Maxing out the Victron 75/15 MPPT with 400 watts solar Works great for my conditions! 200Ah LiFePO4
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มิ.ย. 2023
- Seems like overkill? Not really for these conditions here.
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If you get another battery and put them in series, you can charge at 440 watts with that controller. It can do 15 amps at 24 volts too!
I have a few charge controllers, including this one. Victrons are the best, and pretty much bullet proof. I run in series up to the max voltage, then parallel the rest. Higher the voltage, the thinner wire you can use, with less voltage loss and longer wire runs.
What a wonderful video. Learned a lot and appreciate your time and energy put into it.
Mahalo! Glad it had some information you could use. Aloha!🤙
Very good overview of adding more panels to an existing system. You can't go wrong with an MPPT controller. In testing using the 100/20 version using 100watt panels, I ended up paralleling two MPPT controllers and wired them with two panels for each controller. The only difference was that my panels were in parallel to eliminate the shading issue as much as possible. Here in Michigan, especially in winter I have to fight for every watt I can get. I guess the golden rule is to keep the voltage NO more than rated for the controller and current will be maxed out to whatever the controller is designed for. Hence, why I did two smaller controllers......great content as always! Thanks, Gary
Mahalo Gary! Appreciate you being part of the conversation here, and sharing whats working in your part of the world! Aloha! 🤙
Great demonstration for over paneling!
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I did the same series/parallel setup on my Renogy array. The MPPT controllers love it!
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I've been getting up to 220w with two 100w Ecoflow rigid panels in series. 220w is the most the controller will do. For 2S2P (4-100w panels) you should be using a 100|30. Victron controller. Looks like you could up your bulk/absorption voltage a bit, your battery will charge faster and they'll fill. Use the Victron preset for LiFePO4.
The maximum PV power you get is really dependent on your current battery voltage and mppt`s max current. e.g the data sheet for 75/15 recommends 220w array for a 12v battery system as this will be (220w/15a=14.67V) well we normally dont charge our batteries to 14.67V, so if your battery gets full at 14.2V then the maximum incoming PV array can only be (14.2V*15A) 213W. So if your battery voltage is at 13.7V then the maximum PV array you get coming in is (13.7V*15A) 205.5W
However, if you get 100/30 mppt it will double the output since it has a higher current output.
Mahalo for sharing this information with us brother! Aloha! 🤙
Those Victrons are something else. 👍👍👍
Love them for sure! Aloha! 🤙
I have the exact same kit (victron 75/15 mppt controller + victron phoenix inverter 12/375 + battery 200 ah) with a 180W solar panel and I'm just thinking about adding a second panel. Your video is... Inspiring. Thank you! Greetings from Your End of the World - from Poland 🙂🤗
Will you run that in series or parallel?
Good Evening ! Thanks posting. TAKE CARE..
Aloha! 🤙
NoOb here but learning fast. That was really helpful. Thanks.
Mahalo to you! 🤙
I have a very similar setup with same 75/15 charge controller with 6 50w panels. 3 in serials and then parallel with another set. No shade can harm me. Full charge back every day ever since even in winter I was able survived with 2 x 100ah
Very nice! 🤙
Glad that setup is working good. I expect it will last a long time. My 24/1200 has been running 7/24 for 28 days so far and pretty much set it and forget it, power to spare. When there is no problems it gives you time to think about improvements. O’ boy do I have some ideas.
Me too! Keeping my brain cells active! Aloha! 🤙
Nice job!
Mahalo! 🤙
Using more panels than a charge controller can handle is a good idea when extra panels are available. They help when the sun is covered by clouds or even on rainy days. Keep your batteries full and you don't need to burn fuel when little sun is available.
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yes, i agree with you.. where i live i have an average of 1/5 sunny day and few periods in the year i can have a covered sky during 3 weeks.. fortunately victron can deal with it by limiting the current.. also with the Victronconnect appi beautifully presented, it's why i chose this company.. i think the SmartSolar 75/15 model is the most saled/popular (and i have it)..
Just make sure you aren't exceeding the charge controller's max V and I input ratings!
Maxing out the MPPT every use is not good in the long run for the controller I’d just upgrade to a 20 or 30amp 😞 I run a 100/30 on a 24v system, right now I’m running 2 200w 18v or 36v switchable panels
@@ItsEverythingElse There is no Imax input, there is just Imax output ! and Vmax input.
