Pecron 500W Smart Car Charger, in depth tests

[Dave in AZ]

This charger is a dc2dc or alternator charger, but is intended for use soecifically with a PowerStation rather than just a battery. It has the output voltage boosted to 42V to allow rapid charging of PowerStation through the solar input ports. This sort of alternator charger is becoming common this year, and virtually allows overlanders to forego all solar panels, if they are driving an hour or two a day.

None of the reviews I saw had sufficient details on actual output, or how to set the voltage setting. Here is a good video I made with in depth test showing all that info and how to hook it up.

The video DOES WORK, click on where it says "Watch on Youtube ". I just have not allowed Embedded viewing, like here on this page, because you then won't be able to read all the extensive notes and info I ALREADY TYPED OUT, in the Video Description on Youtube, which will answer most questions or complaints already.

 

[Mitchoo]

I’m sure this is a dumb question but is there any reason I shouldn’t get one of these Pecron 500W chargers and wire it with a branch connector with my solar panels into the Victron MPPT to charge my batteries. I know this is intended for all in one solar generators but it seems like a cheaper and easier way to get DC alternator charging than adding an Orion. I know that it’s less powerful than an Orion XS though.

 

[Dave in AZ]

I’m sure this is a dumb question but is there any reason I shouldn’t get one of these Pecron 500W chargers and wire it with a branch connector with my solar panels into the Victron MPPT to charge my batteries. I know this is intended for all in one solar generators but it seems like a cheaper and easier way to get DC alternator charging than adding an Orion. I know that it’s less powerful than an Orion XS though.

This is a 42V output power source that is intended to be fed into an mppt to charge batteries. So, yes you could feed it into a victron mppt. It's just a 42v dcdc converter. I TRIED to find and buy a Victron 12/48 dcdc converter first, it was hard to find and everyone was sold out. Here it is for $200 in stock today though:

Victron Orion-TR 12/48-8A (380W) Isolated DC-DC Converter

12 / 48 Volt

baymarinesupply.com

Not sure about branch connector with solar panels. I suppose the output could be wired parallel if you were matched on voltage. But remember, an mppt looks for one best voltage and matches it for power input. You can't be feeding it two different voltages, or it will probably cause wierd cycling, they take 15sec to several minutes to lick onto a sensed voltage. Not sure how long your victron takes. But it is just like feeding in different solar panels, if voltages of strings arent matched, you will only get the lower voltage for everything.

If you had an either/or switch to source power from the panels OR the charger, then sure it would work great. Might even work branched in with panels unswitched, but mppt can be wierd acting and I'm not sure how that would respond if your panels weren't also 42V, and that's too difficult to match it seems.

 

[CanAmSteve]

Thanks for the interesting video. I think you still need solar unless your use is very specific and never varies. For the cost of a ~300W solar panel that just sits on the roof, doing its thing while you are parked...

One benefit of this unit may be providing for longer cable runs without voltage drop with thinner cables? I think its supply is about 40A @ 12V (max) and output would then be lower amps (specs say 13A, and the size of the output cables is much lighter). So that's a real benefit. I am a bit concerned about protection from shorts on both feed and output, though

BTW - I didn't see any affiliate links in the video description. Looking of Amazon, the first listing shows the "Pecron 500W smart car Charger" but without the charge cable (just MC40 outputs). Thanks again