Victron is Over-priced Eurotrash. Why would anybody buy Victron over an AiO?

[SilverbackMP]

If you're going to pay victron money, just get an sma sunny island 6048. 10x the inverter about the same price.

I would like to see one of those EG4 com boxes working in the real world with SMA. Might go with their batteries on the next build if someone else is the first adopter. Then again, I like those big balancing resistors and the big contactor disconnects in my RECs.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Sounds pricey, but also sounds like a pretty specific edge case that would be big time overkill for the vast majority of people. Under what conditions do you foresee needing 24,000W continuous?

Obviously you do not have a wife, two daughters, two cats and one dog.... Your lack of life experience is disappointing.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

This!

then his possessions own him, he does not own his possessions.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Can one live off grid with much less? Absolutely. Do I care to? Absolutely not. I want a hot tub and a pool. And plenty of other modern conveniences. Lol.

just make a redneck hottub like this.. works great and fits four grown men with no mixing of the dangly bits. ahggg cant get it to load an MPEG.

 

[Simi 60]

Going to say that MIDNITE SOLAR has them beat ...

I have both Victron AND Midnite gear onboard.

Do I win a prize?

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

My magnum 4024 is about 14 years old, no issues. Downside is I can’t replace it. Magnum moved to Mexico, the QC and customer service will be in the pits for a few years.

yes this was a sensata issue, and still is. currently what they are producing is the same design if they will adhere to the same quality levels or not is another story. the real issue is that nobody at sensata or magnum these days even knows what they are selling have no clue on how to troubleshoot or setup and can not offer you any advice either by the phone or over the net... making them as worthless as a chinese inverter. why? they chased off all of the talent in order to cut costs when it was bought out by sensata and as such their are no techs that understand it... jsut a bunch of call center retards quoting the same shit over and over again.

 

[JJJJ]

There are a number of units which have been in use for some time. A number completely off grid. Top brands that have been discussed include Samlex, Snyder, Solark, Victron, Midnite. EG is a relatively new player and shows potential.

I am not trying to power my entire home which made my decision easier.

 

[kendive]

@Brett V Should had made the Waffle Blue

 

[Madcodger]

I've tried to read this entire (yes, clickbait) thread and what I can't understand is why no one is commenting on Victron's lack of UL listings. I have a small, Victron-only system except panels and batteries. Love it! Think it's built like a tank, and while the price tag is steep, I'd gladly pay it again for our next home. BUT... if I want to grid tie, I fear my utility may have issues without all (any?) UL listings, and I have to wonder if an insurer might also hesitate. I just watched a YouTube video last night in which I think Dexter himself from Current Connected was helping a young couple with an install (on a steep hillside with equipment in a shipping container and the panels mounted onto the container, if that helps ID it). I thought to myself, "Wow, that's a great install and that might be similar to what I need. But what about their insurer?"

If anyone can shed more light on how they're dealing with Victron and 1) insurers and 2) grid ties, with or without grid export/net metering, I am all ears and would really appreciate it. I'm 100% convinced Victron is great equipment. I'm willing to pay their prices despite the pain of that. I am thrilled that they are headquartered in a European country rather than China. I'm thrilled that I can configure the equipment without a cloud connection, and even monitor it to a large degree without one. I applaud them for making Venus OS available on a Raspberry Pi. I could easily become a raving fan of Victron, and quite possibly of Current Connected. I just don't want to have a problem getting home insurance, and I would prefer to have the option of grid exporting/net metering if we decide the utility connection is worth it. What I'm hoping for here is that my concerns are overblown and that actual experience and examples can demonstrate that, please. We all have opinions, but experience is more representative of the real world. Thanks.

 

[HighTechLab]

I've tried to read this entire (yes, clickbait) thread and what I can't understand is why no one is commenting on Victron's lack of UL listings. I have a small, Victron-only system except panels and batteries. Love it! Think it's built like a tank, and while the price tag is steep, I'd gladly pay it again for our next home. BUT... if I want to grid tie, I fear my utility may have issues without all (any?) UL listings, and I have to wonder if an insurer might also hesitate. I just watched a YouTube video last night in which I think Dexter himself from Current Connected was helping a young couple with an install (on a steep hillside with equipment in a shipping container and the panels mounted onto the container, if that helps ID it). I thought to myself, "Wow, that's a great install and that might be similar to what I need. But what about their insurer?"

