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Trouble shooting Renogy DC/DC charger MPPT controller.

antbikemike

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Hello, I am new to the forum.

I have a class B+ motor home Made by R-vision/Trail-lite on a 2003 Chevy Express 2500 chassis.

I added a Ampertime 200 amp self heating battery Li and works fine as is with the RV electrical system.

I then added a Renogy 50 amp DC/DC MPPT charger/Controller to run a 180 watt Bougerv 9BB solar panel and to regulate the charge from the alternator [so it does not burn the Alt up]

I followed the wiring on the Renogy installation video and have the correct wire gauges, fuses etc...

The problem is, that when the controller is connected, power operates the controller and was able to set the battery type, solar is sending power. But the power switch to connect the house battery with the 12V system in the RV will not engage. And power does not appear to be coming from the alternator.

I guess I should add some pictures of my set up, so you can see? Either I have missed something or this unit is defective.

Thanks, Mike
 
In now way an expert but i do have the same unit and have fitted a few to other vehicals.
Is the DCC50s grounded to the chassis? if it's just grounded to the house battery the DC2DC wont work.
What voltage is the house battery at ? if it's too high the DC2DC wont kick in, the unit allways favours solar over alt charging so basicly if the house battery is in bulk charge it will kick in (solid red light) but when it reaches absortion it will cut off and use only solar, IE if the battery light is yellow sometimes it does sometimes not? i think that may be down to how much solar there is coming in but i have to nothing to back that up appart from my observations of it working, if the light is green the DC2DC wont kick in IME.
 
Thanks Dirt for the response,

I have run the ground to the chassis and every combo that was suggested in the Renogy installation video and manual.

The main problem is that no power gets to my 12V system in the RV, when connected to the Renogy.

Have you installed this in a motor home? All the info from Will or Youtube are installations around van builds and not motor homes with already existing electrical systems.

Unfortunately talking with Renogy has been useless.

I am thinking that there is something missing in the instructions, being that the power cable coming from the alt [to the RV solenoids and RV storage switch etc] that normally connects to the house/RV battery should still be connected. The instructions show it by passing the house battery and going to the Renogy and then back to the house battery...but that sends no power to the RV.

Mike
 
Mine is fitted into an ex ambulance, i just bypassed the already instaled solenoids and went straight from the starter battery to the DCC50s, my thinking being if you run it through any other disconnect solenoids you wont get the advantage of back charging the starter battery from solar when the house battery is full ?
Others i've fitted were into boats or vans where i treated it as a seperate system and didn't integrate it any way to already fitted systems or diconnects so i'm affraid i'm out of my depth on existing RV systems :(

Renogy customer support is pretty dire TBH, i think the main issue is they just resell, they don't actually make the products so all you usually get from them is what the instructions say with no real tech support :(
get a pic or a diagram up it might help (y)
 
Power the unit down and then disconnect solar all together. Do testin with just alternator and no solar connected.

Whats the state of charge on the House batteries? If they are close to chare and the Solar is outputing power it may use just the solar.

Is your RV using a smart Alternator?

You may want to draw out a diagram so people can see better how you have things connected.
 
Power the unit down and then disconnect solar all together. Do testin with just alternator and no solar connected.

Whats the state of charge on the House batteries? If they are close to chare and the Solar is outputing power it may use just the solar.

Is your RV using a smart Alternator?

You may want to draw out a diagram so people can see better how you have things connected.
 
I had the same problem and renogy had me disconnect the solar and it started working afterwards. Ive never gotten more than 25 amps. Another issue. Its 25 from solar 25 from vehicle. Now I'd like to disconnect renogy completely. So many issues with their crap. Go victron.
 
I had the same problem and renogy had me disconnect the solar and it started working afterwards. Ive never gotten more than 25 amps. Another issue. Its 25 from solar 25 from vehicle. Now I'd like to disconnect renogy completely. So many issues with their crap. Go victron.
I have mine working. Full 50 Amps as long as there is no solar attached. I have my panels on a breaker. If I am driving the panels get turned off.