Yes extra panels Rock! Ensuring charge on non perfect days. Cool.
Loving it! 🤙
Those parallel branch connectors short out really easy for one reason or another. I've seen one start smoking and crackling when I hooked it up to 4 X 100 watt panels in series. ALso had one sizzle when I connected it to a customer's 200 watt panels. And to top it off, I have seen some youtube videos of this happening, so thats why I say the sizzle quite frequently.
Mahalo for sharing that! I will keep a close eye on them...my first time using them. Aloha! 🤙
So far I have gotten away with using them. On 4-100 watt pannels, and on 4-300 watt pannels. Though all 4 of my renogy 100 wat pannels the connectors disintegrated
Thank you, for doing this experiment, I was wondering if the CC will protect itself and it all seems to work pretty well.
Working great for my purposes! 🤙
Doubling your battery voltage while still using the same charge controller lets you utilize the full 400W. But then you'd need a 24V inverter. With your current overpanelling you still get more power over the course of a full day - as you found out. So very nice demonstration of overpaneling and the power of combining parallel and series. Running a chargecontroller at its max amp limit day in and day out, is hard on its electronic components though and could potentially shorten it's life. If it gets too hot, active cooling with a fan will help.
Paralleling panels does however increase the need of fusing(at each string). Just saying -- again😉 Even when some(one) claim nothing ever happens (other post in your week old video)
Mahalo for all your great input brother. Very happy to have you part of the conversation around here. We all benefit! Aloha! 🤙
i always plan to oversize my PV array, because here the full sun is not often there.. and Victron have no problem to deal with!!
Love the Victron! 🤙
Nice overview. I would have enjoyed it more with actual voltage readings or maybe a look at the panel labels showing voltage/amps to make up the 100W. 2S2P PV panels is a great idea to help with partial shading. Thanks for sharing
Newpowa 100 watt Rigid Mono crystalline
Voltage at Pmax (Vmp)
19.23V
Current at Pmax (Imp)
5.21A
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4 panels 2s2p
38.46 V x 10.42 A = 401 Watts
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Mahalo for being part of the conversation! 🤙
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@@anthonyrstrawbridge How did it hit 59V on that one day? th-cam.com/video/6TdnZMYUBxA/w-d-xo.html
I like your videos. They are very thorough. You have obviously spent many thousands of dollars on equipment. I would like to know how long it will take to recoup your investment vs.if you relied on the grid.😮
Out here I would say my main house system fully paid for itself in three years...maybe a little less.🤙
over panerling is a good way to keep a steady current and voltage when a battery has a 40 amp charge limit and you have a 40amp controller and the controller is able to hold back the power from over panelling it makes to do to get the more steady charge rates
Yes sir! 🤙
Hi adding a 3rd panel to the series array will raise your voltage while keeping your current low. That way you don't have to change your controller and therefore get higher output by keeping your charge current low.
It doesn't, it's the battery voltage that is keeping the amps high. Only a 24v system would lower the amps that are going to the battery
well you can't series all panels. way over the 75V . watch them branch connector's . made with small wire inside . you may be ok with just 2 strings. check them for heat. also use inline fuse on each string. that way protect each string. if you are doing this on a larger system use a combiner box and fuse each string. now them victron MPPT controllers are current limited to the battery output. over size PV is ok unless you over-volt the input. if you were to use 24V system it still limits just under 15A giveing you about 2X total watts. watts is amps times volts. the panels I got are big. over 300 watts each and have shading diodes built in . also the victron MPPT charge controllers are thermal protected as well. but always a great idea to let plenty of air to get threw them. with that max out it will get warm . read manual for clearance needed on MPPT and/or inverter . now them MC4 fuse holders place eather pos or neg side of each string or even both sides, you can even place them between each string. you do not need to go crazy . just 1 fuse per string is fine. the windynation MC4 fuse holders comes with a fuse rated higher DC volts. keep spares.check the DC volts on fuse. I got 1KV ones on mine. easy to install is MC4 male and female. just take apart and insert fuse. my MC4 kit came with small plastic blue tool for taking them apart.so easy. hard in fingers without tool.
