Renogy 48V 3500W SOLAR INVERTER CHARGER

[jbird526]

Performed a search and did not return any results on this Renogy 48V 3500W SOLAR INVERTER CHARGER.

Anyone with any experience with this? Had not seen this item before looking at the Renogy site today.

Friend is interested in setting up a van with solar (600 watts) , shore power and dc to dc charging and personally I am of the opinion that jumping up to 48volt is the right thing to do instead of sticking to 12 volt. I won't bother to list all the loads he is looking to run at the moment but 48vdc will be more efficient.

Think only Sterling makes a 12v to 48v for dc to dc; that price is a bit salty but in the long run... Heck, pull it out and run a house later.

 

[snoobler]

Welcome to the forum.

Moved to vehicle mounted systems.

I do not believe the Renogy is an all-in-one. All-in-ones include the solar charge controller and battery monitor.

600W solar means his daily energy usage is low even if the peak power demand is high. 48V is overkill. 12V up to 3000W is readily do-able. 3500W isn't much of a stretch if you're willing to invest in 4/0.

12V should be seriously considered. 24V is likely more practical.

Renogy is a known brand. They are generally reliable, but when something goes wrong, their support is usually atrocious.

This is a 3kW LF inverter:

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Available in 12V and 24V. Made by Sigineer and is essentially identical to AIMS. It has a massive surge of 9kW for 20 seconds. They are generally reliable, and this U.S.-based authorized distributor provides good support.

Victron Orion line has 12/24V chargers.

If the GOAL is to power a house with it, then yes, that's a consideration, but doing it just to have the option doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

[jbird526]

Welcome to the forum.

Moved to vehicle mounted systems.

I do not believe the Renogy is an all-in-one. All-in-ones include the solar charge controller and battery monitor.

600W solar means his daily energy usage is low even if the peak power demand is high. 48V is overkill. 12V up to 3000W is readily do-able. 3500W isn't much of a stretch if you're willing to invest in 4/0.

12V should be seriously considered. 24V is likely more practical.

Renogy is a known brand. They are generally reliable, but when something goes wrong, their support is usually atrocious.

This is a 3kW LF inverter:

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Electric Car Parts Company is your one-stop-shop for affordable electric vehicle parts and components including batteries. Shop our selection and order now!

www.electriccarpartscompany.com

Available in 12V and 24V. Made by Sigineer and is essentially identical to AIMS. It has a massive surge of 9kW for 20 seconds. They are generally reliable, and this U.S.-based authorized distributor provides good support.

Victron Orion line has 12/24V chargers.

If the GOAL is to power a house with it, then yes, that's a consideration, but doing it just to have the option doesn't make a lot of sense.

Snoobler, thanks for the reply and all the info. It actually appears the Renogy unit does include solar changing but maybe I'm reading the specs wrong. https://www.renogy.com/48v-3500w-solar-inverter-charger/

I am open to whatever equipment is best for the cost. Don't think Victron is in the budget but Renogy or Aims is more where the budget is currently.

I may have been speaking a bit tongue in cheek about swapping equipment later into a house. I am trying to get a list about what actual appliances will be used in the camper van, to determine load. It will be used mostly in the sunbelt so of course a maxxair or equivalent fan may be in order. He thinks he wants air conditioning but running off batts I keep trying to say it's not realistic with the budget and the battery bank size / charge input necessary.

I see no issue of having AC by completely bypassing the batts and charger and just making an AC unit a dedicated, plug into shore power circuit. If you want AC that bad you will have to get a camp site or make friends willing to let you run a heavy cord to the house.

Again thanks for entertaining my rambling thought process.


If running a low wattage coffee maker or microwave once a day, a 1500 watt inverter should be more than fine. Just don't run both at once.

 

[snoobler]

Never seen that unit, and I should have clued in on "SOLAR" in the title.

