See this before buying Victron

[Bossrox]

I know many are happy with their victrons but here's details on the trouble I've had with them. It seems they may be cheapening their quality & depending on their reputation to stay afloat. 4 charger failures.

 

[A.Justice]

I find it highly irregular that four separate "Tier 1" solar charge controllers failed on your watch. I've had nothing but good luck with Victron, and I really haven't heard many other complaints on here either.

 

[time2roll]

A bit short on specifics. I call operator error.

 

[Jennifer]

My Victron MPPT 250/100 and RS 450/200 and several of their inverters, cerbo, BMV etc have all been running flawless for years.

You need to:
1: Step back from the electrical work before you burn your house down (Mr. I'm an electrician yet has a problem inserting cable without allowing strands to bunch up due to wrong gauge and lack of ferrules, and calls a chicken scratch cartoon a "block diagram").
2: Stop disparaging companies before you find yourself in court for reputational damage.
3: Be grateful they took back the two you already burned up.
4: Get back on the grid, it's safer for you there.

Have a good day.
Jennifer

 

[740GLE]

Boom roasted

“There’s nothing wrong with this wiring”

My best guess is VOC, those growatt are what 250v? Vs 150v of those victrons.

 

[Supervstech]

Let’s see your PV array arrangement, and all settings on the victron.

You certainly need to be using ferrells at least have a battery disconnect so you don’t need to pull the cables on the controller.

Your diagram of the wiring doesn’t show how everything is connected. Can we see pictures?
Are you using a bussbar arrangement?

 

[chrisski]

I’m a bit skeptical. I did not watch the whole video. Bringing the item up on Amazon had a couple of complaints that the vendor provided a lesser model, the 85 amp version, and claimed false advertising. I suspect this could be on the vendor not victron. More than likely, this is a different vendor.

I would like to see the whole setup before condemning Victron, so until then I’m skeptical.

I consider the MPPT SCCs Victron’s flagship product, and I have no complaints about the 100/50/, 100/30, And 75/15 I own.

Some of the other accessories are not quite what I consider built to the same standards. Some of the other items like the Orion 70 amp converter I own are lacking in documentation and I would like to see a couple of design improvements, but still better than anything else I found. Another converter they sell looks like a direct copy of what you can purchase elsewhere, with the same specs, except the casing color was changed To VictronBlue and their logo added.

need to be using ferrells

Victron wants you to use many stranded wires, not ferells according to their bigger SCC manual

 

[Supervstech]

I’m a bit skeptical. I did not watch the whole video. Bringing the item up on Amazon had a couple of complaints that the vendor provided a lesser model, the 85 amp version, and claimed false advertising. I suspect this could be on the vendor not victron. More than likely, this is a different vendor.

I would like to see the whole setup before condemning Victron, so until then I’m skeptical.

I consider the MPPT SCCs Victron’s flagship product, and I have no complaints about the 100/50/, 100/30, And 75/15 I own.

Some of the other accessories are not quite what I consider built to the same standards. Some of the other items like the Orion 70 amp converter I own are lacking in documentation and I would like to see a couple of design improvements, but still better than anything else I found. Another converter they sell looks like a direct copy of what you can purchase elsewhere, with the same specs, except the casing color was changed To VictronBlue and their logo added.


Victron wants you to use many stranded wires, not ferells according to their bigger SCC manual
View attachment 91464

Do you know what a ferrule is? It is a cover that surrounds fine strand cable ends to allow easy reinsertion, and tidy strand protection.

 

[rcrracer]

Do you know what a ferrule is? It is a cover that surrounds fine strand cable ends to allow easy reinsertion, and tidy strand protection.

I thought the three images were showing how flexible they wanted the wire to be, thereby reducing strain on the terminals. The images having nothing to do with ferrules. If this is correct, I wonder about the wire type differences in the center and right image. Wire on right even more flexible than the center wire? Wire on right less likely than the center wire to have stray strands if a ferrule isn't used? Wild guesses.

