Here is your opportunity to ask Terry about your system. That way it will not swamp some other posters question. I am sure there will be interest from lots of other fence sitters.
Terrry said " I think I've probably dragged this topic off track, that was not my intention, sorry about that. T1 Terry " Thanks for saying that ! Here is the chance to say what needs to be done to Yobarrs big system to get it better and long lasting. We all want to know that so our hard earned mulla is not wasted if we go lithium.
My comments, on your comments, would be that he needs to look at his solar controller settings to reduce the bulk voltage, and just as important, to look at the BMS on his batteries so the individual cell voltages are kept down to spec. IMHO he has plenty of battery capacity so why not run the top voltage a bit lower and get better life in the summer high temperatures. After all he is manually controlling the voltage himself instead of setting the controller down. Why have a dog and bark yourself
Cheers Jaahn
Here is Yobarr's system from the other thread;
Hi Terry....Thanks for your information above.On my van I have 9x190 watt mono panels (1710 watts) Solar into 6x90ah Victron Lithium batteries (540ah). The inverter is 5kw Victron. The car has 1x190 mono into 1x90ah Victron Lithium battery,and it has a 2kw inverter......I would like more battery in the car,but I have run out of room for more Solar and I am getting close to my 2300kg rear axle capacity anyway! (The 190 watt panels are about 18kg each?) My battery monitor is a Victron Blue Power BMV 702 and this morning it was showing 14.47 volts so I turned on the AC at 18 degrees.There is a flash Victron Blue Power control board that shows that the AC load is 240 watts,so there still is more power being produced than is being used at the moment! (Much more!) Does that all sound OK! Cheers. .P.S Always your posts are informative,so I do not think that anybody would consider that you have gone off track! Any conversation naturally leads into another,and I am sure that I am not the only one happy to learn?
-- Edited by Jaahn on Tuesday 20th of August 2019 01:46:43 PM
T1 Terry said
01:56 PM Aug 20, 2019
Thanks for that Jaahn, maybe admin can swap the off topic posts to this thread to keep the other one on it's original track
OK yobarr, in the Victron 702BMV settings, menu item:
01 battery capacity so should be 540Ah
02 should be set to 14v
03 should be set to 1.5% (1.5% of 540Ah = 7.8 amps roughly)
04 to 1 min
05 to 1.00
06 to 100%
07 to 0.05amps
08 to 5 min (but I never turn this on in the main menu)
09 don't mess with it
10 don't mess with it
11 If you have a GX colour monitor it should be plugged into the 702 BMV and this set to remote
12 off if using the GX
13 will tell you if the relay is open or closed
14 & 15 I usually set to 0 but Victron may add a delay and minimum close time
16 I generally set to 5%, but for a 540Ah battery, that is still a lot held in reserve, but up to you
17 I generally set to 1% more than the 16 setting
18 I set to 11.8v
19 I set to 12.2v
20 to 14.6v
21 to 14.4v
22 to 31 depends what you use the other shunt voltage tap for, mid battery or start battery or something else
32 ON
33 to 20%
34 to 22%
35 to 12.2v
36 to 12.4v
37 to 14.4v
38 to 14.2v
39 to 48 similar thing to the 22 to 31 menu items, depends what you have connected
The rest is personal choice, but I generally set item 57 to off, the time to go display alters with the load so not a lot of meaning in the numbers it displays
64 I always lock the adjustments so they don't get accidentally changed. If you find you can not adjust any setting look at this menu item and see if it is on or off. You need it off to change any settings.
I would contract Victron before altering the voltages in the next bit, they may have some strange to me reason for aiming to such a high battery voltage, especially as they are trying to balance 6 batteries and 24 cells, run away cells would be a nightmare to sort over 6 spate batteries on the one battery bank.
The maximum voltage should be able to be set in the GX colour control, that should be set to 14v, absorption time to 30 mins and float to 13.8v.
Hopefully Victron have sorted out a method of drawing down from each of the 6 x 90ah batteries evenly, this was a serious problem a while back but they should have sorted it by now and upgraded the operating system via the interweb.
