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Justin Tyers • 05 November 2026
Metstrade Amsterdam 2026
Metstrade is held at the RAI Amsterdam and is open on November 17th, 18th, and 19th, from 10AM. Visit us on stand 01.541 to see the latest developments from our electronics and software engineers. For more than 50 years we’ve been developing cutting-edge battery-based power systems for marine applications, for vehicles, at home, in Industry, both on and off the grid. Today, we offer the largest and the most fully-featured range of power conversion, storage and management devices: Inverters, Chargers, Converters – all with the smartest fingertip control. Reliable power to meet any load; navigation system integration; smart/automated energy installations; cross-industry device compatibility – learn more from our knowledgeable staff who will be on hand to answer all your questions and to highlight our latest products and developments which include: Koro 640 GX S The Koro 640 GX S sits at the heart of DC distribution providing communication, connectivity and control. It makes mobile power installations easy. With integrated battery charging; solar and alternator charge control; multiple fused DC connections; battery monitor; full system communication; local and remote user monitoring; smart dimming & switching of loads and more. The Koro 640 GX S brings smart home automations to your boat or RV. Suitable for 12V or 24V environments it includes two MPPT solar chargers; a DC-DC charger; Battery Monitor; fused DC distribution bus bars together with a GX communication centre. Charge the batteries from alternator and PV, run DC loads, run an Inverter/Charger, switch/dim lighting and turn devices on and off. All Input/output services can be controlled from a phone or GX Touch UI, programmed to trigger automations; smart switching; dim lighting; monitor tank levels. Controlled charge/discharge the Koro 640 GX S takes care of it all. BMV-812 Smart For around 20 years, the BMV series has set the standard for battery monitoring. With the BMV-812 Smart, we’ve kept the best of that familiar design and brought it into the modern world with a full-colour touchscreen. Building on the compact format of the BMV-712, the new interface makes battery information easier to read and explore. Supporting 12V, 24V, 36V and 48V systems, it provides state of charge, voltage, current, time to go, and audible and visual alarms. Connectivity with GX devices and the VictronConnect app keeps your battery information available wherever you need it. Designed as a drop-in replacement for older BMV models, the BMV-812 Smart offers a straightforward upgrade while maintaining compatibility with existing installations. The new display also creates room for future features and interface improvements through software updates Cerbo GX MK3 Same super connectivity – larger processor. The Cerbo MK3 has all the familiar features of this hugely successful communication centre but adds additional processing power allowing it to speed through the demands of increasingly complex installations including Node-RED programme automations offering smart switching and enabling features such as Opportunity Loads (see also below). All versions of the Cerbo GX offer an extensive range of VE.Bus, VE.Can, VE.Direct, USB, and digital ports allowing seamless integration and control of Victron Energy and supported Third Party devices. Nucleo GX Nucleo GX is an economic version of the Cerbo GX communication centre ideal for smaller marine systems which don’t need VE.Bus communication. It connects to VE.Can and VE.Direct devices to provide whole-system control; Multi Function Display (MFD) compatibility and NMEA 2000 integration. It enables Node-RED programming and accepts Tank-level, temperature and digital inputs via an optional dongle. It is the logical choice for two kinds of systems: those built around an RS or HS series inverter/charger/solar controllers, connected via VE.Can, and smaller systems like Battery monitors, MPPTs, Orion XS and Smart IP43 Chargers, connected via VE.Direct. If at a later stage more ports are needed to connect more devices, simply add a GX IO-Extender 150 . GX Boat Page and E-drive integration At the show, try our live GX Boat Page for yourself – it’s the UI display feature dedicated to boats fitted with E-drives. Providing comprehensive at a glance information relating to boat performance and battery consumption, the latest exciting developments include dual E-drive data for multi-hulled vessels. Estimated Range is dynamically calculated from live consumption data (Wh/NM), battery SoC, and discharge floor. Sea/wind conditions are always changing: monitor the energy used during the last nautical mile. Temperature information is available for: Motor, Coolant, Controller and Battery. GPS obtained speed-filtering results in a more reliable and stable speed estimate. Battery charge from shore power dynamics are displayed – together with a warning if the drive is ever engaged whilst the boat is still connected to shore power. GX Opportunity Loads ESS or mobile installations having a GX communication device can take advantage of a powerful new feature which maximises self consumption of Solar Energy when all essential loads are being met, the batteries are full – and yet there is plenty of solar power still available. When user-defined parameters are met the GX Opportunity Loads feature will automatically send energy to other non essential utilities according to a priority list set by the user – watermaker, boiler, HVAC – for example. The feature supports Shelly Smart Relays – and Victron EV Charging Station! Utilities can be turned on individually or in groups and because load switching is performed centrally, energy use is controlled intelligently with real time monitoring of all system parameters. Smart Alternator Sense Smart Alternator Sense is a new accessory for the Orion XS family of DC-DC battery chargers. Paired via VE.Smart Networking, the Smart Alternator Sense measures engine RPM, alternator temperature and voltage. This information can be used by the Orion XS to enhance alternator protection by reducing the charge current when the alternator runs hot and adds the possibility to scale the charge current with engine RPM. The RPM sense also offers an alternative engine-on detection – independent of alternator voltage. The Orion XS now has additional settings allowing derating of its current based on high alternator temperature or low/high alternator RPM. VE.Can BMS NG Available from March ’27 we have a new model of BMS (Battery Management System) which is suitable for every installation using our Next Generation (NG) lithium batteries, controlled by a GX device, and connected using either VE.Can, VE.Bus, and/or Bluetooth communication. Concept render – final design subject to change Isolated VE.Can connects to a GX device and to VE.Can products; DVCC controls compatible inverter/chargers and solar chargers. The Allowed-to-Charge and Allowed-to-Discharge contacts are solid-state and potential-free allowing control signals to be taken from wherever needed in the system – even when devices don’t share the same ground reference. A Smart 4 Amp AUX output controls alternator or sheds non-critical loads at low state of charge. For installers, the VE.Can BMS NG simplifies the choices. — Visit us to get more information about all our product range, ask questions, or to discuss projects you have in mind. We look forward to seeing you on stand 01.541
Justin Tyers • 15 October 2026
Webinar Invitation: Putting Surplus Solar to Work
Join us on November 6th at 14:00 CET for the second joint webinar hosted by Shelly and Victron Energy to get a deeper understanding of smarter energy management. In the previous Shelly/Victron webinar we learned about energy measurement, surplus solar, and self-consumption. Episode Two builds on that to explore how Victron Energy data can be used to drive coordinated actions across Shelly control, sensing, visualisation, and protection solutions. Webinar hosts Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy) and Orlin Dimitrov (Shelly) will demonstrate how the two ecosystems work together to manage and prioritise GX Opportunity Loads while maintaining manual control and safe fallback behaviour. Discussion Programme The programme includes: Introduction to the Shelly and Victron Energy teams New Victron Venus OS v3.80 and GX capabilities, and support for more Shelly products Bluetooth improvements: using Shelly devices as a bluetooth range extender Opportunity Loads control with Victron Energy, Shelly, and other products Visualization and local control with Shelly Wall Display XL Circuit-level and environmental use cases with Shelly Pro CB and Shelly Weather Station Live demonstration Live Q&A What you will learn During the presentation you will learn: How Victron GX information can trigger Shelly devices; How to use Shelly devices as a bluetooth range extender; How different Shelly products support control, sensing, visualisation, and protection within an energy-management system; How to control and prioritize GX Opportunity Loads while preserving manual control and safe fallback behaviour; How the demonstrated Victron and Shelly system is structured, and How the partnership creates practical value for installers and customers. Who is it for? This information will be invaluable to PV installers using Victron devices, programmers, Electricians, Energy Consultants, Industry Professionals and DIYers interested in load automation. Registration You can register for the event right now. If you are unable to join us on the day, register anyway , and we’ll send you the recording so you can catch up later. Presenters: Lucian Popescu – Victron Energy Guy Stewart – Victron Energy Orlin Dimitrov – Shelly Shenay Okan – Shelly Privacy information This event will be recorded and shared publicly with Shelly/Victron customers, partners, employees and service providers. The recording may include your name and any questions you submit to Q&A session. By registering for the event you agree to the Privacy Policy. We look forward to seeing you!
