What do you think about this charger?
redarc manager 30
- Thread starter taliv
- Start date
What do you think about this charger?
dreadlocks
Well-known member
let em all rest for 24h w/out a charge and check voltage again..
dreadlocks
Well-known member
by how much solar you intend on hooking up to em.. Watts / Volts (13) = Amps..
you can over panel Victrons too, and solar panels almost never ever output their full laboratory ratings in the real world.. so don't sweat paying $100 more if your a few amps over, like if your 24A, just buy a 20A, if your 38A or under get a 30A.. its hard to justify spending a whole lot more on next model up just to utilize it a couple times a year.
also its best to separate panels by type and environment, Ive got 2 different smart solars.. one for roof top and one for portable, even though both panels are identical they sit in vastly different sun conditions and if they were on a singular controller the weakest panel would basically be cut out entirely and unable to contribute anything.. with em seperate, even though its not putting out much when shaded the fixed roof one can still contribute a few amps to the workload.
you can over panel Victrons too, and solar panels almost never ever output their full laboratory ratings in the real world.. so don't sweat paying $100 more if your a few amps over, like if your 24A, just buy a 20A, if your 38A or under get a 30A.. its hard to justify spending a whole lot more on next model up just to utilize it a couple times a year.
also its best to separate panels by type and environment, Ive got 2 different smart solars.. one for roof top and one for portable, even though both panels are identical they sit in vastly different sun conditions and if they were on a singular controller the weakest panel would basically be cut out entirely and unable to contribute anything.. with em seperate, even though its not putting out much when shaded the fixed roof one can still contribute a few amps to the workload.
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dreadlocks
Well-known member
output side, it'll swing between ~12-14v depending on the bank's SOC, so splitting it down middle at 13 is reasonable.. especially for a LFP setup.
The way the Victron solar models are setup is: Max Input Voltage/Max Output Amperage.. so a 75/10 will take solar panels wired up to 75V, and output 10A at full output.. higher voltage means less amps coming in so the wiring can be thinner and losses are greatly reduced over distance.. so if your using 4 panels at 30V, you could wire those up in a series of 2, then parallel of 2 for a 60V circuit with half the amps running over the wires.. the power input is the same since the voltage went up.
The way the Victron solar models are setup is: Max Input Voltage/Max Output Amperage.. so a 75/10 will take solar panels wired up to 75V, and output 10A at full output.. higher voltage means less amps coming in so the wiring can be thinner and losses are greatly reduced over distance.. so if your using 4 panels at 30V, you could wire those up in a series of 2, then parallel of 2 for a 60V circuit with half the amps running over the wires.. the power input is the same since the voltage went up.
is there a disadvantage the other way? like if i got a 30A and only hook up a 120w panel? 120w/13v=9.2a max so am i wasting something or being less efficient?
dreadlocks
Well-known member
just your money your wasting.. unless your planning to grow into it later and just trying to buy & cry once, its moot to oversize the solar output capabilities.
however that being said there is another philosophy of over paneling, which depending on situation and bank and needs has very good merritts to it.
prices just easy to comprehend, not IRL: Say you got $500, you could spend $200 on 2x120W(10A) solar panels, and $300 on a 30A charge controller so later if you wanted another panel you could add it, or you could just spend $300 on 3x120W solar panels and get a $200 20A charge controller thats over paneled today, on a day of 20% output overcast that 360W combined is outputting 72W/6A, where your future pending upgrade at 240W is outputting 48W/4A for the same money, its days like this with partial sunlight or diffuse sunlight in winter that are the ones you need every bit of performance you can get and make or break yeh.. not the days the sun is shining full do most people need a ton of wattage, those are the days we are out enjoying the outdoors.. those rainy days tho where you want a light on all day to read or a computer/tablet to surf that'll break you.. and each battery chemistry has a sweet spot for its charge rate thats not worth going over.. yeah a AGM will actually use 0.4C charge rate instead of 0.2C charge rate, but for 2x the cost you shave like 10mins off the charge time heh.. totally not worth it.. you should be overpanneling by that point.
however that being said there is another philosophy of over paneling, which depending on situation and bank and needs has very good merritts to it.
prices just easy to comprehend, not IRL: Say you got $500, you could spend $200 on 2x120W(10A) solar panels, and $300 on a 30A charge controller so later if you wanted another panel you could add it, or you could just spend $300 on 3x120W solar panels and get a $200 20A charge controller thats over paneled today, on a day of 20% output overcast that 360W combined is outputting 72W/6A, where your future pending upgrade at 240W is outputting 48W/4A for the same money, its days like this with partial sunlight or diffuse sunlight in winter that are the ones you need every bit of performance you can get and make or break yeh.. not the days the sun is shining full do most people need a ton of wattage, those are the days we are out enjoying the outdoors.. those rainy days tho where you want a light on all day to read or a computer/tablet to surf that'll break you.. and each battery chemistry has a sweet spot for its charge rate thats not worth going over.. yeah a AGM will actually use 0.4C charge rate instead of 0.2C charge rate, but for 2x the cost you shave like 10mins off the charge time heh.. totally not worth it.. you should be overpanneling by that point.
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Thanks. That makes sense. I think I will get more solar but I suspect I’ll wind up with two panels and a blanket or something and maybe that means I’d be better off with two mppt? Which would let them run more efficiently? So when I get the extra solar I can add a controller...
so I’m adding stuff to a cart now. Tell me what you think
Smart solar Mppt 100/20
Blue smart ip67 12/25
Smart battery protect 12/100
Venus GX
plus some cables and whatnot
I think that would let me connect my 2x 100ah lifepo4 batteries to both chargers giving a max of 45A input compared to redarc manager30 30A. And the Venus thing let’s me manage it. And they’re all Bluetooth connected.
am I missing anything?
without accessories that’s $650 or so. So half the manager30 price.
so I’m adding stuff to a cart now. Tell me what you think
Smart solar Mppt 100/20
Blue smart ip67 12/25
Smart battery protect 12/100
Venus GX
plus some cables and whatnot
I think that would let me connect my 2x 100ah lifepo4 batteries to both chargers giving a max of 45A input compared to redarc manager30 30A. And the Venus thing let’s me manage it. And they’re all Bluetooth connected.
am I missing anything?
without accessories that’s $650 or so. So half the manager30 price.
dreadlocks
Well-known member
did you want DC alternator charging?
So everything discussed so far lives in a trailer. My truck has a National Luna smart solenoid isolator which I connect directly to the batteries via a long cable so I can charge while driving.
I would have plugged that into the manager30 but now I’ll just connect it right to the battery again. The downside of that is that it won’t charge them all the way due to some drop on the long cable.
what victron product fixed that again? And would I install in by the batteries in the trailer or by the batteries in the truck?