A few other things I had to work through.
1. It overheats seemly pretty quickly then starts throttling the current. This is documented in the manual (no super clear though). I have a 12V fan hooked up on the 7 pin charge input that turns on automatically when plugged into the truck
2. It struggled with my 2019 Ford F150 with 5L. If I remember correctly the Alternator is 240A so I was not to worried about the load. As with the fan above I have the 7 Pin charge cct connected to the IGN connection on the DC2DC. My wires are undersized for the run (about 50-60' of 4 gauge) but it seems to work fine.

I would likely buy Victron next time as well but my 50A Renogy DC2DC is working good. I just got back from a 8 hour drive and slept in the trailer over night. I drained the 2 Renogy 100AH batteries running a heater over night and they are fully charged when I got home.
 
I am doing a similar build with the Renogy MPPT DC2DC 50a, Plan 2 or 3 100w solar panels in parallel of course.
I found that that the monitor screen option (apparently not certain) gives the ability to limit current on the charge branches.
hopeing I can limit alternator input so as to not overload my vintage 1989 Dodge Van, not sure what alternator it is but I suspect its only 120a
Other things I have read indicate the MPPT circuitry is only on the solar input and the alternator input is PWM. This may be why the solar gets priority.
I don’t remember where I read it, but one more thing I heard was that alternator input did work IF the house battery was in the voltage range to allow bulk charge mode on the charger…
All things I intend to test when I get the Monitoring Screen in hand, and my battery as it gets delivered in a few days ?

 
I get a full 50 amps with a Redarc 50 amp dc/dc charger, 52 amps in 50 amps out. It’s the reason I spent on the Redarc because of the issues posted on the Renogy units.
 
I am doing a similar build with the Renogy MPPT DC2DC 50a, Plan 2 or 3 100w solar panels in parallel of course.
I found that that the monitor screen option (apparently not certain) gives the ability to limit current on the charge branches.
hopeing I can limit alternator input so as to not overload my vintage 1989 Dodge Van, not sure what alternator it is but I suspect its only 120a
Other things I have read indicate the MPPT circuitry is only on the solar input and the alternator input is PWM. This may be why the solar gets priority.
I don’t remember where I read it, but one more thing I heard was that alternator input did work IF the house battery was in the voltage range to allow bulk charge mode on the charger…
All things I intend to test when I get the Monitoring Screen in hand, and my battery as it gets delivered in a few days ?

I'm waiting for Version 2 to come out later this year, be nice to be able to set my own perameters on the DCC50s, i frikkin hate the APP ?
 
I'm waiting for Version 2 to come out later this year, be nice to be able to set my own perameters on the DCC50s, i frikkin hate the APP ?
Not a fan of the app either but beyond some initial config I rarely use it. Maybe check temp and thats about it...

I am doing a similar build with the Renogy MPPT DC2DC 50a, Plan 2 or 3 100w solar panels in parallel of course.
I found that that the monitor screen option (apparently not certain) gives the ability to limit current on the charge branches.
hopeing I can limit alternator input so as to not overload my vintage 1989 Dodge Van, not sure what alternator it is but I suspect its only 120a
Other things I have read indicate the MPPT circuitry is only on the solar input and the alternator input is PWM. This may be why the solar gets priority.
I don’t remember where I read it, but one more thing I heard was that alternator input did work IF the house battery was in the voltage range to allow bulk charge mode on the charger…
All things I intend to test when I get the Monitoring Screen in hand, and my battery as it gets delivered in a few days ?

You can config the charge rate via the Monitor screen or a bluetooth adapter.
I have batteries and the DC2DC charger connected to the Renogy Com hub.
Then my bluetooth adapter connect to it. This allows me to have my 3 batteries and DC2DC charger all connected at the same time..
 
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