redarc manager 30

[taliv]

anyone use one? as far as i could tell, the first few pages of search results only had 1 or two hits for the manager 30, and those were future buyers not current. but there are a ton of hits for their BCDC and other stuff.

are the manager 30 just too expensive? why aren't they more popular? seems like exactly what I'm looking for, so I don't know why more people aren't using them.

 

[Oilbrnr]

Probably because you can do the same (more) for less with Victron.

 

[dreadlocks]

you pay dearly for an AIO unit, and often get less capability and singular point of failure for your money when you have to travel that road.

You can go all Victron, BMV Monitor ($200), Smart Solar ($120), Smart Battery Protect ($80) , Orion DC Charger ($150), and a dumb DC PSU ($100) to feed it for shore power and only come to half that cost.. while having more flexibility like paralleling DC chargers if you got a big honking lithium you wanna charge on a short drive or separate solar controllers for a fixed panel and portable panel.. or any number of other things.

 

[john61ct]

yes poor value

is voltage even user custom adjustable?

 

[Erockin]

Can someone compare the monitoring features of the Victron App/BMV vs the Manager 30? From the videos I’ve watched the Redarc has some seemingly helpful gauges showing where charge power is coming from and how much is being used. I imagine the Victron app shows all the needed info but I’m not familiar with it. Is there say a dashboard page that gives an easy to understand overview of what your system is doing?

 

[taliv]

you pay dearly for an AIO unit, and often get less capability and singular point of failure for your money when you have to travel that road.

You can go all Victron, BMV Monitor ($200), Smart Solar ($120), Smart Battery Protect ($80) , Orion DC Charger ($150), and a dumb DC PSU ($100) to feed it for shore power and only come to half that cost.. while having more flexibility like paralleling DC chargers if you got a big honking lithium you wanna charge on a short drive or separate solar controllers for a fixed panel and portable panel.. or any number of other things.

i get the SPOF argument, but I don't understand your less capability statement. it seems like you'd have more possible features, not less. if you're saying you would connect both the vehicle alternator and solar both to the batteries in parallel, so they are both charging it, how is that better than one system managing both inputs like the mgr30 does?

 

[2Jeeps&PatriotX1]

I have the redarc Manager 30 and their TVMS in our camper.

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[dreadlocks]

i get the SPOF argument, but I don't understand your less capability statement. it seems like you'd have more possible features, not less. if you're saying you would connect both the vehicle alternator and solar both to the batteries in parallel, so they are both charging it, how is that better than one system managing both inputs like the mgr30 does?

That combination I proposed provides all the same features, plus:

• Higher Solar voltage input 75-100v for Victron vs 30v for mgr30.. puts house panels on the table.
• Individual Solar Chargers for multiple Solar Panels of Varying Voltage/Type
• Remote Battery Temp Monitoring & Charge Profile Adaptation
• Custom Charge Profiles with custom voltages and custom stages
• Ability to Parallel Multiple DC Chargers if/when you need more than 30A output, You can parallel as many Orion's as you want if you need to charge LFP banks of any size quicker off alternator.. they all play nicely together, and even coordinate charge profiles so they stay in sync.
• Bluetooth App Configuration/Monitoring/Data Logging/Firmware Updates
• Custom Load Disconnect Voltages of anything you want
• Ability to monitor voltage of your starter battery
• Ability to be taken out and re-used in whatever's down the road for you because its future proof and infinitely flexible.

I could keep going but thats just scratching the top of my head against that rather megar spec sheet Redarc provides.. I respect Redarc and their products, but I personally hold Victron to much higher esteem, they really set the bar.

 

[2Jeeps&PatriotX1]

I don’t know anything about that other brand and not saying you’re wrong by any means about the other brand being better and obviously cheaper, but some of the items you mentioned above my redarc system does. I have the whole redarc system w/ dual lithiums and use a 200w portable solar panel to keep batteries topped off. I can run all my lights, coffee maker off the 1000w inverter, charge devices, fridge for 4 days before the system drops below 50%, so I tend to plug in the panel every 2 days or so to top off.


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[dreadlocks]

dual lithium what? assuming thats 100AH LFP's two of em would take up to 80A of charge current and go from basically empty to full in 2.5h of driving.. 30A will still do the job, at significantly reduced charge rate.. now you'd need to drive or run the engine 6-7h to obtain the same energy storage.

It sounds like your usages are rather minimal, and with solar you can get by with leaving that capability unused.. but some people may need that capability if their driving strategy tries to avoid any long days behind the wheel and you more tend to hop a few hours down the road/trail every day.. or those using generators and want to keep engine runtime down to a minimum when they are needed.

