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January 2025. Amazon has really good prices on Victron components right now.

R

Rexracer

New Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2024
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38
Location
Western CT
Been looking at some equipment, and it looks like now is a good time to buy Victron on Amazon. Prices seem to be the best on the web from reliable vendors. Hope it lasts for a bit.

Edit: also noticed that the Wattcycle 100ah mini is only $169. Love mine, and it is small. Will opened up the non-mini version. Would love to see the inside of this one. I'm assuming it's very similar, but...
 
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Given the wattcycle 300ah mini fiasco, actually 280ah and clearance issues, I dunno...did you runa full capacity test?

For victron i wouldn't buy any of the more expensive components anywhere but currentconnected.com... the small shunt or cheaper stuff fine, but the spendy stuff the double warranty and real person support if needed is worth the shipping. Victron prices are set at corporate and dealers can't discount
 
For Victron it's fine only in case You can follow the instructions and have experience enough to avoid situations when support or warranty will be needed. Have some first hand experience - please, read the Amazon warranty policies first.
The skill level and willingness to help of most Victron dealers could be worth more than the the money difference in case You need help.
 
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People are starting to drop non-sale prices well below Victron's Minimum Advertised Price, so they're doing the "see price in cart" nonsense to hide it. They must be feeling the heat from all the cheap MPPT and fake-MPPT chinesium.

And yeah, agreed there's a sweet spot for victron stuff on the premium low-end. There's cheaper options for super-budget milk crates, and they can't compete against the AiOs, but they're just right for the 1-2kW shed/boat build.
 
Sadly I don't see the MultiPlus 12/1200/50-16 120V that I'll be wanting to get, eventually. So I put a camelcamelcamel alert in, so I'll see if price ever goes down.
 
I always seem to use:
www.amazon.com

Victron Energy

The professional choice for independent electric power.
www.amazon.com
When I had a problem Amazon referred me to Victron, who looped in https://top-powersports.com/ who then sent me a new MPPT.
I've continued to order from the Amazon store above, but haven't had any more hardware problems or support needs.

I was honestly pleasantly surprised at how well the support process worked given the number of potential issues with random Amazon sellers, but these guys are apparently official, legit, and supportive.
 
I've never had a problem with Amazon, especially when dealing with a name brand from their branded Amazon store. Anyway, just received my TR- Smart, Isolated 12/12-30 dc-dc charger. Just need to figure our where to mount it in my JKU. Suggestions? I may make a small duct and blow a fan through the fins on the bottom while it runs.

Should it be close to the starter battery, and run wire to the Lifepo4, or is it better to run wire from the starter battery to the charger, and have it close to the lifepo4? I have enough 4awg wire to run from the starter battery to the floor under/behind the back seat. Not sure of wire size needed for either run, though I imagine the charging wire to the lifepo4 only needs a max of 6-8 AWG for 30 amps. I have 30 ft of 8AWG, 600v 105c and 30ft of marine tinned copper 4AWG 600v 105c wire on hand.
 
Since it's 12v to 12v, kinda a wash. If you have the option for larger size wires, I'd go for that. 10awg is probably fine, 8awg if you've already got it.

Sounds like you have 8awg and 4awg, if you're only going to use what you have on hand, if you can run 8awg the full distance both legs do it, otherwise plan for 4awg for the longer run, and 8awg for the shorter run.

In terms of location, RV? Van? If you can, have it vented, probably don't need a fan unless you're anticipating you'll be doing ~30a for quite some time. Probably fine without it if you have sufficient room above & below for ambient air to create a current. If it's pretty enclosed in a cabinet or something, as long as you have some vent space at the top/bottom, a fan blowing from the bottom up will help if it'll be running at peak for quite some time.
 
Drizzt321 said:
Since it's 12v to 12v, kinda a wash. If you have the option for larger size wires, I'd go for that. 10awg is probably fine, 8awg if you've already got it.

Sounds like you have 8awg and 4awg, if you're only going to use what you have on hand, if you can run 8awg the full distance both legs do it, otherwise plan for 4awg for the longer run, and 8awg for the shorter run.