Justin Tyers • 17 June 2026
Intersolar Europe 2026
Come and meet us on stand B4.150 on June 23rd, 24th and 25th at Intersolar 2026 – the world’s leading exhibition for the solar industry which takes place in Munich. Ask questions and get hands-on with our reliable battery-based power system hardware: Inverters , Chargers , the world’s largest range of Solar Charge Controllers and Next Generation Lithium Batteries. Plus, continual development of our world-leading software allows for system automation and the integration of third party devices which achieve extraordinary power installations with finger-tip control. Across Marine, Mobile, RV, Industrial, Utility, in Remote Communities, and in the comfort of your home – we make the power which runs your work, rest and play. Here are some of the highlights you’ll see on our stand: Victron Native Microgrid Arguably one of the most exciting innovations at the show is our latest Microgrid technology. Multiple independent Victron inverter/charger systems – which we call Power Banks – operate in parallel on a shared AC bus. Power Banks can be of mixed sizes, and together they form high-power off-grid systems which automatically share the load. Each Power Bank is a complete installation in its own right, having its own inverter/chargers, batteries and monitoring. It’s incredibly simple, having no central controller, and no data communication wiring between units. Power Banks can be added or taken away on demand, and the system can be scaled up to 400 kW. There will be a live demonstration of how Victron native microgrid works, on stand. Test Victron Microgrid’s load sharing capabilities for yourself! GX Opportunity Loads Another new and exciting innovation allows you to utilise every photon of solar energy – even when your batteries are full and all power loads are being met. Think of GX Opportunity Loads as an optimisation strategy. Whenever solar energy is going to waste – more is available than is currently being used – that potential can be harvested by sending it automatically toward devices or utilities – flexible assets – which you prioritise, such as: EV or e-bike charging; hot water storage; pool heating/treating etc. The Opportunity Loads feature turns the GX device into a system-level coordinator – even running multiple loads in parallel when sufficient power is available. GX Opportunity Loads activates Victron EV Charging Stations and Shelly switches connected to controllable devices. SolarSense 750 SolarSense 750 is a standalone, self-powered, wireless irradiance monitor which provides real time data to your GX device. It allows you, and your Victron installation, to instantly see the full potential available from de-rated PV panels, activate Opportunity Loads; run a health check by comparing potential and real PV output; and to make informed decisions prior to panel installation. New VM-3P5A Energy Meter – for larger systems The successful VM-3P75CT, launched two years ago, now has a new sibling. While the VM-3P75CT works exclusively with the supplied current transformers (CTs) and can measure up to 75A per phase, the new VM-3P5A is designed for use with standard 5A CTs, the industry-standard current transformer type. It supports applications measuring up to a theoretical 6,000A per phase, depending on the CTs used. Like the existing model, the VM-3P5A connects via Ethernet or VE.Can and can be used to measure the output of a PV inverter, AC genset, as a grid meter in an ESS installation, or to measure AC loads. Nucleo GX We welcome a new member of the GX family – our communication centre devices that bring system monitoring, control, remote access, firmware updates and configuration together in one place, whether you’re on-site or managing a system from the other side of the world. The Nucleo GX is a cost-effective addition to the GX range, designed for systems that do not require all the interfaces available on our higher-end GX devices. By omitting features such as VE.Bus connectivity, HDMI output for GX Touch displays, and tank and temperature sensor inputs, the Nucleo GX delivers the core GX functionality at a lower cost. The Nucleo GX retains the monitoring, control and connectivity features that make GX devices the heart of a Victron Energy system, making it an ideal choice for ESS and off-grid systems built around the Multi RS. What’s new with the Nucleo GX is that it excludes VE.Bus connections allowing cost savings whilst retaining all the usual benefits, and is suitable for systems which do not require VE.Bus communications. The Nucleo GX will typically be used in Multi RS systems for example. Multi RS 48/6000 A lightweight, high-frequency inverter/charger suitable for both stationary and mobile applications. The Multi RS 48/6000 comes without MPPT solar trackers providing flexibility on solar configuration and for retrofitting in situations with existing solar inverters.. Switches to backup mode during a grid outage. Can operate without grid connection. Can control generator to minimize run-hours and cover peak loads from the battery when demand exceeds the capacity of the generator. When the load reduces, the spare power is used to recharge the battery. For stationary applications, it supports Dynamic ESS functionality while giving you the flexibility to pair it with a different type or size of solar inverter. First arrivals of this device have now sold out, next shipment can be pre-ordered. GlobalLink 530 We have a new member of the GlobalLink family which operates on the 4G cellular network offering much greater stability and worldwide coverage. Multi HS19 Solar Our new high voltage three-phase rack mountable 15kW Inverter Charger will be in stock this summer. It has one AC input; two AC outputs. With four MPPT solar charge controllers on board, its operating range is between 650 and 1000V from a solar array offering up to 30kW. The MC4 solar connectors are at the back of the device allowing for a clutter free appearance when installed. Power Sessions: Expert Tuition, Headphone Audience Our super successful 20 – 30 minute technology updates return this year! No booking required – just turn up and listen to our expert presenter, live, to learn more about our new Microgrid Technology every show day at 11:00 and 15:00; and about our own next-level Energy Storage Systems with exciting intelligent, programmable automations, each show day at 13:00. Workshops – meet the professionals If you’d like to laser focus on particular areas of Victron knowledge – like automations using Node-RED flows; integrating Shelly devices for smart control; a deep dive into our exciting Microgrid technology; or maximised efficiency using GX Opportunity Loads – join us in our meeting room, away from the buzz of the exhibition floor, to get exactly the information you require. Presentations are available in English and Deutsch. Reservations can be made through your Victron Professional account. If you don’t yet have a Victron Professional account you’re welcome to sign up for one. The schedule and location follows: We look forward to seeing you on our stand – B4.150 Intersolar takes place at: Messe München Messegelände 81823, Munich, Germany. Intersolar 2026 Exhibition dates are – June: Tuesday 23rd / Wednesday 24th / Thursday 25th
