solar

New to the group. To lay the groundwork for the question:

• We have a 50 amp fifth wheel.
• We bought the unit used from a private seller, very happy overall.
• The solar / Victron was installed by the seller or he had it done.
• We have 4x Battle Born 100ah LifePo4, 4x 190W solar panels, 2x MPPT, SmartBMV and the Victron 12/3000/120-50
• We (the wife, the dog and I) are fulltimers, three months now!

We have been, in the past three months, mostly on shore power, and always on (confirmed) 50 amps. We found that one of the monitor panels (not listed above) showed us at 30 amps continually. Reached out to seller, he indicated that if I had the inverter on, I'd be limited to 30 amps. Turned it to Off, and I'm back to 50 amps and I can run the air conditioners. Excellent for the Texas heat we'd been dealing with.

Two days ago, we relocated to a park, and were fortunate enough to park in the shade. Sure, solar will be very much reduced, but that's okay: we have 50 amps.

Tonight...the generator kicked on. Turns out we ran down the batteries to 50%. Direct DC usage in the rig, like lights, whatever else is straight DC, ran them down. With the Victron set to off, the shore power doesn't recharge the batteries. If I turn the Victron to just "Charger" (not Inverter), it will recharge the batteries, but I will still be limited to a 30 amp system.

This feels wrong to me. I'm a programmer, have been for 30 years. I'm decent at debugging, but I haven't examined all the the wiring and gotten a deeper understanding of the layout. It just feels wrong that it's this way.

When we have good sun, the batteries always get charged up the next day, even on cloudy days. We've been here, in the shade, for... two full days, I think.

I'm trying to determine if one or more of the following are true:

• Is this a standard solar implementation scenario? That there is only ONE possible charger/converter to replenish the batteries installed at one time?
• Is there a possible wiring / schematic / system design oversight or bug. (I don't have a schematic yet, I have reached out to get one, if available.)
• There would have been an original charger/converter installed on the rig, before the Victron, etc. was installed. Does anyone ever have that still wired into the system?
• Really, my only choices are "have sun" or "be limited to 30 amps even when 50 amp shore power is available"? This cannot be right.

I'm trying to determine that, if the Victron being on limits me to 30 amps, is there a different way to charge the batteries when on shore power? I know my question might be difficult to many without y'all knowing more about how it's wired up. But I'm hoping I kept my questions as free of the implementation as possible and focused on generalizations, and typical scenarios.

For the moment, there's a chill coming into the area tonight and I don't need two A/C's. I'm okay with the 30 amps for now, and I'll get my batteries replenished. Not a long term solution.

I truly appreciate any help anyone can put forth, or any education I can glean out of your answers. I did do extensive research into solar, DC, AC, converters/chargers, inverters, MPPT, etc. before we bought the rig. I feel sort of comfortable in my general knowledge. I was a little sad I didn't get to do the install myself so I'd REALLY know it, inside and out, but the deal was just too good to pass up and our seller was a pleasure to work with. But I lack the intimate knowledge that installing it myself would have gained.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

- Will B.
Somewhere in Kansas at the moment.

Hello, I had a question about Multiplus and Multigrid. I am building a small off-grid system with 4 solar panels off 300 watts each that will charge battery's using an MPPT charge controller. I also want a backup generator to charge the battery's if they get under a certain level, and I will be using an inverter to make 230VAC 50Hz from the battery bank. At least I am also using a wind turbine that will give me a peak of 600 watt.

So a short list of items.

- 6x Solar panel 300 watt

- Battery bank

- Multiplus or Multigrid?

- Inverter

- Backup generator

What will be the right choice? Multiplus or multigrid.

And is this a realistic setup? Or is there a more efficient way?

Has anybody found a work-around to Victron products requiring firmware updates, and preventing use of the product until they are conducted?

I have an MPPT 75/15 solar charge controller, with the bluetooth dongle. This is the only means of charging the battery on my boat, and it is my best source of monitoring the health of my battery.

