Renogy 60 Amp DC DC Charger

[nut17]

After much research, I made the big decision and purchased this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Z4 ... UTF8&psc=1

This has been set up in our new Winnebago ILUKA - IVECO Daily based motorhome that now has 1200 watts solar and 400AH LiFePO4 battery. The Renogy was installed using very heavy cable and with the engine running was being supplied 13.00 volts and drawing 72 Amps while delivering a good solid 60 Amp charge to my battery.

On the first major trip away the Renogy after about three hours of constant operation gave off that expensive "smoke producing" odour and gave up the ghost. Amazon / Renogy are in dialogue via Email with me and I have sent pictures of my installation as requested but are not offering any sort of solution at this stage. I am not prepared to open it up at this stage as any implied warranty will invalidate my warranty if I do.
I have purchased a "Mastervolt" 50 Amp unit which is doing the job superbly as a drop in replacement.

https://www.mastervolt.com/products/mac ... -12-12-50/

Anyone here had any dealings with Renogy or their products? I am very disappointed as it definitely ticked all the boxes.

Cheers Chris

[T1 Terry]

I'm guessing they will tell you they are not suitable for lithium. Basically, the 60 amp is short term only, designed for lead acid batteries because they can not handle the full charge rate for a short time before the voltage climbs to the absorption voltage setting in the charger and it reduces its charging rate to stop the voltage climbing further.
This doesn't happen with a lithium battery, they will take in all that is offered until they are full.
The give away that the max output is really only a short term peak capacity and not the constant supply rate is if they specify a battery capacity range the unit suits. The designed max continuous output is often around 50% of the peak output, so 60 amps peak is really only around 30 amps continuous.
Three units that do work well with lithium batteries, The Enerdrive 40 amp DC to DC, Projecta 25 amp .... can't remember the letter coding but it is their DC to DC offering, and the 30 amp Victron Orion -Tr DC to DC charger. Each of these units can be run in multiples, the Victron has a remote on/off port so it can be controlled by a BMS by simply cutting the voltage supply to the remote port and the charger stops.

T1 Terry

[nut17]

The Renogy has a Lithium setting with two charge voltage options. Supposed to have a 100% duty cycle. Both the Mastervolt and Renogy have remote switching. I have it working in parallel with the 30 Amp BM Pro "Mini Boost" Dc Dc charger fitted as standard. I am getting a reliable 75 - 78 amps from the system now, plus a similar amount from the solar on a good day

[T1 Terry]

The Renogy has a Lithium setting with two charge voltage options. Supposed to have a 100% duty cycle. Both the Mastervolt and Renogy have remote switching. I have it working in parallel with the 30 Amp BM Pro "Mini Boost" Dc Dc charger fitted as standard. I am getting a reliable 75 - 78 amps from the system now, plus a similar amount from the solar on a good day

They have no excuses then, you used it on a lithium battery, the unit is supposed to handle a 100% duty cycle and it didn't, so either refund or replace .....

T1 Terry

[nut17]

I finally got an agreement from Amazon to get a refund - But ended up reluctantly receiving a replacement unit that I managed to sell for NZ$250. The Mastervolt unit continues to perform perfectly. With almost 12 months and 16,000km the new rig is proving an absolute delight. The solar - lithium - inverter installation is exceeding expectation with most of our hot water being heated using the 1000 watt 230v AC via the inverter and the majority of the cooking done either on the 1600 w induction hob and or microwave. We have also been able to run our 3 way fridge during daylight hours using the inverter. This fridge is pretty energy hungry and draws an average 25 amps from the battery vie the inverter. I would love to swap the fridge (Dometic RUA 6408X) for a Samsung domestic fridge as per our last Jayco caravan, but we would lose the microwave and there would need to be a major cabinetry modification to suit. However I have not given up the idea of changing to one of these (https://www.dometic.com/en-nz/outdoor/n ... x-_-186741) which would be a pretty straight forward swap with identical cabinet size.

[T1 Terry]

At least you got something back. We found none of the cheaper DC to DC chargers lasted very long on lithium batteries, so we stick with the known brands these days.
Good to see even in the land of the long white cloud where it rains near as often as Melbourne, there is still enough sun to power everything

T1 Terry

[Busman]

After numerous (like a dozen) failurse using cheaper Dc to Dc convertors to charge our 200 Ah 12 V bank from our 800 Ah 24 volt bank we fitted a Projecta 25 amp charger, use it on power supply mode, to charge the 12 V bank from the always on inverters, never an issue years later. Good suggestion T1. We just run the charger for a few hours in the middle of the day, does the job well.

[nut17]

I have a 50 amp Projecta "Intellicharger" that was originally used in conjunction with a dedicated PSW inverter as a DC DC charger. Terry may well remember building me a simple auto changing relay that switched the charger from shore power to inverter power as soon as the voltage sensitive relay supplied current to the inverter. I was using a 600 watt inverter to power a 25 amp C-Tek charger in those days - around 2011.

Cheers Chris

[T1 Terry]

I do remember making that Chris, hard to believe that was over 10yr ago. Made quite few as a auto switching supply for inverter or shore power for use back in the days before auto switch through inverters dropped down to a price that the average punter could afford.

Once quality DC to DC chargers dropped in price, the inverter/battery charger idea became redundant, but they did work well .... some times

Price of equipment isn't a great guide to performance, there is a well known Australian RV equipment manufacturer who's price point is at an absolute premium, yet sadly, these are the products that we end up replacing most often because the customer is not happy with the performance.
I've actually had a tour through their factory here in the Adelaide suburbs and tried to explain the problems and what they needed to change in their research section, but it fell on deaf ears. Testing how a product works using a lab quality power supply does not reflect real world use, good luck getting an EE to understand that ......

T1 Terry

[supersparky]

............ ..... Testing how a product works using a lab quality power supply does not reflect real world use, good luck getting an EE to understand that ......

T1 Terry

That statement would have started a sh**storm a few forums ago. Don't think we have too many on-board here.