r/Victron

Im upgrading my system and im looking at 2 x 12v 300ah lithium batteries.
Has anyone any experience with renorgy batteries everything else is victron. Do that communicate well with the multiplus shunt gx etc etc thanks in advance

Hey everyone,

I am looking at the RS Solar to replace my SolarEdge system with, since it integrates everything I need into 1 system.

My goal is to minimize grid consumption and have zero to no grid feed-in.

The documentation states that there is an ESS setting called "keep batteries charged", which does half of what I want to do, namely prevent grid feed-in.

Other ways to disable feed-in are to set grid code to "None" or set the "Allow feed-in" toggle to be turned off.

What I am not clear on is if, when ESS is enabled, the grid code and toggle options are overruled by the ESS or not.

Also, is there a way to mix modes? Can I, for example, use the "Optimized without batterylife" ESS mode in combination with either of the aforementioned options or via Node-RED to satisfy both requirements?

I do not want to be off-grid, per se, but basically I want to use the grid as "backup" system is battery and/or solar are not enough.

Finally: If the grid goes down, does the inverter kick in and run the house from batteries? Or does everything die?

I am trying to get my head around how to connect up the AC out / AC In.

The 62a RCD is for the house CU, I think?

No solar, just a battery to take advantage of cheaper overnight tarrifs

https://preview.redd.it/4pweji1jpqjh1.jpg?width=3812&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7be461f6db11ba4a3cd7d95a23e9f39eb22c9e70

Of course it happens at night, but we were parked at family's house so spending the night there.

We went in to the van tonight, switched on the inverter and the a/c. I smelled hot wires. The positive busbar was HOT, too hot to touch!

So we turned off the a/c and the inverter, disconnected everything except the fridge, hit the breakers on the panels and turned off the DC to DC charger. And are spending the night in the house.

Since we can't investigate in the dark, I could use ideas on what we can check tomorrow. We just tightened up all connections a couple of weeks ago and everything has been running well. Including the a/c overnight last night. This is the first time this has happened.

Any ideas? Our system is three 230ah 24v batteries and a 3500/7000w generic inverter. Everything is fused and none of the fuses or circuit breakers popped.

Why would the positive busbar (750amps) be so hot?

Thanks for the input.

So when we took the cover off of the positive bus bar, it had melted where the inverter was connected. We almost had a fire, thankfully we were in the van and my nose caught it.

It was difficult to pull the cover off the bus bar. When finally pulled off, it turns out it was melted at the cable for the inverter. So prior to turning on the inverter, Hubby checked all the connections. But since they were tightened up two weeks ago, none were loose. The other, 1000w inverter (with a 600w load for several minutes) ran fine with absolutely no heat at the bus.

Last night, when I smelled the hot wires I didn't feel the inverter, nor did I notice if the fan on the inverter was running as it normally does under load (I'll blame the two margaritas I had at dinner). So after checking everything else today, we moved on to the inverter. We turned it on, then the air conditioner. The inverter got very hot fast and I noticed that the inverter fan was not running, even with a 1300w load.

So all my components are Victron except for the cheap Chinese Amazon inverter. Not a good idea, I could have lost my van.

We sometimes leave the dogs in the van with the a/c on. I shudder to think that this could have happened if I wasn't in there to smell the hot wires.

So I'll buy a new bus bar, a better inverter from a reputable company,replace the cables and get a temperature probe for the BMV-712.

So, suggestion for an inverter vendor and brand? The inverter needs to be 24v, 3500/7000w (3000/6000w will work).

Thank you guys for all your help!

I've got a lynx busbar to connect a 48v lithium battery, muliplus and 2 mppts as a home ess. The battery has a 200a bms and would probably have about a 4kA short circuit current. And I thought I could fuse all of it with the lynx system. Use a adler ef3 fuse for the battery, because of the high short circuit current. And mega fuses for the rest.

