Renogy Solar Complete 12v System ONE YEAR REVIEW
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- čas přidán 8. 06. 2024
- After 12 months full time on the road I review the 12v dual isolated battery and solar setup I designed and installed from Renogy Solar. I discuss my choice of solar panel, battery and charge controller, talk about what worked well and what I would differently next time.
Renogy Solar - use checkout code "TRCM" for 10% discount on panels, chargers and more!
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00:00 Introduction
00:38 100W Flexible Solar Panel
03:37 50Ah Lithium Battery
07:04 DCDC Charger with MPPT Solar
09:23 Things I would do differently next time
12:01 Conclusion
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375 pages of misadventures, stories, characters, politics and more from driving all the way around Africa!
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❱ 999 Days Around Africa: The Road Chose Me
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❱ The Road Chose Me Volume 1: Two years and 40,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina
265 pages of adventure, inspiration and antics from driving the length of the Pan-American highway
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❱ Overland Travel Essentials: West Africa: Myths, Misconceptions and Misnomers
Everything you need to know to undertake your own Overland Expedition in West Africa
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❱ Work Less to Live Your Dreams: A practical guide to saving money and living your dreams
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#RenogySolar #PoweredByRenogy #Overland - Auta a dopravní prostředky
Hi Dan. I copied your setup, minus the solar panel, to power my fridge and camp lights. It's been great so far. Just got back from a week long trip and I never ran out of power.
Thank you for this simple inexpensive setup. This really elevates the camping experience and the types of meals I can have on the road.
I watched your install video on this system and built one for myself exactly as you did. The system has worked flawlessly. I don’t have permanently installed solar panels, but I tend to drive everyday and have absolutely no issues running my fridge and charging phones and cameras. Thank you for doing this review. Keep up the great work.
Awesome. I've really been looking forward to this part of the adventure that you have taken us on. Thanks for all the hard work Dan, we all appreciate it!
You bet, plenty more to come
I’ve had some bad experiences dealing with Renogy, but I recently installed this into my truck and I’m really quite amazed. I’ve been messing with solar for over 20 years and my travel trailer is completely self-contained on solar, including a heat pump. But for travel, this Renogy product is really the cats meow. So simple and works great. I hooked it up in my truck with some surplus Eve cells that I have so I have 12v 200 amp hours which is way more than I need, but since I already had them, the price was right. More compact and cheaper than a Bluetti.
Dan, thank you for this very generous review of your Renergy system. I imagine it may require your 200 w version if one is in a less solar region in the world. This is terrific info as I set up our gladiator.
I backpacked and did long term overlanding (4 to 6 months at a time) in Africa multiple times years ago, long before all the excellent equipment of today was available, no fridges, no water purification systems, no 100 or 200 watt solar panels, charge controllers or lithium batteries, etc. I love watching videos from all sorts of folks overlanding the world today. I think back and laugh about my first use of solar on an overlanding trip in Africa in 1988. I needed to charge rechargeable ni-cad batteries to power my camera and Walkman (anyone remember those?). I bought a small recharging kit just big enough to hold 4 AA sized rechargeable batteries that had a solar panel built into the cover. The idea was to place the battery charger on the dashboard of the truck to capture the sun all day to charge the batteries. Let’s just say that the early adopters of solar tech were not rewarded with results. 10 or 12 hours of charging in the sun would result in mere minutes of battery power with that tiny solar panel and ni-cad batteries. Proof of concept - it worked but real world usefulness was zero in those days. It was a good thing that I also had a battery charger that I could connect directly to the truck battery and get a full charge in a couple of hours. The alternative was to bring dozens of AA’s from home or try to buy batteries in African villages that seldom had any. Tech is so good today!
Wow that's some experience you have there. It's my dream to tour the continent starting with my home region West Africa. And whiles still at the dreaming stage am taking my time to watch all the videos on CZcams to be able to make the right decisions. If I may ask which truck did you use back then? What truck will you suggest for the continent (West Africa) I see Dan is using a Jeep. But am told the Toyota 76 series is the best truck to handle the terrain. Or it's more about the builds and rigs? What's your thoughts on that pls?