I really need a way to make these updates optional, so that I can defer conducting the update when my signal is weak. Has anybody found a way to bypass a forced update so that you can use the products?

Has anybody asked Victron why they do not give the option to defer these updates? Do they not understand that being blocking use of their products puts their users in danger? I use this product to manage my boat's electrical resources. The update process is dangerous. It requires a much better signal than the process of simply checking to see if there is an update. From what I can tell, shutting off my phone's connectivity isn't good enough, b/c the app remembers that there was an update. I would need to proactively shut off my data access before I knew whether or not there was an update, every time I connected to the device.

I have a 150/60 MPPT with 600W solar connected to my house bank, there are also 2x Phoenix Smart Chargers (50A 3+1) each have an output to the house bank and the engine battery, one has an output to the 12-24v charger for the bowthruster.

All are connected with VE.Direct and where possible Smart Networking.

I'd taken my batteries off shore power and isolated the MPPT to run the batteries down a bit to check their voltages. When I switched everything back on I noticed that the MPPT was in bulk and the 2x chargers were in absorption, the voltages were the same however the MPPT was putting a lot more Amps in. I'd have expected the house bank output on the chargers to be the same as the MPPT.

Should I change the set up so that one charger does the house bank and the other does the engine and bow thruster?

I have a battery bank of 12V, 800Ah (gel) and a battery pack of 200Ah 48V.

I have a smart solar charger MPPT 250V, 100A and smart solar charger MPPT 150/70-MC4

My main PV system is 4 panels of 330WP, connected 2S2P (about 100V peak).

I would like to connect both solar cahrgers to the same PV and use the 1st solar charger for the 12V battery pack and the 2nd solar charger for the 48V pack.

Advantage of this sytem is that if one battery is full the full PV power will go to the other battery pack.

Question is:

1. Is this kingd of sett-up allowed?

2. What would be the disadvantages?

3. When both battery packs are charging, how would the available power be distributed over the 2 solar chargers? Will the behaviour be stable and optimal?

Thank you in advance,

Kind Regards

Johan De Vos

I'm trying to buy a new setup for a campervan which will have a lifepo4 leisure battery and a lead acid starter. I need to be able to charge the starter battery from solar and mains hook up but I've noticed that the 800 multiplus only has a 1a feed to the starter which isn't enough and I can't see any way to connect the solar controller up to both at the same time. I'm going to use an Orion smart to charge the lifepo4 battery, is one possible solution to buy a second Orion to charge the starter from the lifepo4 circuit once it is charged?

Thanks

My BMV-700 indicates increased "battery voltage" when connected to AC house current (charging), and when connected to my RV solar cells (2 110 watt). When connected to AC, the "Current" and "Power" readings go from negative to a positive reading, but don't change when connected to my solar cells. Why not?

My situation is this. I have a large PV array 2600 watts running into two 100|50 MPPT charge controllers, I have 2x 3000|24 Multiplus inverters, BMV702 and a raspberry pie connecting it all together running Venus OS. I also have a 260 amp 24v DC alternator onboard that will charge the battery bank and help power loads.

My question is, how can I force the PV / MMPT chargers to always output if there is a draw on the system. I have set my alternator to charge to 27.8v while my MPPT chargers charge to 28.4 (temp compensated) . Often times I'll run two air conditioners, using close to 3000 watts. If my battery bank is not full and the MPPT chargers are still in bulk mode, it will work pretty well with the chargers continuing to contribute to the loads and the battery bank will fill. However once the bank is near full the MPPTs throttle down and the alternator takes more of the AC load, which puts my strain on my diesel engine costing me fuel and power.

With the tools at my disposal here, how can I have the MPPT chargers contribute even if the battery bank is full. I thought a few years ago the DVCC used to work this way and it would trigger the chargers to assist.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Hi all,

I am designing a custom solar system setup and want to be sure it will work.

