Cllena DC 24V to 12V 40A 480W Buck Transformer Waterproof Step-Down Voltage Converter Regulator

This is one of the most useful upgrades I've made to my boat. I boat-in remote camp for a week at a time. With long days on the water and not recharging every night, I sometimes end up with a dead starting battery due to livewells, stereo/amp, and other things running. This unit allowed me to rewire nearly all 12v accessories to my 36v trolling motor battery bank so that my starting battery always has power. And it pulls power from across all three batteries for even wear vs connecting accessories directly to individual batteries in the bank.One note: I read some reviews that state the unit was shorted upon arrival due to a significant spark created when attempting to connect the unit. I had the same experience. After emailing Cllena directly (thinking the unit was shorted), I was advised this is common and got some great help from them. I ended up putting a 50 amp switchable breaker in line between from the 36v bank and power input on the converter. Since the switch was off, I had no spark when connecting. I switched it on, and voila! It worked perfectly. So, don't assume a big spark is a sign of a short - it's just a result of 36v vs what some might be used to in 12v systems.

Should you install a 12V solar system or a 24V solar system? If "bigger is better" why not 48V?So we wanted to install several 12V power points since we had a lot of luck with them previously. This device was the easiest way of enabling our 24V solar system to provide 12V. We also have a 12V water pump (although, I've recently discovered the same pump is available in a 24V version <sigh>) Connecting this converter to the "load" on our solar controller made it a simple matter to power the powerpoints and the water pump. The pump maxes out at 10Amps so 120W from this 480W converter should be no problem.OTOH, we have a 240V house (Aussie rules) but the 120V appliances are so much cheaper. We thought about connecting at 3000W inverter to this converter. Oops. I'm sure you see the problem.''The converter works great. The problem is figuring out what you need it for, :-)

Worked as expected

I installed this in my 48V golf cart to run the stereo and rock lights. I also installed a 20 amp switch to the ground side so I could turn the regulator on and off. Well the switch took about 5 cycles before it arc welded the contacts. Tried another switch and same thing. So I up graded to a 35 amp switch and it seems fine now. This thing draws a lot of power when first powered up. But battery draw seems low afterwards, I didn't check current draw to verify. I also have an issue with using the bluetooth on the stereo due to interference from the regulator. They are mounted within a foot of each other so that may be causing the issue.

Using this to power a 1,200watt Hifonics BRX5016.5. Three years and counting without any problems.

Works well running two RV water pumps.I recommend keeping the 12 volt system completely isolated from the 24 volt system. I tried using the 12 volt output to run a circuit board to control 24 volt power to a relay and power bled over from the 24 volt through the circuit board to the 12volt power wire and burned up this voltage converter.I purchased another as a replacement to run my pumps and did not try to use the 12 volts to run control circuits for the 24 volt system again.

This product works as advertised, for a little bit. Attempting to pull full load through this buck converter is not a good idea, as it will easily overheat in the stock configuration if you do so. I imagine if you pull half load it will not overheat, though you may see voltage drop. Indeed with only passive cooling from the aluminum heat sink this thing will get searing hot, though luckily the overheat protection works as advertised and immediately shuts the unit off, so that's good.I have found that salvaging an old 12v computer processor fan, and rigging it to provide air cooling to the case that I can pull a stable 396w. This result is nearly 100w below advertised rating, but let's chalk that up to running the output through a 12v 500w pure sine inverter, and feeding the inverter signal into a 59v 7a power brick to get that reading. If you do the math, I should get around 410w, so I'll accept the results.Even so you cannot deny that this buck converter ends up being a terrible choice for anyone looking for a simple installation with results (entirely) as advertised. With quality like this I must imagine you could even get a unit capable of self-immolation should the sensors fail or, worse yet, not work at all. For somebody capable of tinkering or able to find decent work-arounds, this is nearly a steal for the price, but do not expect it to pull near rated loads without some work on your part.To think all it needs is a good enough fan...

Works great and easy to install