As far as cell voltage monitoring etc, Victron still play those cards close to the chest so unknown if they do and if the monitor every battery, 6 set ups would take a lot of monitoring so hopefully they do it within the battery itself.
T1 Terry
Peter_n_Margaret said
02:08 PM Aug 20, 2019
It would be more useful to others if we knew what those menu items actually were.
Cheers,
Peter
Jaahn said
02:53 PM Aug 20, 2019
Hi
A bit technical to kick off with I thought a bit of light discussion might be nice ! Here are some sites to look for the references on the Vivtron BMV702.
-- Edited by Jaahn on Tuesday 20th of August 2019 02:55:21 PM
yobarr said
02:53 PM Aug 20, 2019
Thanks Terry,for your detailed instructions.Very much appreciated,and I am sure that when my Solar man returns from his commissioning work overseas he will be able to follow your directions to properly set things up. There is little doubt that your input will be of benefit to others too...... I wonder if you will get arguement from people who know little,do not want to learn,but argue anyway,as I often do when I post on weights etc? Thanks again.Cheers.
Jaahn said
03:05 PM Aug 20, 2019
Hi Terry
Yobarr should be thankfull for that detailed reply, as he has just said . However that is settings for the battery monitor which is good but does not set the controller(regulator) to a lower voltage. I would think that seems to be important, as I said earlier because it seems high. Yobarr has not specified what unit is doing the solar charging control !! Can we get that information please.
Jaahn
T1 Terry said
03:32 PM Aug 20, 2019
Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
It would be more useful to others if we knew what those menu items actually were. Cheers, Peter
If you have a Victron 700, 702 or 712 BMV, the details about each menu item are in the big book in 8 languages :lol: A lot of info and way too much to add here.
A bit daunting when you first get the book out of the box, but once you actually start to read it, only the first 36 pages are in English and only 12 of those pages are about the actual menu items and settings, the rest is explanations of just what it is doing and the relevance of each reading to the over all picture regarding how the system is running. A brilliant piece of kit for the price.
T1 Terry
T1 Terry said
03:41 PM Aug 20, 2019
Jaahn wrote:
Hi Terry
Yobarr should be thankfull for that detailed reply, as he has just said . However that is settings for the battery monitor which is good but does not set the controller(regulator) to a lower voltage. I would think that seems to be important, as I said earlier because it seems high. Yobarr has not specified what unit is doing the solar charging control !! Can we get that information please.
Jaahn
I'm assuming the whole system is Victron based, batteries, solar controller, maybe some form of DC to DC charger and an over all system controller accessed via the GX colour monitor. All the bits as supposed to plug into one another and communicate with the central control. I believe the access to the reprogramming of the central control is via the GX colour monitor. Probably password protected, Victron can be a bit funny like that, but the BMV can be easily reprogrammed by holding the set up button in for 5 secs, then scroll through the menu with the + and - buttons, lock it in with the select and move on to the next item. All the instructions are in the book starting on page 17.
T1 Terry
Eaglemax said
03:53 PM Aug 20, 2019
Yobarr said
"I wonder if you will get arguement from people who know little,do not want to learn,but argue anyway, as I often do when I post on weights etc?"
Perhaps it's in your execution?
Tony.
yobarr said
04:23 PM Aug 20, 2019
T1 Terry wrote:
Jaahn wrote:
Hi Terry
Yobarr should be thankfull for that detailed reply, as he has just said . However that is settings for the battery monitor which is good but does not set the controller(regulator) to a lower voltage. I would think that seems to be important, as I said earlier because it seems high. Yobarr has not specified what unit is doing the solar charging control !! Can we get that information please.