Looks like it has respectable numbers. While I'm not a fan (I'm Victron's b*tch), I would consider MPP Solar or Growatt units from http://www.watts247.com. Support is better there than with Renogy, and they are a little cheaper.

 

[jbird526]

Never seen that unit, and I should have clued in on "SOLAR" in the title.

Looks like it has respectable numbers. While I'm not a fan (I'm Victron's b*tch), I would consider MPP Solar or Growatt units from http://www.watts247.com. Support is better there than with Renogy, and they are a little cheaper.

I'm a Victron b*tch myself but always nice to see additional units out there as option.

How bad is Renogy really? Haven't dealt with their products so no background. I do like the Growatt in theory. Haven't seen too many in mobile yet. At their price point you kind of can't beat them I guess.

 

[snoobler]

They have a premium tied to the brand for basically relatively cheap stuff. If you get something that works, it's generally reliable. If you have a problem, dealing with their support can be pretty horrific from accounts on the forum.

 

[Jasoncarp]

I like renogy's equipment, their batteries are horrible, and I have to agree the customer service is something to be desired. However with their inverters they have a few more built in safety features that others don't. Like GFCI, JS

 

[Blakes]

Hey I'm new to this forum (but not forums...) and just purchased the new renogy 3500watt inverter/charger 48v.

I've lived full time offgrid on Storm Mountain Colorado for 4 years now and have a few 12v arrays on my property. My 'main' array is 9 Renogy 100 watt 12v panels, Renogy 40amp mppt controller, 2000watt Renogy inverter/charger and 8 200ah 12v Renogy batteries. guess I drank the renogy cool-aid.

Anyways, I'm getting the new 48v inverter/charger and rewiring my system here in a few days. I'm actually really excited about moving up from 12v to 48v and will provide my feedback. right now, I'm running a 2000w Yamaha generator almost every night and burning a gallon of gas to power my log cabin. These short winter days suck. I previously had 14 duracell 12v golf cart batteries and they are about the same as the 8 renogy 200ah.

Still building the log cabin.

 

[JoeHam]

Nice job but yikes on the Storm Mountain fire.

Hope it’s better now.

 

[jbird526]

Hey I'm new to this forum (but not forums...) and just purchased the new renogy 3500watt inverter/charger 48v.

I've lived full time offgrid on Storm Mountain Colorado for 4 years now and have a few 12v arrays on my property. My 'main' array is 9 Renogy 100 watt 12v panels, Renogy 40amp mppt controller, 2000watt Renogy inverter/charger and 8 200ah 12v Renogy batteries. guess I drank the renogy cool-aid.

Anyways, I'm getting the new 48v inverter/charger and rewiring my system here in a few days. I'm actually really excited about moving up from 12v to 48v and will provide my feedback. right now, I'm running a 2000w Yamaha generator almost every night and burning a gallon of gas to power my log cabin. These short winter days suck. I previously had 14 duracell 12v golf cart batteries and they are about the same as the 8 renogy 200ah.

Still building the log cabin.

That's a sweet cabin. Well worth putting some money into keeping it powered.

 

[Blakes]

Just got the new inverter connected. The wiring is much easier with this thing.

Not even close to the permanent install, but it's working great right out of the box. I forgot to order the BT module when I ordered this unit, but it's on the way.

 

[HRTKD]

Hey I'm new to this forum (but not forums...) and just purchased the new renogy 3500watt inverter/charger 48v.

I've lived full time offgrid on Storm Mountain Colorado for 4 years now and have a few 12v arrays on my property. My 'main' array is 9 Renogy 100 watt 12v panels, Renogy 40amp mppt controller, 2000watt Renogy inverter/charger and 8 200ah 12v Renogy batteries. guess I drank the renogy cool-aid.

Anyways, I'm getting the new 48v inverter/charger and rewiring my system here in a few days. I'm actually really excited about moving up from 12v to 48v and will provide my feedback. right now, I'm running a 2000w Yamaha generator almost every night and burning a gallon of gas to power my log cabin. These short winter days suck. I previously had 14 duracell 12v golf cart batteries and they are about the same as the 8 renogy 200ah.

