Search results

Spare MPPT I've had on the shelf for a bit. Still taped up in the original plastic/box. $200 picked up or how about $220 shipped ground in the US. In Lafayette, CO

After lots lessons learned, I figured I'd talk about my latest build changes in my 46 foot sailboat. #1: 24V Inverter/solar battery pack. The solar pack is a ~600Ah 24v lifepo4 pack. Its managed by a REC Q BMS, which talks canbus to my victron Cerbo. The REC has a pre-charge controller with a...

I have a few Orions actually. I have one Orion JR2 BMS that I purchased new earlier last year. It's been on my boat on the hard in Florida, and the DB9 has some lovely surface rust on it. I am replacing it with a REC BMS that'll work better with my victron gear and wakespeed controller. The BMS...

I've gone through a pile of solenoids in my safety cutoff quests. Here's my list of successes and failures. Specifically, I've been working with Victron Multiplus and Quattro Inverters on 24v LifePO4 packs. On the BMS side, I've been using an Electrodacus SBMS0 and an OrionJR 2 BMS. The average...

Warning - I was partly stupid here, but was also able to mitigate some issues... So my camper build suffered a couple of deep discharges thanks to some service dweebs. (An unswitched load and the camper being parked in a service bay with no power for a couple of weeks.) The result was one cell...

I'm just starting to dig into the idea of a custom panel build. What do I mean? Well, I've got this: Which I've built using finished nidacore panels. It's the new hard bimini for my sailboat. It rocks in at 8 ft by 12 ft! I've got three 550 watt panels I was planning to stick on here. I'll end...

So I've got my 915Ah pack with OrionJr2 BMS sorted and working with my Cerbo GX, Quattro and MPPTs. Once I finish my new hard bimini I'll get my 530w panels up. I'm still a little torn on either 2 or 3. At this point I just want to see the end of the tunnel! As a bonus, I decided to upgrade my...

3x are in fantastic condition. The third has some surface corrosion but it is still useful. The balance connector on that one got trashed so I pop riveted new leads to the pack. The other three still have tesla bms boards installed. Location: Black Hawk, Colorado. Can meet within 50 miles or so...

I've been using Victron 24/12 converters pretty happily in both my systems. However, on my boat I've noticed an interesting squealing sound from the converter that's created when my fridge compressor kicks on. The compressor is a danfoss type but it is at least a decade old. This is the style...

So I am trying to figure out the best way to handle bilge pump power. I have a large LifePO4 House bank and a pair of AGMs. Originally, I was thinking of having three pumps run off my LifePO4 house bank and a fourth that runs from one of my AGM engine cells. I've been working on adding discharge...

I've been futzing around with how to build the pack in my sailboat. I had the idea to use copper 101 bus bars last time, but trying to drill them in a decent manner without my drill press (Boat is 2600miles from my house) was painful. I didn't like the results. So, I'm doing round 2 and I am...

OK, I put 16x EVE cells in my camper last year, cost was around $1700 delivered. Am still very happy with them at that price. I just got new quotes and am looking at $2422 for 16x of the current 280s. Ouch, I was hoping to go 32x for a bit over 3k, not nearly 5k. So, is this still the best...

The boat? 1973 Ericson 46. It. Is. Yuge. Currently, it has an older Xantrex 2000w inverter/charger. Sadly, It doesn't support lithium charging profiles. Here's what I'm leaning toward: Multiplus 12/3000 (110v) Inverter Charger. (May add a 230v auto transformer on the input later on) I have a...

Anyone played with nema2k data and a raspberry pi running the victron image? If so, then how are us using it and is it very useful? I'm trying to come up with some sort of data strategy for monitoring things on a boat while I'm far away from it.

So I learned that ultrasonic antifouling systems exist yesterday and of course, I immediately searched for transducers - they seem cheap enough in the 50-100w range. I'm thinking that this could be an opportunity for my DIY side to have some fun. Since this would definitely run off solar, it's...

Anyone have arguments for/against various cell manufacturers for a sailboat build? I'm just getting into basic planning but... I'm totally buying a boat! (76 41' Morgan OI if all goes well!) Edit: OK my question wasn't formatted well at all. In particular I'm certain I'll build another lifepo4...

Anyone have good numbers for marine air A/C units? I'm wondering about start-up draw - aka soft start needed and overall loads. I'm just napkin drawing systems in my head for the future sailboat and this kind of data would be lovely. Cheers.

I'm considering investing in some plastic welding gear and offering battery boxes made of starboard. Would that be of interest to folks here? I'm trying to decide if I should invest in higher end (ultrasonic) welding or just the plain old heat method. It would be nice to come up with something...

