Glad to hear you're getting better from the C-19. On that inverter, I have the same 800w/24v and noticed a couple of things. To change any of the set points for low voltage cutoff, you need the blue tooth dongle. Mine kept turning off due to voltage sag. The problem was using the cabling from another inverter which looked good until a load was applied.....damn CCA, then swapped out for O2free pure copper and problem went away. The 800w unit has a 650w continuous duty cycle and again you can only see the gauge using the blue tooth dongle. Once the dongle is removed you're toast on what is going on directly. Ve.direct network does not work in this scenario as I found out. I ended up building DIY cables rather than purchasing Ve.direct cables using pst4 2.00mm offset and an isolated USB/TTL adapter and a raspberry Pi. The raspberry pi becomes a generic Cerbo GX (Venus device) and all of my batteries on now on VRM at a cost of about $80. The point of all this rambling is that IF you want, you can tie the smart shunt, inverter, and controllers into the Raspberry and monitor on the web or a local network without leaving the home! I now have three systems on line to see all of the stats in real time. Also, I noticed the serial number is from 2021 so Victron warranty is from serial number and not purchase date. I have been picking up open box / used items and most are coming in with 2021/2022 dates.....makes me wonder why! For home made cabling you need to download the VE networking manual to get the pin assignments, but in general, do NOT connect the 5+VDC pin since it is NOT required! Gary from SE MI....Aloha your way
Smart shunts are great. I swear by them. Settings for LiFePO4 (via bluetooth app): Battery: * Ah set to full capacity of battery as appropriate. * Charged voltage: 13.8V (for reset to 100%) (I explain this more down below) * Discharge floor: 10% (typically) * Tail current: 2% (typically... used as part of the logic the unit uses to reset the SOC to 100%) * Charged detection time: 3m (used as part of the same logic) * Peukert exponent: 1.05 (for LiFePO4, be sure to set this parameter properly to 1.05!) * Charge efficiency factor: 99% (this is amp-hours-in vs amp-hours-out, not energy-in vs energy-out, so it is 99% for lithium. Lithium has almost perfect coloumbic efficiency). * Current threshold 0.10A * Time-to-go averaging period: 5m is typical, set as you like (this is for display purposes only) * Battery SOC on reset: "Set to 100%" setting. * State-of-charge: You can change the SOC upon initial connect if you know what it is, else it will fix itself after a full cycle anyway. Misc settings: * Monitor mode "Battery Monitor". * And "Aux input" ... set to "None" if not using the Aux input. In terms of the "Charged Voltage", for a 12V battery 13.8V is well into the exponential part of the charge curve so you usually want to activate the shunts "reset SOC to 100%" logic starting about there. The shunt will also wait for the tail current to drop to 2% and wait 3 minutes after those parameters are all satisfied before resetting the SOC to 100%. The Victron documentation that suggests setting "Charged Voltage" to the float voltage is INCORRECT for LiFePO4. -- Also keep in mind that the "Current" and "Power" on the shunt's status screen is the current and power going into or out of the battery, NOT the current and power coming from the solar. The loads on the system will subtract a bit from the current and power from the solar during the day leaving you with just the current and power the battery is being charged or discharged with. At night of course the discharge rate will be precisely what the loads are using since there won't be any solar active. Oh yah, and when you have the shunt connected to the same VE smart network as the charge controller, the charge controller will use the voltage reading from the shunt instead of its own voltage reading and thus get a more accurate voltage reading for the battery. Which is awesome. -- Choosing the 800VA Phoenix was a good call. The smaller the capacity of the inverter, the less vampire power it eats. Though since you aren't running a fridge (?) you might be able to use ECO mode in the Bungaloha. I've never been able to use ECO mode on my phoenix's myself. -Matt
Mahalo brother...I did exactly as you laid out, and it's working perfectly!. You my friend have helped so much. Keep that information coming in! Aloha!🤙
Glad to hear that you have recovered. I run a Victron 24v/375VA (Non-VE) Sinewave inverter 24/7, on a Receiver setup. No issues. It uses 2 x 12v batteries with a balancer. Only thing I have to do is add another solar panel on the other side of the garage roof, to capture morning sun. My power peak is currently at 2pm, and going towards winter, will need to use all the solar, I can grab..