In terms of location, RV? Van? If you can, have it vented, probably don't need a fan unless you're anticipating you'll be doing ~30a for quite some time. Probably fine without it if you have sufficient room above & below for ambient air to create a current. If it's pretty enclosed in a cabinet or something, as long as you have some vent space at the top/bottom, a fan blowing from the bottom up will help if it'll be running at peak for quite some time.
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It's a Jeep Wrangler JKU (4 door). The system is portable and will be stored in the Jeep, and hooked up when parked and camping. Battery will charge when driving, but nothing other than the charger will be permanently mounted in the jeep at this point. It will never be hooked up to shore power. While traveling the lifepo4 will probably ride on the floor in the rear footwell, or the back hatch behind the rear seat. I was thinking of mounting the charger under the rear seat on the floor. The floor here is at about 45 degrees. Firewall was another possibility, either inside (preferred) or out. I think there's room behind the glove box.
 
Rexracer said:
It's a Jeep Wrangler JKU (4 door). The system is portable and will be stored in the Jeep, and hooked up when parked and camping. Battery will charge when driving, but nothing other than the charger will be permanently mounted in the jeep at this point. It will never be hooked up to shore power. While traveling the lifepo4 will probably ride on the floor in the rear footwell, or the back hatch behind the rear seat. I was thinking of mounting the charger under the rear seat on the floor. The floor here is at about 45 degrees. Firewall was another possibility, either inside (preferred) or out. I think there's room behind the glove box.
Click to expand...
Ah, gotcha. I'd put in an appropriate XT60 or Anderson 50a quick connect with a battery switch in between. I'd also add an applicable fuse inline from the battery to the Orion. Probably don't need to go crazy, an inline 30-35a ATC fuse is probably just fine, as a safety.

You'll probably want a fuse before the battery as well. Put together some kind of shell for the battery with some handles to get it in and out? And the input/output that you connect, with the fuse and perhaps main switch inside, and the quick connect for the charger flips inside, and then there's a spot to open the top, flip it out, put the top back down?
 
Crowz said:
I had a victron battery charger that died I had bought off amazon and the seller paid me money to go away :) Better than nothing I guess.
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Did that slow you down in terms of buying victron thru amazon?

Key is make sure it's "sold by" pike or invertersrus even if it ships from Amazon then no drama for support. Personally i find the member log in discount at current connected usually covers the otherwise "free shipping" and then no tax for solar gear in NY whereas amazon charges.
 
Brucey said:
Did that slow you down in terms of buying victron thru amazon?

Key is make sure it's "sold by" pike or invertersrus even if it ships from Amazon then no drama for support. Personally i find the member log in discount at current connected usually covers the otherwise "free shipping" and then no tax for solar gear in NY whereas amazon charges.
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Oh hell no. I must own them all thru amazon !
 
I got the second one for $622 or something before the 11% coupon amazon offered so it was even cheaper.

The first one didn't have a coupon when I bought it last week.
 
Crowz said:
I got the second one for $622 or something before the 11% coupon amazon offered so it was even cheaper.

The first one didn't have a coupon when I bought it last week.
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Will you stop at two or keep going? Three isnt balanced so I guess next step is 4? :)
 
Brucey said:
Will you stop at two or keep going? Three isnt balanced so I guess next step is 4? :)
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Well I will need 10 in the long run realistically. I'm powering two houses and a crypto mining farm :)

The two I have now should be enough until I get some other things done. Its all catch up work constantly. I up the charge capability so I need to up the panels to run it. Then I need to up the battery bank size to store it then its back to charge controllers.

The crypto stuff just needs the panels, charge controllers and inverters increased since I very seldom add batteries to it. Its a power failure protection feature and not a runtime feature.

Never ends and to be honest I really don't want it to end. It gives me something to do and at my age I need something I can actually do to keep life interesting :)

Heck I've been out in the workshop most of the night building battery monitor boxes for my cars and mowers.
 
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