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 25 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-FK40 - 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:
California residents: click here
Average Customer Rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars (83 Customer Reviews)
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.
Great
Sharon was very helpful!
Easy to buy, even easier and quick to receive the items bought.
Very good quality.
good product, good customer service and speedy shipping.
Great product, small form factor, solid construction.
Have owned this charger for a year and has not failed me yet. It is built well and don’t foresee having any issues with it anytime soon. I’m glad I chose this brand.
Money wisely spent - for this casual ca mper.
It's been a great product for me, it's completely autonomous, I just trust that my batteries are always charged!
Easy Install. Great instructions. works perfect.
Have not installed the Redarc in my camper yet, but really appreciated the quick turnaround on my order. Quick shipping was better than Amazon.
We installed this product in our diy camper van conversion a year ago. Installation was not difficult. We have made a few trips in our van and the unit is working well so far.
Keeps the camper battery bank charged. Easy to install as I was a mechanic for 30+ years.
Install took a little time. You will need a hydraulic connector press and then you will have to solder connectors. I ordered connectors off of the internet
Using it to charge the Sprinter van house battery from the vehicle auxiliary battery. The yellow wire for the solar input is not in use right now.
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’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.
A year later no issues at all. Solved many issues wish Id bought it earlier and saved a set of batteries.
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!
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