I thought Victron was supposed to be better?

harrisonpatm said:
Will do. And I appreciate the knowledge. I thought I was aware that the solar voltage needed to be higher than pack voltage. Now I know it needs to be higher by a bigger margin.
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It's an interesting topic....

I believe I have related issues with my trailer panels -> MPP Solar 3048LV -> 48v battery bank. The performance is often 500w out of 1200w of panels. I have 2s2p and the MPP Voltage shows right at 60-61v per MPP Solar readings and as I get >4.1v/cell * 14 = >57.4v the gap is very narrow. 61 -> 58 is only 3v difference and with fuzzy measurements it could be 1v in actuality and that's may not be enough for hi-amp charging.

I've noticed that at HI AMPs the charging voltage of my Midnite Classics -> battery can reach >2v difference per what Midnite reports and what Batrium reports. The higher voltage helps pump in hi amps.

ALSO, a small tidbit I saw for MPP Solar 3048LV is they say Panel voltage *minimum* is 60v . Not sure if your Victron has a minimum voltage you're coming close to - but it's an interesting point in that it's not just the battery voltage but the MPP Solar itself has a min voltage.
 
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I wonder if the PowMr is actually only pretending to be an MPPT and is actually use PWM? I have heard of cheap ones that manage funy business like that. PWM would be fine with that voltage gap.

It is also entirely possible that the Victron needs more voltage overhead. Generally the more components you add the more potential for voltage drop and I imagine the Victron has more smarts and protection circuits which is a good thing but could also mean the need for slightly higher solar voltage to function properly.
 
cak said:
I wonder if the PowMr is actually only pretending to be an MPPT and is actually use PWM? I have heard of cheap ones that manage funy business like that. PWM would be fine with that voltage gap.
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I suppose that's possible, though I have no way to verify for sure. Like I mentioned earlier, I was getting 90 percent efficiency on it, which might mean pwm. Also, I had mentioned that it responds to power on/off and cloud cover way way way faster that the Victron. That could mean pwm
 
All of my victron mppt controllers need at least 5v higher from the panels than the battery. If I discharge my 15s system down to low 50 volts and then hook up a single panel that runs in the low 60 volt range the victron will get as close to rated output of the panel as is possible most of the time until the battery charge comes up to the panel voltage and then it really drops off since the differential is so small. The 360w panel can't charge the bank in a full day so if it needs another day of charge it typically won't start charging the next day since the delta V is too small.
 
gpn said:
All of my victron mppt controllers need at least 5v higher from the panels than the battery.
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Mine to, and their own consumption is when it is cloudy its high, i had up to 350w a day.
 
Update: Victron very professionally sent a replacement controller, which did indeed provide higher output than the previous one. Still seeing some reduced power issues when the pack voltage gets up to 53-54v, as described earlier in the post, but also, it did seem like the previous controller was indeed somewhat malfunctioning. Now with the new controller, I'm back to seeing peaks of 450-500w.
 
Another update: in my expanding solar journey, I got lucky on my local classifieds and got 15ea 330w panels, for $100 each, to eventually put up on the roof, which will take awhile and be a part of the larger project of powering the whole house. But in the meantime, I took down the 2ea 250w panels, and replaced them in the same position with the 330w panels, which were (also luckily) the same dimensions (off by only a couple inches). At 33 Vmp each, in series, I have them connected to the Victron controller in question, and it seems to be a lot happier with the voltage difference.
 
cak said:
I wonder if the PowMr is actually only pretending to be an MPPT and is actually use PWM?
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You would see the opposite behavior if it was PWM. Great performance when input was close to output, poor performance at higher voltages.
 
Ok, so now I have 2ea Victron 100/20s in parallel, on two different strings facing two different directions. Today at 11:48, both of them stopped outputting any current. I noticed when it was happening, so I restarted them by turning off solar input, then disconnecting both from battery. Then reconnecting battery, followed by solar. They immediately started working again.

I don't know if it would have restarted and fixed itself on its own, or if it fixed itself because I restarted it. Does victron sometimes do self-updates? That's the only thing that makes sense, since I can go back into the app history and see that both controllers stopped output and have no recorded data for 10-12 minutes, starting at exactly 11:48, both of them. I also have a 3rd charge controller, a cheap PowMr, and that one kept charging (albeit not much, its string is mostly ice covered right now and facing the wrong way at the time). So I know it's just the Victrons with an issue. Has anybody else seen this happen before?

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First I would have both controllers on the same "VE" network. That way you can sync the output voltages so the controllers won't fight each other. See link below.
Wolf
Edit: they need to be Victron Smart Solar Controllers. Blue Solar Controllers don't do this out of the box.
However they can be made to work this way with some updates.
 
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If they're not on the same VE network(I don't know what that is yet, I'll have to read up), would that explain why they both "crashed" within 60 seconds of each other?
 
Its certainly possible if they were fighting each other they may have just shut down due to just the right circumstances.
Remember the SmartSolar charge controllers will allow you to set up a VE. (Victron Energy) network out of the box.
Here is how VE works. Its basically just a name that you chose for up to 10 items on the same "network".
See https://www.victronenergy.com/uploa...tworking/20723-VE_Smart_Networking-pdf-en.pdf

The BlueSolar charge controller series (less expensive) does not have this feature out of the box. But what I have read can be added with a firmware update and a bluetooth dongle.
Wolf
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I have the smart solar versions and have connected them to the same VE network, and now I'll just pay attention to them more closely to see if that happens again.

After some other online digging, it actually does seem to be some sort of crash behavior, from the sun rapidly decreasing and/or increasing. The MPPT tries to keep up, can't, and just quits. Doesn't seem to happen much, and the 2-3 accounts online I've read about seem to suggest that a restart always resets it. So not a big deal, just mildly irritating.
 
I also have 2 SmartSolar MPPT 150|60 on a VE network. My panels are facing easterly and westerly and to this day I have not had a crash with my controllers.
I did add a couple of things to give me better reporting. A raspi with the venus OS and a Smart battery sense.
www.victronenergy.com

Smart Battery Sense - Victron Energy

Improve the charging-efficiency and prolong the life of your batteries with the Smart Battery Sense. Find a dealer near you.
www.victronenergy.com www.victronenergy.com
Wolf
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cak said:
is also entirely possible that the Victron needs more voltage overhead.
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victron will only start charging +5v above battery v
below that it must have some power to feed itself. after that it will self shut off.
I had days that my victron controller "consume" up to 100w an ducking hour by them self...(times ten hours times 3 pieces....)

Mostly it depends on where you live, victron is pretty good for the country i am living in, for Australia, no, unless you change some settings.

Welcome to the world of solar mppt or pwn charges or optimisers...

You figure out your bms jet?

I am VERY happy with my victrons, suited for my countries weather.

With best regards Igor
 
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