 

[chrisski]

Do you know what a ferrule is? It is a cover that surrounds fine strand cable ends to allow easy reinsertion, and tidy strand protection.

Intent is to have the wire crushed as flat as possible for good contact area, which is not what a ferrule is intended to do. This is the rest of what victron says in the larger MPPT manual:


Do you think a ferrule should be used or do you think a fine stranded wire like they state in the manual for his controller? Not trying to be argumentative, I think you do this stuff for a living and I don’t.

 

[timselectric]

A fine strand conductor, is always better.
A ferrule, makes it convenient for re inserting multiple times.
But, it does make a less conductive connection.
(Depending on the type of terminal)
Terminals with a round opening, and a set screw. Don't lose as much surface area contact, with a ferrule.
Square type Terminals, with a clamping type connection. Lose a lot of surface area contact, with a ferrule.
So, you have to decide between the best possible connection, and convenience.

 

[Zwy]

Boom roasted

“There’s nothing wrong with this wiring”

My best guess is VOC, those growatt are what 250v? Vs 150v of those victrons.

The GW look to be a SC 4860 which are 150VOC. Same as the Victron. https://growattinverters.com/Off-Grid-Storage-Inverters/44-613.html

But yes, I would like to see the specs for the PV panels and what arrangement he is using.

Edit: This is a SC4880 and is rated for 250VOC input.

 

[A.Justice]

There's also multiple ways to crimp ferrules. Different crimped shapes fit better into different terminals. I would imagine that it's important to match the shapes.



I've also seen flat on top, and half-circle on the bottom ones, similar to the 6-5 above (but without the 'butt" on the bottom) which seem best for the rounded terminals in (my specific) victron units.

I use ferrules on all data and sensor connections, as well as low(er) amperage stuff. But the wires going into my SCC are fine strand, 10 awg, without ferrules. They never get removed (Anderson connector up the line), so I figured that the strands would make a better connection than the ferrules would, in that specific case.

If I have to disconnect a bare stranded wire from a terminal at work, I cut the wire to get a new section, re-strip, then re-insert. It's definitely not best practice to re-twist the same section of wire.

 

[Zwy]

Original rant was here: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/j...mp-chargers-to-replace-failed-victrons.34647/

 

[Zwy]

I know many are happy with their victrons but here's details on the trouble I've had with them. It seems they may be cheapening their quality & depending on their reputation to stay afloat. 4 charger failures.

Please expand upon your PV array with specs and how many panels is series and parallel. Not quite clear here: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/j...-to-replace-failed-victrons.34647/post-433211

 

[Zwy]

Did some digging for more info, found this: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/signature-solar-wed-site-change.36689/post-464034

As you have a SC4880 MPV, it is rated for 250VOC and not the 150VOC the Victron 150/100 is rated for. Most likely, your PV VOC during colder weather exceeded the 150V Absolute VOC rating Victron is quite specific shown on the datasheet.

 

[willo]

The lack of installation details really is a problem here. I too would suspect that this is an over-voltage issue. As @Zwy noted, cold weather causes higher voltage output from PV panels. This has to be accounted for in PV installs. We're all certainly interested in failures, but with no real details it really doesn't do much good.

 

[Supervstech]

A fine strand conductor, is always better.
A ferrule, makes it convenient for re inserting multiple times.
But, it does make a less conductive connection.
(Depending on the type of terminal)
Terminals with a round opening, and a set screw. Don't lose as much surface area contact, with a ferrule.
Square type Terminals, with a clamping type connection. Lose a lot of surface area contact, with a ferrule.
So, you have to decide between the best possible connection, and convenience.

On large cables such as #2AWG a ferrule is not crimped ahead of time, the cable ferrule combo is inserted uncrimped, and the lug crushes the cable properly.
Providing maximum contact surface.

 

[Supervstech]

Nothing in any of the victron instruction sheets indicate a preference for or against ferrules.

 

[timselectric]

I use ferrules on communications and signal wires.
Never on current carrying conductors.
Prefer a compression lug, bolted connection when possible. But, mechanical lugs are more commonly supplied with some equipment.