Full Victron Energy System onboard a Lagoon SIXTY5 catamaran

The Lagoon SIXTY 5 sailing catamarans are designed ex shipyard to operate one or two diesel generators for larger electrical consumers. We regularly equip these vessels with a large customised solar system, a lithium battery storage system and high-performance inverters immediately after delivery. The energy management on board is automated and optimised with Victron Energy equipment so that even large consumers such as the air conditioning system can be operated independently of generator noise.

Modification work and preparation

In preparation, our boat builder works with the electricians to convert the battery boxes and adapt the AC and DC cabling for the new load situation. Distribution cabinets, cable labelling and the main DC distribution are prepared in the workshop in Austria to minimise installation time.






Energy Management

The biggest challenge for the energy management on board is a 120BTU chiller air conditioning system, in addition to the electrical kitchen equipment, 230V water makers and other small consumers are operated. On the 24V side, there are larger consumers such as electric winches and anchor winches, but these are easy for the LiFePO4 batteries to cope with.

The AC loads are covered by three 5kVA Victron Quattro inverter/charger combi units connected in parallel. These not only offer 15kVA inverter power and up to 30kW peak power for starting currents, they also have an integrated transfer switch that switches between shore power, generator and inverter operation without interruption. This represents a considerable improvement in the situation on board: From the factory, manual switching between the power sources is required.
Another advantage of this system is the PowerAssist function, which actively limits the current drawn from the shore power or generator and covers peak loads via the integrated inverter. This effectively prevents the generator from being overloaded or a blown fuse on land.

For the expected high currents of up to 1000A, the Victron Lynx Smart BMS was installed in the 1000A version and combined with a customised DC distribution system. This allows the use of NH fuses that can reliably disconnect the high possible short-circuit currents of a lithium battery in the event of a short circuit. The Lynx Smart BMS combines a battery management system (active control of loads and chargers) with a battery monitor, a contactor for disconnecting the system and pre-charge electronics that pre-charge the capacitors of the inverters before switching through, thus preventing sparking and high switching currents.

As the Quattro units only allow 230V input, most vessels are equipped with 5x Phoenix Smart IP43 chargers to give two benefits: Multivoltage charging, basically accepting any shore input voltage and frequency, and faster charging in 230V/50Hz countries, using two separate shore power connections simultaneously.

All components are connected centrally to a Cerbo GX using VE.Bus or VE.CAN data cables.










Photovoltaics

In co-operation with SOLBIAN Solar, several variants of the solar system for the Lagoon SIXTY 5 have now been developed for the hardtop and saloon roof, depending on customer requirements. The most powerful system currently available delivers a peak output of 3,254Wp, which provides a daily yield of approx. 10-15kWh per day in the Mediterranean in summer. This PV system is sufficient, for example, to operate the air conditioning system in ECO mode for 2 hours; without air conditioning, the entire catamaran can usually be operated independently.

The customised solar panels are fully walkable and have a non-slip textured surface. All cabling is concealed beneath the modules so that the system is perfectly integrated into the lines of the ship. The system on the hardtop in particular is virtually invisible from the outside; this part already supplies 1,446 Wp.

The Victron SmartSolar MPPT charge controllers are networked with a VE Smart Network via Bluetooth and also communicate with each other via VE.Direct connections using the Cerbo GX. This networking allows them to charge synchronised and can also compensate for any voltage drop on the cable to the battery, which prevents the solar controllers from influencing each other. As we use way more VE.Direct connections than the Cerbo can supply they are connected to powered USB hubs via VE.Direct USB interfaces.











Monitoring

All data collected from the components - including tank and temperature sensors - is gathered at the Victron Cerbo GX, which not only displays it graphically on a GX Touch 70 and the Raymarine chart plotter: It is also connected to the Victron VRM portal via the Internet. The owner can use this to access all data and receive alarms if there is a problem on board. Furthermore, our technicians can access the system via the portal and, if necessary, install updates, change configurations or view data records.