[image]

Here's details on all components

Solar Panels - Two 12v panels at 115 W each (already owned)

Charge Controller - Victron BlueSolar MPPT 100/30

• https://www.amazon.com/Victron-Energy-BlueSolar-Charge-Controller/dp/B076N5PTBN/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=victron+bluesolar+100%2F30&qid=1590864560&sr=8-3

Batteries with BMS - Nissan Leaf Generation 2 Battery Module Lithium Ion NMC

• https://www.techdirectclub.com/nissan-leaf-generation-2-battery-module-lithium-ion-1-kwh-per-set-66-amp-h-12-volt-configuration-w-option-lot-of-2/

• 2 units at 500 Wh each = 1000Wh x 70% usable = 700Wh usable. These batteries are 60-70% usable capacity (I guess because BMS limits it?)

• BMS - https://www.techdirectclub.com/4s-bms-30-amps-assembly-kit-for-2-nissan-leaf-lithium-ion-battery-g1-g2/

Inverter - Victron Phoenix 12V 500W

• https://www.amazon.com/Victron-Energy-Sinewave-Inverter-VE-Direct/dp/B01N4J9OOM

Wall Charger - 54.6V 9A YALANCHA

• https://www.amazon.com/Charger-Battery-Aluminum-Electronic-Wheelchair/dp/B07RQS96W5/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=48v%2B9a%2Bcharger&qid=1590814661&sr=8-2&th=1

My goal is to disconnect the solar panels and connect the wall charger (powered by generator) on cloudy days. The reason I chose a 48v charger is because I will eventually get a 48v battery for an electric bike so I'd need it anyway. I calculate that I can plug this charger into the inverter to charge the bike battery from the Nissan Leaf batteries. What do you think my potential issues are? Thanks a ton!

Hi, I have a house with a 4kW GT system on FIT on phase A

I have added a 12kW array which I am planning to split over phase B and C.

I want to use a multiplus II as a smart inverter/charger from a lithium battery to store excess energy from any phase.

My supplier meter is net metering (non smart). So what I (think I) need is my own net metering meter which talks to the Multiplus and tells it to charge or discharge the battery to keep the import/export at zero. However this will only be pulling off one phase. This is why I need the external meter. If I am exporting 1kW on phase B and C (for example), with no import, but the Multiplus is on phase A, it can still import 2kW on phase A with no supplier charges.

I have researched Modbus meters but I just wondered if anyone had done anything similar - presumably I need an interface between the Modbus and the Multiplus to convert Net Export Power into Victron charge now Power.

I will have a zappi car charger and a DHW store system to soak up the excess energy. Ideally this would be priority order

1. Car (if present)

2. House batt

3. DHW cylinder

4. Export.

Although I would be willing to always do House first if that is less complicated (the zappi and DHW system will communicate internally but I don't know if they would communicate with the Victron).

I believe delays can be programmed such that the Victron could have a shorter delay on start up than the Zappi which would ensure the house batt gets priority over the car.

Of course as the car isn't always there I thought that would be best if the car got first dibs as hopefully if its a sunny day the house would get a chance later after the car leaves.

I should be good for producing approaching 16000kWh per year with this system (the 1year old original 4kW array made close to 4000 in a year and the 12kW array is less shaded)

My background is Marine - off grid so use a lot of Victron products. I have used R pi a bit so I guess this or Arduino could maybe be a useful interface if there isn't a premade solution available.

Thanks in advance

Olly

Dear all,

I try to figure out, if the behaviour I see is per design or not. In my van I have installed a Victron LifePo4, a BMS12/200 and a MPPT75/15 with 2x110W solar panels. Due to the current cold weather conditions (<5°C), the battery and the BMS shutdown the battery charging.

Whenever there is sun available, the voltage on my BMS load and the MPPT battery output increase to ~17V. I assume this is due to the battery shutdown for charging. As soon, as the battery is open (>5°C), the voltage decreases to a normal level.

Is that expected? I thought the MPPT will reduce somehow the voltage when there is no charging in progress.