Just a note, this model is 800VA at 25°C, specs sheet says that corresponds to 650W continuous at 25°C and 560W at 40°C. Not quite close to 800W unfortunately. Peak is indeed 1500W. The 1200VA unit is 1000W at 25°C and 850W at 40°C.
I wouldn't worry about it too much. Victron has very tight specs for temperature de-rating of its devices, but the actual firmware is far more generous before it decides to de-rate, curtail, or shut-down. In fact, its one of their better features that they actually have proper internal temperature sensing and take action... its really hard to actually burn-up a Victron device from over-heating. That reminds me of a story. I was looking for a little car inverter... not a Victron, but just some junky (but still pure sine wave) 12V car inverter. I found one, plugged it in and was testing it. That little thing advertised that the fan wouldn't come on for low power levels but what the manufacturer actually did was set the temperature sensor parameters to allow the heat-sink on the FETs to hit 110C before turning the fan on. And the unit only had one temperature sensor so literally the whole circuit board could wind up at 90C+ without the fan turning on. Totally unacceptable! I actually went in and added a 2K resistor in parallel with the temperature sensor to force the unit's fan to come on at a more reasonable 70C to "fix" it. I'm happy that Victron specs temperature derating. -Matt
@@junkerzn7312 I bought a Victron 1200 W Phoenix inverter 12 V set up and I have been running a full-size top mount freezer Frigidaire refrigerator 24 seven now for about 10 months so far so good I wasn’t sure if it could handle the defrost cycles on the refrigerator however, it’s been holding its own. I can’t run my upright vacuum cleaner because it will kick off after about seven or eight seconds it will start the vacuum cleaner but it won’t keep running it. I’m going to be building another system in the near future with a larger inverter so I can do a little more stuff,,,so far the Victron is doing its job. I also have a three-way splitter I plug in at night on the weekends and run the refrigerator and the television in the living room at the same time so far so good.
looks real nice. love how Victron stuff talk to each outher and all on Bluetooth app. nice rain your getting. going to be a real nice Blue wall . I can say for the RV people the Victron stuff works very well for them. the Bluetooth app they love. I have done a few installs for RV . Victron so easy to set up and use. Victron does have a LiFePO4 battery as well. have not used yet. RV people going with Power queen hear. works so well. you sound much better now. take it easy and try not to do so much in a day. pace your self. what I do. take a look at outher Victron stuff and do some research and see what else you may need . each install I do is different. have to fit the needs of the user. and that will change over time. new stuff comes out all the time.
I want you to know how much I appreciate, and look forward to, your videos. I have learned a lot from you and have been able to put a lot of your suggestions into practice. However, there is one area that I would like you to address in one of your upcoming videos. I don’t recall you ever grounding any of your inverters. Given that you are operating an off-grid system and you have suffered from electrical strikes in the past, what are your thoughts on grounding inverters and solar panels?
Interesting you got the 12-volt version I have the Victron 24/800 inverter. You are right it's heavier than I thought. I also have the WiFi dongle so I can check the wattage. I also just bought a Victron 100/20 Blue charge controller. This controller is likely not very popular. I can't find any videos on UA-cam showing a review. I should have bought the Smart version.
Where knowledge and experience collide, you often find wisdom. I will be very interested to hear your perspective on the relative advantages, or disadvantages of the "smart" devices for off-grid power. Some of the best things in life are dumb, if you ask me.
The shunt is actually a dumb device. The "Smart" part just means that you can configure it via the Victron app using bluetooth, and get its status the same way. The shunt itself is a passive device... the power-in-to-power-out is literally just a huge very low-ohm resistor so it is impossible for it to actually break anything. Oh, the shunt does report the voltage to the charge controllers which will use that in preference to their own voltage readings. This is a good thing. You can also optionally connect up a temperature sensor and setup an alarm and the charge controllers will turn off if the battery overheats, but most people don't bother with that feature. But that's as far as the sophistication goes.
Hello from Youngstown Ohio. I just inherited a brand new unit just like yours. But there are no cables in the box. Can you tell me where I can get them please? Thanks
Unfortunately the pure sine wave inverter from victron are really expensive if you need 2000-3000 watt and then they are only available in a huge box shape. Also victron Lifepo4 battery prices are double or triple the amount of any of the brands that you have in your house. Same for victron solar panels. I am a big fan of the mppt charge controller from victron. Prices are good in my opinion for those devices.
