DC to DC charger install

[landy103]

has anyone installed one of these unit's in an LR4 2012?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z4GSYC2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_4PR4DC2Q998VDM2J84ZN

wondering if the stock alternator can handle 60A and trying to find a sensible place to mount it inside the vehicle

 

[AdventureTim]

I installed my DC-DC converter (and LiFePO4 battery) behind the second row. It's only a 25A though, so I can't comment on alternator capacity.

 

[djkaosone]

has anyone installed one of these unit's in an LR4 2012?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z4GSYC2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_4PR4DC2Q998VDM2J84ZN
wondering if the stock alternator can handle 60A and trying to find a sensible place to mount it inside the vehicle

I've been reading up on this and I'm really wanting to pull the trigger. From what I gathered from reading the reviews and talking to someone about it, you're better off going with a 20A. The 60A will put too much strain on your alternator at idle. BTW, the oem alternator is 150A.

I'm assuming your aux battery bank is less than 100Ah, mine is 55Ah, and the 20A should be just fine. Anything above 100Ah, consider the 40A. Anything over 200Ah, 60A. That's my finding.

Let me know how it goes.

 

[landy103]

I installed my DC-DC converter (and LiFePO4 battery) behind the second row. It's only a 25A though, so I can't comment on alternator capacity.

Do you have any pics to share? and maybe some tips on where to route the wires?
Cheers!

 

[landy103]

I've been reading up on this and I'm really wanting to pull the trigger. From what I gathered from reading the reviews and talking to someone about it, you're better off going with a 20A. The 60A will put too much strain on your alternator at idle. BTW, the oem alternator is 150A.

I'm assuming your aux battery bank is less than 100Ah, mine is 55Ah, and the 20A should be just fine. Anything above 100Ah, consider the 40A. Anything over 200Ah, 60A. That's my finding.

Let me know how it goes.

Thanks for this info! I put in a support call to Renogy re 60 vs 40 amps for this alternator (I have a 100Ah LiFePO4).. will post their reply ...

 

[AdventureTim]

I'll grab some photos soon.

I ran the wiring through the big firewall grommet on the driver's side that carries the main wiring loom. I then ran it along the sill on that side all the way to the back seats.

 

[greiswig]

No expert at all here, but...wouldn't the current rating just refer to the maximum the device COULD do, not what it actually throughputs all the time? I'm not understanding why the alternator would need to keep up?

I guess I'd expect an intelligent charger like that (basically an external BMS unless I'm wrong) would recognize the lower current needs of a lower capacity battery and adjust accordingly.

 

[djkaosone]

No expert at all here, but...wouldn't the current rating just refer to the maximum the device COULD do, not what it actually throughputs all the time? I'm not understanding why the alternator would need to keep up?

I guess I'd expect an intelligent charger like that (basically an external BMS unless I'm wrong) would recognize the lower current needs of a lower capacity battery and adjust accordingly.

From my understanding of the Renogy dc-dc charger is that the unit utilizes max amp throughput to charge the aux battery. It has a 3 stage charging profile. If the aux battery is lower than (guessing) 80% or roughly 12.4V, it uses maximum charge. Within 10%-20% of full charge it uses a different charging profile, trickle charge. The last 10% uses a float charge to maintain and optimizes the battery.

With that said, the majority of the time when you're overlanding with a fridge, lights, etc... staying the aux battery overnight or several nights as soon as you start the truck it would try to use the maximum current (20A, 40A, or 60A) to charge. That's assuming the aux battery is below 12.4V.

Technically, your starting battery can have a 12.0V or above and it'll attempt to charge. The smart alternator and bms can only detect amp draws and provide the proper output in amperage to provide enough power. For instance, if my starting battery is above 80% my alternator my simply throttle at 12.0V-12.5V, but pump out 10A to keep the truck and accessories running.

Search the threads for charging issues. Here's 2 threads that I could think of.

LR4 "Smart" Charging Charging Strategy

Any LR techs on here, or anyone else ever figured a way to bypass or defeat the "smart" charging strategy these trucks use? I came across a report from a supposed LR engineer at one point that stated that the armored versions that LR produces do not have this "benefit". I would assume that...

www.landroverworld.org

Battery charging issues and a fix??

Ok, I've been battling battery issues for quite some time. If you don't know, I'm on my 4th battery. This time I got a Duracell Platinum AGM H8 850CCA 92Ah. I decided to change the battery type with my IIDTool in the CCF settings under Body Control and Battery type. I seriously tried all of...

www.landroverworld.org

 

[CRYA]

Hey all. I’m looking for any guidance on finding a way to charge a trailer’s house battery from the vehicle side while running. My situation is attempting to charge a trailer battery operating a 50L fridge in the trailer, but which trailer doesn’t really have a way to mount Solar to. Additionally, arriving in camp at dusk and departing in the morning on a Multi-day adventure doesn’t allow for sufficient stationary solar charging. So, any 12V experts out there?
Run a Dc-Dc charger all the way back to trailer? Run Solar from the LR4 to the Trailer battery? Any other ideas?

cheers

 

[ftillier]

I was looking into auxiliary battery installs and found the isolators from Traxide mentioned in some posts here. You could wire up the simpler D4-1S kit (http://www.traxide.com.au/diy-dual-battery-kits/land-rover-dbs-kits/discovery-4-dbs-kits/d4-1s.html) and treat the trailer battery as the auxiliary. You'd want some kind of plug near the hitch, maybe something like what is shown in the more complicated D4-5S kit (http://www.traxide.com.au/diy-dual-battery-kits/land-rover-dbs-kits/discovery-4-dbs-kits/d4-5s.html). I don't know if Anderson plugs are an Aussie thing or also commonly used in the US.

Hardest part honestly seems to be running a cable to from the engine bay to the trailer hitch area.