I posted a thread a while ago about the advantages of Victron over Sunsynk and vice versa. Everyone was telling me to go with Sunsynk. Well, seeing that I like to be different I went with a Victron solution.

We use Victron equipment at work so I sort of know my way around it already. I will split the install over 2 phases.

Phase 1 has been ordered and delivered. Seeing as this is a DIY install it will take me a couple of weeks to install everything. My work will be checked by a qualified electrician and COC issued.

I plan on running 2 strings of 7 panels to the MPPT RS. My roof is flat so I will use Renusol TS+ components to lift the panels to achieve 30-35deg. I'm still debating whether to mount them in portrait or landscape mode. I'm leaning towards portrait as it means I can have 1 row of 14 panels with a second row of 14 behind it. otherwise I will have 4 rows of 7.

Phase 1:

• 2 x Victron Multiplus II 48/5000
• 1 x Victron SmartSolar MPPT RS 450/100
• 1 x Victron Cerbo
• 1 x Carlo Gavazzi ET112
• 2 x Hubble AM2 5.5kWh batteries
• 14 x JA 460W panels
• DB boards, busbars, KETO1 battery disconnects, cabling etc.

Phase 2: (add to system in 2 months)

• 1 x Victron Multiplus II 48/5000
• 1 x Victron SmartSolar MPPT RS 450/100
• 2 x Hubble AM2 5.5kWh batteries
• 14 x JA 460W panels

 

Once phase 2 is complete I should have enough batteries and panels to be almost totally off-grid. 

I will post some photos and status updates as I go along.

1 hour ago, Spidergear said:

I posted a thread a while ago about the advantages of Victron over Sunsynk and vice versa. Everyone was telling me to go with Sunsynk. Well, seeing that I like to be different I went with a Victron solution.

We use Victron equipment at work so I sort of know my way around it already. I will split the install over 2 phases.

Phase 1 has been ordered and delivered. Seeing as this is a DIY install it will take me a couple of weeks to install everything. My work will be checked by a qualified electrician and COC issued.

I plan on running 2 strings of 7 panels to the MPPT RS. My roof is flat so I will use Renusol TS+ components to lift the panels to achieve 30-35deg. I'm still debating whether to mount them in portrait or landscape mode. I'm leaning towards portrait as it means I can have 1 row of 14 panels with a second row of 14 behind it. otherwise I will have 4 rows of 7.

Phase 1:

• 2 x Victron Multiplus II 48/5000
• 1 x Victron SmartSolar MPPT RS 450/100
• 1 x Victron Cerbo
• 1 x Carlo Gavazzi ET112
• 2 x Hubble AM2 5.5kWh batteries
• 14 x JA 460W panels
• DB boards, busbars, KETO1 battery disconnects, cabling etc.

Phase 2: (add to system in 2 months)

• 1 x Victron Multiplus II 48/5000
• 1 x Victron SmartSolar MPPT RS 450/100
• 2 x Hubble AM2 5.5kWh batteries
• 14 x JA 460W panels

 

Once phase 2 is complete I should have enough batteries and panels to be almost totally off-grid. 

I will post some photos and status updates as I go along.

Nothing wrong to be different. Victron is pretty good with excellent support. I am on the side of Sunsynk 8kW where the inverter including MPPTs cost about R40th vs 2 x Multiplus with 2 X MPPTs would on hot days also just provide 8kW and on offer for about R97th.

It reminds me of the Korean cars in the late 1990's when I bought one. People were sceptical and today they are very popular.

Some buy value and others buy what is seen as the best money can buy.

We both want to be different that's why I went for a 2 inverter system when the 1st true hybrids were very expensive.

Edited September 16, 20223 yr by Scorp007

Following and looking forward to the progress updates

I see in Phase 1 you have
    2 x Victron Multiplus II 48/5000
with 14 panels.

Did you consider using just one of:

• Victron MultiPlus-II 48/8000/110-100
• Victron MultiPlus-II 48/10000/140-100

 

On 2022/09/17 at 11:58 AM, system32 said:

I see in Phase 1 you have
    2 x Victron Multiplus II 48/5000
with 14 panels.

Did you consider using just one of:

• Victron MultiPlus-II 48/8000/110-100
• Victron MultiPlus-II 48/10000/140-100

 

I did consider using a single unit, but that also gives you a single point of failure. With 3 x 48/5000 units I get a higher charge current, higher AC transfer as well as a higher output on AC2.

There are no downsides to using 3 units.

Also, the 48/5000 unit is the only one you can parallel, not the 48/8000 or 48/10000.

This weekend was spent cleaning out the garage and prepping the wall for installation.

From this..