Guy Stewart • 13 April 2026
Introducing Victron Microgrid
What if you could build large off-grid systems with the same simplicity as small ones – just by adding more independent units, increasing reliability, and scaling total capacity as you grow? Large off-grid systems have traditionally been complex to build and difficult to change; Victron Microgrid takes a different approach. Victron Microgrid allows multiple independent Victron inverter/charger systems, named “Power Banks” to operate in parallel on a shared AC bus – even when Power Bank sizes vary – forming high-power off-grid systems that automatically share the load. Each Power Bank is a complete, independent Victron installation with its own inverter/chargers, batteries and monitoring. No central controller, and no data communication wiring between units. If you need more power you can just add another Power Bank, and scale the system – up to 400 kW. Why Victron Microgrid? Scale beyond a single system. Multiple Power Banks on a shared AC bus let you build off-grid systems much larger than a single VE.Bus system, without the complexity and risk of one big centralised inverter installation. Keep running when a unit goes down. Each Power Bank operates on its own. If one is taken offline for service or develops a fault, the rest continue supplying the AC bus uninterrupted. Removing any single point of failure. Add or remove capacity without downtime. Connect more Power Banks to the Microgrid as demand grows. Disconnect them when demand drops or maintenance is needed. No reprogramming required, and the AC bus stays live to loads the whole time. Build with what installers already know. No new hardware. Victron Microgrid uses the same inverter/chargers, batteries, charge controllers and GX devices that installers already work with. Each Power Bank is monitored through its own GX device and VRM. Move equipment between sites. Perfect for rental: containerised Power Banks can go from one project to the next. When a job is done, the same hardware returns to the depot and goes out again ready to join another Microgrid. A standard, efficient container build can be used to satisfy a broad range of applications by simply joining them together via AC wiring on site. Applications Because each Power Bank is self-contained, Victron Microgrid works well on sites where demand changes over time and equipment may need to move between projects. 1. Generator rental fleets Rental operators can treat Power Banks as modular fleet assets. Instead of maintaining many fixed-capacity systems for different jobs, stock standardised Power Banks and combine them to match each contract. A smaller deployment might use two Power Banks; a larger job may need six or more. When a contract ends, the same units return to the depot and go out again in a different combination. Power Banks can be grouped together as a Microgrid in VRM to provide remote monitoring, alarms and visibility across active sites. 2. Construction sites Construction sites often have a stable base-load with temporary spikes in demand. Site offices, lighting and tools may run for months at one level, then a crane, welding gear or other heavy equipment drives consumption up. Extra Power Banks can be brought to site, connected to the AC bus for the peak period, and removed when it’s over. Match capacity to the actual stage of the project and reduce dependence on generator runtime where silent, battery-based power is preferred or required. 3. Events and festivals Demand profiles shift across bump-in, live operation and bump-out. Peak power may only be needed for part of the schedule, but reliable supply is needed throughout. Deploy more Power Banks for peak periods, fewer for quieter ones with no need to redesign the system. If the programme changes, add capacity quickly by connecting another Power Bank to the AC bus. And if one unit has an issue, the rest keep running. 4. Expanding existing off-grid systems Victron Microgrid is also a practical way to upgrade an existing Victron off-grid installation. Instead of pulling a working system apart to make it bigger, install a second Power Bank alongside it and connect both to the same AC bus. The original system stays as it is and just becomes one of the Power Banks in the Microgrid. This is useful for containerised or remote installations where reworking what’s already there would be disruptive. Each Power Bank manages its own charging, so the new unit needs its own charging sources such as additional solar, a DC generator connection, or other DC charging. How Victron Microgrid works A Power Bank is a complete Victron off-grid system: one or more VE.Bus inverter/chargers, a battery bank, DC distribution, DC charging sources, and a GX device for monitoring. In a Victron Microgrid, multiple Power Banks connect to a shared AC bus and work together as one large power system. Load sharing between units happens automatically via AC voltage and frequency, without the need for a central controller, communication between power banks or complex configurations. This decentralised approach keeps the system simple and reliable. Three-phase and split-phase configurations are supported as well. Independent charging – no central controller needed Decentralised DC charging is what makes this controller-less approach work. Each Power Bank manages its own state of charge using its own charging sources. Victron supports a range of charging options: MPPT solar charge controllers for DC-coupled PV AC chargers (such as MultiPlus, Quattro or Multi RS) connected to an AC generator or other AC supply, independent of the Microgrid AC bus. DC generator integration (including start/stop automation) Getting started Victron Microgrid is available via a dedicated VE.Bus firmware for MultiPlus, MultiPlus-II, Quattro and Quattro-II. Walk through the concept, configuration and commissioning with these training videos: Introduction Programming Demonstration The Technical manual covers installation and configuration in detail. See this Slide deck for a more visual overview. Contact a Victron distributor to discuss whether Victron Microgrid fits your application.
