Victron Phoenix IP43 30A

Mains-powered 12 V charger: 30 A into the house bank. The 120–240 V version takes an AC supply anywhere in 85–250 V, with full output from 100 V and startup from 90 V. The charge algorithm is 6-stage adaptive for lead-acid and 3-stage for lithium; three presets sit on the MODE button, and the algorithm is fully programmable over Bluetooth or VE.Direct. There is no fan — cooling is natural convection, and the full 30 A holds up to 40 °C ambient before the output derates linearly to 20 % at 60 °C.

The 12/30 is not sold as a single-output unit. It ships either as (1+1), where a second output limited to about 4 A tops up a starter battery at a slightly lower voltage, or as (3), where any of the three outputs can take the full current so long as the combined total stays inside the charger's rating.

Nothing is wired on the AC side. Mains arrives through an IEC 320 C14 inlet with a retainer clip, and the cord with the region's plug is ordered separately — every cable the installer makes up is DC.

The battery side lands on rising-clamp screw terminals that accept up to 16 mm² (AWG 6). Victron's installation manual torques them to 2.4 Nm, puts a fuse or circuit breaker in each output's DC cable as close to the battery as practical — two of them on the (1+1), three on the (3) — and stops its cable table for the 12/30 at 4.5 m one-way, because past that the voltage drop is excessive even on the largest compatible cable. The charger's mounting position is therefore decided by how far it sits from the bank.

The same manual mounts it vertically with the terminals facing down and a minimum of 100 mm clear above and below. It must not go on top of the battery, directly above it, or in a sealed compartment with it. The IP43 rating covers the electronic components only; the connection area is IP22, so this is a dry indoor location.

Two control terminals matter on install day. Remote on/off ships with a factory shorting link between L and H, which a switch, relay or BMS replaces to gate charging. The programmable SPDT relay (5 A up to 250 VAC / 5 A up to 28 VDC) carries a note worth reading before you design around it: "The programmable relay function only works when AC input power is available and charging is enabled."

Reading "isolated outputs" as "independent charge profiles". The (1+1) and (3) models contain an integrated FET battery isolator, so the batteries can sit at different states of charge with no current flowing between them — but, per the manual's section on multiple isolated outputs, "one charge algorithm (charge cycle and charge voltage) is applied to all outputs; accordingly all batteries will need to be compatible with the common charge algorithm (typically the same chemistry type)". Asked exactly this on the Victron community — a LiFePO₄ house bank and a lead-acid starter battery on one unit — Victron staff answered "as long as both batteries share the same ground I don't see why this shouldn't be possible", with the caveat that "the outputs all rely on the same battery charge algorithm, which probably will be the one for your LiFePo4". Batteries that genuinely need different absorption voltages need different chargers.

• Mains cord with the plug for your region — the C14 inlet ships bare
• One fuse or circuit breaker per output, at the battery end of each run
• Fine-stranded copper cable with no strand thicker than 0.4 mm and insulation rated at least 90 °C
• A Smart Battery Sense, SmartShunt or BMV-712 if the charger should read voltage and temperature at the battery over VE.Smart Networking