@@ninekings3795 on my trips the trucks were either Bedfords, ex British army or Landrovers. That was a long time ago and much has changed but from all the videos that I’ve watched over the years, if I could do it today I would want a Toyota Troop Carrier with or without a pop top, any other modern Toyota, or an extended length Landrover. In all cases I would want to sleep in the vehicle. When I travelled years ago we slept in small ground tents with the odd stay in small villages. I’ve never stayed in lodges or permanent tent camps, although in my mid 60’s now, I’d love to. Ground tents are fine but there is always the chance for an encounter with creepy crawlers (biting ants, snakes, scorpions etc) and animals. Late night visits were not uncommon in the game parks of East and Southern Africa. I was raised camping in bear country but somehow the abundance of wildlife in parts of Africa raised the stakes a little. If I was building a vehicle today I would want a fridge, and top notch water purification system, number 1. We used to buy fresh meat in the markets very early, like 7am, before the heat and we would place it in a stainless steel bowl, cover the bowl with a wet towel or cloth and let the evaporation keep the meat cool. Then we would cook it and eat it all that night. We also used chemicals to purify our water, chlorine to be specific. Not great for the body when using it for 6 months at a time. Modern GPS with maps for confirmation/backup is important and perhaps a satellite phone or emergency messaging device is also warranted today. I’m not sure how easy it is to get propane tanks filled these days, we mostly used open fires to cook with a small propane cooker for emergencies. In various videos Dan has talked about gas vrs diesel vehicles, in either case the motor must be able to handle bad fuel so that is also something to think about.
I build several of these systems with separate components. They worked fine but were difficult to setup, bound to the car, take space in the car and all components combined are quite expensive. Now I do it differently. Stock car battery. Separate lithium goalzero 3000x which powers all devices easily. OOB power inputs: car while driving, solar panel when overlanding, DC when available. This setting can be transferred to another car. I also use this as a backup system at home when not overlanding.
Very informative,thanks,can’t believe it’s been a year!
Great video Dan, I'm looking forward to hearing about your water system!
Thanks for the update! I used your set up as inspiration for mine. For the build of my 2017 Four Wheel Camper Swift Shell I installed a 100Ah Battle Born lithium battery, Renogy 30A charge controller, and 200W rigid solar panel (I wish I went flexible). So far it has been flawless, I just wish the app was a bit easier to read. I will definitely consider the screen.
That is awesome!
It's a great system. I suppose if I were "full time" overlanding I would do the same.
For my 2, 3 or 4 week adventures I use a 50 dollar isolator, a 90 dollar Walmart group 29 deep cycle battery and a 20 dollar panel with LED gauge. It runs my fridge, night time lights, charges my phone, GoPro, headlight and flashlight. Has been flawless for over 2 years of part time use.
Based on your initial build, I have built out our solar "portable'" system for our trailer... using the Renogy products, it has maintained our batteries with the the Northern Alberta and British Columbia weather... that being said we have very low power usage and all the lights etc are LED... When we decide on our next build we will be using Renogy products, the value for $$$$ is at the right level for us....
Renogy products have a great price point. Unfortunately I've been burned too many times over the years with budget brands so will stick with the premium gear when it comes to chargers. Glad to hear you haven't encountered any issues during your travels. Thanks for the content. Cheers
Great review and I like your balanced view. I think Renogy has great products and hoping that they keep them affordable. Looking forward to future reviews and I would be really keen on a trip summary, kms travelled vs fuel, general budget and any extra costs like servicing around the country or did you do them yourself. Cheers 🍻
Very interesting. I've had the complete renogy system too for over 12 months. I've got the 50 amp charge controller and 175 watt solar panel. Since the charge controller prioritises solar you'll find you'll only get half from alternator and whatever the solar is generating. Eg, on dark day driving I'd get 25 amps from alternator and say 5 amps from solar. The way round this is to have a switch to turn off solar input and then you'll get 50 amps from alternator or 30 in your case.
