Looking to get a 20amp charger. I see the charger does not come with the two small connector plugs and wires. To connect to the ignition. Think called D + . I can't seem to find them or the plugs. Does anyone know where to get these plugs. Would also like to know if anyone has installed one of these chargers and info greatly appreciated.
Renogy dc to dc charger
- Thread starter Bill 112
- Start date
It has a screw lug tensioner for bare wire or a ferrule for your ignition lead. Insert bare wire, tighten down.
While I have a Renogy SCC - a Voyager - as one of my three SCC's, there are just a lot of complaints about the brand's reliability reputation. For about $50 more you can get a Victron TR Smart Charger in 18A with a dead-reliable reputation. I just installed one and it's dabomb. YMMV.
Here's a better picture of what that terminal looks like:
And one of my Victron installed. It also has the ignition lead input to turn the charger on and off.
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While I have a Renogy SCC - a Voyager - as one of my three SCC's, there are just a lot of complaints about the brand's reliability reputation. For about $50 more you can get a Victron TR Smart Charger in 18A with a dead-reliable reputation. I just installed one and it's dabomb. YMMV.
Here's a better picture of what that terminal looks like:
And one of my Victron installed. It also has the ignition lead input to turn the charger on and off.
Sounds good...tks....I thought it was plug that went into that opening....so you believe the victron is better...I did have a problem with renogy with a battery meter I tried to buy from them...waited 3 weeks for it once ordered and couldn't get a straight answer about why. So not happy with renogy to start with. So what I have is a cargo trailer I am converting to a boondocking camper. I have a 206 ah lithium battery with 200 watts of solar that I can plug in another panel to make it 400 watt. I put a bigger alternator on my truck that puts out 160 amps. So I'm just looking for the charger to keep my lithium battery up and run my small fridge will traveling an hour or two to my National forest areas. And to recharge my lithium battery if boondocking and don't get any sun for my solar panels for 3 or 4 days. So do you think the 20 amp charger will work for this. Was going to get the 40 amp but several things I read said don't go to big or it's harder on your alternator. What do you think ??? thanks
Some numbers to keep in mind.
A 12.8V 206Ah battery is 2636.8Wh. Let's say you run down the battery to 50% SOC so you need 1318Wh to recharge that 50%. A 20A 12V DC-DC charger will put out 256Wh per hour you drive. So you would need to drive about 5 hours to put 50% back into the battery.
A 200W solar panel, mounted flat on the roof of the trailer might give you 160W in late June. In the summer you might get 6 solar hours on a nice clear day with no shade. That's 960Wh. So it will take at least 1.5 days to put the 50% back into the battery in peak summer. It will take longer in the Spring or Fall due to less solar hours per day and less output from the solar panel due to lower sun angle. And of course it will take longer if the battery is drained more.
Are you running a separate charging wire from the tow vehicle to the trailer or do you plan to use the power pin of the 7-pin connector? The 7-pin wiring won't support nearly as many amps as needed. Does the trailer have electric brakes?
A 12.8V 206Ah battery is 2636.8Wh. Let's say you run down the battery to 50% SOC so you need 1318Wh to recharge that 50%. A 20A 12V DC-DC charger will put out 256Wh per hour you drive. So you would need to drive about 5 hours to put 50% back into the battery.
A 200W solar panel, mounted flat on the roof of the trailer might give you 160W in late June. In the summer you might get 6 solar hours on a nice clear day with no shade. That's 960Wh. So it will take at least 1.5 days to put the 50% back into the battery in peak summer. It will take longer in the Spring or Fall due to less solar hours per day and less output from the solar panel due to lower sun angle. And of course it will take longer if the battery is drained more.
Are you running a separate charging wire from the tow vehicle to the trailer or do you plan to use the power pin of the 7-pin connector? The 7-pin wiring won't support nearly as many amps as needed. Does the trailer have electric brakes?
yes running off power pin on 7 pin plug. No electric brakes. Just a small 6 by 12 converted cargo trailer. Only thing that will be connected in camper while driving will be a small 12v fridge. By the way my solar panel is not mounted, I kept it portable so I can put the camper in the shade and put the solar panel or panels in the sun at the proper angle. So I can have full power from the panel or panels
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Victron yes. It's always difficult to choose the size. Wiring constraints surely a consideration.
Installation manual says 8awg wire for your dc-to-dc charger - and I doubt there's anything close to that going through your trailer plug.
I used 10awg for the 18A, and the leads are less than 2' long. 60A fuse on both input and output of the charger. Now that I think about it, I should use 40A fuses due to wire gauge.
EDIT: Just ordered 40A fuses.
Installation manual says 8awg wire for your dc-to-dc charger - and I doubt there's anything close to that going through your trailer plug.
I used 10awg for the 18A, and the leads are less than 2' long. 60A fuse on both input and output of the charger. Now that I think about it, I should use 40A fuses due to wire gauge.
EDIT: Just ordered 40A fuses.