Yah, that's absolutely true. I love Victron's smaller inverters but their bigger ones are over-priced. And I don't buy their batteries (same reason I don't buy BattleBorn batteries any more... too much money with not enough value-add to justify). Victron puts on a good face but their product line runs the gamut from "old" to "new". They haven't updated their larger inverters quickly enough to keep up with the competition, particularly the 48V models, which is really unfortunate. Their ORION DC-to-DCs are also nearly all very old technology and in need of a complete product-line revamp. They have exactly ONE modern DC-to-DC in the entire line-up. Just one (the new 48V-48V). Sheesh! Even just going with their charge controllers, its a crazy mix of old and new technology across different capacities. The 48V-capable "smart" (bluetooth built-in) charge controllers are awesome, everything else is old. The smart shunts are also really excellent. The low-power inverters are excellent. They have one reasonable 48V 120VAC multi-plus but that's it... all the others are ancient technology and Victron does NOT have a 48V split-phase multi-plus yet which annoys the heck out of me. But when one knows how to pick-out the wheat from the chaff, Victron is great. -Matt
@@junkerzn7312 Agree! The industry for batteries is changing VERY rapidly and its' with 100A for RV or home batteries (server rack or wall mount). I hope to go wall mount when I relocate.
@@junkerzn7312 I have the Victron 1200 Phoenix 12 V inverter and so far it has been working very well running my Frigidaire full-size Refrigerator(top mounted freezer) I noticed my Phoenix says it’s low frequency. Also, is that good or bad? What does that mean? Low frequency inverter? most folks claim. These are very clean. Power inverters as they are used in Maritime applications and they can’t have harsh RF interfering with the onboard electronics.
@@william38022 Low Frequency inverters tend to be more robust than High Frequency inverters, can handle larger surges, and are usually slightly more efficient (not by much though). The output is cleaner as well. The downsides are: (1) They are quite heavy, particularly at higher wattages. And (2) There can be annoying audio buzzing and resonances with certain types of loads. -- High frequency inverters tend to be significantly lighter and quieter from an audio noise perspective, and often cheaper. The downsides are: (1) HF inverters are a bit less robust when presented with a reactive load from an AC motor. (2) The output is noisier from a RF perspective. And (3) Harder to repair due to more complex circuitry. -- Cooling requirements are roughly similar. Some people think LF inverters need less cooling but what actually happens is that the vendors let them get too hot before turning on the fan. I prefer the fan to always be on at a low speed at a minimum and usually mod my inverters to force it to always be on if I can't otherwise program them as such. Personally speaking I use both types. It is situational. For the vast majority of my needs HF inverters are fine and I keep extras on the shelf so I can just swap one out if it fails (I don't tolerate equipment having to be turned off while waiting for a warranty repair, for example). HF inverters tend to be cheaper so its easier to stock extras. I use LF inverters for anything that is really critical or if I know there are going to be big surges and reactive loads (e.g. from AC motors... A/C systems, wood working equipment, chippers, pumps, etc). In your case, if you are RF sensitive (have HAM equipment, etc), that is an excellent reason to use a LF inverter. You still want to have chokes on the input and output to reduce the RF even further, regardless. -Matt
Glad to hear you're getting better from the C-19. On that inverter, I have the same 800w/24v and noticed a couple of things. To change any of the set points for low voltage cutoff, you need the blue tooth dongle. Mine kept turning off due to voltage sag. The problem was using the cabling from another inverter which looked good until a load was applied.....damn CCA, then swapped out for O2free pure copper and problem went away. The 800w unit has a 650w continuous duty cycle and again you can only see the gauge using the blue tooth dongle. Once the dongle is removed you're toast on what is going on directly. Ve.direct network does not work in this scenario as I found out. I ended up building DIY cables rather than purchasing Ve.direct cables using pst4 2.00mm offset and an isolated USB/TTL adapter and a raspberry Pi. The raspberry pi becomes a generic Cerbo GX (Venus device) and all of my batteries on now on VRM at a cost of about $80. The point of all this rambling is that IF you want, you can tie the smart shunt, inverter, and controllers into the Raspberry and monitor on the web or a local network without leaving the home! I now have three systems on line to see all of the stats in real time. Also, I noticed the serial number is from 2021 so Victron warranty is from serial number and not purchase date. I have been picking up open box / used items and most are coming in with 2021/2022 dates.....makes me wonder why! For home made cabling you need to download the VE networking manual to get the pin assignments, but in general, do NOT connect the 5+VDC pin since it is NOT required! Gary from SE MI....Aloha your way
Smart shunts are great. I swear by them. Settings for LiFePO4 (via bluetooth app):
Battery:
* Ah set to full capacity of battery as appropriate.