Why I am asking the question? If put the MPPT battery charging minus on the BMS load pin, where all my other load is also connected to. Now I have ~17V on all my devices, as long as the battery is shutdown. Is my design correct or do I need to change something?

best regards,

Fabian

I’m building a small EV-charging station using an EasySolar 5000, a BMW i3 22kWh battery and some solar panels.. and it’s almost done :-)

I am thinking to start with a simple control, i.e. I plug in the car and let it charge at 3.7kW AC. When the SOC of the battery bank has dropped to say 10% SOC, I would like the Multiplus to turn on grid AC and complete the EV-charge, but leave the battery bank at 10% SOC.

I have read about the different assisatnts, but I don’t think any of Them is a straight fit. What’s the best way of setting this up? Sorry if this is trivial, I’m new to the Victron Universe :-)

Hello,

Im just after some advice on a suitable circuit breaker between the panels and the mppt

I will be installing 3 (potentially a 4th in the future) Victron poly 175w panels in series and a Smartsolar 100/50 MPPT but am unsure of which circuit breaker to install between the 2 in order to isolate the panels if need be and also for safety.

Given voltage will be up around the 72 mark what would you suggest? With 4 panels it will be around 94v

Between the MPPT and batteries would it be advisible to install a 60 or 70amp medium duty thermal circuit breaker?

Hello,

We're running an ESS system comprised of a Quattro 8 kVA and 2x MPPT 250/100, PV array is 8 kWp, with a bank of 1200Ah-48V battery bank. Octo GX is running OS 2.53, and all devices are flashed to latest firmware (.473 Quattro). ESS configured in Optimized w/o batterylife, and zero feed-in is enabled. We also have DVCC enabled. BMV-712 external monitor.

Once the battery state from absorption to float, (Quattro's status) the PV suddently switches off, although there is still consumption on the ACOUT side :

[image]

This is puzzling as this is happening during the day and there is still plenty of PV power available. This energy mismatch is not understandable, as the PV charger should match the AC outside power....

Any ideas ? We have tried all combination possible (battery life enabled or disabled, DVCC on or off, etc...).

Thanks a lot,

Hi I Have 5 x 110Ah Victron AGMs in parallel for 550Ah bank , Can anyone advise the end amps in absorption for these ? have heard everything from 1-4 % from watching them a little when on generator through Phoenix charger and inverter it switches to float around 10-11 amps so about 2% does this seem right , alot of people say AGM's should be set higher than this at 3-4 %

I updated firmware on app and two smart controllers today, May 2020 and I want to synchronize the charging. Do I need to add a smart sense? If I do, is it best to install the smart sense partway down a 5 battery bank to allow for cable losses between batteries?

Hi,

I've got a SmartSolar 150/35 with a string of panels totalling 600W. I've a couple of 110AH TN Power LiFePO4 batteries in series so running at 24V.

I've also a Phoenix Inverter Smart 24/3000. Both the charger and inverter are connected in parallel to the batteries via fuses etc. Cables to the inverter are 50mm2 copper and 16mm2 to the charger.

Generally on its usual load (around 150W) everything is fine. The 'fun' starts when I charge the car....

I've set that rate to 1.3KW which the inverter is fine with and it charges nicely. One of the batteries gets a bit warmer than the other but nothing to worry about. But the yield from solar drops right down from say 400W to under 200W. I note that the panel voltage also drops from around 95V to 50V as well. It's almost like the MPPT tracking has gone wrong somehow. Stop charging in the and it all recovers.

Ripple up the DC to the charger upsetting it? Something else obvious I've missed?

Cheers

Phil

Hi Community,

I have some problem with my new Mppt 100/15 blueSolar charger. The charger doesn't charge my battery ? Can you help me ?

Follwing parameter.

2 Büttner Panel MT SM 110 MC

1 Battery 180Ah Lithium LiFePO4

1 MPPT 100/15 BlueSolar charger

Solar volt: 20,93 v

a = 0a

Battery volt = 13,19 v

setting in mppt charger: i use the default profil: Lithium Iron Phospate (LiFePo4).

