Renogy Wanderer Li 30A 12V PWM Negative Ground Solar Charge Controller Solar Panel Regulator w/ Temp Sensor Function Fit for Lithium, Sealed, Gel, and Flooded Batteries, Wanderer Li 30A

10 reviews for Renogy Wanderer Li 30A 12V PWM Negative Ground Solar Charge Controller Solar Panel Regulator w/ Temp Sensor Function Fit for Lithium, Sealed, Gel, and Flooded Batteries, Wanderer Li 30A

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Johnathan – October 21, 2023

   
   Function: I used this to charge a large 12v battery (900CCA), with a 50w panel. It took awhile to charge it to full from 8v. Cloudy days, inconsistent sun, etc. Separately, I used it to charge a 10AH 12v battery and it worked well.Durability: It seems fairly durable, as it’s been dropped a few times, and it’s gotten wet from rain.I would not recommend using 10 (awg) gauge wire, as it struggles to stay connected. I’m using 14 awg to the battery and it’s fine. 12 would probably be fine.This was my first iintroduction to solar. Next time, I’ll buy a higher wattage panel and charge controller. Overall, it works well.My only complaint is it continously cycles through the display settings. I would’ve liked to leave it on one display only. But, low cost, ease of use, and durability takes the win more 5 stars.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   cdodgela – March 27, 2024

   
   I have been using the Wanderer for 6 months with 300W of solar on my truck bed cover and a 100Ah LifePo4 battery in the truck bed connected into my 12v system. Works great, love being able to connect with the Bluetooth module to see the status, not necessary but recommended to see what’s going on. Purchased a second one for my camper with 200W of solar. It keeps the history to see amount of Ah and max Watts, voltage per day in the app. You can also control the max charging voltage in the app. Great cost effective PWM controller for 30Amp 12v systems.

3. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   D. Adams – August 25, 2023

   
   To avoid confusion, this references the Renogy 10 Amp 12V/24V PWM Negative Ground Solar Charge Controller Compact Design w/LCD Display.Renogy seems to be among the leaders in our ever-growing world of solar technology. I have two of the cheap (under $10) PWM controllers, and they work okay, but for the price, I happily upgraded to the Renogy controller. Briefly:Pros:Economical.Will connect to a Renogy BT module (sold separately)Tells me most of what I need to know in its LCD menu.They do have customer service ( but reviews of this are mixed. )Cons: Terminals seem to be designed for wire 12 AWG and smaller. I got 10 AWG in there, but I won’t trust them to stay.A reminder, PWM is not the best type of charge controller, but if your needs are modest and you have no shade to interfere with your solar energy collection, it works pretty well. This 10 amp controller is good for your basic needs, handling up to two, 100-watt panels in parallel (series might be right at the limit). It works with all the major battery types, but you need to manually set Lithium types.If you want or need a more sophisticated solar energy setup for your home or large RV, you will likely want the much more expensive offerings from Renogy, Victron, and others. But for a small camper or backyard project, this is quite adequate. When I’m done playing around with it, I plan to affix it to one of my Renogy 100-watt suitcase solar panels.Need cheap and simple? Buy it.Happy solar, all!

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Maks – January 11, 2024

   
   Really good quality solar charge controller. One of the best on the market in that class of chargers among those I could find. Very competitive price. The only problem – documentation. I couldn’t find any information in the manual on how to set up the battery type for the acid battery. So I had to google this. Below is the useful information which might save your time.SLD – Sealed Lead Acid Replacement Batteries. Just a regular car acid battery to start the engine.GEL – Gel batteries are called gel because they use silica. Same as Lead Acid but gel instead of acid.FLD – Flooded Battery: A flooded deep cycle battery is a battery that has thick plates, large separators, and high-density paste material.LI – Lithium. Probably means LiFePo4 batteries type. Also called a deep cycle battery. Has almost the same charge cycle as for acid and gel batteries type. The only difference – you can pick the final voltage on the battery which is nice.

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Igor chicherin – January 9, 2024

   
   Yes , really small ! All functions are here and more .But different from other Renogy controller : this one doesn’t show daily charge and discharge!No control over load disconnection, it cut it off at 11 volt .It continuously flipping through display screens and no way to stop it – really annoying !But overall good device, useful !

6. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Roger K. – January 31, 2024

   
   Just installed another one on the system in my tow Vehicle. Easy install and set up. Keeps my battery charged, Also got the BT adapter for it to complete the system. WORKS GREAT

7. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   mr fixit – May 10, 2021

   
   UPDATE: So after an entire summer of operation, this controller has worked exceptionally well. My single concern of it being in an enclosure that got too hot in the summer sun was eradicated. I never had to turn the little cooling fan that I installed in the box on. As far as I know, it never shut down due to heat. It did, however, save my 12V battery when I left the pump on all night. It cut the power after it got to somewhere around 10-11 volts (the limit is in the manual) and resumed operation when the solar panel charged it to the proper threshold. Great value in this tiny controller.After reading others’ reviews, I don’t know what some people expect from this unit. It is ridiculously cheap and works exactly as advertised. I have it connected to a 12v battery running a DIY solar water setup for my stock tank pool, and it is EXCELLENT! It works just as well as another solar controller I have for a larger setup, but is exceptionally small. It is perfect for my needs, as I have it installed in a clear faced junction box. My only concern is the temperature rating, which the spec states is up to 130 degrees F…if I remember correctly. During summer, this may be an issue. I tried to keep it in the shade and installed a small fan to assist in cooling on hot, sunny days. Time will tell if it has any issues in the middle of summer, but that is a chance I was willing to take with such a good, cheap unit. Either way I would definitely recommend this controller for smaller projects…(10 amp limit of course).

   
8. 

