Solar power and victron DC/DC charger.

[Ian n]

Hi all I have a 280 watt solar panel running through a 20amp mppt wired direct to a new 300ah fogstar drift I also had fitted yesterday a victron Orion DC/DC charger the fitter set the parameters on the mppt and DC/DC charger to the same values, I read last night that one should be set less than the other, I will get more use out of the DC/DC charger than the solar as I live in Scotland, could someone please help as I don't have a clue what I'm doing. Thank you.

 

[Lenny HB]

A photo of your setting would help.

 

[bigtwin]

If your MPPT is a Victron unit you should be able to connect them together via the VE Smart networking feature and they will then work harmoniously together.

Ian

 

[RogerIvy]

As Ian says if you create a ve smart network on one of the chargers and then add the other chargers. To the same network the devices can then communicate with each other to synchronise their charge phase. If you don’t do this then typically one of the devices will raise the voltage and cause another to go into float too early.

 

[Raul]

Ve Smart network won't interfere or harmonise settings, the settings need to be set the same manually.
The ve network will share voltage sense and temp sense, thats about it. Only VE CAN, can overrule settings on slave controllers when settings are done on master controller. For that, you need VE CAN controllers and a GX.

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[mikash]

Ve Smart network won't interfere or harmonise settings, the settings need to be set the same manually.
The ve network will share voltage sense and temp sense, thats about it. Only VE CAN, can overrule settings on slave controllers when settings are done on master controller. For that, you need VE CAN controllers and a GX.

The charge phase and voltage are dictated by the master in Ve.Smart network too,. The reason you still need to set identical charging configuration on each device by hand is that the master is elected in random and can change on the fly.

 

[Raul]

The charge phase and voltage are dictated by the master in Ve.Smart network too,. The reason you still need to set identical charging configuration on each device by hand is that the master is elected in random and can change on the fly.

Thanks, I was not aware of that, good to know.

 

[mikash]

Thanks, I was not aware of that, good to know.

I will actually have to amend my earlier post a bit given the original context. While the ve.smart network does support synchronized charging in a master-slave setup, I don't think it'll work for the original poster because at present the Orion DC/DC-chargers don't support that feature, only the MPPT smart chargers do. It does support ve.direct DVCC so a GX DVCC setup is required if you want to sync mppt(s) and the orion.

 

[gus-lopez]

 

[ChrisL]

My Orion Smart 30 amp dc/dc charger does not support ve network at all, I don’t know if the new 50 amp one does. You might find the following video by a member here RogerIvy useful in particular the section on engine shutdown detection in order to get the maximum possible charge current.

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[AdrianChen]

I will actually have to amend my earlier post a bit given the original context. While the ve.smart network does support synchronized charging in a master-slave setup, I don't think it'll work for the original poster because at present the Orion DC/DC-chargers don't support that feature, only the MPPT smart chargers do. It does support ve.direct DVCC so a GX DVCC setup is required if you want to sync mppt(s) and the orion.

4. VE.Smart Networking Product Compatibility

www.victronenergy.com

As ever it still evolving, slowly.....

 

[AdrianChen]

My Orion Smart 30 amp dc/dc charger does not support ve network at all, I don’t know if the new 50 amp one does. You might find the following video by a member here RogerIvy useful in particular the section on engine shutdown detection in order to get the maximum possible charge current.

In part, the XS uses some data but doesn't sync the charging profile. Might be something to do with the nature of solar and the effects of clouds?