12 Volt setting

max ah: 15a

The last 3 days, my camper war parked in sun.. But the battery is not load for a second.

Thanks for your help

Daniel

Had to disconnect my solar charger to uninstall a breaker. Now it's not charging the batteries. All wiring is correct. Open circuit voltage of panels is above 19 until I plug them back in, then it drops to 13 or so. Charge state says off.... What did I do. 12 volt lifepo4 system. 400ah. Mppt 100/50 and bmv-712

Hi guys

So I have my 100/50 MPPT Smart Solar Charge Controller and I am some what confused at to what connection should be made and where does each go of the attached circuit breaker.

[image]

Common sense tells me that the “AUX” terminal is for the positive wire coming off the MPPT, and the “BAT” terminal goes to my positive bus-bar?

Please let me know if this is correct or if am I missing something here.

Thanks.

Hi,

Just checked my stats in VRM portal and on the dashboard in the "Solar" stats it is not showing energy going to the battery. My system is set up as bellow:

[image]

My Multiplus-II is using excessive solar power to charge batteries and that is working correctly, but in the stats everything has been counted as "Direct use" :

[image]

just a small 0.02kWh has been shown as "To battery" which is wrong. At the time when I took the screen shot, the battery has been charged from 84% to 100% and at the moment excessive solar power is going to the grid which looks like it's been calculated correctly. Any idea why is it not counting "To Battery" energy correctly???

Hello

I have bought myself 7200Wp of solar panels. 24 x 300wp facing a bit of south. Incline on the roof at 50degrees.

I also have an 40kWh lithium battery. 50V min 60V max. Max charge and discharge power is 9kW. Max discharge of 18kW for 2hours. The battery will be expand every year until the first place is filled and then I have 100kWh. There is already started on making place for an second battery of another 100kWh. But that is a bit dreamy.

Now the goal is that I put the entire house offgrid, but have the grid as backup and pull in when the battery is flat. I may not feed back to the grid. In summer I think, depending on how much electric distance we drive, we can make it 4 months completely offgrid. In Winter the house will be almost offgrid and the cars will be charging most of the time at night from the grid. Offpeak time electricity is 12% cheaper.

We have a plug in hybrid. Charging is 10kWh in 3 hours or 11kWh in 8 hours. +200kWh a month. And a full EV. Charging every day 10-15KWh in 3-5 hours. +300kWh a month. Sometimes we need fast charging in between runs and then I want to be able to charge 3 phase 16A =11kW, this may be grid charging. The car can handle up to 22kW 3 phase 32A but my grid connection is only 3 phase 25A.

So the configuration needs to be a 3fase configuration with a power output of + 15KW.

What gear do I need?

Thanks in advance

Greets

Tim

[image]

[image]

So ill start with the BMV-712 .. as soon as i connected it to my battery bank 2 100AH 12V battle born batteries in Parallel it gave me a midvoltage warning .. i couldn't find anything on the internet that applied to my specific problem

Now the charge controller.. when i look at the app it says 0watts when my battery switch is on and my battery isnt fully charged and therent isnt a sun in the sky .. is that normal ?

Hello everyone.

Has anyone built a Victron - Mastervolt hybrid system? Why not select the best elements from both if building a solar/lithium battery system for a boat from scratch? Victron’s open-systems approach enables this.

I’m designing a lithium battery system for a sailing yacht, currently under construction. Basic parameters are: ~1200Ah of lithium batteries; 1200W of solar panels; combined inverter/charger with shore power connection; no generator but twin alternators; worldwide sailing program including Arctic/Antarctic environments.

I’ve been looking closely at Victron and Mastervolt systems, along with batteries from other suppliers. I’ve been struggling to reconcile a few concerns.

While I’m happy with most elements of a Victron system, weaknesses are:

- integration and control of alternators. While Victron offers modules that can shield lithium batteries and alternators from each others’ damaging tendencies, it doesn’t provide a fully integrated method for controlling alternators, so that they can deliver ideal battery charging.

