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Maintain the charge on your RV's battery with this dual-input, DC-to-DC smart charger. Unit installs in your vehicle or trailer and pulls power from your solar panels before tapping into the vehicle battery. Great for boondocking and dry camping.
Features:
Specs:
The Redarc BCDC dual-input battery charger allows for easy charging of a DC battery while you're on the move. Most battery chargers require that you plug into an AC outlet, but this DC-to-DC charger pulls power from your vehicle's start battery instead. The BCDC also has solar power capability so that you can keep your secondary battery charged while you're parked at a remote campsite. This means that you can go off the grid without worrying about being without power.
This charger connects directly to your battery, rather than pulling power from your vehicle via the trailer connector. This is to ensure that it's able to fully charge your auxiliary battery. A standard 7-way trailer connector is limited to 10 or 15 amps of current, which will not be able to fully restore a battery for use. But this charger can transfer up to 50 amps of current to both charge and maintain your auxiliary battery.
This charger can pull power from 2 different sources. The first input accepts charge from your vehicle's battery. The second input on this dual-input unit is designed to receive power from solar panels (sold separately). The built-in maximum power point tracking (MPPT) regulator on this unit ensures that the charger will get the most power possible from your panels at any given time. An MPPT regulator is able to determine the point at which your solar panels reach their maximum output. Then the regulator can simulate that load on the panels to effectively draw the most power possible. This type of regulator is more effective than traditional ones at gathering power from solar panels and at drawing power in low-light conditions.
Built-in Green Power Priority, or primary solar selection, ensures that power is pulled from your solar panels first. The BCDC will only tap into your vehicle's battery when necessary. This will save your vehicle battery from unneeded stress. It also has a built-in battery isolator function to prevent the charger from pulling power from the start battery when the vehicle is off.
The BCDC battery charger can be used to charge AGM, gel, standard lead acid, calcium, and Lithium ion (LiFePO4) batteries. An LED on the front panel of the unit will illuminate to show the charge profile, confirming that you've wired the charger correctly based on your auxiliary battery type. This LED will be solid while the unit is charging, and it will flash when the unit is in standby mode. Additional LEDs on this panel indicate where the charger is pulling power from, and what stage of the charging process the unit is in.
This smart charger completely and efficiently charges your auxiliary battery in 3 separate stages. This ensures that the battery reaches maximum capacity without being overcharged.
The first stage of the process, the boost stage, begins when you start up your vehicle. In this mode the charger will maintain a constant current to the auxiliary battery to quickly help it regain power.
Once the unit detects that your auxiliary battery is nearing its maximum charge, the charger will move into the absorption stage. In this stage it will slowly supply the needed current to safely reach 100-percent capacity on the auxiliary battery.
The final stage is known as the float stage. In this stage the unit monitors your auxiliary battery for drops in power and supplies the needed current to keep it fully charged. If a drop in power is detected, it will revert back to the first stage and begin the charging cycle over.
A number of newer vehicles on the market have ECU-controlled, variable-voltage alternators designed to reduce emissions and boost performance. This type of alternator varies its voltage based on the driving conditions. When the alternator voltage is low, the system can drop below 12.7V, which would deactivate a standard isolator or battery charger. However, with the Redarc BCDC battery charger, this is not an issue. Simply connect the blue override wire to the vehicle ignition and the charger will recognize that the car battery is still receiving a charge from the alternator, even if the voltage has dropped. The charger will modify its voltage requirements so that it can continue to pull power until the start battery drops to 12V, as opposed to the standard 13.2V.
This unit can be mounted in a variety of places to best suit your application. Use the 4 mounting tabs to secure the unit in the cabin of your vehicle, along a chassis frame rail, in the engine compartment, or on your trailer. The charger should be mounted as close as possible to the auxiliary battery being charged to prevent current loss. The farther the current has to travel, the more amperage is lost. A larger diameter wire will allow more current to flow through it, which can offset the current loss that occurs with longer lengths of wire. As a result, it is recommended that you use a heavier gauge wire to cover longer distances. The table below outlines the recommended wire size for a given length of cable:
To ensure a low-resistance connection, you will want to use MIDI fuses (331-FK60 - sold separately) when connecting the BCDC to your batteries.
For a typical lead acid battery setup, refer to the wiring diagram (shown with fuses and optional LED and solar panel - sold separately) below:
For a typical Lithium ion (LiFePO4) battery setup, refer to the wiring diagram (shown with fuses and optional LED and solar panel - sold separately) below:
Customer Satisfaction Score:
90% were satisfied with this product
10% of customers were not satisfied
Ratings & Reviews
I highly recommend it. Adding a dual battery setup and using the Redarc BCDC1225D to charge it was the best addition to my rig. Very simple to install and etrailer.com customer service is Tier 1.
I installed a BCDC1240D (with optional fuse kit) in my Winnebago Revel (Mercedes Sprinter). The instructions are clear and I was able to figure out the wiring requirements pretty easily. I wired the Redarc with a switch to change between profile C (winter) and B (summer). The batteries are mounted below the vehicle so I probably need profile B at higher temperatures in the summer.
