A word of warning: my unit came with a slightly different (presumably earlier) version of the instructions which I now realise had a typo whereby the switches for the Type 2 Lithium configuration were shown as S3 and S4, instead of S1 and S2. Very nearly drove me mad.
Could you possibly do a video on the Dc to Dc fitted & working . Would like to see how you did the independent switch and also the added monitor . Great vids well done !
Hey, of course. The DC to DC install video is in the pipeline. However, i'm yet to install the delay timer because I've been playing around with different switching methods and locations to find which configuration works best. If you need any help in the meantime, I'd be happy to help. Drop me a message or e-mail. Regards, Jolly 🤘
nice explaination my van has a house battery an a isolator. if I add another house battery independant of first house battery can I use a DC to DC charger? or should I just use the 2nd out put of the isolator to charge the additional house battery. woops when I say house in your world it's a lesuure.
Hey Steve, Either method will charge the batteries. However, ensure you're not overloading or putting too much strain on the alternator. It would be more efficient to charge both batteries using the DC-DC charger. We have two blog posts that will help you out; - 'Do I need a DC to DC charger?' - vandercampadventures.com/do-i-need-a-dc-to-dc-charger/ - 'What size DC to DC charger do I need?' - vandercampadventures.com/what-size-dc-to-dc-charger/ Hope this helps! Regards, Jolly
It would be interesting to know if the 40A is input current or output current. With say 13.8v supplied to it. If its output then what load is actually applied to the alternator. The half power setting could be controlled by a thermal switch stuck to alternator housing. If it gets hot it could switch down to half current. Maybe a magnetic Reed switch to detect starter battery current so as it takes less current it switches the charger up to full power.
Hi Andrew, the 40A is the output current. After speaking with the technical support, the current load on the alternator could be up to a 50% increase of the stated output current. Therefore, a 40A charger could have a load of 60A on the alternator. We've done tests on the Renogy 40A DC-DC charger, the results can be found here > vandercampadventures.com/renogy-40a-dc-to-dc-battery-charger/#Product_Testing. I like your ideas for using the Low Current setting. Thank you for your input. Regards, Jolly
@Vandercamp Adventures thanks for your reply. Most interesting. They could do with publishing the input current vs input voltage. I would expect the current to increase with a lower input voltage. Difficult to judge which one to go for when you only have a 70A alternator.
Hey Madeleine, Here's the eBay link to the delay relay timer - www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154400482532. The manuals a bit tricky to understand because it's translated from Chinese. Once i have installed and tested the system with the delay switch i will do an installation video and update the Renogy 40A DC to DC charger blog post. Feel free to e-mail us if you require any further assistance. Regards, Jolly
Hey there, of course! The charger is purely charging the battery. But be aware that using the battery while it's charging will reduce the charge current to the battery. We dive deeper into 'using a battery whilst charging' in our blog post - "vandercampadventures.com/what-size-dc-to-dc-charger/#Powering_a_load_while_driving Hope this helps, Regards, Jolly ✌️
