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thebarold avatar image
thebarold asked

System recommendation and Wiring diagrams

Hi there I am in the process of retrofitting my sailboat with Victron equipment. The first item being installed is a BMV 712 but will be adding a MPPT and potentially a charger/inverter thereafter. There is the factory charger (will the BMV tell me if it is charging to the correct charge profiles or do I need another device to track the charge profile over time). There is a FET Battery isolator wired to the alternator that combines both start and house banks for charging under motor.

Finally are there any resources to help me put together the wiring diagrams (including the required fuses etc) for adding the Victron equipment to an existing setup?


Thank you!

MPPT Controllersbattery chargingBMV Battery Monitorinstallation
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3 Answers
Jaco Reinecke avatar image
Jaco Reinecke answered ·

Hi,

The BMV will only report on what goes into and out of the batteries. Has no connection whatsoever to any charge algorithms.

Charging is normally set on the chargers. If that is set correctly, then you don't have to do anything else. Same with the MPPT, you set the charging profiles on them for your particular bank.

All Victron manuals state the advisable cable sizes and fuses. Further to this, fuses are matched to the cable size used, there to protect the cable from melting i.e. fuses goes first, and not to start a fire.

Hope this helps.

Regards
Jaco

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thebarold avatar image thebarold commented ·

So to follow up, I've purchased both the Smart MPPT solar controller and the BMV. I've read the manuals and there is no mention of placing fuses on the wires (I know the rationale for this but I guess as I am supplying the wiring I guess it isn't part of their manual or recommendations. I believe the same applies to the victron van demo.

I am trying to plan out my install with all necessary components, lay them out on paper then on a bench to ensure that it works as intended. I have to say, after reading the MPPT manual, I am pretty disappointed on the installation instructions.

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Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ thebarold commented ·

Hi @thebarold

Electrical system knowledge is needed for safely installing systems. a Manual for product x cannot learn you this.

What does educate a lot is this book:

https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/28312/wiring-unlimited-first-edition-finalized.html

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JohnC avatar image
JohnC answered ·

Hi Barold. Google can find you masses of Victron literature, some examples..

https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/2019/09/03/wiring-unlimited/

Or the Victron van project, which has schematics to show where everything goes..

https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/2019/06/18/the-victron-van-install/

All manuals are available online, and don't forget there to look in the Appendix too, past the 'foreign' languages..

https://www.victronenergy.com/support-and-downloads/manuals

For data gathering, the bluetooth-equipped mppts can provide summaries and some history to follow your charge profile. The supreme data treatment comes with a GX box (say CCGX or VenusGX), some web, and VRM portal. Stuff of dreams, and highly recommended.

Have fun choosing. I'm sure your boat is worthy of an all-blue system.. :)

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Duncan avatar image Duncan commented ·

Did I miss the page, or is there no information on using fuses between the PV array and the charge controller in Wiring Unlimited?

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msg43 avatar image
msg43 answered ·

I recently realized that I can download various Victron schematics (https://www.victronenergy.com/support-and-downloads/systems)

and then just open the PDFs on my PC (Foxit PDF Editor) and edit them like a regular document.

I am using that to essentially "cut and paste" my way to a system diagram that matches my boat. Hope that helps.

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