Our Solar/Lithium/B2B/Inverter upgrade journey

[TrudeandDall]

I'm pretty sure we get better yield with the Victron MPPT than we ever did with Votronic MPPT and the monitoring and reporting with the Victron "Smart" is far superior and the price for one big Victron was the same as two smaller Votronic, saying that though once I had the Victron app I had to have a "smart shunt" as well

Hello funflair: Did you have your Votronic connected to the starter battery as well as the Hab battery?
Votronic MPPT charge both hab and starter batteries, whereas a Victron only charges the the Hab battery, so the yield to your Hab would seem higher. When comparing the cost of Victron Vs Votronic, you also have to factor in the cost of something like a "Battery Master" to trickle the starter battery and use up some of your extra yield, for the Victron to equal the functunality of a Votronic MPPT. As always it is Horses for courses ...............

 

[Raul]

Apart from the Victron 30A B2B which gets very hot and then the output drops to 20A or less. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

I still have one of those in my van, and try to kill it so I can reason a change to the SX model. It can get very hot to touch in just over an hr, but, it won't quit. De rates the charge to about 18A and carries on.

 

[funflair]

Hello funflair: Did you have your Votronic connected to the starter battery as well as the Hab battery?
Votronic MPPT charge both hab and starter batteries, whereas a Victron only charges the the Hab battery, so the yield to your Hab would seem higher. When comparing the cost of Victron Vs Votronic, you also have to factor in the cost of something like a "Battery Master" to trickle the starter battery and use up some of your extra yield, for the Victron to equal the functunality of a Votronic MPPT. As always it is Horses for courses ...............

Fair comment, I was always a fan of the Votronic regs until I had a problem with them starting to charge in the morning, something to do with Lithium on the 420 unit I think, re starter battery yes it was connected to solar when using Votronic but I would have added a Battery Master anyway as I wanted a starter battery trickle off the Lithiums when the van was in the shed and the Votronics wouldn't do that, most of the time the Votronics are a good bit of kit to be fair and served us well on the last van but I would go Victron again just for the app and connectivity.

 

[TrudeandDall]

Fair comment, I was always a fan of the Votronic regs until I had a problem with them starting to charge in the morning, something to do with Lithium on the 420 unit I think, re starter battery yes it was connected to solar when using Votronic but I would have added a Battery Master anyway as I wanted a starter battery trickle off the Lithiums when the van was in the shed and the Votronics wouldn't do that, most of the time the Votronics are a good bit of kit to be fair and served us well on the last van but I would go Victron again just for the app and connectivity.

I believe the Votronic 420 can be an issue with LifePO4, but my 360 has no such problems. I have a Votronic 50 amp B2B, which has the trickle function when the engine is not running. So I am really happy with the Votronic kit, it doesn't matter if the sun shines or not my starter battery is always maintained.
But I do understand how good Victron kit is as I have a smart shunt.

 

[yorkiebar]

Nice upgrade
similar to mine, but also (like mine) keep in mind the shading of the roof skylights shadow when parking if open, doe smake a difference if in parralel set up

Shading impacts panels wired in series more than is the case with parallel.

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[Tombola]

Shading impacts panels wired in series more than is the case with parallel.

Sorry yes, my mistake.

I rememeber just hovering my hand over one panel on my installation , and couldn't believe how much it.dropped.

 

[funflair]

I believe the Votronic 420 can be an issue with LifePO4, but my 360 has no such problems. I have a Votronic 50 amp B2B, which has the trickle function when the engine is not running. So I am really happy with the Votronic kit, it doesn't matter if the sun shines or not my starter battery is always maintained.
But I do understand how good Victron kit is as I have a smart shunt.

Yes just seems to be the 420 but Votronic were in total denial of course, after I fitted the Battery Master I found out that our Buttner B2B had a starter trickle charge function but anyway the whole B2B is disabled when I trip the lithium master switch for longer term storage, I wired the Battery Master to the live side of the battery isolator and it's good for 6 months.

 

[JockandRita]

I'm pretty sure we get better yield with the Victron MPPT than we ever did with Votronic MPPT and the monitoring and reporting with the Victron "Smart" is far superior and the price for one big Victron was the same as two smaller Votronic, saying that though once I had the Victron app I had to have a "smart shunt" as well

I can confirm all of the above on the Flair too Martin, having done the changeover from SLA/Gel to LiFeP04, and from Votronic to Victron.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Shading impacts panels wired in series more than is the case with parallel.

I just switched my 2 x180 panels from parallel to series because the Victron controller needs a 5v difference between the solar input volts than the battery voltage. At the current sun angle I wasn't getting the 5 v difference until around 10 am and then an early shutdown well before sunset.