As always brother, thanks for information. Always a pen and paper in hand when reading your comments! Aloha! 🤙
Hello. Thank you verry much. It's really helpfull! Is it possible to use victron mppt as a booster. For exemple i have a ebike with a batterie 48v. 25 amp. And a solar panel 100w 12 v ? I want to charge my bike while riding... let's say with a smal victron mppt. Have a nice day!
My battery is is 16.8 max and just befor float I get 247watts with the smart 75/15
What type of fuse is that between the battery and the inverter? How does it work?
That charge control can do 400 watts if you use 24 volt batteries
your a funny guy , how many times you repeat things? also move the panels if getting shaded lol
You should hear me off camera! It's even worse! Aloha!🤙
Victron 75/15 stuck on absorption mode. Battery on 48% but controller says battery voltage 14.6v when infact it's 13.1. any insite?
Ii bought a 280ah battery would it be ok with a 100/30 cc and 430w panel
pretty much have the same system but 48v all in a server rack you can't go wrong with victron in the future upgrade to 48v its way more effirect can get alot more power and dont have to use bigger wires etc you have a good little setup 👍
You must have alot solar input for 48v many are limited on space and go to 12v even if cost loke 3 times more
Aloha! 🤙
idk if people know but solar panels will generate close to 100% wattage but then once they are hot upto temperature. they wil generate around 75% wattage in full sun direct angle,
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Why wouldn't you just buy the larger controller? I don't understand it.
My EpEver 20a does the same - it feathers off from the maximum power point to limit current when approaching its max current to protect itself - in my case, the panel is just 20w over spec so it seldom goes into this mode, however, I noticed that the unit does get pretty hot when its maxed out and have fitted a little PC fan to come on via a thermal switch wedged in the fins of the heat sink - You need to watch you don't cook your mosfets maxing out your controller.
Yes, I also live in a hot climate and the charge controller can overheat so quickly, good idea with the pc-fan & thermal switch, got mine rigged up the same way now, thank you :)
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@@USL.Website Them little thermal switches are brill - I think from memory I fitted a 50 centigrade one - it seems to come on 17 amps and over on a 20a controller - I used a 40mm 24v fan as I just wanted it to gently keep the air moving and be quiet
what size breaker are you using ?
Hi, no fuse controller -> battery?
What size wires did you use from controller to battery? And what size fuse yo use between solar panels and the controller?
Thank you
Got 10 awg on that run between cc and battery. And this as the solar isolator cutoff between panels and cc:amzn.to/4bvzNlw
Your panels must have a pretty high Voc to hit 59V on that one day.
The Victron chargers can be set to act as one I think, so you could put another 75/15 on the 2 other panels, and it could give up to 400w?
I could add a second cc yes. 🤙
if you could go to a 24 volt battery you can double the energy the Victron can send to the battery. You would be able to push over 400 watts through that controller.
That's interesting. So say he got a second 12v battery and wired it in series, then he'd have twice the battery and twice the charger?
The charger is limited by amps it can output to the battery. By doubling the battery voltage the amp output is cut in half for the same wattage flowing through it. If it could handle 220 watts of panels at 12v it can handle 440 watts at 24v. more power but same amperage coming out of the charger except the higher voltage is flowing 2X the wattage for those amps. The downside is if you have already purchased a 12v inverter you will need to get a 24v model. I did this with my system and 24v is much better than 12v. This also means smaller gage wire for the same wattage output.
Good video mate 👌 call me crazy but I am doing a little experiment myself running 500w into my 75/15 controller. Going to do a longevity test. Will be intresting to see what happens. Might be some fireworks 🎉😂
Be careful out there my friend! 🤙
Hows it going with the 500w test?
@@Antswe it is still going strong mate. No issues so far. And has harvested 18kwh of energy so far 👍
If the issue boils down to which Victron Smart Charge controller to buy than I believe than I believe that you should buy the 100/30 model❤. Going cheap with electronics seldom pays off in the long run.😅
I just got another 100/30 for another project. I love the Victrons. Aloha!🤙
I have an Epever 60 amp mppt controller charging 2 100 ah. Weize Lipo 4 batteries. I run 100 watt panels and even on sunny days I can only get my batteries to 13.9 volts. Any ideas would be appreciated.