* Charged voltage: 13.8V (for reset to 100%) (I explain this more down below)
* Discharge floor: 10% (typically)
* Tail current: 2% (typically... used as part of the logic the unit uses to reset the SOC to 100%)
* Charged detection time: 3m (used as part of the same logic)
* Peukert exponent: 1.05 (for LiFePO4, be sure to set this parameter properly to 1.05!)
* Charge efficiency factor: 99% (this is amp-hours-in vs amp-hours-out, not energy-in vs energy-out, so it is 99% for lithium. Lithium has almost perfect coloumbic efficiency).
* Current threshold 0.10A
* Time-to-go averaging period: 5m is typical, set as you like (this is for display purposes only)
* Battery SOC on reset: "Set to 100%" setting.
* State-of-charge: You can change the SOC upon initial connect if you know what it is, else it will fix itself after a full cycle anyway.
Misc settings:
* Monitor mode "Battery Monitor".
* And "Aux input" ... set to "None" if not using the Aux input.
In terms of the "Charged Voltage", for a 12V battery 13.8V is well into the exponential part of the charge curve so you usually want to activate the shunts "reset SOC to 100%" logic starting about there. The shunt will also wait for the tail current to drop to 2% and wait 3 minutes after those parameters are all satisfied before resetting the SOC to 100%.
The Victron documentation that suggests setting "Charged Voltage" to the float voltage is INCORRECT for LiFePO4.
--
Also keep in mind that the "Current" and "Power" on the shunt's status screen is the current and power going into or out of the battery, NOT the current and power coming from the solar. The loads on the system will subtract a bit from the current and power from the solar during the day leaving you with just the current and power the battery is being charged or discharged with. At night of course the discharge rate will be precisely what the loads are using since there won't be any solar active.
Oh yah, and when you have the shunt connected to the same VE smart network as the charge controller, the charge controller will use the voltage reading from the shunt instead of its own voltage reading and thus get a more accurate voltage reading for the battery. Which is awesome.
--
Choosing the 800VA Phoenix was a good call. The smaller the capacity of the inverter, the less vampire power it eats. Though since you aren't running a fridge (?) you might be able to use ECO mode in the Bungaloha. I've never been able to use ECO mode on my phoenix's myself.
-Matt
Mahalo brother...I did exactly as you laid out, and it's working perfectly!. You my friend have helped so much. Keep that information coming in! Aloha!🤙
Glad to hear that you have recovered. I run a Victron 24v/375VA (Non-VE) Sinewave inverter 24/7, on a Receiver setup. No issues. It uses 2 x 12v batteries with a balancer. Only thing I have to do is add another solar panel on the other side of the garage roof, to capture morning sun. My power peak is currently at 2pm, and going towards winter, will need to use all the solar, I can grab..
Just a note, this model is 800VA at 25°C, specs sheet says that corresponds to 650W continuous at 25°C and 560W at 40°C. Not quite close to 800W unfortunately. Peak is indeed 1500W. The 1200VA unit is 1000W at 25°C and 850W at 40°C.
they can do a bit more as long as they are cool and voltage is stable and high ...
@@panospapadimitriou3498 That's good to know, I have the smaller 12/500 on a portable system.
I wouldn't worry about it too much. Victron has very tight specs for temperature de-rating of its devices, but the actual firmware is far more generous before it decides to de-rate, curtail, or shut-down. In fact, its one of their better features that they actually have proper internal temperature sensing and take action... its really hard to actually burn-up a Victron device from over-heating.