In addition, the crew receives an audible and visual alarm signal in the event of a critical charge level before the batteries are switched off, which can be muted using a customised control panel.





Technical data:

Storage (24V, 70kWh): 14x LiFePO4 Smart 25.6V/200Ah-a
BMS: Lynx Smart BMS 1000A
Inverter/Charger: Quattro 24/5000/120-100/100
Additional multivoltage chargers: 5x Phoenix Smart IP43 24V/25A
Monitoring: Cerbo GX with GX Touch 70
MPPT controllers: 9x SmartSolar, various models
PV: 3,254Wp SOLBIAN Solar

21 Likes

@offgridshop.eu This is an awesome install congrats :raised_hands:

1 Like

Very nice install, i like the custom panels and the diagrams next to the MPPTs

1 Like

Thanks :slight_smile:

I’m planing to build EXACTLY the same. Already have the cerbo, now saving for the boat. :stuck_out_tongue:

Nice installation, loving precise work in narrow situations.

2 Likes

Super cool install @offgridshop.eu ! And shared and explained very nicely.

Now that we’ve launched the paralleling feature for Lynx Smart BMSes, you’ll have to upgrade all those catamarans with that :wink:.

(But jokes aside, the paralleling feature is 100% perfect for larger systems; it brings redundancy as well as other advantages such as being able to exceed 1000A).

All the best, Matthijs

3 Likes

We already have the first projects lined up with NG batteries and redundant Lynx BMS. Also, we’ll host a training for the batteries in our headquarters end of October :slight_smile:

The redundancy feature together with the advanced monitoring of the NG series has been on our wishlist for a long time, finally we can build larger battery systems using 100% Victron gear and use them in more safety-critical applications.

Still not comfortable with loading the Lynx Smart BMS 1000 with more than 600-700A though, they get really hot even with massive copper busbars on both sides. Did you perform long-time tests with 1000A load? How is the load distribution between the two Kilovac relays inside (which are both rated at 500A)?

2 Likes

Hey @offgridshop.eu ,

That is great to hear about that training, success!

Yes we’ve conducted long term tests back in the days when we launched the 1000A version, and are confident on the result.

Note that the wiring and losses (+ resulting heat generation) external to the BMS also plays a very large role. A lot of heat can be generated by the wiring and connections, cable shoes and so forth external to the BMS itself.

Anyway, now that there can be parallel BMSes, I expect that its less necessary and less common practice to create continuous high load per BMS.

2 Likes

Very well thought out and documented. Makes me drool.
Two questions and a comment:

  1. Why did you decide to go with an external BMS rather than an internal BMS given that space is at a premium? Is it because of the high currents? I don’t know any internal BMS that can do 1000 amps.
  2. Why 3 parallel 5kva Quattros instead of a 15kva?
  3. I read that Victron discourages having both VE direct and wireless networks in parallel to synchronize chargers. Why do you have both?

Hi,

we never use internal BMS as most of these are black boxes where we don’t exactly know what they do and why they shut off, also they don’t offer emergency procedures for using the batteries even with broken BMS, which is crucial on a system where loves can depend on it to work.

Parallel Quattros: Mostly due to available mounting space. Also it’s a 24V system.

VE smart network: Do you have a source for that? Would be interesting, we usually put both and didn’t have issues so far.

1 Like

The answers to the first 2 questions make perfect sense. I wasn’t even aware that the 5kva Quattro has a 24v variant.
The issue of smart networking came up often on the old forum. The consensus was don’t use it with a GX device.
Have you seen this document? 5. Limitations
I guess if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.

We always understood this part of the manual in the way that Smart Networking will be ignored as long as VE.Direct is available and keep it as a fallback way of synchronizing the MPPTs. Will try to find some posts about possible issues, thanks :+1:

According to the posts on the old forum, the (only?) potential issue is conflict.

1 Like