To this

You can see the space I left for the 3rd Multiplus. Now I have to hang the batteries and install the trunking. I also need to pull 2 x 25mm SWA cables tp pickup the feed coming from the DB in the street.

21 minutes ago, Spidergear said:

This weekend was spent cleaning out the garage and prepping the wall for installation.

From this..

To this

You can see the space I left for the 3rd Multiplus. Now I have to hang the batteries and install the trunking. I also need to pull 2 x 25mm SWA cables tp pickup the feed coming from the DB in the street.

And you painted the wall and filled in the holes - nice! 

58 minutes ago, MKRandburg said:

And you painted the wall and filled in the holes - nice! 

Yes, I couldn't mount the new equipment on a wall looking like that! My OCD will drive me up the wall! 

Work has been keeping me busy, so progress has been slow. Made some busbars for the batteries and other equipment to connect to.

 

 

 

 

Wiring of the DB started. 

Stated with the installation of the trunking. The OBO stuff from O-line is really nice to work with. Big thanks to @HiTech for pointing me in the right direction.

Still have to the enclosures with the busbars, KETO disconnect and the bottom trunking for the batteries.

Following 

On 2022/09/21 at 10:28 AM, Spidergear said:

Work has been keeping me busy, so progress has been slow. Made some busbars for the batteries and other equipment to connect to.

 

 

 

 

Cool. I love a bit of DIY. Ignorant question... where will these go? 

1 hour ago, MKRandburg said:

Cool. I love a bit of DIY. Ignorant question... where will these go? 

There will be 2 busbars per enclosure. One enclosure above the battery disconnect and one below. The batteries will connect the busbars at the bottom and the inverters/MPPT controllers to the top one. 

Awesome progress so far, enjoying this install!

Spent sometime last night installing the 2 busbar enclosures, KETO disconnect and batteries. Left some space on the right hand side for 2 additional batteries.

 

 

Also started with mounting the brackets for the solar panels. I still need to set the angles and mount the rails. There will be 2 rows of 14 panels each. The purlins are not in line hence the kink you can see half way down.

 

Edited September 26, 20223 yr by Spidergear

wow. Looking forward to see the end result

Added the Carlo Gavazzi ET112 and some indicator lights so I can see what the grid/outputs are doing. 

These are not the final installation locations, I just needed to mount them so I can see how much space I have left in the DB.

Edited September 26, 20223 yr by Spidergear

@Spidergeargreat attention to detail. This is looking great. Your hard work will pay off soon .

Mounted the third inverter last night and started with the wiring. 

 

Wil be adding a separate earthing wire for the cases tonight.

 

Started with the battery wiring as well. Couldn't find red cable so blue will have to do. Each inverter and solar controller battery wiring is 25mm. I will be running either a  single 75mm or 2 x 50mm cables from the busbars to the KETO disconnect. 

On 2022/09/26 at 1:36 PM, TiaanSmit said:

wow. Looking forward to see the end result

 

11 hours ago, Steve87 said:

@Spidergeargreat attention to detail. This is looking great. Your hard work will pay off soon .

Thanks. I like to do things the right way the first time, and it gives you a great sense of satisfaction when you stand back and admire your work.

Finished making all the DC cables. I simply could not get the 75mm cable to fit in the top busbar enclosure so I resorted to 2 x 50mm. I have a severe disliking in working with anything over 6mm! 🤣

Finally complete!

 

The solar side is no where near completion but I wanted to get the inverter and batteries online so I can give the middle finger to loadshedding. 

Connected all the inverters together with the cable I made, fired up the laptop and connected the MK3 interface to the VE.BUS port of the left inverter which will be the master, the other 2 will be slaves. The VE.Bus Quick Configure tool makes it very easy to setup a parallel or 3 phase system. They all have to be of the same type and firmware version. I had to update my master to the latest firmware and it was good to go.

 

Did some basic config using VEConfig and BAM, we are online on VRM! Looking at these load figures I seriously need to pull my finger out and get the solar panels up and running. I'm keeping City Power afloat all by my self! 

 

WOW very well done you have a dream setup there! Very neat work, following with great interest

Completed the assembly of the Renusol TS+ components and installed/wired the panels on Saturday/night. Will post a photo of the solar panels on the mounting hardware.

Updated the firmware of the Smartsolar 450/100 and we were good to go.

 

I ran out of sprag over the weekend so I still need to tidy up the cabling to the MPPT and the batteries. I also need to redo the DC cabling from the Inverters to the busbar as they are not all the same length and the inverter with the shortest cable is working the hardest.

 

Here are the stats for today. Overall I'm very happy with the outcome.

 

I know this has been a while but I would like to know how this system is doing since I would like to do something similar with my install. If you where to do it over is there anything you would have done differently maybe used the 450/200 instead of two 450/100?