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You may wish to scan through the following if you plan to use the 7-pin for charging:
diysolarforum.com
Search results for query: 7 pin amps
diysolarforum.com
If you have a compressor cooler that runs on DC you should have no problem. I have 200w of panels ony boat charging 230 amp battery and I have plenty of power. I have a 9 amp DC to DC charger that I use now and then to charge my mobile packs from the 230 house bank. I run everything off 12v DC.
Levo
Alberta Glamper
I know this has been mentioned in other threads, but I can't find definitive postings right now:
For a DC to DC charger, is there really significant benefit to running a huge #4 wire (recommended for 40A some 8 m away) both directions to the trailer battery? Installers on Youtube seem to vary, some using chassis ground, some not? Will the current flow be limited using chassis ground? I guess other than the skinny 7-pin connector, only the tow ball connects vehicle ground to trailer ground.
For a DC to DC charger, is there really significant benefit to running a huge #4 wire (recommended for 40A some 8 m away) both directions to the trailer battery? Installers on Youtube seem to vary, some using chassis ground, some not? Will the current flow be limited using chassis ground? I guess other than the skinny 7-pin connector, only the tow ball connects vehicle ground to trailer ground.
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Levo
Alberta Glamper
Chris, I know you prefer Victron, and I won't argue over reputation/reliability, but I wanted 40A and the price difference for me was huge (certainly not $50). Renogy Canada posted a discounted "open box" item for $CA140 (only $US110). The 30A Victron would cost me $CA317. Seduced by price, maybe, but I'll take my chance! LOLIt has a screw lug tensioner for bare wire or a ferrule for your ignition lead. Insert bare wire, tighten down.
While I have a Renogy SCC - a Voyager - as one of my three SCC's, there are just a lot of complaints about the brand's reliability reputation. For about $50 more you can get a Victron TR Smart Charger in 18A with a dead-reliable reputation. I just installed one and it's dabomb. YMMV.
Here's a better picture of what that terminal looks like:
And one of my Victron installed. It also has the ignition lead input to turn the charger on and off.
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AFAIK a trailer connector does have a ground lead from the tow vehicle, no?
And I'm not against renogy per se - I got a voyager SCC for my starting batteries. It's just that there are a lot of complaints from customers with failed units and inability to get competent tech support. Unfortunately a lot of stuff out of china is like this - you buy it cheap, use it till it breaks, and if it does or doesn't work right, you throw it away and buy something else. I have no problem with that for cheap stuff, but when you get over $100 then I really don't want to have to replace it on my dime.
Just so you know, there are a lot of complaints about the Orion running really hot. Even the manual warns to install it in an open air area. I also think the wire gauge recommendation is based on the fact that most rigs will have the house battery some distance from the starting battery, and they make the same recommendation for ALL of their units. Since mine is a foot from each, and I had 10awg wire on hand, that's what it got. I did realize after the fact to also reduce the fuse size from 60 to 40 on my 18A charger. They can also put out a little more than their rated - not sure why, I see closer to 20A on mine at full tilt, so they may be adding some extra current carrying capacity to their wiring rec.
In summary, I personally would not want to try to run a 40A charger from a truck battery to a trailer battery through the trailer wiring. If I really needed/wanted that much juice I would install a dedicated cable for it with heavier wire to carry that much current. And I would use 6 or 8G wire, 'isolated' as they call it, with its own pos and neg wires. 6G welding cable is super nice stuff, very flexible, let'er rip. YMMV.
I would say 8g is fine, but I don't think you can get welding cable in 8. 6G will give less voltage drop anyway. Connect with its own anderson plug.
Levo
Alberta Glamper
Yes of course I'll run a dedicated wire, 6AWG I think. The Renogy manual says 4AWG for 8 m away (presumably to reduce voltage drop).
My main doubt was the ground or negative. Yes the 7-pin connector has a ground, but probably inadequate. The dedicated neg wire you suggest makes sense and yes, now I have found Renogy says to do that in the manual. I'll price out welding cable or RW90 for the long run.
At the bottom of this chart it says "*3-10% Non-Critical voltage drop". Do they mean under 10% is okay? Seems like a lot!
Glad your Orion is working so well for you. Thanks again.
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I would suggest using SB type Anderson connectors at the rear bumper. It would be "best" to run the negative wire all the way to the battery, but I've gotten away with connecting the ground to the frame of the truck without issue. A "Big Three" wiring upgrade under the hood probably helped there. The big three upgrade is popular with car audio enthusiasts who put huge loads on their systems and consists of overlaying heavy additional ground cables between the battery and frame, engine block and frame, and an extra positive lead between the alternator and battery positive. The positive lead should be fused, BTW.
Levo
Alberta Glamper
Indeed the big 3 upgrade would help if frame grounding was used. I expect better truck-trailer ground contact would also be needed. Shall go with the dedicated negative as indicated by you guys, likely with Anderson connector.
