternator charger off my chassis 12v ford alternator, and it would pile on to my 2nd Balmar 170a alternator, and solar.. the batteries are lithionics with full BMS each. so the Lithium profile looked ok. I was a little worried about the different charge profiles of each unit, but it has the west wind and Zamp, and Inverter profiles running all at the same time now. and the BMS can handle it. Targeting 250 amps max.

this unit will likely a solar plug hanging off the side under the seat to add some portable panels to it when parked..or I will hook it into the external plug I have now.. to prevent the over amp that will run independent of a future MPPT upgrade of roof solar in series.

I looked at this unit, the Renogy 50 DC/DC, and the victron Orion 30s (2), but the first two allow me to stub additional solar in without touching my roof array when not running chassis engine.

what am I missing? This unit is the best bang for the buck when running my engine alongside the Balmar 170amp and 30 amp solar.. and yes I will have to probably upgrade my busbar fuse to 300. I also have a chassis boost button for emergencies of low chassis batt..

Thoughts?

I’ve had this exact unit for over 2 years now and have been very pleased with it overall. Support was great with some questions I have and it works great with the company’s inverter as well. There are some nuances on being sure not to neutrally bond the unit that took me some time to understand but this would be true of any system.

As for the either/or part, it’s never really been an issue for us - in a Ford transit the alternator is in an “always on” connection that I added a switch to, so we can easily control when we want alternator vs solar, and we almost always leave it on solar only anyway…

The only downside I have experienced is that we bought the extra display panel for the DC charger and mounted it near the small inverter display….running the wires through a tight spot…and they apparently interfere with one another. If the inverter is on, it causes the DC panel to constantly turn on and off…supoort says it’s the wires signals interfering, but it’s too hard to bother with now…and wasn’t something I saw anyone else ever report here or elsewhere. It’s not critical though - and a “one day” project to fix it by rerouting one of them.

I also used some large wire lugs that were ever so slightly too large for the small slots on the unit, making a couple of the connections a little difficult, but the unit as a whole is great.

The charging profiles, which help preserve battery life, weren’t intuitive to me at first, as I had assumed it would always seek to fully charge the battery…but I gradually got more comfortable with the display shorthand and understand what it is saying with a glance, and really like the ability to see the solar intake to make a call in “free” energy vs alternator on some road trips where I’m not sure about destination shore power options.

In the end, supoort has been really helpful with my questions…and I’m really pleased with this charger … my frustrations are more with my van, which isn’t set up well to avoid a drain on the starter battery, which I had to work around. We also set this unit up with another switch so that we can jump the vehicle with the house batteries…and the unit was fine with my setup to do that, which I had worried about just a bit.

 

[GooseF16]

I’ve had this exact unit for over 2 years now and have been very pleased with it overall. Support was great with some questions I have and it works great with the company’s inverter as well. There are some nuances on being sure not to neutrally bond the unit that took me some time to understand but this would be true of any system.

As for the either/or part, it’s never really been an issue for us - in a Ford transit the alternator is in an “always on” connection that I added a switch to, so we can easily control when we want alternator vs solar, and we almost always leave it on solar only anyway…

The only downside I have experienced is that we bought the extra display panel for the DC charger and mounted it near the small inverter display….running the wires through a tight spot…and they apparently interfere with one another. If the inverter is on, it causes the DC panel to constantly turn on and off…supoort says it’s the wires signals interfering, but it’s too hard to bother with now…and wasn’t something I saw anyone else ever report here or elsewhere. It’s not critical though - and a “one day” project to fix it by rerouting one of them.

I also used some large wire lugs that were ever so slightly too large for the small slots on the unit, making a couple of the connections a little difficult, but the unit as a whole is great.

The charging profiles, which help preserve battery life, weren’t intuitive to me at first, as I had assumed it would always seek to fully charge the battery…but I gradually got more comfortable with the display shorthand and understand what it is saying with a glance, and really like the ability to see the solar intake to make a call in “free” energy vs alternator on some road trips where I’m not sure about destination shore power options.

In the end, supoort has been really helpful with my questions…and I’m really pleased with this charger … my frustrations are more with my van, which isn’t set up well to avoid a drain on the starter battery, which I had to work around. We also set this unit up with another switch so that we can jump the vehicle with the house batteries…and the unit was fine with my setup to do that, which I had worried about just a bit.

thx.. excellent comms.. I have heard that folks have to cycle power on the auto sense parasite.. so still deciding on how to approach this.. there is alot of untapped power on my setup with dual 170's available and the lithionics ability to take a nice big gulp of current in bulk. I have no generator avail, so Im looking to quick charge off the engine, and keep the solar charging directly when I can.. The Xantrax Inv/chg unit is not my favorite either.. since it does a lockout pass thru forcing me to use multiple DC sources to offset Air conditioner power drain in the heat or slam a 2000 Honda.. which seems to have legs if left in a camp site..

 

[Directshort]

I've had the Kisae 50 a couple years now and works great so far. Pretty easy to program and reasonable price.
I'm nervous about smoking the small 125 amp generator when idling too long in city driving with lights on etc. so I have the fused breaker where I can turn it off while seated and it's next to the seat near the CCP. I only worry about that when charging at 50 amps otherwise I keep it set to 30 amps generally and no worries.

 

[GooseF16]

Great idea!.. I know the Orions can easily be turned off, not sure how you would turn this off same way other than to use a fuse/breaker like you describe.. I will make sure I have the breaker accessible off the user post under my seat. thats smart.. that same idea brought up the reason I was considering 2 30 amp Orions and have toggles on both of them near the dash. 1, 2 or both or off for redundancy, but wanted to get bonus solar controller for a mobile array