ronnietucker Posted March 18, 2022 Report Share Posted March 18, 2022 Hi all! I have a 240V/16A (shore power) coming into the boat. It goes through a Victron unit which controls the 3 leisure batteries (wired positive to positive) and 1 starter battery. I'm thinking of adding a solar panel to the boat. Normally, I would put the solar panel to the controller then to the first leisure battery. Would this confuse the Victron, or is that the done thing with Victron units? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtB Posted March 18, 2022 Report Share Posted March 18, 2022 28 minutes ago, ronnietucker said: Hi all! I have a 240V/16A (shore power) coming into the boat. It goes through a Victron unit which controls the 3 leisure batteries (wired positive to positive) and 1 starter battery. I'm thinking of adding a solar panel to the boat. Normally, I would put the solar panel to the controller then to the first leisure battery. Would this confuse the Victron, or is that the done thing with Victron units? Thanks! I think you need to tell the board which Victron unit you have, exactly. a photo of it would do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quattrodave Posted March 18, 2022 Report Share Posted March 18, 2022 (edited) As MtB said... really need to know what you already have, I'm hoping it's a Victron charger of some sort, Blue Smart Charger or Phoenix Charger. If it is then I'd add a Victron Blue Solar/Smart Solar, suitably sized for your panels. Link the 2 units with VE Smart Network and they'll talk to each other... Edit. While your at it, consider adding a Battery Protect to prevent from overly discharging your batteries... Edited March 18, 2022 by Quattrodave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUMPY Posted March 19, 2022 Report Share Posted March 19, 2022 All charging sources and discharge loads should be connected across all of the leisure batteries not just to the first one. http://smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnietucker Posted March 20, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2022 On 18/03/2022 at 20:30, MtB said: I think you need to tell the board which Victron unit you have, exactly. a photo of it would do. My bad. It's a Phoenix Multiplus 12V 1600VA 70A. Photo attached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtB Posted March 20, 2022 Report Share Posted March 20, 2022 10 minutes ago, ronnietucker said: My bad. It's a Phoenix Multiplus 12V 1600VA 70A. Photo attached. Thanks for the photo. I've no idea what that is, I'm a 12V boater! Over to the others.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUMPY Posted March 20, 2022 Report Share Posted March 20, 2022 That's what I use with 3 x 110ah leisure batteries. My 500w of solar panels is connected via an Epever MPPT controller direct to the batteries. The charge voltages on the Victron are set 0.1 v lower than those on the MPPT so the Victron only charges when there is no sun. When we are not on the boat the Victron is switched off and the solar just does its job. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reg Posted March 20, 2022 Report Share Posted March 20, 2022 27 minutes ago, Loddon said: That's what I use with 3 x 110ah leisure batteries. My 500w of solar panels is connected via an Epever MPPT controller direct to the batteries. The charge voltages on the Victron are set 0.1 v lower than those on the MPPT so the Victron only charges when there is no sun. When we are not on the boat the Victron is switched off and the solar just does its job. Ditto. Works well for me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnietucker Posted March 20, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2022 28 minutes ago, Loddon said: That's what I use with 3 x 110ah leisure batteries. My 500w of solar panels is connected via an Epever MPPT controller direct to the batteries. The charge voltages on the Victron are set 0.1 v lower than those on the MPPT so the Victron only charges when there is no sun. When we are not on the boat the Victron is switched off and the solar just does its job. Thanks. Sounds like we have very similar setups. I also have 3 x 12V leisure batteries. Dunno if I'll go as much as 500W of solar, but I'll definitely be giving it a looksy. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col_T Posted March 20, 2022 Report Share Posted March 20, 2022 On 18/03/2022 at 20:00, ronnietucker said: Normally, I would put the solar panel to the controller then to the first leisure battery. I think you may want to connect the solar charge controller to the leisure battery, and only then connect the solar panel(s) to the charge controller. It's to do with charge controllers needing to know what voltage they're connecting to before getting solar input, apparently. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnietucker Posted March 23, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2022 (edited) When I'm connecting the controller to the batteries: I know I put the red on the first battery positive but the black (negative)? Does it matter which battery I put the negative on? First battery? Last battery? Batteries are in parallel to have four batteries at 12V. Edited March 23, 2022 by ronnietucker clarification of voltage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEngo Posted March 23, 2022 Report Share Posted March 23, 2022 In an absolutely ideal world, it does not matter. In the real world, "last" battery or arranged so the total of the number of positive steps from the main cable to any battery plus the number of negative steps from the main cable to any battery is the same for every battery. Even then most folks do not notice if they have a less than perfect set up. There are some diagrams on Gibbo's website and someone will be along with a linky. N 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUMPY Posted March 23, 2022 Report Share Posted March 23, 2022 13 minutes ago, BEngo said: There are some diagrams on Gibbo's website and someone will be along with a linky. Its in post nr4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mack Posted March 23, 2022 Report Share Posted March 23, 2022 1 hour ago, ronnietucker said: When I'm connecting the controller to the batteries: I know I put the red on the first battery positive but the black (negative)? Does it matter which battery I put the negative on? First battery? Last battery? Batteries are in parallel to have four batteries at 12V. Use the same battery positive and negative terminals as used for the alternator and fuse box connections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Featured Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now