Justin Tyers • 13 March 2026
Thousands watching solo sailor
If you don’t easily get sea sick why not join Norwegian Helga Marie Løvenskiold Kveseth – who goes by the name Mara – on her LIVEstream as she crosses the Atlantic? Already having 25,000 miles under her keel, Mara is sailing her Saltram Saga 36ft double-ender called Showgirl to St Martin in the Caribbean in order to qualify for the Golden Globe Race 2026. The Golden Globe is an epic yacht race – more than twenty participants are expected to cross the start line later this year on September 6th to sail singlehanded around the world using only the equipment which was available to circumnavigators sixty years ago. Using a sextant to make celestial observations, and plotting their position on paper charts, skippers spend nine months at sea crossing world’s remotest oceans in their grandest moods. It’s not for the feint hearted. For her qualifying passage Mara’s boat is equipped with the latest technology in order to bring us closer to the experience of sailing alone. Her 24 hour live stream via Starlink router, together with other domestic conveniences, uses a lot of power, The original electrical system onboard was unable to support the planned loads so she enlisted the help of Sea & Land Yacht Works to do a power audit of all her domestic and navigation devices and provide a system which could support the ambition. Sea & Land Yacht Works is a marine service provider based in Rhode Island U.S. specializing in marine electronics, electrical and marine systems. Interestingly, they offer their technical service all round the world by contracting qualified installers to build systems from their drawings, using specifications which meet ABYC certification standards. Company founder Michael Garretson is an AYBC Master Technician and also a Mechanical Engineer. Working from his drawings installer Electrical Marine Services Gibralter built Showgirl’s power system in Gibralter just before Mara set off on her solo transatlantic passage. Power Assumptions The power audit for Showgirl’s electronic devices suggested a daily power consumption of 492Ah Equipment Load Fridge 60 NAV Instrument 45 Starlink 240 Rasberry pi 28 Camera 47 dgi 16.3 random cameras 7.5 VHF 12 Lighting 15 Phone charging 2 handheld 0 Watermaker 19 Total: 491.8 In order to provide that power three power generation sources were installed: Showgirl’s four solar panels of 100Wp each would typically provide 116Ah per day . The solar harvest is controlled by two MPPT solar charge controllers of 100/30 and 75/10 to charge a 12V lithium battery bank of 960Ah. As the vessel sails a Watt&Sea Hydrogenerator 600 produces power. Assuming an average speed of 4.5knts, that model will produce 157Ah per day There’s a 275A alternator on board controlled by Arco Zeus 275L alternator regulator to maximise the power harvest. Running the engine at 1500rpm for an hour is likely to produce 230Ah . Total daily production from power generation is 503Ah . Power consumption and harvest is monitored by a number of BMV battery monitor across the MPPT solar chargers, alternator output, Watt & Sea hydrogenerator output, and the lithium battery bank loads. There is an Orion DC to DC charger to manage battery charging for Showgirl’s dual battery systems – engine starting and domestic use. A MultiPlus 12/1600/70 Inverter/Charger provides AC power. A Cerbo GX communication centre harmonises all Victron and third-party devices and makes real time data monitoring and programming available from anywhere in the world via the Starlink satellite router. The same information is just a fingertip away on board via the GX Touch 50 user interface. Showgirl is a little more than halfway across the Atlantic at the time of writing. Once she arrives, Sea and Land Yacht Works plan to install more custom solar panels and additional electrical work before she recrosses the Atlantic a few months later – live streaming again – in preparation for her Golden Globe Race participation. You can ask Mara a question via the live chat function of her LIVEstream. She typically makes time to answer questions on camera after sunset each day – her time. She says she’s going to miss all the live chat on her Golden Globe Race! Let’s see how she’s getting on: If you’re already in the Caribbean on board a boat – and particularly if you want to find out more about reliable power or workshop a power problem – take a look at our recent story here.
Beril Berkem • 23 February 2026
VictronConnect App v6.30
VictronConnect app v6.30 brings a range of new features designed to make system monitoring and management easier for both professionals and end-users. These include VRM integration, new tools for system monitoring, more insight during firmware updates, and a Batch Programming feature aimed at simplifying work for professionals. In the next sections, we take a closer look at what’s new in VictronConnect v6.30. VRM integration The VictronConnect app has been the go-to app for direct access to Victron products and system monitoring, allowing configuration, firmware updates, and real-time monitoring via Bluetooth with quick access from your phone. The VRM Portal , on the other hand, gives full remote system monitoring from anywhere in the world with internet connection, providing full system overview, detailed performance analysis, remote support, and tools for fleet and multi-system management. VictronConnect v6.30 brings these two worlds closer together. VRM dashboard access is now built directly into the VictronConnect app. Previously, when accessing a system remotely via the VRM tab, the app redirected you to the VRM Portal for full system information. You can now see the system dashboard directly in VictronConnect, including control switching, overview data, and Dynamic ESS information such as costings and schedules, making it easier to understand what is happening across your system from one place. VictronConnect on Android Auto If your vehicle supports Android Auto, you can now view key system information directly on your car’s display while driving through the VictronConnect app on your phone. After updating to VictronConnect v6.30, a VictronConnect icon will automatically appear in Android Auto once a phone is connected. The feature uses Bluetooth Instant Readout and requires no additional configuration or GX device. If Instant Readout data is available for a product in the VictronConnect app (for example, the Smart range), it will also be shown in Android Auto, creating a simple plug-and-play experience. This makes it easy to monitor system status safely while driving, especially in campervans, motorhomes, and professional vehicles. Android widgets and notifications Android users can place widgets on their phone home screen to quickly see important system information without opening the app. It is also now possible to enable notifications so your phone alerts you if something needs attention, giving you peace of mind that your system is running as expected without needing to constantly check it. Notifications and Widgets use Bluetooth Instant Readout and work when your phone is within range of supported products. Improved Trends Trends data is now clearer and more detailed, making it easier to see how your system has been performing over time. Updated graphs are easier to read and interpret, while also giving access to deeper system information, helping build a clearer picture of energy production, consumption, and battery behaviour. Trends data is now also included when exporting product settings, making it easier to keep records or share data for support or analysis. This feature is available for all products that support stored Trends. Smarter firmware updates With VictronConnect v6.30, firmware updates now show release notes directly in the update screen, making it easier to see what has changed before updating. The release notes remain visible during the update process, giving clearer insight into each firmware version. The built-in firmware library can now also update itself automatically when an internet connection is available, keeping the latest firmware versions ready even between app updates. Firmware updates can still be carried out without an internet connection, just like before. Batch programming And finally, a feature many installers will appreciate: Batch Programming. You can now apply setting files and firmware updates across multiple devices at the same time. The feature supports both VE.Direct (wired) and Smart (Bluetooth) products, making it easier to manage mixed systems. The short video below gives a quick overview of how it works. Wrapping up VictronConnect v6.30 makes it easier to stay connected to your system, whether you are standing next to it, travelling, or checking it remotely. By bringing VictronConnect and VRM closer together, and adding practical tools for daily use, this update helps make system monitoring, control, and maintenance simpler for everyone using Victron systems. We hope you enjoy using these new features. Your feedback helps shape future updates, so feel free to share your experience or suggestions in the Victron Community .
