Opinions on the Victron 150/70?

PNW_Steve

Hey Everyone,

I am about pull the trigger on my new charge controller. The Victron 150/70 looks like it will fit my needs.

I talked to one gent who spoke very highly of Victron charge controllers and their support. I was ready to go and then I saw a couple of online reviews that complained about Victron's support.

What has your experience been with Victron's products and support?

Also, I saw mentioned that the communication protocol is open source and some folks are writing their own apps for logging etc. Anyone here gone down that road? I am afraid that my, very Rusty, Fortran skills are not suitable for the task

PNW_Steve

Maybe I should reconsider? 
It appears that the Victron may not be a popular choice.

BB.

Victron, from what I know, makes very good equipment. But being an European mfg., they tend to be expensive here in North America.

You might try some other forums (just some links to follow--I do not know much about them :

www.greenpowertalk.org
http://solarpaneltalk.com/

Some reviews:

https://www.cleanenergyreviews.info/blog/victron-energy-battery-inverter-solar-charge-controller-review
https://www.amazon.com/Victron-BlueSolar-MPPT-Charge-Controller/product-reviews/B00U3MK0CI

We do have non-US posters here--Give them a few days and see if any of them have information.

Here are some links to various past comments about Victron on our forum. You can:

Search Google using "site" tag on just our forum: site:solar-electric.com +victron

Or just hit this link:

https://www.google.com/search?q=site:solar-electric.com++victron

-Bill

PNW_Steve

Thank you BB.

I will take a look at the other forums.

Regarding price, I am looking at the 150/70 for $539 plus $45 for the Bluetooth adapter. That doesn't strike me as any more expensive than the popular US manufacturers. Am I overlooking something?

Thanks again.

Estragon

Price-wise it's in the same ballpark as (eg) a midnite classic 150. The classic will handle a bit more current, can withstand an overvoltage of nominal battery (eg 48v), and can end absorb based on real end-amps into the bank, features which may or may not be important in your application.

I did notice the Victron "speaks" MNEA2000, which is a major protocol used in marine applications to connect chartplotters, instruments etc. If this is a marine application, that could be important.

mcgivor

Lack of remote temperature sensor is a negative on an otherwise positively rated unit, there are others which have this, amongst other features not available with the Victron, not trying do discredit them as I'm sure they are quality controllers,  from what I've read.