Jaahn
I'm assuming the whole system is Victron based, batteries, solar controller, maybe some form of DC to DC charger and an over all system controller accessed via the GX colour monitor. All the bits as supposed to plug into one another and communicate with the central control. I believe the access to the reprogramming of the central control is via the GX colour monitor. Probably password protected, Victron can be a bit funny like that, but the BMV can be easily reprogrammed by holding the set up button in for 5 secs, then scroll through the menu with the + and - buttons, lock it in with the select and move on to the next item. All the instructions are in the book starting on page 17.T1 Terry
Terry,you are spot-on with your assumptions,as everything is Victron,I understand that there is a DC to DC charger,and the GX colour monitor does control everything.Because I have little understanding of electrics,I will wait until my Solar man returns,although I do have a stack of Victron manuals in the van! Most of the area under the bed is occupied by Solar equipment,but the inverter,which weighs around 30kg,is on the other side of the van for weight distribution purposes!Thanks for your help... good to get expert advice! Cheers
T1 Terry said
05:16 PM Aug 20, 2019
Those inverters are monsters eh :lol: Good to see someone with a big solar set up and more battery capacity than me, usually it is one or the other. My Hino has 200Ah of Winston cells @ 24v and 1620w of solar (6 x 270w Tindo panels) and a 3500w MPP solar inverter/charger. Our set up is all electric too, including the hot water and split system air conditioning. We never really run out of power, but we do use them seriously, often down to the 20% warning alarm in the morning after coffee and breakfast if the weather has been ordinary for a few days and the alternator decides it doesn't want to pay the game. Driving at night and running the air con all the way back from Perth in the heat was hard on them as well. But they bounce back every time, although it does take until well after lunch before they are approaching fully charged again once the sun comes out. I guess it really depends what loads are running while the solar is trying to get the battery full again, but there is always enough of the day left to heat the water for a shower at night.
T1 Terry
yobarr said
06:11 PM Aug 20, 2019
T1 Terry wrote:
Those inverters are monsters eh :lol: Good to see someone with a big solar set up and more battery capacity than me, usually it is one or the other. My Hino has 200Ah of Winston cells @ 24v and 1620w of solar (6 x 270w Tindo panels) and a 3500w MPP solar inverter/charger. Our set up is all electric too, including the hot water and split system air conditioning. We never really run out of power, but we do use them seriously, often down to the 20% warning alarm in the morning after coffee and breakfast if the weather has been ordinary for a few days and the alternator decides it doesn't want to pay the game. Driving at night and running the air con all the way back from Perth in the heat was hard on them as well. But they bounce back every time, although it does take until well after lunch before they are approaching fully charged again once the sun comes out. I guess it really depends what loads are running while the solar is trying to get the battery full again, but there is always enough of the day left to heat the water for a shower at night.T1 Terry
Hi Terry.....your hot water system interests me.I have a diesel heater for both air and water,but I would like to learn about electric hot water.Because the reverse cycle heats the van easily,perhaps I should remove the diesel heater,thus saving the weight of both the heater unit,and the 20 litre diesel tank,as well as giving me more room in the van.There would then be no need to keep filling the fuel tank for the heater.....a messy job in my case,as the tank is in the boot! Details of your setup would be appreciated. My setup has no connection to the cars battery,and I have decided to leave my brand new Yamaha 2800i generator,saving 32kg as well as eliminating the need to carry petrol. This means that I can live in the bush for as long as my 540 litres of water lasts,and even longer if I get energetic and use my water pump to fill the van tanks! Cel-fi Go for phone and internet,and Sat TV,mean that I still can have contact with the outside world,although I have 16,000 of my favourite songs on board to keep me company! The only things running while I travel are the fridge,and if I am on dusty roads,the bilge fan that pressurises the van to keep dust out.Works through a snorkel and a Donaldson air cleaner......my own design! Details of your water heater would be appreciated.Cheers
-- Edited by yobarr on Tuesday 20th of August 2019 06:15:14 PM
montie said
07:52 PM Aug 20, 2019
TI Terry and I have not always agreed in the past but I have to give him credit...he does know what he is talking about when it comes to electrical systems....way above my head!
yobarr said
08:44 PM Aug 20, 2019
montie wrote:
TI Terry and I have not always agreed in the past but I have to give him credit...he does know what he is talking about when it comes to electrical systems....way above my head!
Absolutely true Monty.....it is always a pleasure to deal with people who know what they are talking about,and to learn from their experience.When it comes to electrical systems,my knowledge is zilch,but I am happy to listen,not argue,and learn.Cheers
Jaahn said
09:42 PM Aug 20, 2019
Hi
Good discussion. Just for more discussion.