Still building the log cabin.

My dad may be a somewhat close neighbor to you. He's on Palisade Mtn Dr.

 

[Blakes]

My dad may be a somewhat close neighbor to you. He's on Palisade Mtn Dr.

Yup. He is in cedar springs. He has electricity.

I'm a few miles higher up storm mountain.

Palisade is just across the valley from me. I am at exactly the same elevation as Palisade. Can see it plain as day from my cabin.

 

[HRTKD]

Yup. He is in cedar springs. He has electricity.

I'm a few miles higher up storm mountain.

Palisade is just across the valley from me. I am at exactly the same elevation as Palisade. Can see it plain as day from my cabin.

I was closely following the fire last fall. I thought for sure the fire line was going to advance to his cabin. It must have been awfully close to your cabin.

 

[Blakes]

I was closely following the fire last fall. I thought for sure the fire line was going to advance to his cabin. It must have been awfully close to your cabin.

The fire came to across the road of my property.

 

[Blakes]

Few comments on the new 3500w renogy inverter.

Default is to pull 40amps from the grid, which in my case is a couple of yamaha generators. I have a 2000w ef2000 and 7200watt industrial. Neither can provide 40amps at 120v ac, so I had to change the settings to only pull 15amps from the generator.

Working great.

 

[joshuaodell]

HI Blakes, thank you for your update on the Renogy 3500w. I'm curious how loud is the thing? I'm looking at this device or a Growatt for a shed turned office, so it will be in a room with me and I'd like it to be quiet.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Blakes]

HI Blakes, thank you for your update on the Renogy 3500w. I'm curious how loud is the thing? I'm looking at this device or a Growatt for a shed turned office, so it will be in a room with me and I'd like it to be quiet.

Thanks in advance.

It has fans that come on when it's charging above 600w or so...... not too loud, but definitely noticeable... I have it in my basement where I work to ok. Hearing it come on reminded me to reply to this post.

Otherwise it's quiet.

I'm no electrician and the plan is to use this in my log cabin where nec 2020 is required. I don't see a UL listed sticker on the unit nor do I see it on the rengoy website, so I'm not sure I can even use this thing for code...

 

[MrPinKY]

I have the Renogy hybrid solar charger/inverter. I like it so far, but I am having an issue where it seems like I can only generate ~380W from my solar array. I have 6 200W panels in series. They each test out individually OK, as far as I can tell (I'm new to solar). I tried running with only 5 panels in series just as a test (expecting lower power generation), but found that it still generated ~380W. So, it got me wondering if there could be a problem with the charger/inverter. I have reached out to Renogy support, but haven't gotten anything helpful back yet.

The unit charges the batteries fine from grid power and handles loads via bypass mode when connected to grid, but it is installed on my RV and I really want as close to max solar power generation I can get to help keep an AC running during the summer heat. I know I'll dip into my battery bank, but if I can offset with at least ~1000W solar, it will really help.

 

[HRTKD]

I have the Renogy hybrid solar charger/inverter. I like it so far, but I am having an issue where it seems like I can only generate ~380W from my solar array. I have 6 200W panels in series. They each test out individually OK, as far as I can tell (I'm new to solar). I tried running with only 5 panels in series just as a test (expecting lower power generation), but found that it still generated ~380W. So, it got me wondering if there could be a problem with the charger/inverter. I have reached out to Renogy support, but haven't gotten anything helpful back yet.

The unit charges the batteries fine from grid power and handles loads via bypass mode when connected to grid, but it is installed on my RV and I really want as close to max solar power generation I can get to help keep an AC running during the summer heat. I know I'll dip into my battery bank, but if I can offset with at least ~1000W solar, it will really help.

Put a load on the system and see what the PV output changes to.