If anyone can shed more light on how they're dealing with Victron and 1) insurers and 2) grid ties, with or without grid export/net metering, I am all ears and would really appreciate it. I'm 100% convinced Victron is great equipment. I'm willing to pay their prices despite the pain of that. I am thrilled that they are headquartered in a European country rather than China. I'm thrilled that I can configure the equipment without a cloud connection, and even monitor it to a large degree without one. I applaud them for making Venus OS available on a Raspberry Pi. I could easily become a raving fan of Victron, and quite possibly of Current Connected. I just don't want to have a problem getting home insurance, and I would prefer to have the option of grid exporting/net metering if we decide the utility connection is worth it. What I'm hoping for here is that my concerns are overblown and that actual experience and examples can demonstrate that, please. We all have opinions, but experience is more representative of the real world. Thanks.

Multiplus-2 48/3000 is available in UL 1741. They are working on UL 1741 for the Multiplus-2 48/5000. I am pondering the idea of forking up the dough to send the Multi-2 5kVA and SOK battery to the test lab for UL 9540…but they probably need to add a grid profile for UL1741SB first.

 

[Tomthumb62]

well sometimes I'm not good with words.

lol, just ask my wife how good I am with words! Sometimes I’m lucky to still be married!

Human too...

Whaa? A business owner is a human too?! How dare you! You should be perfect and robot like, like Mr Zuck.

 

[Tomthumb62]

Multiplus-2 48/3000 is available in UL 1741. They are working on UL 1741 for the Multiplus-2 48/5000. I am pondering the idea of forking up the dough to send the Multi-2 5kVA and SOK battery to the test lab for UL 9540…but they probably need to add a grid profile for UL1741SB first.

So is it that Victron has put all their money into R&D and is more concerned about actual real world quality than a certification? That’s my guess but perhaps you can comment?

 

[Madcodger]

Multiplus-2 48/3000 is available in UL 1741. They are working on UL 1741 for the Multiplus-2 48/5000. I am pondering the idea of forking up the dough to send the Multi-2 5kVA and SOK battery to the test lab for UL 9540…but they probably need to add a grid profile for UL1741SB first.

Thanks, Dexter. I have a Multiplus 24/3000 in a small system I built and love it. What I was thinking of for the new house was a pair of 48/10000 Quattros, as we'll need a fair amount of power and 240V there (perhaps Multipluses could also work ut I'd need to think through/discuss that). It's just this insurance (mostly) and grid tie (partly) thing that has me stumped and concerned.

 

[SilverbackMP]

I've tried to read this entire (yes, clickbait) thread and what I can't understand is why no one is commenting on Victron's lack of UL listings. I have a small, Victron-only system except panels and batteries. Love it! Think it's built like a tank, and while the price tag is steep, I'd gladly pay it again for our next home. BUT... if I want to grid tie, I fear my utility may have issues without all (any?) UL listings, and I have to wonder if an insurer might also hesitate. I just watched a YouTube video last night in which I think Dexter himself from Current Connected was helping a young couple with an install (on a steep hillside with equipment in a shipping container and the panels mounted onto the container, if that helps ID it). I thought to myself, "Wow, that's a great install and that might be similar to what I need. But what about their insurer?"

If anyone can shed more light on how they're dealing with Victron and 1) insurers and 2) grid ties, with or without grid export/net metering, I am all ears and would really appreciate it. I'm 100% convinced Victron is great equipment. I'm willing to pay their prices despite the pain of that. I am thrilled that they are headquartered in a European country rather than China. I'm thrilled that I can configure the equipment without a cloud connection, and even monitor it to a large degree without one. I applaud them for making Venus OS available on a Raspberry Pi. I could easily become a raving fan of Victron, and quite possibly of Current Connected. I just don't want to have a problem getting home insurance, and I would prefer to have the option of grid exporting/net metering if we decide the utility connection is worth it. What I'm hoping for here is that my concerns are overblown and that actual experience and examples can demonstrate that, please. We all have opinions, but experience is more representative of the real world. Thanks.

“Ambition Strikes” is the channel you are talking about.

 

[ChrisG]

Multiplus-2 48/3000 is available in UL 1741. They are working on UL 1741 for the Multiplus-2 48/5000. I am pondering the idea of forking up the dough to send the Multi-2 5kVA and SOK battery to the test lab for UL 9540…but they probably need to add a grid profile for UL1741SB first.

