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Keep your trailer's battery charged with this single-input, DC-to-DC smart charger. Unit installs in your vehicle or trailer and pulls power from your vehicle battery to charge your auxiliary battery. Great for dump trailers and pop-up campers.
Features:
Specs:
The Redarc BCDC single-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.
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.
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 12.0V, as opposed to the standard 12.9V.
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 dump 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 (RED76FR or RED86FR - 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 - sold separately) below:
For a typical Lithium ion (LiFePO4) battery setup, refer to the wiring diagram (shown with fuses and optional LED - sold separately) below:
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (94 Customer Reviews)
Keep your trailer's battery charged with this single-input, DC-to-DC smart charger. Unit installs in your vehicle or trailer and pulls power from your vehicle battery to charge your auxiliary battery. Great for dump trailers and pop-up campers.
Product works as expected to maintain marine battery installed in car hauler. Battery powers winch and interior lights. Redarc charges the battery while towing without overloading charge circuit on truck. Installation was easy. Installed for one year. Very pleased.
Using this as a current limiter to charge an auxiliary battery on my auto hauler. Wiring is extremely simple for a standard 14v application. Small unit that fit easily in the tongue box.
I installed this on my 2015 Airstream with my 2020 F-150 and love it! The 96 FR will work with the 7-pin trailer harness and the F-150, so there is no need to run bigger wires. The truck has a 25 amp fuse on the charging circuit to the 7-pin trailer harness, and the 96 FR is current limited to 20 amps, which is perfect! The F-150 has a smart alternator that reduces the output voltage when the truck is under load, so without the 96 FR the truck would do very little charging of the trailer batteries while driving down on the road. I love it!
Dan
11/28/2023
Great! The only issue so far is that the unit locks out when the temp is below 10 degrees F. I live in Wyoming and typically leave to go camping in the winter when it’s often subzero. I sometimes drive most of a day before the Redarc warms up enough to turn on. My Redarc is mounted under the bed, inside my camper.
I have put close to 50k miles on my trailer after installing this unit running hotshot. It worked great for keeping the battery charged off of the truck power. I actually have another trailer I have been planing to order another one for so I'm able to hook up a batter and run utility lights in as well as battery chargers.
I installed this in a 2017 Oliver Legacy Elite II travel trailer, because I had installed Battle Born lithium batteries and there was no way my truck was going to charge them properly. The actual installation was fairly painless, but I had to run bigger wires from the front of the trailer back to the batteries, which are located over the axles. I get a solid 10.5 amps continuously now, even though my Land Cruiser is only putting out 13.5 volts when connected. It works as advertised and I do recommend it. I took one star off because I think it is over priced, but that is be expected for an Australian import.
This gadget is awesome. It solves two problems. (1) How to charge your camper battery when it is at the end of a long line from car to camper with attendant voltage drop. The Redarc boost the voltage back up to a proper battery charge level. (2) When you shut the tow vehicle down, the Redarc protects the tow battery from discharge into the camper system. Has worked fine for me.
I searched long and hard to find something like this. Strangely enough its not easy to find unless you contact etrailer. In no time they recommended this charger and it was spot on for my needs. Etrailer will get my business in future
Overall, I think giving the product itself 4 stars is a correct evaluation. I want another evaluation of 5 stars given to the support staff at Redarc. The charger itself has not given me the slightest issue as far as reliability goes. The fact that it came with a temperature sensor in the device that shuts off charging at its own temp of 0°C (freezing temp) on Lithium charging mode came as a complete surprise to me. By reading the documentation that came with the charger, I didn't discover it shuts off automatically at freezing temperature. When I noticed I could not charge my LifePo4 battery at below freezing. Thanks Redarc staff for telling me about this after I asked about it.
I'm charging a house battery that powers a 12 volt refrigerator. Very simple install. Not giving this unit a 5 star rating because the 12 volt input and charging wires exiting the unit are 12 gauge wire and they get fairly warm to the touch. The instructions that come with it list 10 gauge wire as the minimum wire size to use to connect it.
Rbberfish
5/28/2022
Still working and Im happy with the job it does.
Fast shipping, excellent
Most modern 1/2 ton pickups have "energy efficient alternator" as part of the battery management system. That means if the battery management system senses that your truck battery is fully charged, it lowers the output of the alternator. This means that the alternator voltage is insufficient to charge the camp trailer battery. This Redarc device will take the lower voltage from the alternator and boost it up to charge the camper battery. It works as intended and solved a big mystery for me as to why the camper battery didn't gain charge during long drives from one campground to another
This worked exactly as I hoped. I needed something to limit the current coming out of a cigarette lighter so I could charge a lithium battery from that lighter. Worked perfectly.
eTrailer was helpful in showing me this solution.
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.
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
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.
I have 300ah Lifepo4 batteries from Renogy..
300 watt solar.. this unit will charge via solar or vehicle.. one or the other .. whichever has more power.. I see the lights on and see it working.. the reason I like this unit is because my batteries are only being charged from one charging source. This is safer and will improve battery life.
I just wish it could have a battery and voltage meter.. I guess I need to buy a battery monitor.. This is almost the perfect device.. it needs a display for battery life and voltage.. I would love to know what it is doing.
Great product…works as advertised
Very rugged construction and you can mount it anywhere
Mounted this into the battery box on my 2021 Airstream
Fabulous customer support from Redarc
Endorsed by Battleborn
Well worth the price
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 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.
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.
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.
Received the product as expected. Super simple hook up, already have 4 gauge wire tan to the truck. Plugged it in and it’s charging the batteries as expected.
Works well, good hardware solution for second battery charging- only wish it could use the second bat as a jumper for primary- solar charge is a nice feature.
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Patrick
4/15/2024
Still works as designed.