INSTALLING A REDARC SMART BATTERY MONITOR AND DUAL BATTERY CHARGER IN A 2018 RAM 1500

WORDS AND PHOTOS BRANDON HOFFNER

01. This simple diagram from REDARC helped me immensely. I have the REDARC BCDC1225D in-vehicle dual battery charger instead of the TVMS1280 and BMS.

Irecently installed a REDARC smart battery monitor in my 2018 RAM 1500 Laramie 4x4. The installation process should have been relatively straightforward, as the instructions provided by REDARC were clear and easy to follow—but I made it harder. We’ll get to that.

While this article is primarily about the easy-to-install REDARC smart battery monitor, I also had to install a REDARC BCDC1225D dual battery charger. This 12-volt, 25-amp in-vehicle DC-DC battery charger is designed to charge secondary battery banks to 100% while on the move. It's solar-ready and suitable for a wide range of battery types, including lithium, AGM, GEL, standard lead acid, and calcium. I needed this setup to power an ARB compressor and auxiliary lights with an auxiliary battery. Eventually, I connected the monitor to my auxiliary battery to keep track of its voltage, current, power, and state of charge.