That reminds me of a story. I was looking for a little car inverter... not a Victron, but just some junky (but still pure sine wave) 12V car inverter. I found one, plugged it in and was testing it. That little thing advertised that the fan wouldn't come on for low power levels but what the manufacturer actually did was set the temperature sensor parameters to allow the heat-sink on the FETs to hit 110C before turning the fan on. And the unit only had one temperature sensor so literally the whole circuit board could wind up at 90C+ without the fan turning on. Totally unacceptable! I actually went in and added a 2K resistor in parallel with the temperature sensor to force the unit's fan to come on at a more reasonable 70C to "fix" it.
I'm happy that Victron specs temperature derating.
-Matt
@@junkerzn7312 I bought a Victron 1200 W Phoenix inverter 12 V set up and I have been running a full-size top mount freezer Frigidaire refrigerator 24 seven now for about 10 months so far so good I wasn’t sure if it could handle the defrost cycles on the refrigerator however, it’s been holding its own. I can’t run my upright vacuum cleaner because it will kick off after about seven or eight seconds it will start the vacuum cleaner but it won’t keep running it. I’m going to be building another system in the near future with a larger inverter so I can do a little more stuff,,,so far the Victron is doing its job. I also have a three-way splitter I plug in at night on the weekends and run the refrigerator and the television in the living room at the same time so far so good.
Awesome. Can’t wait. I had that exact same inverter. Lov it
You sound back to health. Cool
Up and running now, and I'm loving this inverter! So much fun. Aloha brother!🤙 Mahalo for all the well wishes...I'm better some everyday!
the good thing is that it has a power toroidal transformer so it will last for a long time 😊
No doubt it will outlive me! Aloha!🤙
Love your system! Time to go to 48V ! Much more efficient I believe. Glad you're feeling better!!
Mahalo brother! Be showing a new addition to review in a week or so on my one 48v system. Just studying up some on it. Aloha!🤙
looks real nice. love how Victron stuff talk to each outher and all on Bluetooth app. nice rain your getting. going to be a real nice Blue wall . I can say for the RV people the Victron stuff works very well for them. the Bluetooth app they love. I have done a few installs for RV . Victron so easy to set up and use. Victron does have a LiFePO4 battery as well. have not used yet. RV people going with Power queen hear. works so well. you sound much better now. take it easy and try not to do so much in a day. pace your self. what I do. take a look at outher Victron stuff and do some research and see what else you may need . each install I do is different. have to fit the needs of the user. and that will change over time. new stuff comes out all the time.
Hey there, I have that same shunt from Victron and it works great, I would love to have that 800W Inverter LOL stunning as always brother Aloha!
Mahalo brother...everything working great here! Aloha!🤙
I want you to know how much I appreciate, and look forward to, your videos. I have learned a lot from you and have been able to put a lot of your suggestions into practice. However, there is one area that I would like you to address in one of your upcoming videos. I don’t recall you ever grounding any of your inverters. Given that you are operating an off-grid system and you have suffered from electrical strikes in the past, what are your thoughts on grounding inverters and solar panels?
Interesting you got the 12-volt version I have the Victron 24/800 inverter. You are right it's heavier than I thought. I also have the WiFi dongle so I can check the wattage. I also just bought a Victron 100/20 Blue charge controller. This controller is likely not very popular. I can't find any videos on UA-cam showing a review. I should have bought the Smart version.
Where knowledge and experience collide, you often find wisdom. I will be very interested to hear your perspective on the relative advantages, or disadvantages of the "smart" devices for off-grid power. Some of the best things in life are dumb, if you ask me.
The shunt is actually a dumb device. The "Smart" part just means that you can configure it via the Victron app using bluetooth, and get its status the same way. The shunt itself is a passive device... the power-in-to-power-out is literally just a huge very low-ohm resistor so it is impossible for it to actually break anything.
Oh, the shunt does report the voltage to the charge controllers which will use that in preference to their own voltage readings. This is a good thing. You can also optionally connect up a temperature sensor and setup an alarm and the charge controllers will turn off if the battery overheats, but most people don't bother with that feature. But that's as far as the sophistication goes.
Pretty cool 😎 👍😊
Aloha!🤙
Love the Blue Team...