Justin Tyers • 06 February 2026
Planning a Camper holiday in Europe?
Reconnect with old friends and meet new ones at the Victronland 2026 camper community meet-up in the historic and beautiful Czech Republic. Share knowledge and have fun with like minded adventurers within a glorious off-grid lakeside setting of fields and woodland, near Budweis. If you’ve ever attended a Victron event you already know that our huge meet up for Motor Homes, Campers and Camper Trailers on the 3rd, 4th and 5th July will be amazing. We’ve got a packed schedule of exciting events: Live on-stage music, International food, Games, Competitions, and Sports for all the family – together with amazing power workshops hosted by Victron professionals where you get to see, touch and learn the latest developments in off-grid power; swap ideas, build, grow and problem solve. What makes Victronland 2026 unique? Although the idyllic lakeside setting is far from the electricity grid, our Entertainment stage, Food trucks, Exhibitor stands …and more will powered by a Victron microgrid to keep the party going all day …and late into the night. Exhibitors from all over Europe will be showcasing exciting examples of their power installations used by first responders; automotive; leisure and construction applications. Chat, learn and connect with power experts. Get advice about tweaking, expanding or building a new installation for mobile, work or home. Don’t miss out on a tour of the Victronland minigrid where you will see our latest technology – the beating heart behind all the energy of the show! Feeling lucky? Your ticket includes free entry to the Victronland 2026 Raffle – in which three ticket holders will each WIN €5000 worth of Victron Energy products of their own choice! Good Luck! Delicious world food Enjoy sampling delicious food from international trucks selling all the favourites of world cuisine. Live Music: food for the soul…! We’ve got a line up of five music acts taking place across all three days. From early morning Yoga on the lakeshore to late night Campfire chats; we’ve arranged Fun events – turn up or take time out as the mood takes you. Packed schedule of entertainment, sports power workshops, learning and sharing… If you love off-grid camping in nature amongst friends, you’ll enjoy Victronland 2026 where you can share knowledge, chat and learn with like-minded campervanners in our rural shoreside setting The packed three-day schedule has everything from Yoga to Volleyball, and from Classical music to House. Take your time in this immersive power-related experience. As a camper adventurer, whatever you’re looking for, you’ll find it in abundance at Victronland 2026 . Pets are welcome too! We’ve got room for a thousand off-grid vans in our massive lakeside site – with all-inclusive tickets priced between €250 to €350. Book your pitch now and take part in the biggest off-grid camping event in Europe! Victronland 2026 information page. Victronland 2026 Location link – opens in Google maps.
Justin Tyers • 30 January 2026
Power problem in the Caribbean?
If you’re cruising the Caribbean and you’ve got annoying problems with your navigation, radar, VHF/AI, NMEA2000 or battery-based power system – help is coming to a harbour near you! When power problems arise far from home it can be difficult to get the personalised advice you need to solve them. Unresolved, they begin to limit the freedom you’d hoped to enjoy, and spoil the care-free days you planned. Victron Energy together with life-long sailor and system installer Jildert Koopman will be touring the Caribbean between Feb, March, April and May to share his knowledge during free-to-attend training sessions, answer questions and offer one-to-one assistance. Jildert has launched Blue Power Voyage – a touring workshop with training sessions which will visit islands within the heart of the Caribbean nautical community in order to help you resolve your issue. The event brings together adventure and technology enthusiasts and takes place both ashore and on board to bring practical demonstrations, promote devices which offer solutions, and to provide training – all in the wonderful setting of the Caribbean! Local marine service operators are also welcome, of course. This innovative and pioneering approach provides a relaxed and community-oriented environment in which you can exchange experiences, share knowledge, and connect to local professionals in the area. You will also learn about the Victron Energy range of devices built for mariners. Look out for Jildert as he sails into your harbour on the dates below. He’ll be arriving on board his boat Adventura – a Beneteau 445 Oceanis – and he’ll be flying Blue Power Voyage Banner. Jildert will be staying for a few days – so you’re bound to find a suitable time to catch up with him in these locations: St Martin – arriving Feb 24th for 10 days. First Presentation event booked for Feb 26th. St Barts – arriving March 8th for 10 days St Kitts/Nevis – arriving March 20th for 10 days Antigua – arriving 2nd April for 10 days Guadalupe – arriving 11th April for 10 days Martinique – arriving 23rd April for 10 days St Lucia – arriving 5th May for 10 days St Vincent and the Grenadines – arriving 17th May for 10 days Before and during those dates you can listen out for get-together information on your local VHF or HF boat-net, or social media channels. Two morning shore-based sessions are planned for each location. Outside those events Jildert will be available for troubleshooting. Jildert is a former National coach and professional match sailing racer, and a specialist in Victron Energy installations including Lithium battery storage. He says: I’ve been installing repairing and servicing boats and their systems my whole life. Six years ago I launched my company Yacht Services to assist fellow yachtsmen in the private boat sector. Look out for Jildert and the Blue Power Voyage banner – help is at hand. Spread the word to make the most of these sociable and informative events!