Now I think I made a mistake there. Since mega fuses are on the same busbar as the battery they would also see the full short circuit current incase of a short behind them. A short circuit current they aren't rated for. So I figured I'd make them all ef3 fuses. However ef3 fuses don't go lower than 150A, a current the 16 mm2 wires of the mppt's aren't rated for.

So it seems like you can't use the mppt's in combination with the lynx and a big lithium battery. But I feel like it's a setup you see quite often. So am I missing something? How have others approached this problem? Or is it just something the lynx system can't be used for and should I go to a different fuse holder?

I am rebuildibg the system on my cabin and have installed a diy battery with 280ah lifepo4 cells, a JK PB1A16S15P BMS and a Victron Multi RS Solar as my main charger/inverter.

My question is regarding the heat function. ​I have four 12v pads underneath the battery attached to a 2mm aluminum sheet. They are a bit too powerful for the bms to power firectly, so i am going to use a Solid State Relay​ to power it from the 48v bus and the relay is going to be powered by the bms.

Is there any way to avoid using power from the battery for the pads? Ideally, I would like for the solar to power the heating pads until the battery is hot enough to accept charging, then the mppt would charge the battery as usual. That way i am never discharging the battery exept when i mean to during the winter.

The battery is also insulated with a 100mm/4in layer of xps foam on all sides, so once it is heated it will hold its temperature for some time.

My secons question is what to do with the low temp cut off on the victron? In my thinking, leavong it off would let it power tje heat pads until the bms turns off the pads and allows charging as usual. ​​​​​

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I am expanding my PV system from a small hybrid setup (5kWp/8kWh) to one designed for autonomy, which is significantly larger (27kWp/57kWh), based on MultiPlus and SmartSolar.

Having observed occasional feed-in spikes well above the setpoint towards the grid in my current system (MP + Fronius AC coupled), for example when a large load stops or when clouds and sun alternate quickly, I am reflecting on the effects a much larger system would have.

Do you have any solutions that can divert momentary excess energy towards resistors bench (consuming it as heat) instead of pushing it into a battery that might already be at 100%? Alternatively, do you know of any third-party solutions?

Otherwise, for the summer period where a system designed for autonomy is largely oversized, is it possible to set the batteries to not exceed 80% charge every day, except for one day every seven to balance the battery? I imagine this would allow spikes to be absorbed by a battery that isn't so full as to be slightly damaged, at least for the summer when I don't need a full battery, during these fluctuations from the solar array or when a significant load drops (e.g. an EV being unplugged, interrupting the charge).

I had a strange occurrence last night while in my van. Woke up at 2:30am to find I had no power at all. I have a WattCycle 314 battery, victron 1200w inverted, Victron Orion dcdc charger, and Victron MPPT.

When I went to bed I had ~58% or so. When I woke up and realized I had no power at all (battery monitor was off and everything), I started the van thinking the dcdc charger will charge things. Everything came on within seconds and I still had 55% battery. Since then everything has been fine.

The system has been working great since dec/jan or so. I haven’t needed the dcdc charger since solars been awesome and I have more battery than I need. I have it turned off in the victron app as well as a dedicated cut off switch that I usually keep off.

This week however, I’ve camped out in near full shade with little solar. I was getting a little low so I turned on the dcdc charger and drove around for an hour or so to get a boost.

When I parked, I didn’t turn off the dcdc charger in the app or turn the switch off.

I’m wondering if the dcdc charger sensed my starter battery was low and maybe triggered the entire system to turn off? After power was restored, I turned off the dcdc charger via the app and it’s been good since.

Side note: there was a good lightning storm with lightning very close (within a mile) and I have no idea if that could mean anything. My dad says it was an EMP from the lightning but that seems farther (but I don’t know shit about EMPs)

ill likely add couple of tank sensors to my victron gx so ill get the gx tank unit as well

ill use 2 wire 4-20mA ill need 2 extend one of them by 30ft ill.likely use cat5 as its twisted.

Do i simply drop tye sensor in the water tank then tell the victron its a 0-3m unit and volume is 1000gal or what ever it is.

Both tanks are poly just for rain water