   Rated 1 out of 5

   zuma – January 9, 2020

   
   This controller did not even last one month. I started to get E01 and E08 error codes after 2 weeks usage on my lead acid batteries. Sometimes I would get an error code as soon as I hooked it up, and sometimes it would give me the error code after a few hours. I get these errors on three different battery banks that I have on my RV. I have installed this on my original solar suitcase (not my Eclipse model), replacing my 5 year old Viewstar controller.I called Renogy and they told me to check the battery voltage and voltage at the controller terminals. I did previously and both were at 12.4 volts, which should be fine. So I guess this controller just does not work for me and I have to purchase another now, and reinstall it to my suitcase. Of course I will use a different model.I actually again checked the voltage after the Renogy tech person seem to really question the voltage at the controller. I disconnected my Battery Tender, and the battery read 13.03 volts after settling down a few minutes, and it registered 12.94 at the controller terminals. So I am pretty sure my connection and wires are ok. By the way, now I am getting more error codes today, EO and EO2, the controller is going crazy with error codes, then it connects and seems to work after a while. Seems to connect and disconnect at random.On a side note, the manual is somewhat vague, on page 14 it says to set the ‘charge voltage’ for a lithium battery (LiFepo4), but makes no mention of what voltage to set it at. There are about 21 different choices with no direction on what they mean or what to use. It goes from 12 volts up to 16 volts in .2 amounts of progression. On page 21, it talks about ‘Boost Voltage’, I have never heard of this, I know the 4 stages of charging a lead acid battery, but what is boost voltage? I guess I need to read up on this.I have had many questions on my reviews for other Renogy products, and I have recently purchased several items; the 100aH LiFePO4 battery, a DC to DC charger (wait till I review the manual on this thing!), several PWM controllers, and several other smaller items. I am also trying to update my current review of the Eclipse suitcase with a major edit concerning the ‘plastic blocks’ that connect the legs to the frame but been have a little technical difficulty with the website.I decided to install another solar controller due to all the problems with this one. I installed the Renogy Voyager 20A Waterproof Solar Controller, and so far it works perfect, no error codes. It also has a better manual and it at least tell me that the ‘charging voltage’ for lithium batteries is set at a default amount of 14.2 volts.Bummer, my first negative review of a Renogy product, but it just did not work well.

9. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Pete S. – April 10, 2024

   
   I built a small, off-grid solar system for my shed to power LED lights and a small ventilation fan that consisted of a 50W 12V-class panel (open circuit voltage around 20V), a 10 amp-hour LiFePo4 battery, and this charge controller. In that setup, it’s worked great. It’s a basic, workaday PWM charge controller that had worked great in my shed for several years until I decided to upgrade the system and added more panels and put in an MPPT controller.Pros:- Small size.- Reasonable price.- Terminals hold wires firmly and are easy to loosen and tighten. (Tip: crimp ferrules onto the ends of stranded wire rather and insert them into the terminals. Clamping stranded wire into the terminals is a bit harder, messier, and more prone to error.)- Backlit screen.- Easy to configure for flooded, AGM, and gel lead-acid batteries, as well as for LiFePo4 batteries.- Charging voltage is configurable for LiFePo4 batteries (in case you want to stop charging at, say, 14.4V rather than 14.6V).- USB ports are handy for charging phones or powering other devices.- It has options for turning the load on and off at and for various times. For example, the load can be turned on all the time, toggled with the push of a button, or when the sun sets (either until morning, or for various periods of time after sunset).- It supports — but does not include — a Renogy Bluetooth module that allows for remotely changing settings, seeing the current status, etc. from the Renogy app.- Manual is clearly written in English and explains all settings and options clearly.Cons:- This is a PWM controller which, while simpler, inherently limits its efficiency and requires a bit more planning relative to an MPPT controller. For example, connecting multiple 12V-class panels in series (or using one with a nominal open-circuit voltage greater than about 20V) provides no benefit. They need to be connected in parallel, and then one must make sure not to exceed the 10A current rating of the controller (it does not have any current limiting capability).- Turning on the load also enables the USB ports, which consume about 100mA of current when idle. With the load off, the current consumed by the controller itself is negligible. Still, it’d be nice to have the load on and disable the USB ports.- The on-device settings for having the load switched on or off at various times of day are unclear and require consulting the manual to know what the various codes mean.- The Bluetooth module is very basic and neither it nor the Wanderer 10 have any sort of data logging. You can see the current status and change settings, but no historical data is available. You apparently need some other Renogy device to accomplish that.- The Renogy app has many features, such as social features, promotions, etc. that distract from the core functionality of managing the controller.- Although the controller is reasonably priced, but the Bluetooth module is costly. Combined, their cost exceeds that of a reputable competitor’s MPPT controller with built-in Bluetooth, data logging, a better app, and better integration with other devices and remote monitoring.In short, it’s an inexpensive, simple PWM charge controller. If that’s what you need, it’ll do the job quietly and without complaint for years.However, if you want to use the Bluetooth module with this controller, you’re limited to live monitoring and changing of settings only. No data logging or historical data is available. For less money than the controller + Bluetooth module, you can get a comparable-power-limit MPPT controller from a major competitor that includes better monitoring, data logging, and higher efficiency.

10. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Mark J. – March 31, 2024

    
    I had this wired up and running in 5 minutes with the lithium configuration. I adjusted the charge voltage to 14.4 since my battery doesn’t have a safe or configurable high voltage disconnect. The terminal connectors are heavy duty although they are a bit small. I used ferrule crimps to connect 12 AWG wire to my solar panel and it worked out great. The only knock is the Lithium config does not have a low temperature charging disconnect so I had to add a temp controller in series with the solar panel. This adds a small continuous load which isn’t ideal for me but should work out ok. Overall a great budget charge controller.