For a simple Off-Grid system like mine, the reprogramming with Victron is easy. I use 2 Multiplus-II in a split phase system, if one inverter goes down then I just use a jumper to be able to use both sides of my breaker box(I actually started off with only one inverter.) I don't think that we use 3 phase in very many houses here in the States, of course I could be wrong. (I just looked it up, less than 1% of residential houses in the U.S. use 3 phase power.)
And you are lucky you have the skills and knowledge to do that. Most people don't. Don't underestimate your skills. And 3 phase will get bigger. Most businesses are 3 phase and charging cars fast wants 3 phase. Well done on your set up.
Pretty cool to hear about your involvement in sodium ion battery testing. I have been hanging out for sodium home storage. Do you think it's worth waiting for and when do you think that tech will be ready here in Australia?
Thank you. I reckon we have 12 months plus before we see some commercial stuff available. There are a few suppliers I have been dealing with and mass production has been the challenge. I am looking forward to seeing what the next technology brings. What I have at home is a 2014 designed product.
My biggest annoyance with victron is rating their inverters in VA when other manufacturers like cotek can list an inverter as say 2000w and guess what you get 2000w! No bs
It is inherent in a low frequency transformer based inverter topology to have a power factor of less than one. Transformerless inverters have a unity power factor but they are not good at handling inductive loads. Victron's 5kVA means more than a Chinese 5kW.
Great product, but too expensive in the UK. It will be short lived now that GivEnergy have announced the All In One Hybrid that will try an topple both the Tesla PW3 and Sigenergy.
No issues using Victron grid coupled ESS in the UK. The Sigenergy looks interesting but I'd still take the Victron. One massive element that nobody talks about is the software. VRM is exceptional and relatively open too. That and the modular nature of the hardware means there is a solution for every circumstance. The reliability is good as is the support community - they come at energy management from a different angle to all others and I trust it. The software for all of the far eastern inverters I've installed is not a patch on the VRM.
Very informative Mike, as usual. Thanks for taking the time to do this video. It will be very interesting to see what foothold this product will gain in the off-grid market.
@@cuisinartOH1 ahhh, hmmm that is interesting. But I really actually know so little! I literally had just read about auto transformers like 5 min before u posted this video.
@@dtdionne It's not my video 🙂 I just replied to your question. And, I should have been more specific and say Victron's AT isn't for three phase. There may be others on that market that do. Thanks.
The DC EV charging thing would be nice, but even then you are limited to how much solar you have. You can't "magic" electricity if you don't have the panels to make it. I don't have any data about the average size of off-grid solar system in OZ, but I suspect it would be in the region of 10kW to 15kW, which means, at best, about 13.5kW available for the EV (you still have to run the stuff in the house.) 13.5kW would be nice but, honestly, it's a bit "meh" really. My 7.36kW single phase charger has kept me on the road, without inconvenience, for over a year now. I'm also in the camp of people who like the versatility of being able to choose their own storage. My existing storage is Pylontech LFP and they're chugging along very nicely, but my next storage (if I'm not pushing up daisies before the Pylontechs die,) will be a used EV battery converted to suit my needs. (Who knows, might even be the battery out of my EV when it's too tired to run the car?) I agree that the reprogramming of Victron inverters if one dies, is an issue, but I have rehearsed for this possibility and have a step-by-step procedure loaded into my laptop and my phone just in case. I'm single-phase, multiple inverters (3x 5KVA) and could easily get by with two working inverters and make do (just) with one working inverter. The good thing, as you stated, is the reliability of Victron inverters. Most of the trouble (if the posts on the Victron Community pages are anything to go by) usually comes down to "finger trouble". People unnecessarily installing firmware upgrades, etc. I'm cautious of new entries to the tech world and I think that if Ii was to start all over again with my off-grid system I would still wait a couple of years to see how the Sigenergy stuff behaves. A lot of brands have fallen by the wayside in the world of tech.
Great info. And you are correct on all of that. Noark are doing a bidirectional charger which will be great. I think for off grid is more that you can siphon power from the car when required would be the real benefit. Thanks for your comments. Where are you located?
Don't expect Victron to change, they have too much time and cost to redo their systems, their commitment to non certification says where they are going.
Did I just hear software locked which I have to pay to unlock? Lost me there.. from then on it was hard to continue listening. Software locking hardware capability is not a future I want to live in. All in one product like this reads single point of failure and a blow to right to repair. I look for a future where we can more inoperable systems with a standard communication interface that allows multiple inverters, solar controller and battery systems to talk together.. more like what TCPIP did for computers. Still have hope for that future.
I get your point. And they also decided not to sell that model. And it makes sense when people just want to put the cheapest system up to start with and the. Can add a battery later. Our problem right now is we remove lots of brod connected inveters that are 12 months old as the customer now wants batteries. A software unlock would be a better solution for this.
For a simple Off-Grid system like mine, the reprogramming with Victron is easy. I use 2 Multiplus-II in a split phase system, if one inverter goes down then I just use a jumper to be able to use both sides of my breaker box(I actually started off with only one inverter.) I don't think that we use 3 phase in very many houses here in the States, of course I could be wrong. (I just looked it up, less than 1% of residential houses in the U.S. use 3 phase power.)