EpEver's standard setting is to Bulk charge at 14.6 v for lithium until it is 90% full and then Absorb for 2 hours - 13.9v ( 3.45v per cell) is a good Full voltage if you want your battery to last - there's almost no energy gain in charging your battery up the "Knee" to 3.65v per cell it will stress your battery and shorten its life considerably.
it is pretty much the exact system I designed except mine would be 24V 50AH battery, 24V/375W inverter, same charge controller and 4x 100W panels... it would give me the maximum potential for the least amount of money... the battery is the same price as 12V 100AH (they have same total capacity) the inverter costs the same and the charger is obviously the same so costs the same too... instead of beefing up a 12V system with a more expensive charge controller just to reach 400W/12V
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bravo
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To replace my pwm charge controller I bought a Smartsolar 75/15 from Victron, my only solar panel is 200W, it turns out that I am frustrated because the Max power that I have managed to achieve is 20w and 1.5 amp charging to the battery. I would appreciate if you could help me in configuring it.
Mppt needs +5v (or more, up to the 75v victron limit) over your battery max from the solar. Just my guess to your problem.
I think it might be better to increase the absorption and float voltage values to at least 14.42 ( 3.6 volt/cell) That is to say, any lower voltage setting will reduce the battery capacity.
If Redodo allows 14.6 volts/ 3.65 volts per cell floating at 14.6 volts would be perfect in this solar pv off grid inverter system. Having the bit more voltage available to compensate for losses between the VECC output and Redodo battery BMS and inverter is probably better. Periodically, once every three to four weeks the voltage should be increaed up to maximum cell voltage because the BMS needs alot of hours at to equalize the cells once they reach 90% SOC. The 200amp hour battery will likely need 8-16 hours at the top cell voltage because he BMS uses a small amount of current to short circuit the highest voltage cells thus continuously reducing the battery capacity each day that the maximum cell voltage isn't achieved) 😅 ALOHA
Redodo
Nominal Capacity: 200Ah
Nominal Voltage: 12.8V
Energy: 2560Wh
Charge Method: CC/CV
Charge Voltage: 14.4±0.2V
Recommend Charge Current: 40A
Mahalo for breaking it down brother! 🤙
@@ProjectsinParadise808 Absorption should be 14.4 to 14.6V, Float should only be 13.8 for LiFePO4 batteries!
something that you should do would be to reconfigure those four panels. Instead of the two big ones in series in parallel with the two smaller ones in series, I would take a big one and a small one in series, then do the other big one in series with the other small one, then parallel those together. this will provide a better voltaqe match for the charge controller.
I know you are already maxing the CC out the way you are, but voltage mismatch in no joke, and leaving a poor match in place in just bad practice. The arrangement I explained above will correct this issue.
Try it, make another video showing the difference.
If you want, disconnect the charge controller and take a voltage reading of each of your two series strings, you'll see a difference especially under varying light conditions.
Let me know how this works out for you, Aloha
I think the advertised voltage and amperage are the same on the two different panels, or really close. Not a bad idea though. You would have to test them installed with a multimeter to know for sure. All I ever do is do a quick check for open circuit voltage, then amperage, close to 20 and close to 5 on my small 100 watt panels, then connect to a charge controller by itself, or just throw it in the mix to make sure it's working. I never look for precise numbers. I don't have any mismatched panels though.
I really like that idea for another experiment, and mahalo as always for sharing that with us. Aloha! 🤙
@@ProjectsinParadise808 I like you man, like a kindred spirit or something.
@@sNEAKYnIGHTmUPPET I feel the same way my friend 🤙
Even though, theoretically, you can use a branch connector for two series strings, you really want to use a solar combiner box instead that puts an appropriate fuse on each string. And of course with more than two you must use a combiner box. But if you are safety-oriented you also should use a combiner box when paralleling two strings. Doubly true when variable shading is involved. Also, those branch connectors are generally really poor quality... I've got a bunch of them and after one got hot when it shouldn't have (due to poor quality manufacturing), I stopped using them entirely.
I have one of the 75/15s and several 100/20's. You can see there is 5.7A on the solar input (which is fine), but 14.8A on the battery output which is near the limit of the unit. At roughly 14V on the battery side you are limited to 210W. Now, if you had a 24V battery system instead of a 12V battery system, that same little charge controller would be able to do 15A x 27V (roughly) which would be 405W.
This brings to mind the "creeping upgrade" problem, where all of us enthusiasts are constantly adding to our systems well beyond the original design intentions.