Brousing some ebay offerings for a BMV702 gives this interesting selection of prices. all free postage from Australian sellers.
AU $195.00 for the basic setup.
Pay a bit more perhaps and get more !
AU $275.00 might include your dongle and some bluetooths
or pay a bit more for some reason AU $319.00 ?? or even more up to $382?
Or hang out for three weeks to receive one from this special seller !! Why do they bother to list them?
Those inverters are monsters eh :lol: Good to see someone with a big solar set up and more battery capacity than me, usually it is one or the other. My Hino has 200Ah of Winston cells @ 24v and 1620w of solar (6 x 270w Tindo panels) and a 3500w MPP solar inverter/charger. Our set up is all electric too, including the hot water and split system air conditioning. We never really run out of power, but we do use them seriously, often down to the 20% warning alarm in the morning after coffee and breakfast if the weather has been ordinary for a few days and the alternator decides it doesn't want to pay the game. Driving at night and running the air con all the way back from Perth in the heat was hard on them as well. But they bounce back every time, although it does take until well after lunch before they are approaching fully charged again once the sun comes out. I guess it really depends what loads are running while the solar is trying to get the battery full again, but there is always enough of the day left to heat the water for a shower at night.T1 Terry
Hi Terry.....your hot water system interests me.I have a diesel heater for both air and water,but I would like to learn about electric hot water.Because the reverse cycle heats the van easily,perhaps I should remove the diesel heater,thus saving the weight of both the heater unit,and the 20 litre diesel tank,as well as giving me more room in the van.There would then be no need to keep filling the fuel tank for the heater.....a messy job in my case,as the tank is in the boot! Details of your setup would be appreciated. My setup has no connection to the cars battery,and I have decided to leave my brand new Yamaha 2800i generator,saving 32kg as well as eliminating the need to carry petrol. This means that I can live in the bush for as long as my 540 litres of water lasts,and even longer if I get energetic and use my water pump to fill the van tanks! Cel-fi Go for phone and internet,and Sat TV,mean that I still can have contact with the outside world,although I have 16,000 of my favourite songs on board to keep me company! The only things running while I travel are the fridge,and if I am on dusty roads,the bilge fan that pressurises the van to keep dust out.Works through a snorkel and a Donaldson air cleaner......my own design! Details of your water heater would be appreciated.Cheers
-- Edited by yobarr on Tuesday 20th of August 2019 06:15:14 PM
Not a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket.
Without a diesel heater and a big noisy generator we would have had a very miserable few days
Those inverters are monsters eh :lol: Good to see someone with a big solar set up and more battery capacity than me, usually it is one or the other. My Hino has 200Ah of Winston cells @ 24v and 1620w of solar (6 x 270w Tindo panels) and a 3500w MPP solar inverter/charger. Our set up is all electric too, including the hot water and split system air conditioning. We never really run out of power, but we do use them seriously, often down to the 20% warning alarm in the morning after coffee and breakfast if the weather has been ordinary for a few days and the alternator decides it doesn't want to pay the game. Driving at night and running the air con all the way back from Perth in the heat was hard on them as well. But they bounce back every time, although it does take until well after lunch before they are approaching fully charged again once the sun comes out. I guess it really depends what loads are running while the solar is trying to get the battery full again, but there is always enough of the day left to heat the water for a shower at night.T1 Terry
Hi Terry.....your hot water system interests me.I have a diesel heater for both air and water,but I would like to learn about electric hot water.Because the reverse cycle heats the van easily,perhaps I should remove the diesel heater,thus saving the weight of both the heater unit,and the 20 litre diesel tank,as well as giving me more room in the van.There would then be no need to keep filling the fuel tank for the heater.....a messy job in my case,as the tank is in the boot! Details of your setup would be appreciated. My setup has no connection to the cars battery,and I have decided to leave my brand new Yamaha 2800i generator,saving 32kg as well as eliminating the need to carry petrol. This means that I can live in the bush for as long as my 540 litres of water lasts,and even longer if I get energetic and use my water pump to fill the van tanks! Cel-fi Go for phone and internet,and Sat TV,mean that I still can have contact with the outside world,although I have 16,000 of my favourite songs on board to keep me company! The only things running while I travel are the fridge,and if I am on dusty roads,the bilge fan that pressurises the van to keep dust out.Works through a snorkel and a Donaldson air cleaner......my own design! Details of your water heater would be appreciated.Cheers
-- Edited by yobarr on Tuesday 20th of August 2019 06:15:14 PM
Not a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket.