I'm not saying the RedArc wont do the job, but its asking a huge premium for being an all in one unit whereas a premium grade modular system is not half as much and puts more capabilities on the table for future needs.. these things kinda lock you in, when you need more than 30A your stuck.. when your putting all this in a cabin or trailer down the road you'll find its more limiting than empowering and you'll be selling it at a deep loss to get something more like a modular system in the first place.

My philosophy on tools is do one thing and do it well, for a robust house battery system you need a tool box of these tools.. just having a swiss army knife is going to be limiting.

 

[2Jeeps&PatriotX1]

Yes, 2 100ah batteries. Not sure what else I would need power for, already using it to charge macbook pro, 12v fan in the rtt at times, coffee maker, charge cell phones, ipad, drone batteries, air bag compressor used for set up and when hitting the road, a few led trailer/awning lights at night, rock lights at night, blower for tent heater at night, water pump for sink/shower, fridge. Outside of an ac unit, tv, stereo system or cpap machine, what else do people run in a offroad rtt camper that a non-rv/30’ travel trailer/toy hauler? Viair air compressor I power off the rear of the tow vehicles.

We’ve never stayed in the same spot for more than 8 days and never dipped low to where I was carefully watching it or concerned and got in the habit to plug in the solar panels every other day.


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[taliv]

i'm not arguing. just asking questions to get educated.

granted, their brochure is light on details, but reading their manual, it does include some things like on your list like remote battery monitor, which includes temperature. and i think it has the ability to calculate how long it takes to charge and charge from multiple sources simultaneously, but if you had two chargers in parallel charging simultaneously, neither would be able to correctly calculate the time to full charge, right?

on the topic of 30A charging limit, help me understand this:

assume my truck has - dual 220Amp alternators = estimate each is 183A output (2000rpm, 200*F) @ 14.5v? (i'm not sure about the volt output)
cable used is 16mm^2 cable rated voltage loss .02V/m@10A, .05V/m@20A, .1V/m@40A. my cable is prob 10m, so guessing .075@30A= a voltage drop of .75V or .2V/m@80A=2V
LIFEPO battery needs 14.4-14.6V to charge

so my question is, even though the battery is capable of charging at 100A, and my truck is putting out a lot more than that, which would be awesome, doesn't the length of the cable mean if i drop to 40A, I can charge up to 13.5V? and if I drop to 10A, I can charge at 14.4v? but if I'm at 80A, I can only charge up to 12.5v? are either the redarc or victron smart enough to drop the amps to give me a full charge? I don't think that would be possible because the manager is on the battery side of the cable, and to change that would have to be on the alternator side, right?

 

[john61ct]

The whole point of DCDC chargers is

put out precisely the right charge profile (voltage) for the target bank, and terminate once full.

The input can be all over the map, just raw material no effect on output.

Amps are a maximum, to get faster charging need to buy a higher rated unit, or if possible stack multiple units in parallel.

The DCDC needs to be close to the bank its charging.

 

[taliv]

So you’re saying even if the voltage from the battery is a bit low, the dcdc can raise it to put the right input into the battery?

and if there are two in parallel both trying to charge the battery, they both will put the precise charge profile without doubling it? I’m still mystified how this works. Thanks for input

 

[john61ct]

So you’re saying even if the voltage from the battery is a bit low, the dcdc can raise it to put the right input into the battery?

I do not know which voltage you mean. If the charger voltage setting is not a fair bit higher than the battery "at rest" voltage, no effective charge current can flow.

On a 12V system, or a 24V one, that is just a nominal label, approx halfway through the SoC% working range.

So if 10.5V is 0%, dead flat actually harmful to longevity should never go there in normal cycling.

The **charging** voltage, AKA the Absorb / CV setpoint for FLA might be 14.8V, while with GEL you should not go over 14.2V. These setpoint specs vary depending on the battery make & model, and you need to buy a battery that matches your charger or v/v

Unless you future-proof by insisting on charge sources with user-custom adjustability, not just a limited set of canned profile choices.

After charging the **battery** voltage falls, without SoC% changing, until it reaches the 100% Full "isolated-at-rest" voltage, which again will vary by battery type

A Deka or Trojan FLA might be 12.85V, while GEL might be a bit over 13V.


> if there are two in parallel both trying to charge the battery, they both will put the precise charge profile without doubling it?

Voltage stays the same, amps current doubles - that is what "parallel" means.