DC-DC Charger recommendations (1 Viewer)

[woytovich]

Thinking of getting a DC-DC charger to charge the battery in my portable smart battery box while driving.

Considering the CETK D250s Dual
D250S DUAL

Anyone have any experience with this one or any others please post up.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[CarolinaFJ]

I think it's a good choice. I don't have experience with it personally but I have seen it used and seems to be well reviewed. The other route would be putting in a split charge system, which probably is around the same cost. If you already have a box it is likely cost prohibitive to do an all in one unit that has a controller but they are out there as well.

 

[mep1811]

Wow that is expensive . Why not do a smart solenoid? Much cheaper


BATTERY SEPARATOR SMART SOLENOID - DLCparts.com - DLC Parts - David

 

[woytovich]

As I understand it:

The DC-DC charger is a smart charger fully charging and maintaing a battery.

Modern vehicles, like my tow vehicle, often have electronics that control the alternator so that it puts out lower current when vehicle operation would indicate less was needed - older alternators were "dumb" and supply current "on demand" only.

It also uses less current both before and after the charger so wire size can be much smaller.

 

[glocker21]

KISAE DMT1230 Abso 30A DC-DC Battery Charger works great for me. Look at Donrowe.com for them,Kisae is a darned good product and I love mine. I run it in my JK and have cables with Anderson Connectors for my portable solar panels

 

[nickolai]

I'm looking into this at the moment. My current options are the Cteck D250s, Redarc BCDC or the Projecta IDC25.

I like ctek most, as it has those nice bolt down terminals - tidier wiring. Its expandable too - can add the Smartpass system on later. I have 2 other ctek mains chargers so perhaps I'm a bit bias. Also like that it can take solar - the Redarc can't, the projecta can.

Do you know if the ctek boards are epoxied? the Redarc ones definitely are.

I've had relay based systems before and they're fine, for light duty, where the battery size is way over the load. Once you start drawing your batteries down a bit then you'll appreciate the better charging profile of the DC-DC systems.

 

[RFB]

Im in same boat, I have 170AH worth of batteries and want the house 100AH to be fully charged even with my tundra 150AMP alternator upgrade I dont think the national luna set up does it well. I also want o switch to a DC to DC with solar input.

 

[nickolai]

Im in same boat, I have 170AH worth of batteries and want the house 100AH to be fully charged even with my tundra 150AMP alternator upgrade I dont think the national luna set up does it well. I also want o switch to a DC to DC with solar input.

In my 70 series I had a 100AH battery charged through a relay system. It worked well but all it was running was my Waeco fridge and some usb chargers. For a simple set up these work well, provided that your alternator is up to the task. Eventually though the battery will not like being discharged too far etc.

In my 80 I'm going to go dc-dc, as i plan on having the fridge, USBs and probably an inverter.

To build on my previous comments, the The Redarc BCDC 1220 (20 amp model) can't do solar. The 1225 (25 amp) and above can do solar. Plus these do proper 7 stage (or whatever marketing thing) charging which will be kinder on your batteries.

 

[Dparo]

I am trying to learn more about these systems since it was a suggestion.

Take the Redarc 40A. Can it run dual batts to where the aux is isolated if I were to be camped for multiple days and just keep it charging with a solar panel? If the main died can the aux be tied to start the vehicle? Can this handle running a winch on the aux batt? The 40A is just charging amperage, yes?

I eventually want to run a winch, aux lighting, rear usb, fridge/freezer off of the aux batt. Do they have an in cab display or control unit?

 

[Dave 2000]

IMO dc - dc chargers have their place however, I have not seen any versions than can bulk charge like an alternator/solenoid or relay setup. As pointed out above they use lighter cables (read less amp carrying ability), for these style of chargers to work, you still need to run your motor for long periods of time if you have a heavily discharged battery.

Regards

Dave

 

[RFB]

In my 70 series I had a 100AH battery charged through a relay system. It worked well but all it was running was my Waeco fridge and some usb chargers. For a simple set up these work well, provided that your alternator is up to the task. Eventually though the battery will not like being discharged too far etc.

In my 80 I'm going to go dc-dc, as i plan on having the fridge, USBs and probably an inverter.

To build on my previous comments, the The Redarc BCDC 1220 (20 amp model) can't do solar. The 1225 (25 amp) and above can do solar. Plus these do proper 7 stage (or whatever marketing thing) charging which will be kinder on your batteries.

Im swapping out my 150amp sequioa alternator for an SBS smart alternator provides about 170amp at idle and 250 at speed and its supposed to be able to charge them both up fully. Also battlebornbatteries has signed me up as a sponsor so Im going lithium for house battery. will post up asap

 

[sArgeCH]

IMO dc - dc chargers have their place however, I have not seen any versions than can bulk charge like an alternator/solenoid or relay setup. As pointed out above they use lighter cables (read less amp carrying ability), for these style of chargers to work, you still need to run your motor for long periods of time if you have a heavily discharged battery.

Regards

Dave

Personally I have this in use: VOTRONIC - VCC 1212-30
There are even bigger versions including galvanic isolation. The big advantage of these are, that they convert the voltage to whatever your aux battery needs (in my case i need a termination voltage of 14.8V for my AGM2 aux batteries) which your alternator cannot deliver. Thisone is a big consumer, drawing 39A max (which is cool for me so i can safely use 16mm^2 wires rather than pipelines). Further it is doing quite some more smart stuff

 

[dcg141]

I just bought a Redarc 25 amp dual input. In fact it arrived today. Still waiting on the passenger side battery mount.

 

[1HaytchZed]

If you're going the CTEK route, they dont like to live in the engine bay... can't tolerate the ambient heat... it will need to be placed in the cab or protected area.

 

[AndrewHadji]

I just bought a Redarc 25 amp dual input. In fact it arrived today. Still waiting on the passenger side battery mount.

been running the bcdc1225d on my lithium for a while now, love it. Solar keeps the 100ah topped pretty much all day

 

[sleak]

If you're going the CTEK route, they dont like to live in the engine bay... can't tolerate the ambient heat... it will need to be placed in the cab or protected area.

How do you know this? They don't mention anything in the manual for the D250S-Dual.