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oscarmax avatar image
oscarmax asked

Newbie setting up Victron Smart Controller

Please excuse my grammar I have a head injury.

My caravan is factory fitted with a 80w mono solar panel and 150w PWM solar controller, I have replaced the solar controller with a new Victron smart 75/15 MPPT, I have set it all up and removed the pin, all works fine.

My caravan has a new 110amp 12volt Yuasa lead acid leisure battery, I now wish to add an addition 80w solar panel and connect up both the panels in series giving 160w. I intend to replace the original factory fitted 2.5mm wiring from the solar controller with 4 metres of 4.5mm to reduce voltage losses.

My question will the Victron smart controller now recognise the new solar 24v setup or do I have to alter something in the settings?



MPPT Controllers
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4 Answers
Justin Cook avatar image
Justin Cook answered ·

@Oscarmax if I understand you correctly, you're inquiring about whether you need to change anything in the controller because you're adding another PV panel. If this is your question, the answer is no - the 75/15 MPPT will accept up to 75vDC from your solar panels, so your two 80w panels in series will be fine, no settings adjustment needed in the controller.

The only time you will need to adjust settings is if you're changing your battery type / nominal voltage, for instance if you originally had a 12v nominal battery bank and you're now switching to a 24v nominal bank; in this instance, you would need to connect to the MPPT in VictronConnect and simply change the battery nominal voltage from 12 to 24... or, if you changed to an LFP bank and wanted to adjust the charge voltages, etc., but I believe that you're only adding another PV panel in series to your existing system, in which case, nope, so long as you connect everything properly you're good to go without any additional adjustments.

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oscarmax avatar image
oscarmax answered ·

Thankyou Justin that has been helpful, as stated I am using a new 110amp Yuasa lead acid 12v leisure battery, so if I changed my leisure battery at a later date to a AGM I would have to change the battery settings.

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Justin Cook avatar image
Justin Cook answered ·

@Oscarmax correct, if you change your battery chemistry at a later date you will likely (depending on the battery manufacturer's recommended charge settings) want to change the charge settings of the MPPT to match the recommended settings of your new battery. At this time, however, you shouldn't need to change anything.

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oscarmax answered ·

Cheers Justin

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