- the low IP22 rating of the batteries. IP22 might stop small rocks and drips of water from getting into the batteries, however, these will be installed in the bilge area of a rocking and rolling sailing yacht. Hmmm. :-/

- a Victron lithium battery warranty will be voided by any charging below 5℃. The yacht will be used in Arctic and Antarctic locations, where water temperatures down to 1 or 2℃ are higher than air temperatures. To take advantage of this the hull is uninsulated below the waterline. Keeping the batteries warm will not always be convenient, but catching what sunlight is available will always be important.

Some problems with Mastervolt's offerings are:

- solar charge controllers. Mastervolt’s range is small and performance of the best candidate is insufficient.

- system programming and monitoring. Mastervolt’s software for programming system elements is effective but is far less user friendly than Victron’s. Mastervolt’s monitoring and control displays are less convenient. Victron’s options for Bluetooth interfacing, with Apple iOS and OS X apps and software is a big plus. The ease of interpreting energy flows via Victron’s GX devices can’t be matched by Mastervolt’s presentation of discrete numbers.

I’m thinking that an ideal hybrid system for my yacht, using the best of both makers, will be to ask the builder's electrical engineer to install:

From Victron:
- Cerbo GX and GX Touch 50, for system status display including tanks and pumps and to control charging via DVCC
- MultiPlus 12/3000/120-50
- Smart Solar MPPT 100/50 (x3)
- SmartShunt 1000
- Phoenix IP43 24/25 charger, for bowthruster battery charging

From Mastervolt:
- 3 x 12/5500 MLI lithium batteries (400Ah each). IP65 protection rating! No warranty voiding by charging below 5℃. With 3 x BlueSeas ML RBS safety switches - to cut loads and charging in the one unit, which also has a manual isolation switch. Brilliant! And a Blue Seas ML ACR battery combiner - to charge both house and engine-start batteries from alternators
- 2 x AlphaPro III alternator regulators - programmable for Bulk, Absorption and Float charging. Better and easier than Balmar's offerings I think.
- MasterShunt - to send battery voltage and temperature data to the alternator regulators (might not need this if the regulators can get this data directly from the Mastervolt batteries via Masterbus)
- Masterbus to USB adapter - to enable programming via MasterAdjust software and effing Windows.

This thread advises that using two shunts will work. This will be important, so please speak up if you can see a problem.

DVCC should work. Victron's GX devices appear to be battery agnostic. I don't plan to connect the Mastervolt batteries to the Cerbo's BMSbus port, but doing so might be a future project.

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

Thank you.

Edit on 28 Apr 2020. A thought is that I can get the great performance of the Mastervolt AlphaPro III alternator regulators without necessarily needing the Mastervolt batteries. All I need is the Mastervolt shunt, which will communicate with the regulators and keep the alternators safe, performing well and charging the batteries well. This means I can use Victron lithium batteries if desired. That's handy.

We are in the final days of our build and really need help putting together our solar setup.

So far we have the 150/35 charge controller and we just purchased the Multiplus 24/3000 130v inverter/charger.

Our plan is to be able to charge the batteries (lithium) via alternator since our panels will not be accessible while driving. I found this diagram earlier but it seems like there is way more than we need and I do not want to start modifying plans for something I don't fully understand yet.

https://community.victronenergy.com/storage/attachments/2524-van-full-wiring-diagram.png

We would really appreciate if someone could help us come up with a parts list of the rest of the stuff we need in order to get this setup in the coming weeks.

Thank you!
Holly & Dustin
http://sasquatters.com

[image]

What do think about that? My Battery already dropped to 3V but nothing was changed on the 8th. And all Energy Users are switched off.

I am in the planning stages of converting a Van to a camper, this is a hobby/toy and I understand what I'm doing maybe over the top.

