Most reacted threads

For those familiar with my post-whoring ways, this subject line is likely quite shocking. Just trying to make a point... Seemed a good lead into the question. The answer? Because Victron is worth it. It's a small company run by people who give a shit and care about their product, its...

"You'll never see max power out of an array." I've said that dozens of times. Sometimes, my pants are on fire! AZ. Panels tilted at 29.5° at Azimuth 165° (peak solar is at about 11:30am). Only ~6 weeks out from the Winter solstice, which is the worst day of the year for solar. Here's what I...

It has been years in the making, but I finally have the NMC battery poised for deployment... (okay, only half, but still). Summary: 7X Ford Fusion/C-Max Energi PHEV batteries, 7.6kWh rated per pack. Each battery: 84S 25Ah 3.7V NMC cells. Four subpacks of 21S in series Packs have tested...

Many would regard watching their array output update every two seconds akin to watching paint dry... However... When you see your 2970W array output 3975W for a moment, it gives you the tinglies... I think I just smurfed myself...

Wife's enthusiasm for X-mas decorations is waning with age. She is within sight of my X-mas apathy... Her enthusiasm was somewhat renewed by the idea of a "popup" X-mas tree... Oh the glory... open the box, tree complete and decorated in 8 minutes! DISASSAPOINTMENT...

8X LF280K "EV, Grade A" cells, bus bars, cell dividers, JBD BMS + UART to USB interface. Order paid for on 1/18/2024 Order shipped 2/28/2024 (was supposed to ship before Chinese new year - about 3 week slip) Order received 3/25/2024 67 days to receive order. The snag was the JBD BMS I...

LFP is touted as "safe" and "non-toxic." While certainly among the safest of Lithium options, it is not non-toxic by any measure. The electrolyte is very nasty stuff. Here is an MSDS...

This post is WAY less sophisticated than one might think. This deals solely with voltage and amps and how they interact (or don't matter much) in low light conditions. There have been a handful of posts expressing concern about panels in parallel not playing well together. This is rarely a...

https://www.victronenergy.com/information/pricelist Euro is about 1.1USD Looks like the MPPT price reductions are here to stay.

3/23/23 EDIT: Will posted some interesting results: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/series-string-shading-summed-up-in-4-pictures.60158/ I'm thinking series is better. Here's why: Typical 60 cell panel with bypass diodes: I think everyone can accept that this panel will lose 1/3 of its...

It's been discussed several times that splitting an array into different directions can improve morning and evening harvest at the expense of mid day, which makes intuitive sense, but I haven't seen many analyses to that effect. In my case I have the following: 34°N latitude 2970W of Talesun...

Thought I'd try a little something on a cheap 12V I've been testing... Charge to 20A @ 13.6V (3.4V/cell), 2A tail current. When testing at cell level and dealing with testers that don't have separate sense leads, lead resistance plays a big role, and I would typically observe cells get charged...

Full disclosure: I was contacted through the forum by steve@lightning-energy.cn to review the subject battery. It was supplied to me for free. I think this is the ONE time it's ever paid me to be a post whore. Here's the manual...

Battery: 4S 25Ah Topband Navitas 3C cells. 120A JBD BMS UART to USB adapter from Overkillsolar Bluetooth module uses the BMS UART connector, so it was not installed. VRM: Raspberry Pi 3 B+ 1GB (RPi) 256G MicroSD Venus OS 3.11 start, 3.12 end @Louisvdw serial battery driver There were NO LOADS...

I'll Start:

Looks like Victron has issues with their 450V 100A MPPTs: https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/127958/error-code-200-on-mppt-rs450100.html?childToView=221344#comment-221344 If you have one, it looks like the issue got sorted after SN HQ2237. EDIT: Updated info...

This charger, 20A 1-8S balance charger: https://www.amazon.com/ISDT-Touchscreen-Battery-Charger-Discharger/dp/B0823DGJXS?th=1 8S balance leads (no, you don't need 10, and you'd only use 5 of the 9 wires for 4S): https://www.amazon.com/JST-XH-Balance-Extention-RC-Battery/dp/B085W1T31S?th=1...

It comes up from time to time if there's a way to use lower voltage PV to charge higher voltage batteries: Here are a few options: https://www.amazon.com/SUNYIMA-Controller-Electric-Charging-Regulator/dp/B0B7WWY5S3...

I have always regarded Midnite as Tier-1, and they have a good reputation. I now have concerns. I have encountered an outfit that purchased 8X DC-Solar trailers, and I am helping them figure stuff out - what works, what they need, etc. On at least 2 of them, the Classic 250s have failed. One...

No idea how accurate or useful this is, but it looks wicked cool. https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/216543/new-vrm-feature-solar-forecast.html?childToView=216578

Looks like notification behavior has changed. I'm now getting notifications for everything those I follow do. Change behavior under preferences, select FOLLOWING and then batch update to select the desired notifications of all or set options on individuals.

Edit: Or SMARTshunt... No mention of improved bluetooth. VE.Direct cable, power cable and mid-point monitoring cable included and potted in. This implies it can't measure temperature, but the datasheet does show an option - ah... swap it out at the fuse barrel. Datasheet

Top level: https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/06/15/high-wattage-solar-modules-increase-risk-of-thermal-runaway/ Detail: https://www.longi.com/en/news/analysis-of-thermal-runaway/ Given that it's from a company offering a product, a certain level of skepticism is needed, but it passes a logic...

Thanks @FilterGuy for the Aili manual: https://diysolarforum.com/resources/aili-battery-monitor-manual.58/ Based on my read, it doesn't address temperature or current variations. For LFP, they both suffice. For FLA/AGM/GEL, the Victron is VASTLY superior for these two reasons: Peukert...

@SignatureSolarJames @BenFromSignatureSolar I didn't find it in a search.

I keep dabbling with the off-grid tab. I alternate between loving and hating it, but I WANT to love it. I'm struggling with the consumption data: The default consumption csv file looks like this: That % consumption for hours 1-24 of the day. I know it says for local time, but the results...

@RCinFLA Hopefully, you can explain something. I've recently tested 73 older CALB 40Ah cells for capacity, internal resistance and self-discharge. History: Probably 10+ years old. Part of a 10kWh aftermarket 04-09 Prius Plug in Hybrid pack operating in Phoenix AZ, unknown mileage. When car...

Friend has a deep well pump. He has no technical knowledge of the system. Based on the specs, the pump motor is 3 phase 208-230VAC. He has been feeding it with 230VAC from a split phase 120/240VAC generator via L1 & L2. This is not in doubt. I've seen it running; however, I have NOT seen the...

https://modulescorecard.pvel.com/ Summary PDF attached, so you don't have to sign up for download.