Hi community members.
I’m a beginner here and have questions and a few issues, possibly suggestions for Victron.
We have set up a system that does not include solar as we are unable to have solar, however our power company has attractive rates during specific times. Currently we are at 3 cents a kwh from 10 AM till 3 PM, 35 cents from 4 PM till 7 PM, and 8 cents from 11 PM till 5 AM and 12 cents all other times so we chose to install a battery system to use the cheap rates as the cheap rates turned out to have a better return than spending the $17,000 on a solar system with battery backup. We CANNOT send power to our grid as this involves a ton of permits, new electrical on our home and a new line from the power company, totally expensive and not worth the return as they only pay 2.5 cents a kwh to send to grid.
Our current setup is:
2 Victron 48/10000/140 Quatrro inverters in split phase mode
1 Lynx Shunt
2 Lynx Distributors
1 Cerbo GX
4 Ruixu Lith16 48V 16 kw 314 AH batterys that give us 64kw battery capacity.
We took our current 100A connection from the grid and ran it to the AC1 IN on the inverters and ran the AC1 OUT to our new panel and moved all our home circuits to the new panel.
First issue-suggestion to victron. In ESS why do you not accommodate energy storage templates that allow us to use the system without solar and depending on the power company’s rate plan that we can manually input and don’t try to send power to the grid. We want to favor battery charge times and off grid disconnect when rates are high. If it is there documentation is sparse to non existant. If im wrong and it is there its not obvious to me and there is no PDF that outlines steps to do so. Currently I am using node-red to turn off the AC1 input, turn the charger to 0A to allow pass through of the grid so I can run on grid when the batterys empty and only recharge during the super cheap times, etc, node-red is great but adding if-then commands is difficult and too complex for your typical DIY person.
Our Lunx shunt, When we reboot the Cerbo is there and works fine, after about an hour it vanishes from the system.
Setting up the charger was a festive experence. The billt-in BMS on the Ruixu battery’s are sending thier paramaters to the Cerbo just fine, however the Cerbo and the inverter/chargers still needed manual configurations to get the proper voltages for charging and discharging rates in several places. Tottaly un-intuitive.
I have several other issues and questions but this is what I’m currently up to in my install process. Please don’t attack me as I am a DIY beginner and chose Victron because we had such great success with it on our sailboat.
I am 100% regretting my decision to buy a victron system at this time as noted here by a lack of support.
This system appears to be designed to the ultra tech nerd that enjoys playing whack a mole with random unexpected behaviors that require constant fiddling with, and barely viable for a professional installer.
Support is non existent or when it does come its a waiting game of over a week if a response is ever given. At this level of innovation and attentiveness to bugs and changes in how people are using this system for an ever changing power related innovations. Companies like EG4 and other Chinese companies are on to op the latest technologys that connect to grids in hybrid configurations have cought up with the latest in ESS systems with hybrid functionality.
Victron appears to be complacent with the old techie guard that does not mind the patchwork of bluetooth, can-bus and ve bus apps the must all be used in random ways to muck with a single install where as other companies seem to have all thier product lines that utilize a single app to do everything.
There are so many more reasons that this system will eventually become obsolete and is not intuitive, innovative nor easy for a typical DIY person in the current technology track/market. Its perfect for RV’s boats and the off grid hermit that likes to tinker with bugs. it is a disaster for people that want a simple grid tied hybrid environment where people are installing ESS systems to generate thier own power and to keep the energy they produce and pull from the grid during cheap times. Power companies in the USA are doing away with buying solar power and though this system may be “capable” of this its operation and configuration requires a simple configuration tool, not several and a hodge-podge of outdated help PDF files that are hap hazardly thrown up in a maze.
Just my 2 cents and feedback on why I cant recommend this system for home use. I’m going to be pulling this system after less than a month and going with another system from a Chinese company
The lynx shunt is not a great product. If you want to measure SOC just pick one. You have the multi SOC estimation or let the battery report. Here is a simple node-red flow that will enable charging between 10 am and 3pm. This is year 8-9 computer programming skills that can be picked up pretty quickly. I agree this gear is not for the average person but you do have the option to break it down and sell it if you don’t need it anymore or want to upgrade. You won’t have that option with the Chinese gear it will go to landfill. There are also government rebates and grid compliance that can be obtained.
If you need any specific help with ESS or node-red let me know. The enable charge flow is in the text file.
To turn on ESS on my Quattro systems the assistant requires me to select an option that enables the system to send power to the grid. In my area for us to send power to the grid it requires my power company to install a new meter. When I contacted them about this they wanted to run new lines to my home, ME to pay for a new transformer on their pole and a bunch of other crap. 100% not on my radar, that is why I wanted a system that just pulled from the grid when it was cheap while I save up for solar panels. I cant and do not want to send power to the grid at all, I don’t even want the setting on in the off chance I click something and it attempts to send power to the grid. I cant be the only person on earth that just wants the grid connect to pull power when its cheap.
As far as support, you cant contact them directly. They require you go through your retailer. I have, every question I have asked has never been answered. Ive ether stumbled on the answer or its still not resolved. InvertersRUs is one of thier biggest distributors in the US yet they lack answers. Ive been waiting 2 weeks now for a simple question on charge current, raidio silence, I did reach out one but was told they are waiting for Victron to get back to them.
The ESS assistant will export to the grid if you have excess DC solar or AC coupled PV and allow it to in the settings. It will also export if you have more than one phase and select the total of all phases. If you set a positive grid setpoint and only have one phase and charge at certain times you will export very little.
