Would like to ask if anyone has one of these in their rigs .. they handle everything including solar power.
My question is has anyone set it up to also allow another portable solar panel to it when the one on the roof is in the shade ?
apparently they have a few solar outlets .
Anyone out there ?
T1 Terry said
06:53 PM Sep 9, 2019
Not sure if you have seen the price of these things, but they have got to be joking when you could buy each of these items so all would charge at the same time and still have plenty left over for more solar. As it's max output is only 30 amps, it is very limited as far as its ability to chick charge a battery. You want the DC to DC charger and the solar to both work independently so they can both be charging while you are driving, or if you are using the alternator as a generator to do a quick top up while free camped. You also want the mains charger to be separate all together. These all in one units look to make it easy to connected up, but a nightmare to diagnose when something goes wrong and if it drops its bundle you have lost everything.
Personally, I wouldn't waste my hard earned money, far better ways to end up with a far superior system that can actually be fault traced and has multiple redundancies so you aren't stuck out on the backtracks using a torch for a few weeks while the unit goes back to the shop to be checked out.
T1 Terry
Mamil said
07:08 PM Sep 9, 2019
Yes I had an Redarc Manager 30 in my van and I was very happy with it. However, it only has one solar input, but that's not a problem as you just need to set up a couple of switches so you can select one or other solar panel, or parallel both together (for a cloudy day), before it inputs to the Manager MPPT controller.
The switches I used were DC circuit breakers so they served the double purpose of overcurrent protection and switching between the panels. They are on the left of the picture. I've also attached a rough and ready sketch to show how mine were wired.
PS: Use the thickest wire you can to reduce voltage drop. I used 6mm2 and regretted it. Would use at least 10mm2 if doing it again.
-- Edited by Mamil on Monday 9th of September 2019 07:12:23 PM
Have to agree wit Terry, this unit is way over priced for what it is. I noticed on checking their website that you can buy a 100Watt solar panel for $495. Is this a bargain or a ripoff.
Alan
T1 Terry said
11:49 AM Sep 10, 2019
There is no reason you can't put a portable panel wired to an Anderson plug and the other end wired to the same solar input terminals that the roof mounted panels are connected. You can add circuit breakers if you want for added protection if you want to, no real need to turn one off unless all the panels are in full sun and the total output is more than the controller can handle.
As far as the "MPPT" ability of the Redarc 30 Management system, the max input voltage on the DC input side is 32v, hardly an MPPT controller, more like a DC to DC charger that is designed to handle an alternator 12v to 24v that can reach 30vdc plus when charging hard and the unit is cold. A 24v solar panel has an open circuit voltage of between 36v and 42v, too much for this "MPPT" solar controller. A true MPPT controller would handle 80vdc up to 145vdc so some real advantage could be gained from stringing the panels in series rather than parallel or using roof top solar panels you bought cheap.
Would like to ask if anyone has one of these in their rigs .. they handle everything including solar power.
My question is has anyone set it up to also allow another portable solar panel to it when the one on the roof is in the shade ?
apparently they have a few solar outlets .
Anyone out there ?
Personally, I wouldn't waste my hard earned money, far better ways to end up with a far superior system that can actually be fault traced and has multiple redundancies so you aren't stuck out on the backtracks using a torch for a few weeks while the unit goes back to the shop to be checked out.
T1 Terry
Yes I had an Redarc Manager 30 in my van and I was very happy with it. However, it only has one solar input, but that's not a problem as you just need to set up a couple of switches so you can select one or other solar panel, or parallel both together (for a cloudy day), before it inputs to the Manager MPPT controller.
The switches I used were DC circuit breakers so they served the double purpose of overcurrent protection and switching between the panels. They are on the left of the picture. I've also attached a rough and ready sketch to show how mine were wired.
PS: Use the thickest wire you can to reduce voltage drop. I used 6mm2 and regretted it. Would use at least 10mm2 if doing it again.
-- Edited by Mamil on Monday 9th of September 2019 07:12:23 PM
Have to agree wit Terry, this unit is way over priced for what it is. I noticed on checking their website that you can buy a 100Watt solar panel for $495. Is this a bargain or a ripoff.
Alan
As far as the "MPPT" ability of the Redarc 30 Management system, the max input voltage on the DC input side is 32v, hardly an MPPT controller, more like a DC to DC charger that is designed to handle an alternator 12v to 24v that can reach 30vdc plus when charging hard and the unit is cold. A 24v solar panel has an open circuit voltage of between 36v and 42v, too much for this "MPPT" solar controller. A true MPPT controller would handle 80vdc up to 145vdc so some real advantage could be gained from stringing the panels in series rather than parallel or using roof top solar panels you bought cheap.
T1 Terry