Horsefly
Solar Wizard
I'm helping someone migrate from AGM house batteries to a couple of DIY 4s 280Ah batteries that I'm building for him. In the process, he is getting rid of lots of very old equipment that is not compatible with LFP. Although I don't have much experience with Victron, I told him I thought it was probably the best choice, so he is going all-in on Victron. So now I need to control this monster I seem to have created. I'm hoping some folks here with Victron experience can weigh in on a couple of questions.
So far his shopping list includes:
Besides the LFP house battery, he will have two other battery banks: a single 100Ah AGM starter battery, and 2 parallel 100Ah AGMs for the bow thruster and windlass. Both of these banks will be charged via DC-to-DC chargers from the LFP battery. The LFP battery will be charged from shore, solar, a 100A Balmar alternator with a Balmar MC-618 regulator (programmed for LFP), and maybe wind in the future.
Questions:
So far his shopping list includes:
- Multiplus II 2000w inverter with 80A charger
- Cerbo GX and GX Touch screen
- 2 x SmartSolar MPPT 100/30 charge controllers
- A bunch of other stuff to manage the connection to his alternator (Balmar stuff, mostly)
Besides the LFP house battery, he will have two other battery banks: a single 100Ah AGM starter battery, and 2 parallel 100Ah AGMs for the bow thruster and windlass. Both of these banks will be charged via DC-to-DC chargers from the LFP battery. The LFP battery will be charged from shore, solar, a 100A Balmar alternator with a Balmar MC-618 regulator (programmed for LFP), and maybe wind in the future.
Questions:
- I would assume that if I wire all this stuff together on the VE.bus, the Multiplus charger and MPPTs can use the voltage sense from the SmartShunts to know the actual voltage at the batteries, and that I don't need a Smart Battery Sense. True?
- Will the Cerbo and Touch screen know what to do with two SmartShunts?
- Alternatively for #1 and #2, he is willing to get a BMV-712 Battery Monitor, which I suppose I would put across the two LFP batteries to give a combined status, like it was one 560Ah battery. If the answer to #1 and #2 is yes (that the two SmartShunt's will suffice), I'll tell him to skip the BMV-712.
- I assume we will buy Victron DC-to-DC chargers, but I haven't looked at that. Do these also talk to the Cerbo?