Justin Tyers • 16 January 2026
Amazon’s Solar Boats bringing hope for the future
In the Amazon around 95% of deforestation occurs within just a few kilometres of a road. Once roads arrive, logging, mining, ranching and land speculation inevitably follow. For Indigenous communities living deep in the rainforest roads threaten ecosystems, livelihoods, food security and cultural autonomy. Yet there is a desire for better access to healthcare, education and trade …some kind of transport infrastructure is needed. Rivers are the natural transport network. They connect communities over vast distances. In 2016 a new initiative began building fuel/noise/pollution free transport to the Amazon: solar-powered river boats. Kara Solar , a non-profit organisation working in the Amazon is demonstrating that clean energy systems can support mobility without opening the door to deforestation. Instead of building roads, they focus on strengthening river transport using solar-electric boats designed specifically for local conditions. Research by the Conservation Strategy Fund highlights why this matters. In Achuar communities in Ecuador, support for road construction dropped dramatically — from 41% to just 2% — after solar-powered river transport became available. When communities are offered viable alternatives, the perceived need for roads disappears. Electric boats Victron distributor Renova Energia provided equipment and training so that Kara Solar could, themselves, build launch and maintain a fleet of solar powered community shuttle boats which are now operating in Achuar territory as well as Brazil, Peru, Suriname and Solomon Islands. And Kara Solar is launching a new electric long tail peque-peque boat designed to replace ubiquitous family-sized gasoline boats. Both of these boats are familiar in form, but radically different in operation: quiet, emission-free and powered by the sun. Designed for people. Built for the unique Amazon conditions. “ To date, Kara Solar has supported the construction of 12 solar-powered community shuttle boats across five countries: Ecuador (in collaboration with the Achuar Nationality of Ecuador), Peru (with the Wampis Nation of Peru), Brazil, Suriname, and the Solomon Islands. These shuttle boats are between 10 and 16 meters long and can carry on average 15 passengers and 1200 kg of cargo. Some are powered 100% by energy generated from rooftop solar arrays, while others use shore based solar recharge stations, or a combination of the two .” says Oliver Utne, Founder and Managing Director of Kara Solar. “ Through our manufacturing spin-off Motores Amazonas [which is funded by the Inter-American Development Bank] we have developed a second type of boat: the electric peque-peque. Peque-peques are small boats that typically carry about eight passengers and are traditionally powered by long-tail gasoline motors. They are probably the most common form of boat in the Amazon. “Our 5kW electric peque-peque matches the power of a typical 9-horsepower gasoline engine widely used in the region, while eliminating fuel costs, noise, and river contamination from lubricant oil. For batteries, this new motor uses Victron Lithium NG Batteries 51,2V/100Ah in combination with the SmallBMS NG battery management system, protected by a rugged container, offering a range of approximately 30 km per battery, with multiple batteries able to be used together, ” he says. The community shuttle boats have: 3x SmartSolar MPPT 150/35 solar charge controller 1x Quattro 3000 inverter/charger Solar Panels offering 5.4 kWp 21.6 kWh of lead acid batteries On shore the typical installation comprises 5x SmartSolar MPPT 150/35, 2x MultiPlus-II 48/3000 inverter/chargers with split-phase 220V/120V Solar Panels offering 8.4 kWp 4x 51.2 V 100Ah Lithium NG batteries offering 21kWh Equipment built specifically for jungle conditions – together with local technical capacity are both vital. In the vast rainforest where the nearest town might be days away, broken equipment can’t just be thrown away and replaced; it has to be repairable. Kara Solar places strong emphasis on who controls the technology. Community members are trained as technicians to operate, maintain and repair the power transport and associated powers systems, which are kept in local ownership. Hunting. Fishing. For communities that rely on fishing and hunting, noise matters. Conventional petrol outboard motors disrupt wildlife and make traditional activities harder. Solar-electric boats operate almost silently, preserving the soundscape of the river and reducing fuel dependency at the same time. Nantu Canelos – President of Kara Solar and a member of the Achuar community of Sharamentsa – explains: “ Technical knowledge is cultivated within the communities so that power — in every sense of the word — remains in their hands.” Energy systems are most resilient when local people understand them, trust them and can maintain them independently. Kara Solar’s long-term vision includes a network of Indigenous-owned solar charging stations along hundreds of kilometres of river. These solar centres will enable reliable transport while also providing electricity for lighting, communications and refrigeration. Solar centres are important components of the transport network in Achuar territory, recharging boats and providing electricity for community internet access, local schools, community tourism centres, and conservation initiatives (such as printers, projectors, computers, public lights and charging of territorial monitoring equipment like drones, cameras, gps, and more). Motores Amazonas is working to establish local manufacturing and assembly units to support long-term scalability. The aim is not a one-off project, but a self-sustaining ecosystem of transport, energy and technical capacity. “ There are also economic challenges ,” says Oliver Utne; “ In rural parts of the Amazon, the cost of deploying electric river transport is less than the cost of comparable gasoline boats. But because initial capital costs are higher, upfront capital is required. Indigenous Amazon communities are rich in land, but cash poor, and do not have the capital to pay the initial costs. That’s why designing the right financial and governance models specifically for the Amazon is just as important as engineering the right equipment for rainforest conditions. “Through our Solar Rivers initiative, we are incubating funding and community governance models that catalyze the sustainable deployment of boats by allowing local boat operators to pay for equipment over time, like a leasing model. “ The Amazon remains one of the few regions on Earth without large-scale transport and electricity infrastructure. How it is provided will shape not only the future of Indigenous territories, but the future of the rainforest itself. For the Amazon, the most dynamic choice may be the one that doesn’t include a road at all. Let’s take a river trip by solar powered boat: Become a part of the solution Oliver says: The ultimate goal is to expand solar transport across the Amazon, with 100 small electric boats and 25 new river charging stations in Pastaza Province in the next three years, and a vision of 10,000 solar-powered boats across the Amazon rainforest by 2030. Main challenges include upfront capital costs for electric boat models, logistics of installation and maintenance in remote communities, and scaling technical training. Individuals can join this journey by signing the Solar Rivers Declaration , donating to Kara Solar on our website , and spreading the word about our dream of a solar Amazon. Institutional funders who want to join the journey and partner with us to scale solar energy and transport across the Amazon can reach us at contact@karasolar.com .