And you are lucky you have the skills and knowledge to do that. Most people don't. Don't underestimate your skills. And 3 phase will get bigger. Most businesses are 3 phase and charging cars fast wants 3 phase. Well done on your set up.
Pretty cool to hear about your involvement in sodium ion battery testing. I have been hanging out for sodium home storage. Do you think it's worth waiting for and when do you think that tech will be ready here in Australia?
Thank you. I reckon we have 12 months plus before we see some commercial stuff available. There are a few suppliers I have been dealing with and mass production has been the challenge. I am looking forward to seeing what the next technology brings. What I have at home is a 2014 designed product.
@TheOffGridShop so hopefully it's just an investment barrier rather than a technical barrier do you think?
My biggest annoyance with victron is rating their inverters in VA when other manufacturers like cotek can list an inverter as say 2000w and guess what you get 2000w! No bs
Very good point you make. Thank you for sharing.
It is inherent in a low frequency transformer based inverter topology to have a power factor of less than one.
Transformerless inverters have a unity power factor but they are not good at handling inductive loads.
Victron's 5kVA means more than a Chinese 5kW.
Great product, but too expensive in the UK. It will be short lived now that GivEnergy have announced the All In One Hybrid that will try an topple both the Tesla PW3 and Sigenergy.
Will check it out. Thank you
No issues using Victron grid coupled ESS in the UK. The Sigenergy looks interesting but I'd still take the Victron. One massive element that nobody talks about is the software. VRM is exceptional and relatively open too. That and the modular nature of the hardware means there is a solution for every circumstance. The reliability is good as is the support community - they come at energy management from a different angle to all others and I trust it. The software for all of the far eastern inverters I've installed is not a patch on the VRM.
Yes Victron dominates the end user interface and controllability.
Very informative Mike, as usual. Thanks for taking the time to do this video. It will be very interesting to see what foothold this product will gain in the off-grid market.
Thank you appreciate it.
Nice product. SolaX has phase imbalance too
Yeah it's becoming a standard thing which is great.
I have this product. It is really great.
Tell us more. What's your favourite feature?
Isn’t that what autotransformers do? Victron has them don’t they?
For split-phase systems in North America, yes. For three-phase systems, no.
@@cuisinartOH1 ahhh, hmmm that is interesting. But I really actually know so little! I literally had just read about auto transformers like 5 min before u posted this video.
@@dtdionne It's not my video 🙂 I just replied to your question. And, I should have been more specific and say Victron's AT isn't for three phase. There may be others on that market that do. Thanks.
Which part specifically are you saying they do?
The DC EV charging thing would be nice, but even then you are limited to how much solar you have. You can't "magic" electricity if you don't have the panels to make it. I don't have any data about the average size of off-grid solar system in OZ, but I suspect it would be in the region of 10kW to 15kW, which means, at best, about 13.5kW available for the EV (you still have to run the stuff in the house.) 13.5kW would be nice but, honestly, it's a bit "meh" really. My 7.36kW single phase charger has kept me on the road, without inconvenience, for over a year now.
I'm also in the camp of people who like the versatility of being able to choose their own storage. My existing storage is Pylontech LFP and they're chugging along very nicely, but my next storage (if I'm not pushing up daisies before the Pylontechs die,) will be a used EV battery converted to suit my needs. (Who knows, might even be the battery out of my EV when it's too tired to run the car?)
I agree that the reprogramming of Victron inverters if one dies, is an issue, but I have rehearsed for this possibility and have a step-by-step procedure loaded into my laptop and my phone just in case. I'm single-phase, multiple inverters (3x 5KVA) and could easily get by with two working inverters and make do (just) with one working inverter. The good thing, as you stated, is the reliability of Victron inverters. Most of the trouble (if the posts on the Victron Community pages are anything to go by) usually comes down to "finger trouble". People unnecessarily installing firmware upgrades, etc.
I'm cautious of new entries to the tech world and I think that if Ii was to start all over again with my off-grid system I would still wait a couple of years to see how the Sigenergy stuff behaves. A lot of brands have fallen by the wayside in the world of tech.
Great info. And you are correct on all of that. Noark are doing a bidirectional charger which will be great. I think for off grid is more that you can siphon power from the car when required would be the real benefit. Thanks for your comments. Where are you located?
@@TheOffGridShop I'm at Northampton, Western Australia.
Don't expect Victron to change, they have too much time and cost to redo their systems, their commitment to non certification says where they are going.
I have been told that they are getting some certifications in Australia. We will see.
Did I just hear software locked which I have to pay to unlock? Lost me there.. from then on it was hard to continue listening. Software locking hardware capability is not a future I want to live in. All in one product like this reads single point of failure and a blow to right to repair.
I look for a future where we can more inoperable systems with a standard communication interface that allows multiple inverters, solar controller and battery systems to talk together.. more like what TCPIP did for computers. Still have hope for that future.
I get your point. And they also decided not to sell that model. And it makes sense when people just want to put the cheapest system up to start with and the. Can add a battery later. Our problem right now is we remove lots of brod connected inveters that are 12 months old as the customer now wants batteries. A software unlock would be a better solution for this.