Without a diesel heater, gas hot water, and a big noisy generator we would have had a very miserable few days
Hi Jaahn, the newer 712 model has the Bluetooth built in, good for those who need the writing bigger so they can read it and all on the one page for the smart phone ... good for around the campfire techno bragging as well :lol:
As far as the crazy high prices, sometimes you will see an item for $999,999.99 or other crazy amounts, it just means they have zero stock at the moment but don't want to lose there spot in the E Bay listing que. One supplier told me they actually had someone order a $200 item that was listed for $900 to distract bidders. The even crazier bit was it took 3 weeks to get the item back in stock and they received a PayPal complaint about non delivery, it was only then that they realised someone had ordered one at the ridiculous price . I'm not sure that I wouldn't have supplied it at the $900 with an apology about the delay :lol:
T1 Terry
T1 Terry said
12:19 PM Aug 21, 2019
Hi yobarr. The hot water turn on is driven by the Plasmatronics Dingo 20/20 we use for solar control and other functions. It can also be driven by the MPP Solar inverter we use in part of the programming that drives external relay drivers. I expect the Victron GX colour controller has similar abilities. The relay to turn the electric hot water on/off can be either voltage or state of charge driven, the Dingo also adds a time of day requirement into the mix so something silly doesn't cause it to turn on in the middle of the night. We have also designed/fitted set ups that turn the power from the hot water to the air conditioner once the hot water thermostat has tripped at the 70*C mark, just to use the excess solar doing something useful.
You could add an electric element into the diesel heated hot water tank and either power it from the 240vac via the inverter or direct from the solar to a suitable voltage element. We did that with the house water system back in the house at Lake Illawarra (NSW Wollongong area), switched the solar to the element once the battery was fully charged and switched it back at 90% SOC.
As far as the reverse cycle air conditioner for heating, works great as long as the outside temp stays above 2*C, the outside unit tends to freeze up below that and if you add mist into the mix, the problem starts to occur at around 5*C. At this point the unit turns back into a cold producing heat pump and steals the warm from inside the vehicle to melt the ice on the outside unit. This is the time to turn on the diesel heater, the same as if it's cold and raining outside, it just does a better job. I know what you mean about a messy job filling the diesel heater tank, I though I was being clever where I mounted on the back of the Hino on the same bracket that holds the split system air conditioner outside unit, but behind and against the back window. Fine for filling from a bowser, but from a jerry can ... I think it was close on a 50/50 thing as to how much went in and how much went on me.
I've picked up a 12v pump that drops into the jerry can now so I can just pump it in from the ground or even from the holder on the side of the trailer if we are carting that at the time. Might be a bit safer for refilling the fuel tank from the jerry cans on the side of the road because the fuel tank filler is on the driver's side, scarey to the max in the dark on a narrow highway playing dodgem's with the trucks.
T1 Terry
yobarr said
07:18 PM Aug 21, 2019
Thanks Terry,for your detailed information.Looks like Ill stick with the diesel heater for now,but I do have a 70 litre BLACK poly tank on the roof of the car,about 2400mm (?) off the ground,to use for a hot shower at the end of the day.Using 240 volt to heat the water in the diesel heater is something I may well pursue....thanks again for your help.Always I am happy to listen to people who know what they are talking about! Cheers
Hi Yobarr
Here is your opportunity to ask Terry about your system. That way it will not swamp some other posters question. I am sure there will be interest from lots of other fence sitters.
Terrry said " I think I've probably dragged this topic off track, that was not my intention, sorry about that. T1 Terry " Thanks for saying that ! Here is the chance to say what needs to be done to Yobarrs big system to get it better and long lasting. We all want to know that so our hard earned mulla is not wasted if we go lithium.