Justin Tyers • 21 November 2025
Uninterruptible power for pet care provider
Raja Petshop in Surabaya, Indonesia is a pet store, grooming service, and veterinary clinic. Director, Mr. Budi, has long held the goal of becoming one of the leading pet-care providers in the region in terms of scale, patient compassion and professionalism. Yet, like many growing businesses in Indonesia they faced a hurdle unrelated to veterinary medicine – unreliable electricity. Several times a year the business has to deal with power outages which are at best inconvenient, at worst, dangerous. In order to be able to offer his clients guaranteed top quality pet care Mr Budi decided to invest in a solar energy power installation which would ensure an uninterrupted power supply to his business. Power outages throw the premises into darkness as well as interrupting the availability of X-ray, Ultrasound and Laboratory analysis tools used for diagnosing infections, internal injuries and metabolic anomalies. Without power the investigation shuts down mid-test …the clinic itself cannot be climate-controlled; and worse still, staff are forced to turn away referral cases – in direct conflict with their professional inclination. Veterinary surgeon Dr. Hanifah Putri Salsabilla explains: “X-ray requires stable electricity, and when the power goes out, we simply can’t work. This affects not only our schedule but also the animal’s condition—some become anxious when lights go out suddenly.” In pursuit of excellence in animal care both the management and staff realised it was time for change; they instructed PT. Energi Terbarukan Internasional to design and build a hybrid solar-backup power system capable of running the clinic for up to three hours at full operational load. The system comprises: 24 x Solar Panels of 540 Wp totalling 12.96 kWp 2 × SmartSolar MPPT 250/100 solar charge controllers harvest the solar energy for storage into a 30kWh lithium battery bank. 3 × MultiPlus-II 48V 5000VA Inverter/Charger provide AC power A Cerbo GX communication centre harmonises the system by providing data communications between all Victron Energy and third-party devices. It also allows for system programming and real time monitoring – both locally using a GX Touch Display and remotely vic the Victron Remote Management platform VRM . Dr. Hanifah Putri Salsabilla, who is a Veterinary surgeon says: “I handle 5–10 animals per day, mostly dogs and cats, and rely on electricity for grooming, X-rays and ultrasounds. Before, blackouts stopped our work completely — now everything continues as normal, and the animals remain calm.” The project had its challenges: PT. Eternal installed the new energy system with minimum interruption to the clinic’s daily work. Sensitive diagnostic equipment needs clean voltage and so seamless switching between the electricity grid and backup power is essential. And because the combined inverter capacity exceeds 10 kW a permit was required from Indonesian electrical safety authorities. But the challenges were worth it says Mr. Budi, Director of PT Rajapet Pasti Sukses: “We are proud to be part of Indonesia’s renewable energy movement. The solar system from PT. Eternal helps us maintain operational stability and supports our vision to go green while keeping our clinic running 24/7. “Sustainable energy provision aligns with the values of many of our clients who are young professionals and value eco-friendly businesses and responsible service providers. “Renewable energy is not only about saving carbon—it’s about giving businesses the resilience to grow”. Let’s take a look inside the pet care business:
Justin Tyers • 14 November 2025
Victron Energy at Metstrade 2025
Visit us on Stand 01.541 to get hands-on with our latest products. During fifty years of innovation we’ve developed hundreds of devices which build into whole-boat ecosystems for energy storage, battery charging, voltage conversion, DC distribution, system monitoring, and control. But we don’t stop there: our partnerships with other leading manufacturers in the marine industry result in an extraordinary user-experience. For example – our dedicated GX Boat Page is so good it’s been nominated for a DAME Design Award – the Oscar of the Marine Industry! Boat Page communicates with electric propulsion motors, batteries, Android Tablet and navigation systems to provide at-a-glance whole system information and control – whilst cruising silently and sustainably. New VICTRON ENERGY Products On Display at METS: Lithium SuperPack NG batteries Featuring an internal Battery Management System and Shunt these SuperPacks are a simple drop-in replacement for old lead-acid batteries – without extra cabling. The shunt allows accurate state-of-charge monitoring; on-board Bluetooth communicates this information straight to your phone. SuperPack NG is self-heating too – it continues to provide full Lithium performance even at sub-zero temperatures. The 12V 100Ah SuperPack NG has reduced height allowing it to fit tiny spaces – even under the seat of a camper! Next Generation SuperPack is expected in Feb 2026. Battery Management Systems for Lithium Smart NG – the Next Generation Our BMS range just got bigger: NG BMS’s are mandatory when installing our NG Lithium Smart batteries. A BMS controls and protects lithium batteries through charge/load cycles preventing over/under voltage and temperature. Bluetooth allows wireless configuration, updates and status monitoring – at cell level – direct from your phone via the VictronConnect app. Smart BMS NG 12/200 : Controls the charging current of up to 50 Victron Lithium NG 12.8V batteries from any 12V alternator. Adjustable current limiter; battery protection and combiner. Safety at sea: this BMS uses MOSFET switches and is therefore ignition proof. VE.Bus BMS NG : BMS NG for systems having VE.Bus communication. It receives battery current data – no need for a separate SmartShunt. Bluetooth connection allows for local monitoring via VictronConnect . SmallBMS NG : It’s tiny – but powerful. Bluetooth on board – it’s a cost-effective alternative to the rest of the BMS NG range, for systems where no integration with Inverter/Chargers is required. Smart IP43 Charger – new 48V model New 48V model. A very welcome addition to our range of chargers for boats having 48V systems – finally a fully integrated 48V charger. A wide input range of 85-250VAC allows these battery chargers to be connected to shore power anywhere in the world. These chargers adapt to fluctuating power – whether from weak grids, generators, or long cable runs. Models having two or three outputs can charge separate battery banks, simultaneously, with a clean and stable output. Models are now available for all DC system voltages: 12V / 24V / 36V / 48V. Orion XS 12/12-70A battery to battery charger Orion XS 12/12 70A is our new high-power battery charger – available in the second quarter of 2026 it can be parallel-connected for even more charging power. Orion XS allows you to connect any alternator to any battery. It protects the alternator from Lithium battery high demand. Available with 12V / 24V or mixed 12/24/12 input/output conversion – the 12/12 70A compliments our range of Orion XS chargers which includes: Orion XS 12/12 50 – for 12V to 12V charging Orion XS 12/12 70 – the new model Orion XS 1400 – for 12V to 24V / 24V to 12V / or 24V to 24V charging MultiPlus-II 4k5 and 6k5 Our extensive range of MultiPlus-II Inverter/Chargers just got bigger. Multi RS 48/6000 Our lightweight, compact 6000VA High Frequency Inverter/100A Charger is ideal for Marine systems: HF technology allows size and weight reductions with higher power conversion efficiency and a smooth AC output to power the most sensitive on-board electronic-devices. The Multi RS 6000 differs from other RS devices in our range in that there is no on-board MPPT. GlobalLink 530 Connecting your off-grid power installation to VRM allows you to keep an eye on it and control it remotely. Our GlobalLink 520 remains available – the new GlobalLink 530 offers true 4G connection with higher potential speeds and lower latency. Brand INTEGRATIONS allow outstanding user experience: For decades we’ve partnered with major brands in the Marine Industry to push the limits of what’s possible in performance and control. Devices which speak the same language take functionality beyond customer expectation. Come and see the new standards in marine applications including: Bridge Multi-Function Display Alternator/Generator charging E-drive – dedicated Boat Page GUI – DAME Award Nominee * Digital switching Tank- and Temperature-Sensing Automatic/remote load-switching POWER SESSIONS: Expert briefing, Headphone audience with Q&A Take part in one of our scheduled 30-minute Headphone-Audience Power Sessions. Just turn up and take part for up-to-the-minute information on the following subjects: Next Generation Lithium Batteries , Superpacks and NG BMS Sessions Available : Tuesday 11:00 / Wednesday 14:00 / Thursday 11:00 What does NG make possible? Massive storage; parallel banks for redundancy; high-precision shunts allow cell-level read-out via Bluetooth straight to your phone, 12V/24V/48V formats and up to IP65 with mounting bracket for hostile constant motion environments. Marine Integrations and Monitoring S essions Available : Tuesday 14:00 / Wednesday 11:00 / Thursday 14:00 Beyond expectation user-experience. Learn about : GX Boat Page – what does it provide for the user?; Temp sensing; Multiple tank-sensing – aggregated level; Digital Switching; Load switching; all-systems MFD. Stand Party – Your invitation Please join us for our stand party – we’re now famous for them: Metstrade takes place between 18th and 20th November at RAI Amsterdam We look forward to welcoming you on stand 01.541 !