Got a little laugh at this: https://www.yachtingworld.com/features/crew-sv-delos-self-sustainable-yacht-126173 They referenced using a Victron BMS for their lithium batteries... Except that they are actually using Transporter Energy 12v lifepo4s (which has built in BMS) At the end they have a...

I'm eyeballing sailboats. I definitely have the bug. Getting the wife onboard is a different project... Anyhow, I'm looking for the BEST solar panel sailboat setups that you've seen. Some examples: The "cute people" (aka Gone with the Wynns) have a really nice cat (probably not going there...

Today I kicked of a test of my system with a few ideas in mind. Discharge testing of my new 14Kwh battery pack Energy consumption and offset when using my Absorption fridge Getting used to the discharge numbers and behavior of my new pack Evaluate just how off-grid I can be with the current...

After this weekends upgrades, I need to do a little bit of wiring cleanup. Before I really dig into that, I wanted to evaluate how things are working. It's been a beautiful day, about 70 outside. I ran one of my A/C units for about an hour just to really give things a chance to heat up.... and...

I'm plotting a new shed. I'm thinking of making it a full on solar shed. Here's what I'm thinking. A custom 14x8 shed with a 12 foot interior ceiling height, with a 35 degree roof. Lowest point being 8ft from the ground. For the diagram, I added a 1 foot overhang to each side, but could add...

OK, I'm working on the code for my custom controller. It's designed to integrate controls over inverter/charger/12v/battery heating/etc. I'm looking at a few modes but wanted to kick of some discussion specifically on battery charge management. I fully realize that SOC isn't known by pack...

Got a request for info, so I figured I'd bring this over here. I use a bunch of victron bits in my RV now and have added a raspberry pi running the victron venus image and I have a second pi that rocks a 4g card to provide internets. First up, the Internet Pi: This is a Pi 3+ that has a sixfab...

So I've been playing with keeping my 12/24v Dometic CFX95 cooler/freezer running in my camper. (I tend to make a pizza for lunch when I'm working on it in storage) First run, I had both sides of the cooler set to freezer mode - something like 0f. I was seeing quite a bit of draw, to the point...

Looking for ideas on a dc-dc charger for my ebike. I'll probably stick with an ac-dc unit for my own sanity but wanted to kick the idea around. Bike has a huge pack - 48ah at 72v. The battery in my camper is a 14kwh pack at 24v. I have plenty of inverter but hey...

I grabbed some footage of my PV layout the other day. Figured I'd share. Right now, I'm using 12 100w rich solar poly panels (yeah, the ones reviewed by Wil in one of his comparison vids) As you can see, the main line of 9, fits really nicely, although that antenna can cause shading. I should...

Just figured I'd note some data. It's hard to guess at efficiency through the year! Today, cloud cover was measured at 0-1%. My Camper with1200 watts of poly flat mounted panels is down below, a bit north of Golden. My system was down a bit, due to my use of power the other day and a day of...

So I'm part way through building my new battery packs, including RV water tank heating pads and insulation. I'm going to build a heat controller to run the heating pads, and am just starting to rough out the logic. After some consideration, I think that I'll end up building a full on power/data...

OK, so just got thinking a bit when I noticed that newpowa 100w flexibles are $100 each. My fifth wheel has a huge kitchen slideout that's all solid on the back side. I was thinking of adding some 4-6 flexibles to that side of the camper. Some reasons for this - when it snows in storage, my...

Allrighty, I've been making changes to my rig after using it all summer/fall. I figured this may be handy for anyone going the big camper solar route. My rig is a 37 foot Montana High Country 5th wheel camper. I'll try to keep this all electrically related for the moment. The house battery: My...

So I'm just planning out my battery box builds for the new pack. After doing some winter camping with a crappy shore feed, I knew I had to add some battery heating for the new build. My batteries live in the unheated compartment of my 5th wheel camper.... The Batteries: 16x 280ah Lifepo4 cells...

Just pondering here. When camping I usually get a 50 amp two phase power circuit. (ok, Glamping) Sometimes I only get a single phase 15 or 30 amp feed. The Victron Multiplus supports hybrid mode - adding solar feed to the shore feed. Would I still get dual phase from the pair of them when both...

OK, if Alibaba ever processes my card - I specifically used a CC in case of disputes, etc, than I've gone for the following: 16x 280Ah cells. https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/3-2V-280Ah-Lithium-Ion-Battery_62585177205.html Which ended up at $1660 + a $48.97 processing fee for a total of...