I have included a picture of the Redarc installed in the passenger's seat pedestal in the van. Most of the wiring in there is Mercedes and Winnebago. You should be able to identify the Redarc (bottom center), and the two fuse holders (fuses not yet install) near the blue tape.
The charger works great. Here is a picture of the system I built for it. The battery is a Battle Born 100 amp hour LiFePo, it’s also charged by (2) 100 watt flexible solar panels. It has (2)- 12 volt receptacles, (2)-dual USB receptacles, and a 750 watt modified sine wave inverter. It runs a small refrigerator, led lights, and various other electronic devices flawlessly. I’m very satisfied with the Redarc unit.
This thing is just great. It is rock solid in construction and function. Everywhere I go now in my Arctic Fox slide in and F350, bu two 100AH LiFePo4 batteries are charging at 45 amps along the way. The fact that the Redarc is weather proof allowed me to mount it outside under the camper skirt running my 4awg battery cables along the bottom of the camper right to it.
This unit has performed as expected. My batteries are mounted inside a plywood box in the back of my van. All the connections for the Redarc are inside the box so it has a very clean install on the exterior of the box. The two DC switches in the picture allow me to disconnect the input line to the Redarc from the vehicle's electrical system and the second disconnects my Battle Born batteries from everything. I only shut off the system when I take it into the van dealership for maintenance, and that is only precautionary.
This unit has worked fine for me. Once wired up I can pretty much forget about it and know that it's charging my house battery whenever I start my vehicle. Probably more important is the automatic disconnection it makes from my starting battery & vehicles charging system when I shut down the vehicle. As well the convenience of adding a solar panel to the system to charge the house battery while the unit still AUTOMATICALLY chooses the best option to charge and disconnects anytime I shut down the vehicle. There are a LOT of different devices/ electronics to accomplish this but the Redarc seems to combine many features/connections in one convenient unit. I have not had the solar portion hooked up yet BUT my understanding is that when I get ready to do so I will NOT need to order a separate MPPT charge controller as that is a built in feature of the unit. These units are a bit pricy for up front cost but seems to provide a lot of features all in one compact unit with a fairly simple wire connection to get it up and charging.
My previous truck and travel trailer I wired the auxiliary pin to provide a trickle charge to the 12V 100 AH that was installed. I think it was the number 4 pin. This worked, but it was minimal charge, maybe 6 amps at best. And, if I forgot to disconnect the 7-way when the engine was running it would drain my trucks crank battery.
But this, this is great. I now have a 300AH lithium battery on the new camper and 500 watts of solar panels. This gives me that MPPT solar controller and a full 40 amp charge option from the truck when in tow. My battery bank can be half depleted but about 3 hours driving it will be fully charged. Also, I can operate things in the travel trailer while driving and still keep up with charging.
If you have an RV, you need a DC to DC charger installed and Redarc is a top brand.
Thanks etrailer for bringing this product to the USA market. I found the REDARC chargt talked about on Australian “caravan” blogs before etrailer had it for sale and considered trying to buy it from an Australian vendor. I use the BCDC1225D to charge my 200 amp hour lithium battery in my truck camper. I have 350 watts of rooftop solar and ran 8gauge wiring from the truck battery through a bed mounted Andersen connector. The very compact size of the unit allowed me to tuck it away in a small space in my camper. I wired it up just as suggested in the instructions and it worked perfectly. I’m getting the full 25 amp charge that the solar panels will provide at midday and get the added benefit of being able to charge at the same rate while driving in the dark. The thing works great. Thanks again etrailer for bringing this product to the USA market
Great
Sharon was very helpful!
Easy to buy, even easier and quick to receive the items bought.
Very good quality.
Great product, small form factor, solid construction.
Pretty easy to install, works well.
This is a game changer. Charging 2 100 Ah batteries in 4 hrs or less of driving is really nice. For my style of travelling, I don't need anything else to keep my batteries charged.
Keeps the camper battery bank charged. Easy to install as I was a mechanic for 30+ years.
A year later no issues at all. Solved many issues wish Id bought it earlier and saved a set of batteries.
Watching the etrailer video along with product instructions made install easy and straightforward. We are traveling Alaska and charger is working perfectly. Would highly recommend this dc to dc charger.
I brag about this to other van owners. It gives me more charge from the alternator to my batteries than other brands or products. 40+ amps over about 14 feet of probably six gauge wire from a 130 amp alternator.
Stellar tech support!
I’m only giving an average rating due to the UPS slow delivery. The charger is what I expected when I ordered. I haven’t installed it yet so I can’t comment about it but my expectations are high. Redarc makes an excellent product. etrailer has been very good at speedy service and I will continue to use them. However, UPS delivery is very poor in my town and slows my ability to receive my orders from any supplier. Otherwise this would have been a five star review.
Great project fast shipment!
I installed the Redarc 50 amp to charge two 314 ah lithium batteries in my motorhome. My previous motorhome had been converted to lithium and I used a Redarc charger. It worked flawlessly for years. My new system is working perfectly.
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John L.
12/19/2021
Great. Transferring it to a newer vehicle with 560ah of lifepo4 batteries.