Think a lot of the certifications Victron has is for a larger consumer base and mobile/marine of course. United States is what, only 5% of the global population and we have this weird split phase to deal with that other countries may not have. Guess a Victron needs to decide if addressing another 5% of the market will make them more profit. Actually would be considerably less than 5% that would use solar.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

It is a simple choice to use Victron (yes I too would prefer different connection terminals) and glad we did. But this solar world benefits from having several choices; several ways to go about getting electricity from the sun. We have so many more viable options than not that long ago... Bad mouth the manufacturing behemoth in Asia but they have enabled so many of us the option of going around the bureaucratic monopoly of utilities.

 

[ADDvanced]

I tried saving money and installed my system w renogy MPPT charger, and renogy M1 which has wifi capability, so I could monitor my system remotely. Just unbelievable trash. The M1 system was buggy and would not connect to the wifi that my phone and laptop had no problem with, I spent hours on the phone, the customer service was clueless, and on top of that their Rover 60, which claims it is compatible with the M1, isn't. It worked for a day, then just glitched out and wouldn't communicate, and even when it did communicate, it would not transmit the data on the front of the rover (estimated SOC based on voltage) to the M1, instead they wanted you to buy Renogy batteries to have this functionality. Now I'm going to talk about teh MPPT charger itself, just CONSTANT issues charging my batteries.

Switched to Victron Cerbo GX, Smart Solar 150/45, and smart shunt. I have still had some issues charging, but I think it's related to the LiTime BMS, but overall, SO SOLID, and I can actually monitor things remotely and adjust stuff. I am still made at Renogy, and tell everyone to avoid them. The fact that Renogy is pushing a subscription model to gain access to your own information is fucking obnoxious. Fuck Renogy. Praise Victron. It's def worth the premium.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

i have honestly not tried the victron line, i started out with another tier one company and kind of stuck with them, but victron has a good rep... as such if i had to choose, i would convert to them over the other offers.

 

[ksmithaz1]

I have a quad-zoned dual AC system in Tucson, and both my ACs combined "only" take 8kW. My vue, which I installed all of 2-3 weeks ago shows a peak usage of 16.1kW, which was likely when my ACs both ran along with my EV charger, which is a situation that I plan to alleviate through scheduling. I'm also connected through grid, so I don't plan to worry about peak usage.

In fact, I haven't pulled the trigger on any hardware yet, but one thing (other than Mr. Bluenose) that keeps drawing me back to Victron is all the ways it can deal with various demands and limits by combining all the various sources. That also allows me to build a smaller system that can meet more average requirements without stressing over what happens if everything actually does kick on at once.

I should also add that, if I were completely off grid, I would be more concerned about reliability and less about payback time.

The EV is going to be a PITA. Like an electric range on high it just sucks it down without stopping This is from the 30th:



I'm tracking HVAC, EV, and HWH/Dryer along with totals, all roll-my own sensors and software. I bought an EV switch to limit demand for my electric HWH and Clothes dryer to only one of the two. You might find one of these boxes useful for limiting demand, but if you are grid tied, it really doesn't matter as much. I'm controlling the EV outlet by a RS-485 relay board and an SBC, a simple HWH timer could do something similar. Frankly if your primary concern is payback time, and you are just going to grid tie, the micro-inverters are the way to go, but once you add batteries it gets more complicated. The newer AIO's actually simplify this as well, and allow for much higher string voltages.

It kind of depends on how much you want to dink around with it. The problem with component systems of any kind is they tend to cost significantly more, but they do give you the ability to scale and replace functionality independently. Once the cost of an integrated system is low enough the management cost of components begins to dwarf the scaling benefit. Integrated systems tend to improve more rapidly as engineering designs take advantage of the close coupling of the components, and the ability to optimize both production and capability around a known stable set of hardware. I can assure you that over the long term, seperate MPPT's, Inverters, and the like will be relegated to edge case products, where an AIO just won't work.

On the battery front, a lot of folks are saving real coin by rolling their own BMS systems on free-standing cells. I think this too will eventually become less and less prevalent as batteries with integrated BMS systems become more plug and play, and the prices drop to the point rolling your own really doesn't save money. In particular if we actually see some of the new battery tech actually come to fruition, expect to see BMS control via CAN bus to become increasingly standardized, and just built-in. Right now the cost of batteries in general and a desire not to have to replace them every year will make this transition much longer than the AIO side.

Whatever your path enjoy the travel!

 

[Supervstech]

They don't make a 10KW, it's 8KW. (10,000VA)

He didn’t say 10kW… he said 10k. You assumed kW…