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Old 06-24-2021, 09:32 AM   #41
Rexerito
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Added Victron and Additional Panel

I ended up replacing my Jaboni 30 Amp charge controller for a Victron Charge Controller. I added an additional 300w panel, two battleborn batteries, and remote monitoring. The residential Fridge stays on 24/7. You can see my solar details here: https://vrm.victronenergy.com/instal...4439/dashboard
 
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Old 06-24-2021, 12:25 PM   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rexerito View Post
I ended up replacing my Jaboni 30 Amp charge controller for a Victron Charge Controller. I added an additional 300w panel, two battleborn batteries, and remote monitoring. The residential Fridge stays on 24/7. You can see my solar details here: https://vrm.victronenergy.com/instal...4439/dashboard

The Victron VRM Dashboard is private. You have to have an account to view your installations.


I have the Cerbo GX and it is nice to be able to view the status of things remotely. Not to mention you can add a lot of widgets. I added the relays for autostarting my Onan when the batteries exceed a certain output current or if the state of charge drops too low. Not to mention how it integrates the inverter/charger, solar chargers, temp sensors, shunts, etc.
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Old 06-24-2021, 01:07 PM   #43
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Originally Posted by MAWilsonPE View Post
Hello Brad & Chris,

When looking to upgrade the charge controllers, I first considered two Jaboni 50amp units but they will not work with the display panel provided with the 30's, nor do they make a panel for the 50's that I could see, so that was out.

Of course, I talked to Matt about this before I did anything, just to get his take. He happened to have two Victron SmartSolar 100-50's available from some previous testing he did and offered them to me at a really good price. He mounted them on a panel, provided the breakers and lugs, and pre-wired the whole thing! The decision at that point was easy. The mounting plate he provided was bigger than I expected so my only mounting option was on top of the SSF box. You have to be pretty close to the lugs on that box to keep the wires short. See the picture below (it is getting pretty crowded in there!).

Connecting it up was pretty straight forward. I cut the solar panel feed lines going into the SSF box at the splice just outside the box (do this when it is dark, no sun, no power being generated) and was able to reach the new controllers without adding any more wire. There are two positive lugs on the SSF box. The top one is always connected to the batteries (the hydraulic slide/jacks pump and brake pump are on this circuit so they are always powered). The lower positive lug is the one that is switched from control panel inside the unit. The positive feed from the controllers is connected to the top lug. Ground to the ground lug.

I left the Jaboni controllers in place (I do not want to wrench around inside the SSF box!) so I could perhaps add more panels later and reconnect those.

If you decide on Victron, be sure to get the SmartSolar (bluetooth capable) and not the BlueSolar (not bluetooth, despite the name...). I see no reason you could not use one 100amp controller with the panels wired in parallel but I would check with Victron. I do like having a bit of redundancy.

In order to add a display and data logging capability, you have two options, purchase a Victron Cerbo GX box ($300) and a GX Touch Panel ($220)... or you could add a Raspberry Pi with touchscreen (~$150). Unfortunately, the PC version of the Victron Connect app does only what the iPhone app does, no data logging. Victron is great in that their software is open source and they have developed the Venus OS for R-Pi. It is not plug and play, and I am having some difficulty getting it working, but I love a challenge.

Although the controllers and battery monitor are bluetooth capable, I don't think I can get the data feed into the R-Pi via bluetooth (I understand Victron is working on this in a beta version). Currently, you have to use a VE Direct USB cable ($28 each). I will probably have to extend this USB cable with a boosted signal USB extender to get the display where I want it inside.

The controllers and battery monitor will communicate with one another via bluetooth so I think only one cable is needed to the R-Pi, but I haven't got that far yet. Once you have all three on the bluetooth VE network, the controllers operate in a "synchronized charging" mode, which simply means that they will both stay in the same charging mode, bulk, float, etc. You will never have one in float and one in bulk (which would happen occasionally with the Jabonis).

The bluetooth access via iPhone does provides a lot of information from the controllers such as peak daily power and total daily charge, see the second pic below (note the 613 watt peak at the right, this is for two 300 watt panels... WooHoo!!). I want minute to minute data logging so hence the effort to install the R-Pi. I will keep you posted as I work out the R-Pi bugs.

I hope this is clear and helpful, albeit a bit long and wordy....

Best, Mike

Thanks for the great writeup Mike!

I reached out to Matt, and he will be sending me the same sub panel setup as yours. I think it will be a really nice upgrade.

I appreciate your write-up and pictures on how you installed the sub panel; I think I will have similar space to install it the way you did. And, I agree, I'm not going to poke around inside the "magic solar box" on my own right now

And, thanks for the info on the R-Pi solution you are working on. Send us an update as you work through it.


All the best!

Brad
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Old 06-24-2021, 01:11 PM   #44
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Originally Posted by jetskier View Post
The Victron VRM Dashboard is private. You have to have an account to view your installations.


I have the Cerbo GX and it is nice to be able to view the status of things remotely. Not to mention you can add a lot of widgets. I added the relays for autostarting my Onan when the batteries exceed a certain output current or if the state of charge drops too low. Not to mention how it integrates the inverter/charger, solar chargers, temp sensors, shunts, etc.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

I was wondering what the Cerbo GX would do; from the online description I was thinking it was just a bridge to a cloud account. It does a lot more than that!

I have the SSF package, so it comes with the Magnum inverter/charger. Do you know, does the Cerbo only integrate with the Victron products? Or does it have a protocol that could be used to connect to other products such as the Magnum? (ok if you don't know, but I thought I would ask...)


