Hey everyone I just have a quick question. I’m trying to figure out why my smartshunt always says the SOC is always at 100%? The batteries this morning were completely dead and couldn’t even lower the jacks on my fifth wheel camper, smartshunt still said 100% while trying this.. is something wired wrong or wrong setting?
Hey Guys,
I’m getting close to finishing off my Grid-Tied 4kw Victron Solar and 16kwh Battery system..
Apart from the Inverter connection to the house distribution board I’ve DIY’d it all.
I think I’m sorted generally cabling-wise as had assistance specifying bits from my solar equipment seller, only thing they aren’t happy helping with is the earth/grounding side of things..
I’m looking for clarity on how the Inverter/ MPPT/ Lynx Distributer and the battery unit get safely grounded.
Also, which gauge of cable to use for those earth links
From my research I believe it’s pretty straight forward, with all the devices earth terminals needing to be bonded together to share a common ground…with the overall grounding coming from the inverters earth cable running back to my mains electrics distribution board.
That same earthing link also connects to the negative DC bus bar on the Lynx Distributer… PLEASE DO TELL ME IF IM WRONG! ?
But… the cable gauge mentioned in some info is suggesting using cable slightly thinner than the main battery DC cables (mine are 70mm2), so for the earth use something like 50mm2.
I don’t mind spending the money of using 50mm2, but all the images I see of this kind of kit installed it looks like people are using a much smaller gauge like a 6mm2 or similar so I’m a bit confused.
Any help much appreciated
Hello all, looking for a little guidance on solar input to the quattro unit. The installer originally wanted to put SunSynk kit in everywhere and I managed to get them to switch over to installing a quattro unit instead.
They're prepping to install the system next week but just looking for guidance / clarity on how to hook up the solar side to the victron unit.
The panels are on a separate roof (house) to the inverter (garage) so I'll either have a 20meter run for DC (through a duct under the patio) to the inverter position or a string inverter in the loft with a CT clamp to do DC > AC > DC conversion.
The system is east/west facing, 16x 480W panels so peak could be 7.68kW.
I'm in the UK so mains is~230V.
The installer are suggesting that all the panels are hooked up in a way that it is ~400V and max / peak generation somewhere around 28-30Amps.
Installer is suggesting for ease of installation to go with a SolaX X1-VAST-8K - 8kW Hybrid Inverter
I'm not sure on how well this will integrate with the victron system, so was looking at the 100A Victron SmartSolar MPPT RS 450/100-MC4 for 48V battery only. Although this states it's only rated for 5.76kW so I'm slightly confused.
Additionally I've also been suggested towards a Fronius Primo inverter for it's integration with victron (apparently seamless) but the largest I can see is a 6kW unit
Batteries are 12x 5kwh LiFePo4 rack mounted packs https://www.fogstar.co.uk/collections/solar-battery-storage/products/server-rack-battery-48v-5-12kwh
Many thanks
VRM Monitoring on an AliExpress wall mount tablet. Efficient and shows live monitoring without any glitches!
I have 3x Victron MultiPlus 4.5k units that I want to mount on a concrete wall in my storage/utility room. The room is well ventilated, but it is directly next to the living room, so noise is an important concern for me.
My plan is to mount the MultiPlus units on a Gyproc (drywall/plasterboard) panel with a wooden board behind it for reinforcement.
My main concern is vibrations transferring from the MultiPlus units into the wall structure and becoming audible in the adjacent room.
I’m currently considering solutions such as:
Acoustic isolation wall plugs / sound-insulating anchors Vibration dampers / anti-vibration mounts
Does anyone have experience with this kind of setup? And if so, how is your construction.
What would be the best way to minimize vibration and humming noise from the MultiPlus units?
Hello, I was given the smartshunt in the picture together with some used batteries.
I wanted to test its Bluetooth capability and so I only connected the battery minus and the VBatt+ to a 4s li-ion battery. The problem is that I swapped the polarity by mistake and heard a burning noise (I was just probing the wires by hand so I was quick to disconnect it). When connecting with the correct polarity I still heard the same noise and some smoke coming from the battery.
I realised the internals of the shunt are in short. If I measure between ‘battery minus’ and ‘vbatt+’ I have 2 Ohm.