Oh me too brother!🤙
What I really want to know, does that 800W inverter have enough "Umph !" to start an apartment size refrigerator ?
Hello from Youngstown Ohio. I just inherited a brand new unit just like yours. But there are no cables in the box. Can you tell me where I can get them please? Thanks
Unfortunately the pure sine wave inverter from victron are really expensive if you need 2000-3000 watt and then they are only available in a huge box shape. Also victron Lifepo4 battery prices are double or triple the amount of any of the brands that you have in your house. Same for victron solar panels. I am a big fan of the mppt charge controller from victron. Prices are good in my opinion for those devices.
Yah, that's absolutely true. I love Victron's smaller inverters but their bigger ones are over-priced. And I don't buy their batteries (same reason I don't buy BattleBorn batteries any more... too much money with not enough value-add to justify).
Victron puts on a good face but their product line runs the gamut from "old" to "new". They haven't updated their larger inverters quickly enough to keep up with the competition, particularly the 48V models, which is really unfortunate. Their ORION DC-to-DCs are also nearly all very old technology and in need of a complete product-line revamp. They have exactly ONE modern DC-to-DC in the entire line-up. Just one (the new 48V-48V). Sheesh!
Even just going with their charge controllers, its a crazy mix of old and new technology across different capacities. The 48V-capable "smart" (bluetooth built-in) charge controllers are awesome, everything else is old.
The smart shunts are also really excellent. The low-power inverters are excellent. They have one reasonable 48V 120VAC multi-plus but that's it... all the others are ancient technology and Victron does NOT have a 48V split-phase multi-plus yet which annoys the heck out of me.
But when one knows how to pick-out the wheat from the chaff, Victron is great.
-Matt
@@junkerzn7312 Agree! The industry for batteries is changing VERY rapidly and its' with 100A for RV or home batteries (server rack or wall mount). I hope to go wall mount when I relocate.
Tengo dos que compre y la falla es que el led verde parpadea y tambien el rojo
Sin ninguna carga
Nesecitamos ayuda
Thanks ✌
Thank you brother!🤙
Great video
Mahalo!😉🤙
Nice as ever!
Mahalo!🤙
Is Victron modified sine or pure sine wave?
Pure sine wave. All Victron inverters are pure sine wave, low-frequency inverters.
@@junkerzn7312 I have the Victron 1200 Phoenix 12 V inverter and so far it has been working very well running my Frigidaire full-size Refrigerator(top mounted freezer) I noticed my Phoenix says it’s low frequency. Also, is that good or bad? What does that mean? Low frequency inverter? most folks claim. These are very clean. Power inverters as they are used in Maritime applications and they can’t have harsh RF interfering with the onboard electronics.
@@william38022 Low Frequency inverters tend to be more robust than High Frequency inverters, can handle larger surges, and are usually slightly more efficient (not by much though). The output is cleaner as well.
The downsides are: (1) They are quite heavy, particularly at higher wattages. And (2) There can be annoying audio buzzing and resonances with certain types of loads.
--
High frequency inverters tend to be significantly lighter and quieter from an audio noise perspective, and often cheaper.
The downsides are: (1) HF inverters are a bit less robust when presented with a reactive load from an AC motor. (2) The output is noisier from a RF perspective. And (3) Harder to repair due to more complex circuitry.
--
Cooling requirements are roughly similar. Some people think LF inverters need less cooling but what actually happens is that the vendors let them get too hot before turning on the fan. I prefer the fan to always be on at a low speed at a minimum and usually mod my inverters to force it to always be on if I can't otherwise program them as such.
Personally speaking I use both types. It is situational. For the vast majority of my needs HF inverters are fine and I keep extras on the shelf so I can just swap one out if it fails (I don't tolerate equipment having to be turned off while waiting for a warranty repair, for example). HF inverters tend to be cheaper so its easier to stock extras.
I use LF inverters for anything that is really critical or if I know there are going to be big surges and reactive loads (e.g. from AC motors... A/C systems, wood working equipment, chippers, pumps, etc).
In your case, if you are RF sensitive (have HAM equipment, etc), that is an excellent reason to use a LF inverter. You still want to have chokes on the input and output to reduce the RF even further, regardless.
-Matt
Go Blue lol
Blue team! Aloha!🤙