Renogy Solar Charge Controller (Bluetooth) - Rover 40A 12V24V Auto Parameter DC Input MPPT Charge Controllers for Solar Panels Adjustable LCD for Gel Sealed Flooded Lithium Battery

I’ve now installed 2 of these in 2 RVs. They have performed flawlessly that’s why I installed the 2nd one. I have it hooked to 2 Renogy 100w flexible panels powering a Battleborn battery in our teardrop camper. I run an inverter at night to power my Cpap machine. Bluetooth connection is so so. Like most BT connections in my world. I have a Renogy shunt monitor as well. I may be adding a folding solar setup for more input once at camp. If I do I will most likely be buying my 3rd Renogy charge controller.

This is my second 40A Renogy MPPT Charger, both have 40A been awesome chargers, with a decent user manual, and reliable day and night. the second 40A was purchased so I can run different incoming solar voltages. The two 40A units work in parallel to the battery bank just fine. I just ordered a 20A model for another camper, so I can attest I trust this charger to perform. The phone app itself can be challenging and confusing at times, but overall usable,

I am so impressed by this controller. Most of the negative reviews you read are by people who aren't sure how to configure the unit. In all honesty, I did not try to configure the controller on the unit itself. I found it easiest to use the app. Bottom line... Before installing Rover into my system, the max output from 200watt panels was 160w average. After installing Rover I'm struggling 210w of current from 200w panel. That's about a 25% increase! My panels are exceeding their rating with the use of the Renogy Rover. I use the load output to charge my portable charger which fills at a rate as high as 113 watts without any issues. My portable charger allows me to connect cell phones, camera batteries, power packs, AC devices, etc. The Renogy Rover has helped me to squeeze the most out of my panels. I'm able to keep my lithium battery fully charged, my portable charger ( on the load switch) charged, along with my battery operated devices. Over night levels drop to more than 80% and the next morning within a couple of hours I'm back to 100%. Before this controller, I couldn't get my battery to capacity. It was completely discharging overnight before I woke up and I was completely frustrated with my system. Now that I have the controller everything is running at peak and my electronics run 24/7. At the moment this system is working perfectly. I just added a shunt to get the most accurate metering and couldn't be happier with these results. My suggestion, trust the apparatus and use the app to change from acid to lithium battery. I think that is what is creating a lot of confusion for people. One tip... There is a passcode in the instructions that allows you to make yourself administrator and change the password to something of your liking. After that you can change the settings as needed.

I bought this to work with my upgrade from 200W of Solar (parallel wired) into a PWM 10A charge controller. NEW system was 300 Watts of Solar in series, and the 20A MPPT Rover charge controller. We get a lot of cloudy days this summer, a lot of rain, fog, it’s been a bit miserable. The old PWM system was losing ground due to insufficient solar output voltage to effectively charge the batteries. With the new Renogy Rover (and a third panel in series) my cloudy day solar voltage is still 60V+ into the charge controller, and my output to the batteries is good over a much wider range of light levels ! So - this MPPT thing - it works. I will be curious to see if the MPPT can still develop any battery charge when the next fog rolls in, that will be a good test, and I may update then. (*update* Cloudy foggy day and with three panels I was able to verify nearly 60V and good charge to batteries, far better than my prior PWM system). For now I am pleased with upgrading to MPPT and the higher open circuit voltage of a series solar array instead of a parallel PWM setup. Now —> the bad news is that the manual for the Renogy Rover Charge Controller is a bit lacking. The instructions are not quite always clear, and it took a few tries and a couple of YouTube videos on the product to sort out the configuration and operation of the interface. PROS: I like the Bluetooth and the App. (See pics). The app displays all that I want to see better than the little LCD screen on the controller. My wife, however wants nothing more than to see volts and amps on the LCD and is happy with that. I like that the controller is compatible with flooded, agm, Lithium etc batteries. You can also make a custom charging program/profile for your specific battery or preferences if you like. I set the Bluetooth dongle right next to the controller, and I can read state of charge from inside my truck, anywhere in the trailer, and up to about 40’ away from the trailer as well. Good range. CON(s): The manual is close, but not 100% yet. If they improve the system documentation they could make that 5th star easily.

I purchased the 20 Amp version on sale. It's real easy to setup and work with. The Bluetooth makes setup a breeze. Still waiting on a WiFi version :-). The Bluetooth did flake out on me once which required me to kill the power to everything and let it reset. In hindsight I should have purchased the 40 Amp. It never fails that you will want more panels and/or batteries if you have the space. The 20 Amp version limits you quite a bit if you plan to go 12 volt on the battery side. If you can do 24 volt then this is fine. With the price of good LifePO batteries I only had one so I couldn't go up to 24 volt (yet). I am using 4 100 Watt Renogy panels with two series pairs then wired in parallel which gives me a 24 volt input. My panels never get full sun on the entire array so I don't exceed the 20 amp limit when pushing 12 volt to the battery. If I ever get full sun to all four panels at once I would have a problem. (The image I uploaded only shows two of the panels since it was taken while I was installing them). I connected the device with 10AMG wire since that's about what it can handle with the screw inputs. I put a 20Amp fuse on the PV input side so I can kill the power to the panels whenever I need to work on anything on the battery size. This was needed quite a bit during setup. That should probably be a 25 Amp but, like I said, I never get close to 20Amps of input due to the trees around me. I used a 30 amp output breaker which is probably a bit large. It should be 25 Amps but 30 is what I had. Don't judge.

For starters, I was unable to review the bluetooth module directly, so unfortunately here it will be tainting the overall review of the charger. The Renogy app that pairs with this device is probably one of, if not the, worst apps I've ever used. Not just solar charge controllers, mind you. Here are a few issues: -Frequent connectivity issues (drops often, goes blank) -Completely reloads app if you switch (if I go to answer a text, and reload the app it will restart the entire thing) -Only shows data if it is CURRENTLY connected to the charger. It does not store any information whatsoever. If I go home and want to look at historical charging data, I'm SOL -Requires an admin password (which you literally have to Google in order to find) before allowing you to change battery type and capacity. YOU MUST ENTER THIS IN EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU LOAD THE APP. If you don't it resets the battery type and capacity. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. My battery is 100AH and sealed (SEL). The app resets to 200AH and fluid lead acid each time I open the app. It's correct on the controller itself (I've checked multiple times) -The "record" portion of the app (which is intended to show you the history of charge/discharge etc) barely works. The result by day appears to be mostly accurate, but if you go into the graph/chart feature it just shows a single dot with zero data. -In order to change ANY settings, of ANY sort, you must enter the hidden admin password (again, need to Google each time). You cannot change the password. You cannot set it to remember the password. Here it is, to save time for those who don't have it: 135790123 -On the actual controller, the tabs that hold power/ground wires in will not release if the device is already installed. It must be on it's back with face up (gravity pulls the tabs down as you loosen the screws). Don't make the mistake of mounting the device on a wall first, you will have to demount in order to get wires in.

Very good controller. I have a 12V battery system but use 4 solar panels in series/parallel combination. They output is about 40 Volts. Controller does very good job and has a high efficiency. I like the Blue Tooth module that allows to view all parameters of the charging and also makes it easy to control various settings. Highly recommended.

This charge controller preforms very well. It has a good user interface and the Bluetooth interface is even better. Be aware that if you are going to charge a 12 volt lithium battery you will need a minimum of 16 volts to activate the controller's charging, so 18 volt solar panels may be best. Unfortunately the the quick start user manual makes no mention of the 16 volt minimum requirement. I wish the Bluetooth had better range, maybe if the unit used WiFi instead of Bluetooth the range would be better.