I’m currently in a huge sailboat refit including water system, heating, instruments (radar, AIS, communication,chartplotter) aswel as the electricity. I decided to change my lead battery to lithium and that’s where the problem began. I have decided to take all my components “smart” to be able to make them communicate through VE.Networking. my system as the following components.
2x smart MPPT 75/10
1x smart MPPT 100/30
1x BMV-712 smart
1xBMS 12/200/smart
2x ORION DC-DC charger 12/12-18
My question is:
How do I manage my MPPT since there is 3 of then ? After reading the manual it seem like I still need to connect them with the charge disconnect of the BMS 12/200 to stop them I case of emergency. But the problem is I have only one screw to connect 3 Ve.direct non inverting remote on off cable. Can I put them all on a wago ? Is that fonction necessary for the safety of the installation? Do I miss something?
For people that have or are working on boat although my motor on/off switch is off I still have 12v between +/- on the motor but when I try the light bubble test it doesn’t turn on. Any idea why?
In advance thank you for reading me and helping me out!
If you are using the Ve direct “Rx pin” as “Remote on/off” then these can all be wired in parallel to a single control.
Otherwise, your system is complex enough to warrant a Cerbo and display, and all equipment connected through the cerbo. You don’t list an inverter, fitting even a small inverter would be a good addition.
Hello thank you for your response I will do that as this is the easiest way.
I tough about the cerbo and all but I really don’t like the lack of port you have or the usability to make a CAN bus with EVERY component in your setup, having to buy 6 or 7 victron cable piss me off when a simple informatic or multiple standard RJ45 could work aswell.
But yeah It might have been easier especially since I’m less and less convinced about the smart BMS 12/200.
Maybe you can help me with it. Even when there is no cable connected to the alternator/start battery the bms read something about 12.8V although it should read 0. The voltage drop to 0v if I wire something between that port and ground the light bubble doesn’t turn on aswell.
This is quite normal. There is usually a slight leakage, so an unconnected power input will tend to float high. Nothing to worry about.
Many others have also complained about the diversity of Victron’s interface standards. However, this is a legacy issue, and to an extent is being resolved as new designs are rolled out - with a general shift to a CAN interface. In General, you only need VE direct for MPPT units and small inverters. The Cerbo has 3 VE direct ports, and the VE-direct cables are quite cheap. There is also a VE-Bus (2 ports - 1 channel) for connecting to the larger inverters such as the Multiplus and Quatro series, this uses standard UTP cables. There are also 2 CAN bus channels (2 ports each) for interfacing to BMNS, NMEA or VE-CAN components.
Mike you are a legend! Thank you very much for your time and information!
I’m glad I’m not the only one finding all those interfaces at least confusing.
Victron could really simplify that aswell as the clarity of what we can or cannot do.
For example is it safe to charge you lifpo4 smart battery with à victron blue smart charger 12/10 ip 65 ? It does have the lifpo4 settings but no charge disconnect compatibility.
All those small thing that make the ecosystem difficult to navigate.
Anyway I should soon have my response since they are charging.
Many many thanks for your time and response I hope I will be able to help somone help like you did or maybe even you !