My comments, on your comments, would be that he needs to look at his solar controller settings to reduce the bulk voltage, and just as important, to look at the BMS on his batteries so the individual cell voltages are kept down to spec. IMHO he has plenty of battery capacity so why not run the top voltage a bit lower and get better life in the summer high temperatures. After all he is manually controlling the voltage himself instead of setting the controller down. Why have a dog and bark yourself
Cheers Jaahn
Here is Yobarr's system from the other thread;
Hi Terry....Thanks for your information above.On my van I have 9x190 watt mono panels (1710 watts) Solar into 6x90ah Victron Lithium batteries (540ah). The inverter is 5kw Victron. The car has 1x190 mono into 1x90ah Victron Lithium battery,and it has a 2kw inverter......I would like more battery in the car,but I have run out of room for more Solar and I am getting close to my 2300kg rear axle capacity anyway! (The 190 watt panels are about 18kg each?) My battery monitor is a Victron Blue Power BMV 702 and this morning it was showing 14.47 volts so I turned on the AC at 18 degrees.There is a flash Victron Blue Power control board that shows that the AC load is 240 watts,so there still is more power being produced than is being used at the moment! (Much more!) Does that all sound OK! Cheers. .P.S Always your posts are informative,so I do not think that anybody would consider that you have gone off track! Any conversation naturally leads into another,and I am sure that I am not the only one happy to learn?
-- Edited by Jaahn on Tuesday 20th of August 2019 01:46:43 PM
OK yobarr, in the Victron 702BMV settings, menu item:
01 battery capacity so should be 540Ah
02 should be set to 14v
03 should be set to 1.5% (1.5% of 540Ah = 7.8 amps roughly)
04 to 1 min
05 to 1.00
06 to 100%
07 to 0.05amps
08 to 5 min (but I never turn this on in the main menu)
09 don't mess with it
10 don't mess with it
11 If you have a GX colour monitor it should be plugged into the 702 BMV and this set to remote
12 off if using the GX
13 will tell you if the relay is open or closed
14 & 15 I usually set to 0 but Victron may add a delay and minimum close time
16 I generally set to 5%, but for a 540Ah battery, that is still a lot held in reserve, but up to you
17 I generally set to 1% more than the 16 setting
18 I set to 11.8v
19 I set to 12.2v
20 to 14.6v
21 to 14.4v
22 to 31 depends what you use the other shunt voltage tap for, mid battery or start battery or something else
32 ON
33 to 20%
34 to 22%
35 to 12.2v
36 to 12.4v
37 to 14.4v
38 to 14.2v
39 to 48 similar thing to the 22 to 31 menu items, depends what you have connected
The rest is personal choice, but I generally set item 57 to off, the time to go display alters with the load so not a lot of meaning in the numbers it displays
64 I always lock the adjustments so they don't get accidentally changed. If you find you can not adjust any setting look at this menu item and see if it is on or off. You need it off to change any settings.
I would contract Victron before altering the voltages in the next bit, they may have some strange to me reason for aiming to such a high battery voltage, especially as they are trying to balance 6 batteries and 24 cells, run away cells would be a nightmare to sort over 6 spate batteries on the one battery bank.
The maximum voltage should be able to be set in the GX colour control, that should be set to 14v, absorption time to 30 mins and float to 13.8v.
Hopefully Victron have sorted out a method of drawing down from each of the 6 x 90ah batteries evenly, this was a serious problem a while back but they should have sorted it by now and upgraded the operating system via the interweb.
As far as cell voltage monitoring etc, Victron still play those cards close to the chest so unknown if they do and if the monitor every battery, 6 set ups would take a lot of monitoring so hopefully they do it within the battery itself.
T1 Terry
Cheers,
Peter
Hi
A bit technical to kick off with
I thought a bit of light discussion might be nice ! Here are some sites to look for the references on the Vivtron BMV702.
https://www.victronenergy.com/battery-monitors/bmv-700?_ga=2.108000331.835878279.1529571423-704845767.1501504286#pd-nav-image
Seem to be available for about $200 (and more) for 12V !
