Help me architect a solution please

DIY
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1

Hi everyone

I run a small wireless network internet service provider in a rural area.

Our equipment mostly uses 24v and for 48v we use a step up converter and for anything else we use an inverter and plug the equipments standard power supply in.

We have been using VE MPPT charge controllers for a while with either lithium or lead acid battery arrays and some solar panels.

Often we will see equipment go off and when we get to site we see that it’s because the batteries were not charging enough due to either bad weather or a damaged solar panel etc.

This costs a lot to replace batteries that drained too low and have permanent damage. We need to find a solution for cloud based monitoring and alerts, and also a low power cut off that will save the batteries from draining too low.

What products from VE can we use to achieve this that won’t be complete overkill? Our biggest site uses 800AH battery array.

2

cerbo or ekrano GX can do that

3

A Venus GX might be more suitable due to its lower power consumption … and you probably don’t need an HDMI anywhere in the forest

or a Global Link … with 2 Ve Direct connections, this may even be enough

4

For battery discharge protection you can use a Victron Battery Protect, isolates loads at a configurable voltage.

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6

Hi, the Venus GX has been discontinued.

7

Venus OS on a Rasperry Pi might be cheap and versatile. Victrons free VRM can send alerts.

Some MPPTs have an output relay to switch a load relay to cut power to loads.

8

Hi, what would the cable configuration be between the battery protect and the load / charge controller / battery array / and potentially Cerbo S GX for the battery protect alarm?

Right now it’s
PV → MPPT → Batteries → Load

So I’m guessing it would become
PV → MPPT → Batteries → BP100 → Load

and then the BP100 would connect it’s alarm relay to the Cerbo?

9

Thanks, do you know if the Cerbo S GX has a way to do low voltage cutoff or is it only for monitoring?

10

I checked out the Global Link as well. This brings in a mobile connection for internet, but we already have internet at all our sites since we are an ISP, so a RJ45 connector seems better.

11

This is an interesting idea and I wish I had time to play in the workshop with this, but I think in reality we will go with something like the Cerbo S GX and a battery protect just to have it working and bulletproof sooner than later. A Pi would be excellent for low power though so maybe this needs to be a project for next year for me.

12

Yes the wiring sequence is correct and you can connect the BP alarm relay to a digital input on the Cerbo-S and set that to an alarm input if I remember correctly.

The Cerbo does not have intended control like that, but you may be able to set something up using the relays on the Cerbo-S GX. I do not know the full functionality of them and you may have to use say the generator auto start to activate Relay 1 on voltage. These are low amperage relays so they would need to drive another relay, being aware of the need for flyback protection.

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