In anycase, yah, you will get better production across the day by over-paneling the charge controller, but you are also leaving quite a bit of solar production on the table that you could have soaked up but didn't. I guess it comes down to looking at the curve. If the charge controller is maxed out for more than an hour or so each day, the amount of energy being left on the table really starts to get excessive.
I do like the fact that the Victron charge controller firmware properly limits the power to what it can handle. And its even a bit better... it also limits the power if the charge controller gets too hot.
It's self limiting, you can throttle it to whatever amps you want as well. I have had over 600 watts of pannels connected to the 75/15.... and over 1200 to a 100/30. It's a more predictable daily production to be over panneled. The 75/15 is of weaker design though, it hasn't a built in heat sink. I have mine bolted to a chunk of aluminum to help disapte the heat.
@@john0270 I use the load output of one of the charge controllers to control two quiet fans (mine are in an enclosure so I have two fan ports, one for air-in, and one for air-out). It works great. (recommend 140mm fans or larger if you want them to be quiet).
Basically just load output through inline 2A fuse directly to the fan since you have a 12V battery system.
For a 12V LFP system set the charge controller to turn on the load output at 13.28V and turn off at 13.25V. The numbers may seem odd but they work great if you think about the charge curve and the discharge curve. It will hit the fan turn-on near the beginning of the more linear part of the charge curve, and it will hit the fan turn-off shortly after the battery switches from the charge curve to the discharge curve as the sun goes down and generation is no longer able to match the load.
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In anycase, while it is true that you get more consistent daily generation by over-paneling, its only because you are leaving a relatively large amount of generation on the table. Usually its better to capture that energy.
In your case, just buying another 75/15 would do the job since they're only $137 (for the bluetooth version). You can parallel as many charge controllers onto the battery(ies) as you want as long as the total output amperage is within the battery's tolerances.
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I would just hook up three 100 W panels and the charge controller would be maxed out all the way around, and you would have one spare 100 W panel them to do something else with.
I have it exactly like you mention on another system...Aloha! 🤙
12v panel won’t run mppt with a heavy load (flat battery) 19.5vdc in 24v configuration runs the mppt well charging 12v battery set voltage manually
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The two panels in series is only putting out 200watts @ double the voltage
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what if you hook up to 24 volt battery - does victron out put 15 amps at 24 volts ???
Yes, is does. The limiting factors of charge controllers are foremost the amps on the battery side (and of course the voltage of combined panels). With a 24V system you could use the same charge controller, but doubling the wattage - but then spent money on a 24V inverter...
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75vdc maximum input voltage @ 15amps
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2 panels in series will double the voltage half the current of two panels combined in series
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changing the battery to 24v would increase the max power to about 400watts
Indeed it would. 🤙
What is better? The 2 similar in parallel or 2 in Sirius?
Series is always prefered to keep the amps down due to the higher voltage. However, if your array faces partial shading, parallel is better. In this video a combination works well!
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Nice system but that inverter is very small.
viktron 100/30 is on my list want to pair it with 400w panel
Perfect match! 🤙
Would this work with a 280ah 12v battery
36vdc in for charging 24volt battery
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Is this connection called 2S2P?
Yes, the array consists of 4 panels in a 2S2P connection. Same terminology as with battery connections.
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At 12V or even 14V, 15A cannot do 400W.
Just set battery voltage manually for battery being used
Mahalo!🤙
24v @ 200w
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I disagree that the controller is limiting the power. Please, correct me.
To my understanding, and i am a newbie, that 75/15 charge controller can handle up to 1125 Watts, not exceeding the 75v and 15A limits.
So you could add more panels while observing the charge controller specs.
The limit is on the battery side: 14V @ 15A (only if he increased the battery voltage, he would increase tha max usuable power from solar array. But he still gains over the course of a day by overpaneling)
@@jbjensen11 Ok, I went back to the specs for that mppt and see my mistake. This is eye opening, Thank you.
@@closetcleaner Great when we learn. So as you now understand there are more limiting factors in a controller: Voltage, Current(amps), Wattage(which is really a results of the limits on the first two) etc.
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🍍Aloha.
Aloha brother! 🤙
With a 24v battery you could get 400w out of that 🤔😃75/15
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Running the controller at max will shorten the life of the controller.
👋👍☮️
Aloha! 🤙