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/VICTRON-DUAL-BATTERY-SYSTEM-MONITOR-VOLT-METER-12V-12-VOLT-BMV-702-NARVA-87660/302155064364?epid=27015236664&hash=item4659d8642c:g:kzkAAOSw2ipdRf-n
The manual to read here.
https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Manual-BMV-700-700H-702-712-EN-NL-FR-DE-ES-SE-PT-IT.pdf
Jaahn
-- Edited by Jaahn on Tuesday 20th of August 2019 02:55:21 PM
Thanks Terry,for your detailed instructions.Very much appreciated,and I am sure that when my Solar man returns from his commissioning work overseas he will be able to follow your directions to properly set things up. There is little doubt that your input will be of benefit to others too...... I wonder if you will get arguement from people who know little,do not want to learn,but argue anyway,as I often do when I post on weights etc? Thanks again.Cheers.
Hi Terry
Yobarr should be thankfull for that detailed reply, as he has just said
. However that is settings for the battery monitor which is good but does not set the controller(regulator) to a lower voltage. I would think that seems to be important, as I said earlier because it seems high. Yobarr has not specified what unit is doing the solar charging control !! Can we get that information please.
Jaahn
If you have a Victron 700, 702 or 712 BMV, the details about each menu item are in the big book in 8 languages :lol: A lot of info and way too much to add here.
A bit daunting when you first get the book out of the box, but once you actually start to read it, only the first 36 pages are in English and only 12 of those pages are about the actual menu items and settings, the rest is explanations of just what it is doing and the relevance of each reading to the over all picture regarding how the system is running. A brilliant piece of kit for the price.
T1 Terry
I'm assuming the whole system is Victron based, batteries, solar controller, maybe some form of DC to DC charger and an over all system controller accessed via the GX colour monitor. All the bits as supposed to plug into one another and communicate with the central control. I believe the access to the reprogramming of the central control is via the GX colour monitor. Probably password protected, Victron can be a bit funny like that, but the BMV can be easily reprogrammed by holding the set up button in for 5 secs, then scroll through the menu with the + and - buttons, lock it in with the select and move on to the next item. All the instructions are in the book starting on page 17.
T1 Terry
Terry,you are spot-on with your assumptions,as everything is Victron,I understand that there is a DC to DC charger,and the GX colour monitor does control everything.Because I have little understanding of electrics,I will wait until my Solar man returns,although I do have a stack of Victron manuals in the van! Most of the area under the bed is occupied by Solar equipment,but the inverter,which weighs around 30kg,is on the other side of the van for weight distribution purposes!Thanks for your help... good to get expert advice! Cheers
Those inverters are monsters eh :lol: Good to see someone with a big solar set up and more battery capacity than me, usually it is one or the other. My Hino has 200Ah of Winston cells @ 24v and 1620w of solar (6 x 270w Tindo panels) and a 3500w MPP solar inverter/charger. Our set up is all electric too, including the hot water and split system air conditioning. We never really run out of power, but we do use them seriously, often down to the 20% warning alarm in the morning after coffee and breakfast if the weather has been ordinary for a few days and the alternator decides it doesn't want to pay the game. Driving at night and running the air con all the way back from Perth in the heat was hard on them as well. But they bounce back every time, although it does take until well after lunch before they are approaching fully charged again once the sun comes out. I guess it really depends what loads are running while the solar is trying to get the battery full again, but there is always enough of the day left to heat the water for a shower at night.