A cheaper option to have a battery monitor is if you have the renogy smart lithium battery you can buy their monitor which is less than half the price of the shunt and performs all the same functions.
I'm glad you brought it up. Solar can and really should just be a backup power/charge source when engine not running because even a 200w panel is like a drop in the bucket while driving around.
Yesssss! The meat and potatoes is here. I love the travel and those videos transport me there, but I'm really interested in mods and what you've done
Plenty more to come!
One other big difference between lithium and lead acid batteries is usable capacity. A 100Ah flooded or AGM battery only has 50Ah of usable energy. A 50Ah lithium battery has basically 50Ah of usable energy.
Thanks for explanation.
Cheers Dan. 🍻
I built a very similar setup in my JLU minus the solar panel. I found I had issues without the ignition sensor wire as the charger would think the car was off when the smart alternator turned down the charging of the main battery. I actually did hook one up, unlike in your video, but my ignition wire in the footwell seems to be dead. I had to use Aux 4.
Anyways, thanks for the initial setup video! It helped me.
90% of my camping/overlanding is done in the Colorado Rockies. In summer it gets down into the 30s (Fahrenheit) every night. I guess I'm lucky I dont have to worry about the fridge running every night. 200 amp he battery will last almost a week running my Dometic
One year and time to sell the Gladiator already?! That went by fast. As a JK owner with an Ursa Minor (and a pickup truck), I’d love to hear your thoughts on your JK setup vs the Gladiator. Thanks for helping us see Australia vicariously through your lens!
Thanks for another great video Dan!
one thing I would add is that the climate has a big effect on power consumption if you have a fridge, freezer, or if you use electricity to heat or cool your camper.
Traveling through Central America and trouble shooting my solar electric system people on the internet kept saying my 66L SnoMaster fridge/freezer was consuming too much power. It took me a while to realize they were comparing my 3.5 amps an hour draw in Central America to their 2 amps an hour draw in USA or Canada
Absolutely, which is part of the reason I keep the fridge modest. For Africa I had 35L, for Australia it was 55L.
Obviously both of those times the temps were scorching.
Of course you put this video up with your discount code the week after I bought my Renogy charger and battery monitor 🤣
I'm putting together a very similar setup to yours based on your previous videos, minus the fixed solar panel (for now, at least), and I'm happy to hear that it's been working out well for you. So many people have told me that 100Ah Lithium is the minimum, but if I'm only running a fridge, a few LED lights, and charging a couple of USB devices, it's over-kill, and 50Ah saves a lot of money (especially as I need a slim-line to go behind the seats in my ute).
Really happy to hear you're putting together a similar setup!
Dan, nice video. As others have said, your design inspired my system as well. One thing to note, if you move to the Renogy 100aH Smart Battery, then your current BT2 module linked to the app will show you everything the little panel you discussed will show and more. I learned the this the hard way. The display panel you called out hooks to the same port as your BT2 module. That means it’s either/or unless you also get a hub to allow both to be plugged in. Keep the BT2, get the 100aH Smart Battery (don’t believe it’s available in 50aH) and use the app!!
The screen he talked about is the Battery Monitor with Shunt, not the Monitoring Screen, it's a stand-alone unit that doesn't connect to the rest of the system.
That said, you are correct, if you have a one of the Renogy Smart Batteries, it has a built-in shunt and you can hook it up to the hub along with the DC-DC charger, and read everything through the Bluetooth App or Monitoring Screen, without the need for the stand-alone shunt.
talked to you yesterday, the book about the guy who travelled the world in a $1000 landrover is called" left beyond the horizon" by christopher many.
Dan, I went with the Renogy 60A unit. Currently, I have 400aH @12V, want to boast that to 800Ah Minimum. Upgrading my 3000W inverter to 5000W as well. This way I can use 2 induction single burners at once, + run the shower 3,600W. Great video.
Wow, what vehicle do you have all of that in?
Hvala.