I have a small amount of solar (160W) on the roof permanently, connected to a Blue Solar 75/15 MPPT which charges my batteries (currently 60Ah but looking to double it). I have a BMV 702 and both of these are connected to a Venus GX which has a permanent connection to the internet via 4G and not my home WiFi. I am looking to purchase a new style 1200VA Multi to provide 230ac when out and about and would connect it to the Venus GX.

Currently, most mornings my solar tops my batteries back up from what was consumed during the night to run the GX and internet. This is usually done by 10am and then the solar is sat there doing nothing...

If I was to leave my van plugged into my house via the multi "AC in", what else would I need to feed back the excess solar for the rest of the day? My house consumes a base of about 265 watts so I doubt I'll ever export anything to the grid, but just reduce how much I'm pulling from the grid. And how easy would it be to disable this, say I went to a campsite where I had mains hookup and didn't want to export anything to their system (for safety reasons)?

Is it bad to cycle my batteries on a daily basis, I take about 6% out over night, would I better letting the multi keep them at 100% all the time? The van gets used about twice a month for about three days at a time and I will use between 20% and 50% of my battery capacity in the evenings/nights during this period.

I just purchased a new Samsung a8 and am unable to connect to my 75/15 mppt controller and Bluetooth smart dongle. The dongle is not visible in the Victon connect app device list and does not appear when searching for Bluetooth devices

I can still connect using my old Samsung S5 phone and using my partners Samsung a5. I have updated the mppt and phone to the latest firmware but this did not solve the problem. the Samsung a8 connects to all of my other bluetooth devices such as my laptop, bluetooth speaker and other phone.

Any help would be appreciated

Overview:

I've had a ~400AH LiFePo4 battery setup charged from the alternator (180A, 14.2V) checking battery levels (very handwavey I know) via voltage level for years and it's worked well but due to c19 I'll need to be inside running an inverter more often, so I'm setting up a solar system. I'm going with 3 100w rigid/fixed solar panels wired in series into a 100/30 smart solar charger. I was thinking of hooking up a bmv-700 (don't need a second bank to be monitored), but having the solar charger monitor my battery temp is key, so then it's the 702 and once I'm there it's a $20 cable or just get a 712 and not have to do another wiring run, so 712 it's looking to be. Having load monitoring seems useful vs just getting the $40 temp/voltage smartsensor.

Questions:

1) Would I have been better off just getting a 100/20? It has low voltage shutoff and output load monitoring, and I'm really not going to be pushing 20A often with 300W, though I did like the ability to add on another panel later. Will I get any significant functionality with a bmv 712 + 100/30 over the 100/20 unit?

2) It looks like I should be able to hook up my SmartSolar 100/30 charger to VRM according to documentation, but the portal only shows the GX controller units as eligible devices, and that'd be overkill for my setup. I assumed it'd sync data from the smartsolar charger to VRM when I was online with my phone/laptop etc connected to it - is that possible? The 30 day limit on VictronConnect for historical data is kind of a shame given how much effort has gone into logging.

3) If 2 isn't possible, does anyone have a decent workflow for archiving the CSV dump info from VictronConnect? It just has relative dates back from the current (0, 1, 2) etc... it'd be nice if those could be put into standard unix datetime when exported by grabbing the date from device (which generally sync to master date/time servers whenever online).

I guess naming the dumps by date, then running a script to parse the csv file by running backwards from the current date and adding in a timestamp field would work (could do a simple personal VRM with a js charting library or something).

I would like to power a Quattro 48/5000/70 via 50volts DC from a victron mppt 150-35 which is hooked to 1200 watts solar. There is now no battery in the system. Is this bad or will it damage the Quattro? I tried it a few times an what I observed was the Quattro's red low voltage light lit when the solar had no output (passing cloud) and then came on when the solar output rose to over 50 volts. I would like to leave the Quattro multicontroller switch on with a load (a dehumidifier) of 200 watts 120v always connected to the inverter output. The dehumidifier then would run when the sun shines. Are there any issues with this setup? A better way to do it? Thanks for any input.