Schaudt LR218 swap for Victron

[Alanf75]

Looking at the system in our new to us van I can see we have a Schaudt LR1218 which is wired into the EBL119. The cable into the LR1218 appears to relatively thin (in terms of normal PV cable) double core flex. If I swap the LR1218 for a Victron smart 75/10 or 75/15 will I still be OK to use this cable as the PV feed into the controller? The second question would be should I wire the new controller through the EBL as per the Schaudt or go directly to the battery? I don't think the cab battery connections are present from the LR to the EBL. The ultimate goal is a LiFePO4 battery upgrade and I have read that the LR1218 is a single stage charger which may not be ideal for Lithium so changing it seems like a logical upgrade. I'm also planning on adding significantly more solar than the current 100W but plan on running this via a different Victron MPPT as the panels will be bigger and I don't want the original panel throttling the performance.

 

[1967bowesj]

Looking at the system in our new to us van I can see we have a Schaudt LR1218 which is wired into the EBL119. The cable into the LR1218 appears to relatively thin (in terms of normal PV cable) double core flex. If I swap the LR1218 for a Victron smart 75/10 or 75/15 will I still be OK to use this cable as the PV feed into the controller? The second question would be should I wire the new controller through the EBL as per the Schaudt or go directly to the battery? I don't think the cab battery connections are present from the LR to the EBL. The ultimate goal is a LiFePO4 battery upgrade and I have read that the LR1218 is a single stage charger which may not be ideal for Lithium so changing it seems like a logical upgrade. I'm also planning on adding significantly more solar than the current 100W but plan on running this via a different Victron MPPT as the panels will be bigger and I don't want the original panel throttling the performance.



View attachment 1040669

Depends really on the size and output of your solar array and are you planning to upgrade that?

 

[tonka]

I used to have the LR1218 as it was fitted when we bought the van, I did change to a Votronic MPPT going through the EBL. made a slight difference but I was always unsure on the performance of the two panels already in place.
After my DIY lithium upgrade last year I fitted the Victron 100/30 and went straight to the leisure batteries, changed the solar panels to two new 170w ones as well. Made a world of difference..
I also added a CBE battery maintainer ( like a battery master but cheaper). This keeps the engine battery topped up. The van sat on my drive from October to February with all batteries fully topped up.

 

[Alanf75]

The new panels I'm adding are going through a separate controller so don't really figure in this. I'm going to keep the current panel and I want to change the controller for just this current panel. It is 100w. I've already got a battery master do don't need connections to starter. If I get a Victron (I'm thinking most of the other kit will be Victron) can I run it through the EBL or am I better just going direct to battery with that also?

 

[Lenny HB]

Always better going direct to the battery, you will lose about 5 % going via the EBL.

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[Alanf75]

Thanks for the responses so far. I think bypassing the EBL seems sensible here. With that in mind I assume then that I can continue to use the current solar feed cables (as per image) into the new controller and then run new cables direct to battery? Controller to battery will be between front seats so what sized cable (it's a 100W panel only here)?

 

[Peavy]

If you have a decent control panel, could be interesting to keep it through the EBL, as it's simplier to just see how your solar is doing
(I have the Victron through the EBL as my Adria panel goes through CI-BUS an displays voltage and consumption).
If not, you're good straight to the battery, as others have said (remember placing fuses in the circuit).
As for the cables, now that you're upgrading, I'd upgrade them too, as they aren't the best suited for solar power.
I'd use a 6 mm² cross section (from the solar panel to the regulator and from the regulator to the battery).

 

[tonka]

I went straight to the leisure batteries and added a smart shunt for monitoring.
My control panel still functions with showing battery levels. I expected it not to but it does..

 

[Lenny HB]

Cables look like only 1.5mm2, you would be better changing the cables to the panel for 4mm2 same with controller to battery. If you are going to fit more panels, 6mm2 cable is not much dearer.

 

[Alanf75]

I've got 6mm2 cable for the new panels I'm going to fit just wondering if it's a necessity to change the cables on this one panel as that is deemed suitable by Burstner and is working OK in current setting. From what I can see changing the cable from panel to controller could be a challenging task so would prefer to keep them unless it's absolutely necessary.

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[tonka]

I ran new cables to the leisure battery area when i installed the victron MPPT.
Is there any reason why you are not going to join the old panel to the new one up on the roof ? Or even swop out the old panel and fit either 1 bigger wattage panel or 2 new ones.. As an example i have 2 x 170w Ecoworthy panels on an ebay deal for £112.. There are lots of other deals around.. If you have space and weight allowance there are some domestic panels at cheap prices..

The old panels, controller and battery from my upgrade are all on my man shed running the lighting.

 

[Lenny HB]

I've got 6mm2 cable for the new panels I'm going to fit just wondering if it's a necessity to change the cables on this one panel as that is deemed suitable by Burstner and is working OK in current setting. From what I can see changing the cable from panel to controller could be a challenging task so would prefer to keep them unless it's absolutely necessary.

Those aren't Burster cables they are standard mains flex that has been fitted locally.
If you are fitting additional panels the 5% loss on the 100 watt panel won't worry you.

Are you fitting 2 separate controllers?
If you are parallelling the panels into one controller you are it is best if the on load voltage of both panels are closely matched I like them to be ½ a volt or less. If you are doing that I would join the panels on the roof with MC4 couplers and get rid of the 1.5mm2 cables.

 

[Alanf75]

I've got an additonal 3 195W panels which are going to go through a Victron 100/50 smart solar controller which will be completly seperate from the current 100w panel. I don't want to mess about removing this original panel so just plan on leaving it there, but with a LiFePO4 battery in the coming months I don't want to retain the LR1218 charge controller with this panel. Hence asking about the change. Hopefully that all makes sense.

 

[Lenny HB]

You have probably enough solar not to worry about losses but with that amount of panels you would be better using 10mm2 cable.