In regards to your solar panel an easy way to have both hard mounted and portable is to tee an SAE connector into the wires on your fixed panel and have a portable panel that plugs into it.
But then I have to store that panel somewhere, I have to get it out, I have to plug it in, unplug it, etc. etc. Absolutely not worth it in my opinion.
Float voltage is the voltage at which a battery is maintained after being fully charged to maintain that capacity by compensating for self-discharge of the battery.[1]
I am presently deciding between fixed roof panel or a blanket. The big downside of a fixed panel I see is that you have to camp in the sun to get power which stresses out a fridge and all the solar hardware living in the baking hot car. I also have a roof top tent so camping in the shade is always preferred.
While everyone always says that, I never once parked in the sun to get more solar, but I always had plenty of charge.
I think the benefit of it always being on makes up for it - i.e. you're at the gas station or looking at the map or really anytime the sun is up you are making power because it's connected. That wins out even if it's sub-optimal compared to a blanket that is only connected when you're actually in camp
I believe you covered it briefly in a different video, but will you use the same sleep system again on future trips?
An in-depth video on that topic is coming soon!
Would the solar panel get too hot if it was mounted directly onto an Ursa Minor top? Would I have to have an air gap under the flexible solar panel to keep it cool enough? Keep the build reviews coming!
The advice online is certainly to give it an air gap, but I don't know personally.
Depends on what "too hot" means.
* panels run much hotter than the surrounding air in direct sunlight, typically ambient+25C
* max panel output drops as cell temperatures increase (Vmp decreases, so Vmp x Imp makes fewer watts)
* airgapping helps cool the panel
If one lived in very cold areas direct mounting might have relatively little derating effect, and re-radiated heat from the panels into the roof might actually be welcomed. :-)
With my crappy budget compressor fridge/freezer, I haven't found a huge difference between running it at 3° or -10° on a 20° day. Yes, it certainly uses more, but it wasn't 2x more. What makes the real difference is whether my 4Runner is parked in the sun with the windows closed or not.
Unfortunately the fridge didn't like being in the cold and the LCD display broke when camping around -11° one night.
I've got a 60 amp-hour battery and I've drained it a couple times in the summer. I've been charging it solely through a cigarette lighter plug at 6 amps (72 watts). Not ideal, since I have to be driving 10 hours to take it from 0 to 100%.
Dan, do you use an inverter to charge your laptop via AC or are you using DC? Think that would make a pretty big difference. If AC, perhaps check out some of the BixPower variable voltage DC chargers.
No, I really don't like inverters because they're heavy, have moving parts, inefficient and take up space. I charge my Laptop straight from DC
It would be really easy to add another shunt and a monitor screen to your setup.
The limit of a 100 watt panel is something like 5 or 6 amps, so increasing the charge controller beyond a 30 thats split 15 from panels, 15 from alternator would only be necessary if you added more than 2 panels total. Offgrid cabin, I had the 20 amp Renogy, 4 100w tilted panels- would cut out mid day for a couple of hours because they were producing more than 20 amps. Upgraded to a big Outback solar pm 80. On flat mounted panels, it would be less of a concern. I do wonder- does the display screen thing allow an inverter to be run through it? I can tell how much I get in but the controller says not to put an inverter through it, so Im flying somewhat blind on usage or battery capacity left.
> increasing the charge controller beyond a 30 thats split 15 from panels, 15 from alternator would only be necessary if you added more than 2 panels total
It can make up to the rated 30A from solar. The specs for the DCC30 say "Max. Solar Input Power: 400W".
* if only solar is available (like engine off) it will make up to the rated current from solar (30A or 50A, depending on the model)
* if only alternator charging is available (like at night) it will make up to the rated current from the alternator
* if both forms of charging are available **and solar charging alone is insufficient for demand** then we see the 50/50 caps.
This behavior is described in the manual.
I saw you had your electronics batteries on chargers in your storage box. How did you secure the batteries in the individual chargers so they wouldn't fall out while on the trails?
They actually just stay snug in the chargers, I never had one come out. The drone was positively clips in, the gopro and big sony camera just use a snug fit but it was enough.
