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Review on Renogy 200 Watts 12 Volts Monocrystalline RV Solar Panel Kit With Adventurer 30A LCD PWM Charge Controller And Mounting Brackets For RV, Boats, Trailer, Camper, Marine, Off-Grid Solar Power System by Justin Stinson

Revainrating 2 out of 5

Good PV system but Cust Svc and Bluetooth SUCK. And an important WARNING

I bought and installed the two 100 Watt panel system which came with the BT-1 Bluetoth module. The panels and controller work great. The kit came with plenty of wire and quality connectors. I cannot get the Bluetooth to work. I am very technically adept and know what I'm doing with phones and Bluetoth. Called customer service and waited for 90 minutes to only end up speaking with an agent who knew absolutely nothing about Bluetooth or the PV system. She had to put me on hold for every little question I had and then came back with only partial answers with "should be" and usually" qualifiers. After trygin to get Blurtooth to work (uninstalling from pohone, installing, depowering and repowering the controller, etc.etc.) the Bluetooth STILL DID NOT WORK. Customer service agent asked if there was anythign else she coudl do for me. SERIOUSLY. I said yes, get the Bluetooth working. She is sending me a retunr label for the BT-1 module. They will "test" it and send it back or a new one, I supose. I hope! Cusotmer Sevice is friendly but NOT helpful. The reviews for the Renogy app on Google Play are horrendous. Everyoen else is having thte same problem, and for some time. Apparently Renogy is not investing in support or bug fixes for their bluetooth app.The installation manual is TERRIBLE. IT does NOT show any wiring diagrams and does not show how/where you should install switches and circuit breakers. Had to Google and Youtube to learn that. There is NO mention of how to install the panel wiring excet saying where the + and - wires connect to the controller. Manual says NOTHING about whether you should install the two panels parrallel or series (hint: there is a HUGE and important difference and you NEED to know what you're doing).Instructions tell you NOTHING about how to properly mount the PV panels to the roof of your trailer or RV. You have to get this right else one of your panels could end up in a windshield behind you. Again, Youtube is your helper here.Finally, a WARNING: You MUST have the batteries attached and POWERING the controllwer PRIOR to swithcing on or otherwise attaching the PV panels. If you connect the panels with no 12v DC to the controller you will fry it. Again, NOTHING in instructions about this at all. Terrible. Renogy must sell a boat load of replacmenet controllers due to this. A money maker for them I suppose. I only learned this from a friend who heard about it. Upon asking the cusotmer service rep about this she said I shoudl be fine attaching the PV panels without 12 v power to the controller. I said I would be doing so and if any harm came to the controller she would be replacing it for free. She said "hold on" and came back on the call 5 minutes later with a different answer saying 12 v DC MUST be to the controller BEFORE attaching (or switching on) the PV panels. Great customer service knowledge, eh?Bottom Line: Good PV panels, controller and such. Terrible customer service and installation instructions. Bluetooth still not working after 5 weeks.

Pros
  • ‎1
Cons
  • Requires a clear line of sight to the sun, which may be difficult in certain environments