Victron Energy products?

notsobright

Victron Energy has a full line up of PV related equipment. I have seen some mention of their battery monitors here but nothing else.

they seem to have the most complete line up of any manufacturer out there! have a look:

http://www.victronenergy.com/solar/


is there a reason such a big manufacturer seems overlooked here on the NAWS forum?

I havnt found a US distributor for them but before I go that far Id like to find out more about them from existing customers.

anyone here using or have used Victron Energy products that can give us some input?


I thought that MorningStar had the only dual battery charge controller out there but Victron has one that is nearly identical also.

lots of other stuff too including solar panels and AGM batteries.

figured it might be worth mentioning here if nothing else.

thanks

BB.

Re: Victron Energy products?

The do have a list of retailers in the US (and around the world) here...

We have a couple posts here about their battery monitors and they really like them (and I have mentioned Victron as a source for Battery Monitors).

They seem to be more represented in marine related stores in the US--so they may not simply have a good off-grid solar representation here.

Here is a glossy for their solar/off grid/inverter/charger product line (PDF download).

-Bill

Dapdan

Re: Victron Energy products?

I have been using a victron battery monitor for the past month. It was easy to set up, the box came with everything you needed. I acutually prefer it over my xantrex link lite.

Cheers...
Damani

stephendv

Re: Victron Energy products?

The Victron inverter/chargers are popular with off-griders in Europe (well UK and Spain anyway). I've heard from users that their support is very good. I've been comparing inverter/chargers for some time now and the Victron's were high on the list along with the Xantrex XW and SMA sunny island. The good features are:
- Configuration can be done from a PC using their free software, no additional panel or mate needed
- gen boost feature
- 2 relays
- load based gen start
- high surge current
- parallelable

However, they've also just brought out an MPPT charge controller which has had loads of issues. Even installers who work exclusively with the inverter/charger kit don't recommend their MPPT controller.

nigtomdaw

Re: Victron Energy products?

Interesting on Victrons Solar Charge Controllers PWM and MPPT . It looks like when it came to sourcing there Solar Charge Controllers this just surfed over to Ali Express or Alibaba.Com and picked up some of the cheapest kit they could find.

The two pictures are of 1st the Victron PWM unit and 2nd is Victrons MPPT there are only thumbnails you can download hi res images from their site but trust me these units are sold by many many trading companies on Alibaba and Ali Express.


There 10 A PWM retails for $45 approx can be picked up on alibaba for $10
There 20 A PWM retails for $120 approx can be picked up on alibaba for $40

There MPPT unit retails for $400 approx can be picked up on Alibaba for $80

I cant show you any pictures from Alibaba as they are a bit shy allowing you to copy them.

But heres a link to the Asia based MPPT unit.

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/373152987/MPPT_Solar_charge_controller_12V_24V_40A.html

Windsun

Re: Victron Energy products?

They are made in Europe, Netherlands I believe.

We looked into them a while back, but at that time the dollar was crashing vs the Euro, and prices were way out of line for US available comparable products.

The $US has recovered somewhat, but they are still pretty expensive for what they do, even vs the German made Steca, and their line of solar seems pretty limited, mostly marine stuff it seems.

ric

Attention do not buy !! False warranty !! Product and service very weak !!

I bought ... "easy solar 12/24 / 48v" was a company that installed the product and assembled the system.

This was only used for 4 months! after this time stopped charging batteries and when the technician came to see the invertor started to smoke !! during this 4 moth time burned the electric part of 3 generators, two were new.

Victorn Energy says that the product has no repair but as they are very friendly "offer a very good value in the purchase of a second unit"

How is it possible that a product with a 5 year warranty has no arrangement after 4 months?

Thank you Victorn Energy for the special price for a second unit, but I do not make the same mistake. Or have an even better price for a 3rd unit ??

Very expensive products for a very poor quality.

BB.

Ric,

Welcome to the forum--And I am very sorry to hear that you had such problems with Victron.

You are in Portugal(?) and, I would have hoped, would have had better warranty service as you are in Victron's "backyard".

-Bill

Estragon

Burning "the electric part of 3 generators", plus smoking the inverter sort of suggests to me there may have been an installation problem of some sort. Maybe incorrect grounding or other miswiring?

Good manufacturers will sometimes offer a discount on replacement in such instances, even though there is no product defect, as a goodwill measure. Did you contact Victron directly, or through the technician/installer? Was a specific problem and cause ever determined or suggested?