@@TheRoadChoseMe Thats good to know.
Would you prefer 392 or you are satisfied with 3.5 ?
Dan, where did you connect the main lead at the house battery.. or somewhere like the fuse box?
Right onto the + terminal of the battery
Thank you! Happy Trails and safe travels. Looking forward to the remainder of your trip through Australia.
What about winching? Will the winch draw from just the starting battery or will it draw from both?
Just the starting battery, which actually means the alternator (you should always have the engine running when winching because it's such a huge current draw)
Do I have to have the truck running? I just added the solar panels but noticed the battery is not charging 😢
No, the panels should charge the battery without the engine running.
Dan, I copied your system in my rig and found that the 50 amp hour battery was not keeping pace with my Dometic 45 fridge in hot conditions. I've since upgraded the battery to 100 amp hours and that has worked well. But even still, I've been in Baja where it's been hot 24 hours/day and the fridge has been running all night and have woken up to a dead battery.
Do you have solar too Rich?
Even in hot weather (40C/100F) mine keeps up with my Dometic 55 fridge.
What temp do you have the fridge set at?
@@TheRoadChoseMe yes, I have the flexible 100w panel same as yours. I keep the fridge at 36F. Overall, I'm very pleased with the system and grateful for you making that video a year ago. Many thanks, Dan.
Hi Rich, I'm really surprised to hear the 50Ah isn't enough for your needs.
Is your fridge in a place where it sits in very hot air or sun or doesn't get much ventilation? It sounds like it must be running a lot to kill that battery.
@@TheRoadChoseMe yes, it's in the back of my Grand Cherokee Trailhawk. I cover it with a radiant barrier, but it gets hot back there. Your fridge is under your canopy and out of the sun. Maybe that's the difference?
Thanks for sharing your experience and reviewing these products. Have you heard of the Lensun Solar hood /bonnet mounted panels? They mount on the hood /bonnet using heavy duty 3M double sided tape, and they make a 90w one for the Gladiator as well as other Jeeps. This would solve the issue of not having more space on the roof rack for another 100w panel.
I have seen those, though I don't like having things on my vehicles that attract curious fingers. Given I like to explore the world, I want my vehicles and upgrades to be secure and not possible to tamper with.
Does the code only work for renogy us not Australia? No 10% downunder?
Sorry Paul, it's only for the US
@@TheRoadChoseMe Thanks Dan, got a deal on black Friday.
Do a review of the actual jeep how it has been for you over the last year and if you have had any issues with it thanks mate 👍
Working on it now!
Can someone please direct me to the installation video. I cannot find it. Grrr
Big power setups are a bit of a dick measuring thing at the moment. Who can run a full coffee van out of the back of their 4wd and all that.
I have running a Renogy 20 amp DC-DC charger with a 100 amp battery in my trailer for the last 3 years. Seriously, I can tell you that from 60% to full, your talking about 90 minutes. With watch your driving, I don’t think you need a 50 amp DCC/MPPT.
Does Renogy make a 25A DC-DC? I know of the 20-40-60 1212 chargers, the Rego 60, and the DCC30 and 50 w/solar.
@@fratermus5502, it's a mistake on my part, it's a 20 amp. I'll correct it, thanks.
🍺❤️🇦🇺👍
If you really drive the car every day, do you even need a solar panel? I think buying a bigger battery for the money is better.
That is certainly an option Lars, though of course batteries are expensive, heavy and take up space. Also I did leave the vehicle for 10 days in Tasmania and at other times for 5-6 while hiking. We also stayed in quite a few campsites for 3-5 days without starting the engine. All of those times the solar panel kept the battery full while the fridge was running, which is way, WAY easier than having to empty out the fridge and turn it off.
Great video Dan. Did the solar panel perform as well in Tasmania (where there is less heat in the sun) as it did in say, northern Queensland?
I left the Jeep for 10 days in Tasmania while we hiked the Overland Track, the solar panel easily kept up with the fridge which was turned on.
So yes, it did great.