Now I’m not 100% sure if this shunt worked or if I fried it by connecting it wrong, but I guess it’s destroyed and not reparable?
I'm having trouble understanding how the Multiplus 2 is supposed to engage with the wall bracket. Right now, it's just resting on the 3 tabs and not engaging any more. Am I doing something stupid or are these pieces not manufactured in a way that allows them to engage?
Hey smart peeps. I'm thinking about adding an additional battery to my Sprinter system so I can run a 12v AC unit. The new battery likely won't be the same 100ah Battle Born battery, if that matters.
- I suppose my options are to (1) connect before the fuse and smart shunt.
- Connect inline with the +/- in parallel (2) even though the battery performance would be different.
Bad idea? Suggestions? All else seems to work well, but the desert heat in a metal box is brutal. Thx
Hi guys,
My parents have a Smartsolar MPPT 100/30 with a small (maybe 150W panel) in their campervan charging a LiFePo4 battery.
For the last few months it has hardly been charging the battery at all (not been above 10Wh). The PV voltage gets up to around 20V in the morning as the sun comes up and starts to charge, but then completely drops off during the day before recovering in the evening as the sun goes down again.
Any ideas what might be causing this? Could it be the unit struggling to find the max power point?
My Dad reports it 'stopped working' after a firmware update. I have tried a reset from the app with no success. Maybe I will try completely disconnecting it next.
Update: After the PV voltage dropped off today, I disconnected the panel and measured the open circuit voltage and got nothing. I think this confirms the panel has failed.
I recently finished my transition over to Victron and I couldn't be more excited. Running this setup with an OVRLND camper on my 2019 Toyota Tacoma DCLB OR. I was using a couple AGM batteries with scrappy Renogy gear for the last few years. The AGM's were at the end of their life, so instead of just replacing the batteries, I replaced the whole system.
The air circulation in this box is quite good, I have a 4 x 9 inch vent on top, 3 inch cut out on front and 5 inch cutout in the back. It's not perfect, but it's quite the improvement over my previous setup from which I included a photo. Overall, I think this turned out well given its on my overlanding rig.
Current specs:
Epoch 300Ah Essential LiFePO4
Victron Phoenix 12/1600 VE.Direct
Orion XS (transmission charging)
Orion TR (power my Starlink)
MPPT 100/30 (I'm only running 200 watts of solar)
Lynx Distributer
500A Smart Shunt
My BMV712 is reading wrong by 0.9V. Smartshunt, second BMV712 for test and Multimeter on same bus all read correctly.
48V system, a bit over 5yo. Bin and replace or any thoughts on adjusting calibration?
I have a small teardrop camper that has solar and a 105 aH LiFePO4 battery. It has worked well for three years, but I am now upgrading. I’m handy yet DIY work but researching 12 V work has not been easy. Lots of conflicting opinions and experts seem to have difficulty dumbing it down enough to be easily understood. I added a second battery (same brand and specs) for 210 aH total and will be adding a second solar panel. The current solar panel is 140 W with a Victron 75/10 MPPT controller. The new panel is 200 W and will have a Victron 100/20 MPPT controller. All electronics are in a box on the tongue of the camper. Cables from panels to controllers (>10 feet) and controllers to bus bars (18 inches) are all 10 gauge. Currently positive and negative cables from the bus bars to the battery switch and shunt and then to the batteries each are 30 inch 8 gauge. The batteries are connected in parallel with 6 inch 2/0 cables. Things this will power: 12v cooler sized fridge, ceiling fan, a few led lights, USB ports, water pump for sink. All smaller stuff.
My questions:
Should there be a fuse or breaker on the controller or battery side of the bus bar? Or both? What size? Does it matter if it’s a fuse or a breaker?
I will be adding a disconnect for the new panel before the controller. The old panel has a plug I will use to disconnect. Should there also be fuses or breakers between the panels and the controllers
Should the cables from the bus bars to the battery disconnect/shunt and then to the batteries be increased to 4 or 6 gauge?
After a lot of frustration, I’m really looking for some “buy this, put it here” recommendations.
Hi. I have an issue with parasitic draw on my 2nd battery in a Landcruiser 200.
I have a smart shunt on the 2nd battery and its constantly going flat. The victron interface is showing a constant 1.6amp draw.