Thanks,

Brad
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Old 06-24-2021, 01:20 PM   #45
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I have the SSF package, so it comes with the Magnum inverter/charger. Do you know, does the Cerbo only integrate with the Victron products? Or does it have a protocol that could be used to connect to other products such as the Magnum? (ok if you don't know, but I thought I would ask...)

Yes, it's designed for Victron products. I'm not aware of any protocols for "talking" between other brands. Not to mention, the 2000W Magnum that came with my "2019 solar/inverter package" is basic and only inverted. I sold it and my 2 year old 6V batteries to help recoup the cost of the Victron 12/3000/120 inverter/charger and the four BBs.
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Old 06-24-2021, 01:29 PM   #46
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Here's a screenshot of the remote VRM from the Cerbo GX. It shows most of the info from the system. The PV inverter and Generator numbers show the readings from the two AC current sensors I put on the output of the primary ATS (generator/shore power). The inverter firmware only had one option for adding the AC sensors to monitor and they show up this way. I asked support to add additional options to display it, but never heard back. The 567W is the RV fridge on electric. It's a power hog and I don't run it through the inverter. The AC sensors let me see the total load coming into the system before the inverter. The PV Charger is my 150/85 solar charger. The DC power is read from the Victron Shunt. The batteries are full so the the solar is only floating for the AC/DC loads beside the fridge.
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Old 06-24-2021, 02:11 PM   #47
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You can see other Victron Solar setups including my publicly here: https://vrm.victronenergy.com/world/

The name of my setup is Young RV - you can search for it.
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Old 06-24-2021, 02:19 PM   #48
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Originally Posted by Rexerito View Post
You can see other Victron Solar setups including my publicly here: https://vrm.victronenergy.com/world/

The name of my setup is Young RV - you can search for it.

Ahh, I see it now. I have site sharing turned off in the settings.
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Old 07-01-2021, 11:21 PM   #49
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Originally Posted by MAWilsonPE View Post
Hello Brad & Chris,

...

Of course, I talked to Matt about this before I did anything, just to get his take. He happened to have two Victron SmartSolar 100-50's available from some previous testing he did and offered them to me at a really good price. He mounted them on a panel, provided the breakers and lugs, and pre-wired the whole thing! The decision at that point was easy. The mounting plate he provided was bigger than I expected so my only mounting option was on top of the SSF box. You have to be pretty close to the lugs on that box to keep the wires short. See the picture below (it is getting pretty crowded in there!).

Connecting it up was pretty straight forward. I cut the solar panel feed lines going into the SSF box at the splice just outside the box (do this when it is dark, no sun, no power being generated) and was able to reach the new controllers without adding any more wire. There are two positive lugs on the SSF box. The top one is always connected to the batteries (the hydraulic slide/jacks pump and brake pump are on this circuit so they are always powered). The lower positive lug is the one that is switched from control panel inside the unit. The positive feed from the controllers is connected to the top lug. Ground to the ground lug.

...

Best, Mike

Mike,

Matt sent me the same kit as he sent you; can't believe it got here so fast! (I'm in Canada and it still got here in a week).

I decided to mount it to a new piece of plywood, and move the transfer switch inboard. I cut a 12"x34"x3/4" ply, mounted the transfer switch towards the center, which left room for the new Victron panel curbside. I was able to hook it up just as you described.

Dark now, and I'm parked at my house with partial shade, but will check tomorrow to see what kind of charge performance I will be getting now. A real test will be when I get it in full sun.

Thanks to you Mike for all your help, and thanks to Matt at Future Sales for the great service!


Brad
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Old 07-02-2021, 06:35 AM   #50
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Just curious what the upgrade cost is for the new controllers?
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Old 07-02-2021, 07:09 AM   #51
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I am really interested in this thread.

We also have the SSF system and the great info and research that Mike and others are doing is priceless.

Thank you all for your invaluable input.

Ron
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Old 07-26-2021, 06:11 AM   #52
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Raspberry Pi Install for Solar/Battery Monitoring

I finally got my R-Pi installed and am able to send data to the vrm.victronenergy website. I could not get the touch screen to work but decided that I do not need it anyway, I can use the touch screen as a monitor only. The Pi requires USB communication to the Victron controllers and battery monitor (bluetooth is still in Beta). I spent more on the Victron USB cables ($28 each x 3) than on the Pi ;(

Since the battery monitor is pretty far from the controllers, I used a 15' powered USB extension cable to connect it to the Pi. So far it works well. The Magnum inverter cannot talk to the Pi so all I see is battery condition and solar power. I am still playing with the data that is being recorded but I think this will be helpful in tracking my solar performance.

Best Regards, Mike
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Old 07-26-2021, 07:53 AM   #53
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Solar install

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Originally Posted by carlrx7 View Post
You can generally "over panel" a Solar Controller via wattage but NEVER Voltage.

Note: Jaboni Controller ​Max input voltage 45vDC (CANNOT USE SERIES CONNECTION)


Install the extra panel via parallel connection. Call Joboni if you have concerns.
Isn't parallel better anyway? Due to less shading concerns and I thought batteries charge faster with more voltage potential?
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Old 07-26-2021, 08:21 AM   #54
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Isn't parallel better anyway? Due to less shading concerns and I thought batteries charge faster with more voltage potential?
if the wires can handle the amps.
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