T1 Terry
Hi Terry.....your hot water system interests me.I have a diesel heater for both air and water,but I would like to learn about electric hot water.Because the reverse cycle heats the van easily,perhaps I should remove the diesel heater,thus saving the weight of both the heater unit,and the 20 litre diesel tank,as well as giving me more room in the van.There would then be no need to keep filling the fuel tank for the heater.....a messy job in my case,as the tank is in the boot! Details of your setup would be appreciated. My setup has no connection to the cars battery,and I have decided to leave my brand new Yamaha 2800i generator,saving 32kg as well as eliminating the need to carry petrol. This means that I can live in the bush for as long as my 540 litres of water lasts,and even longer if I get energetic and use my water pump to fill the van tanks! Cel-fi Go for phone and internet,and Sat TV,mean that I still can have contact with the outside world,although I have 16,000 of my favourite songs on board to keep me company! The only things running while I travel are the fridge,and if I am on dusty roads,the bilge fan that pressurises the van to keep dust out.Works through a snorkel and a Donaldson air cleaner......my own design! Details of your water heater would be appreciated.Cheers
-- Edited by yobarr on Tuesday 20th of August 2019 06:15:14 PM
Absolutely true Monty.....it is always a pleasure to deal with people who know what they are talking about,and to learn from their experience.When it comes to electrical systems,my knowledge is zilch,but I am happy to listen,not argue,and learn.Cheers
Hi
Good discussion. Just for more discussion.
Brousing some ebay offerings for a BMV702 gives this interesting selection of prices. all free postage from Australian sellers.
AU $195.00 for the basic setup.
Pay a bit more perhaps and get more !
AU $275.00 might include your dongle and some bluetooths
or pay a bit more for some reason AU $319.00 ?? or even more up to $382?
Or hang out for three weeks to receive one from this special seller !! Why do they bother to list them?
AU $621.95 from itsalovelydayforshopping Note: This is a special Order Item and will take approximately 3 weeks to order.
jaahn
Not a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket.
Without a diesel heater and a big noisy generator we would have had a very miserable few days
Not a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket.
Without a diesel heater, gas hot water, and a big noisy generator we would have had a very miserable few days
Hi Jaahn, the newer 712 model has the Bluetooth built in, good for those who need the writing bigger so they can read it and all on the one page for the smart phone ... good for around the campfire techno bragging as well :lol:
As far as the crazy high prices, sometimes you will see an item for $999,999.99 or other crazy amounts, it just means they have zero stock at the moment but don't want to lose there spot in the E Bay listing que. One supplier told me they actually had someone order a $200 item that was listed for $900 to distract bidders. The even crazier bit was it took 3 weeks to get the item back in stock and they received a PayPal complaint about non delivery, it was only then that they realised someone had ordered one at the ridiculous price
. I'm not sure that I wouldn't have supplied it at the $900 with an apology about the delay :lol:
T1 Terry
You could add an electric element into the diesel heated hot water tank and either power it from the 240vac via the inverter or direct from the solar to a suitable voltage element. We did that with the house water system back in the house at Lake Illawarra (NSW Wollongong area), switched the solar to the element once the battery was fully charged and switched it back at 90% SOC.
As far as the reverse cycle air conditioner for heating, works great as long as the outside temp stays above 2*C, the outside unit tends to freeze up below that and if you add mist into the mix, the problem starts to occur at around 5*C. At this point the unit turns back into a cold producing heat pump and steals the warm from inside the vehicle to melt the ice on the outside unit. This is the time to turn on the diesel heater, the same as if it's cold and raining outside, it just does a better job. I know what you mean about a messy job filling the diesel heater tank, I though I was being clever where I mounted on the back of the Hino on the same bracket that holds the split system air conditioner outside unit, but behind and against the back window. Fine for filling from a bowser, but from a jerry can ... I think it was close on a 50/50 thing as to how much went in and how much went on me.
I've picked up a 12v pump that drops into the jerry can now so I can just pump it in from the ground or even from the holder on the side of the trailer if we are carting that at the time. Might be a bit safer for refilling the fuel tank from the jerry cans on the side of the road because the fuel tank filler is on the driver's side, scarey to the max in the dark on a narrow highway playing dodgem's with the trucks.
T1 Terry
Thanks Terry,for your detailed information.Looks like Ill stick with the diesel heater for now,but I do have a 70 litre BLACK poly tank on the roof of the car,about 2400mm (?) off the ground,to use for a hot shower at the end of the day.Using 240 volt to heat the water in the diesel heater is something I may well pursue....thanks again for your help.Always I am happy to listen to people who know what they are talking about! Cheers