I have tried pulling fuses and disconnecting batteries but nothing stops the draw.
I even took the positive terminals off the start battery and the “house” battery at the same time and then connected the shunts positive lead to the house battery and its still drawing 1.6amps ( see the attached photo )
How is this even possible with the positive leads taken off both batteries???
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Question: Is this an easy fix, or better to by a new Multiplus?
So what I am doing is: I have the land power connected and when I switch the remote control unit to on it initially turns the "inverter on" light on and makes this ratteling sound. Then after a short time it stops and switches to alarm. On the remote unit it also indicates the LEDs for "overload" and "low battery".
If I go on the remote control unit to "charger only" it fails with the shorter ratteling sounds.
In the video I showcased:
I some time ago exchanded the lead acid battery with a LifePo 4 Battery and did not change anything on the victron.
I realized that when the Lifepo4 Battery was full at around 14.5 volts it would suddenly trigger a relais in the victron and abruptly stop the charging.
Then it would restart the charging process until the battery was again too full and it would fail again.
This cycle would probably repeat endlessly but I always turned it off manually.
Now the night the unit failed, it was probably having these overcharging cycles a couple of times until the unit finally switched off with the error at hand now.
Any insight is appreciated?
What part inside is likely to be broken?
I assume from the characteristics of the sound, someone experienced would probably know right away what is broken and if it is safe to repair it.
Thanks! 🙏
I stupidly upgraded my Victron system's firmware, and now I can't get any power from the grid. Here's my system: Cerbo GX (firmware 3.72), two Multiplus II's (48v/3000, now on firmware 560), MPPT 450/100, four SOK 100ah batteries. After doing some troubleshooting I decided to add ESS to my Assistants. Here is my assistant list.
Now I'm getting these error messages.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
I have 600AH Victron lithium batteries, Victron 3000W inverter charger w/12V distribution hub, Orion XS 50 DC to DC charging and 30A shore power plug w/ 300W Renogy solar on the roof in my Sprinter van. I'm looking for advice on storage for a month or more if necessary (for example: 0%, 100%, 40 -60% perhaps thru VictronConnect) Thanks.
Well, I made the mistake of buying equipment before actually figuring out how it all could work....
I have a CerboGX mk2 running my island garden house setup, and wanted to have a wall-mounted display bc of reasons. Wifi and 4G connectivity are 24x7. The cable run from Cerbo to display is around 10m so prohibitive for HDMI and USB.
I have the Zero2W and a really nice integrated display from Waveshare where the Zero2W docks onto the display controller without any cables - and like that plan. Except...
I realised that the UIv2 is a monster in terms of code, and I have spend probably two weeks trying to coax my poor little Zero2W to load the page without crashing. Various stripped down distros, FullPageOS etc all fail. I've given up on this approach unless someone can point me to exactly how I squish that code into 512MB. I am looking for new ideas where I can setup a remote display without buying more stuff.
All help is appreciated!
Please forgive me as I’m no electrician. I just have a question about the safety of my fuse on my leisure battery terminal.
I have a self converted (not by myself) campervan.
Set up wise it has:
120w eco-worthy solar panel x 6
Victron Multiplus 2 12v/3000w
Victron 100/50 MPPT
Victron Orion TR smart 30a x2
Victron Lynx Distributor
And runs on a Fogstar 560ah lithium battery.
The other day I was running my air fryer, which I use regularly and have no issues. However it was a hot day and I forgot I had the air con unit running also. (Truma aventa compact unit if that matters).
The inverter duly overloaded. After letting it cooldown and resetting it. The inverter will now only power on with the dc-dc converter or the solar panels.
After inspection, the fuse on the positive battery terminal has blown and needs replacing.
It is a blue sea? BUSS rated at 250A / 58V.
My question is, is this the correct size fuse? As when I have been looking for a replacement fuse, most sites are recommending a 400-500A fuse for that size inverter/battery setup.
Many thanks for any help you can offer.
My install has been completed this week, but I can get it setup.
I cannot see the ET112 in my GX menu via Victron connect. My electrician has made up his own scheme for wiring the RS485 which is via a roughly 10m cat5 cable. The ET112 has a solid green light and red blinks every 5 seconds or so. Is there anything obvious I can try here?
Id also appreciate how to male The pictures visible on the post before you click into it.