Justin Tyers • 31 October 2025
GX Boat Page gets DAME Design award nomination
For 35 years the DAME Design Awards have been recognising excellence in product design at the Marine Equipment Trade Show – Metstrade – the world’s leading exhibition for the Marine Industry. The prestigious DAME Design award has become known as the Oscar of the Marine Industry. Having invested a great deal of time and energy researching, and perfecting our dedicated GX Boat Page for users of E-drive water craft, naturally we at Victron Energy are delighted to have been nominated in the Navigation & Communication category of this award! One of the main selection criteria this year is sustainability – which lies at the heart of all we do. As part of the application we submitted an environmental statement and were pleased to be able to point to our open source Venus OS which allows brand integration – and therefore compatibility with existing hardware. The GX Boat Page – and our Venus OS more generally – is extensively compatible with third-party devices. On board electric and hybrid boats we connect seamlessly to propulsion systems, batteries, navigation systems, Android Tablets – for instant GUI. Taken together the effect of these features is to extend the life of existing on board equipment – no need to remove serviceable equipment – therefore lowering the barrier to sustainable boating. Victron’s Philipp Trenz , who has steered the project says: “The GX Boat Page being nominated for the prestigious DAME Design Award is a proud moment for Victron Energy. It recognizes our commitment to innovation, usability, and smart system integration in the marine sector. Combined with our growing range of E-drive integrations, this achievement marks a significant step forward in sustainable electric and hybrid boating — making efficient, connected, and zero-emission propulsion more accessible than ever.” DAME Design Award winners will be announced on November 18th at the Breakfast Briefing on the opening day of Metstrade 2025. Let’s take a video tour of the GX Boat Page.
Justin Tyers • 24 September 2025
Whisper quiet cruising
When we were designing the Boat Page on our GX touch screen displays we received generous help from Olivier Venema , founder of E-WERF – the Dutch specialist in water craft electric propulsion systems. The GX Boat Page is a dedicated display designed for electric or hybrid boats showing battery, engine RPM, and electric drive information all in one place. We got to know Olivier well, and to admire the work he does, so this week we’d like to share with you some of the expertise he has acquired during more than 350 boat conversions from Diesel to Electric propulsion. Over to Olivier…! Electric propulsion systems for private craft “…Our interest in electric boating began in 2014 when we restored our very first lifeboat. We rebuilt her from the hull up and didn’t want to put a diesel engine back in. Around that time the first consumer-grade electric motors were becoming available. Before then only industrial motors for working craft were manufactured – but demand from private boat owners saw the development of compact, reliable and affordable electric propulsion drives. On her maiden voyage it immediately became clear that electric propulsion would one day become the new standard for sloops. It felt like an evolution. From that conviction E-WERF was born to help boat owners convert their vessel from diesel to electric power. Gentleman’s launch – Intermezzo What happens during conversion? Here’s a simple outline of the process: The boat is lifted from the water and the entire diesel system, including engine, fuel tanks, starter batteries, exhaust and associated piping, is removed. We then install a purpose-built electric propulsion system: a light, powerful electric motor; an energy-dense lithium battery bank; and a tailored charging and inverter setup. All 12 V and 24 V onboard circuits – and 230 V circuits where required – are integrated so that lighting, pumps and appliances continue to work exactly as before. Cooling is handled with a heat-exchanger system, often making use of the boat’s existing seawater intake or repurposing the former exhaust outlet. Depending on the project we also use direct raw-water cooling or keel cooling, and for relatively small motors air cooling is sometimes the preferred method. After careful testing and calibration, the boat is relaunched as a quiet, clean, and highly responsive electric craft. E-WERF Since those beginnings we have converted or re-equipped almost four hundred boats with new electrical systems, ranging from small sloops of around 7 metres (23 feet) and modest displacement to large sailing yachts up to around 18 metres (60 feet). We provide everything: shore power connections, electric propulsion and battery banks, right through to complete integrations with onboard electrical and control systems. During each project we aim for bespoke solutions and top quality, so that after delivery the vessel not only runs perfectly on electric power, but all other onboard systems continue to work exactly as the owner expects. A good example is Donna , an aluminium lifeboat built in 1961 and fully restored in 2025. She once served as a robust postal boat along the Scandinavian coast, but when we found her she was weathered and bare. From the hull up we restored Donna with great care and attention to detail. Old through-hull apertures were permanently welded shut, the hull was coated with epoxy inside and out – to ensure decades of protection – and then she was professionally painted to provide an elegant finish. The interior was designed to be both practical and beautiful, with mahogany-varnished benches aligned fore-and-aft and made removable so that everything can be taken out within two hours for cleaning, varnishing, or maintenance. Under the deck sits a 10 kW liquid-cooled electric motor from Combi EPS with a heat exchanger. Everything is networked via NMEA2000. We installed an Ekrano GX communication device which has a touch-screen display so that all motor data can be viewed live . The 400 Ah net battery bank provides around ten to twelve hours of trouble-free cruising. The charging and inverter system is a Quattro 48/5000, adjustable via the Ekrano display. Whether the boat is docked at a harbour offering 16A shore power, or plugged into a small household outlet, charging is always possible. This integration of Victron components ensures seamless operation and full on board monitoring – and even remote monitoring using the Victron Remote Management platform – VRM . Donna is privately owned and used for family cruising and day trips where her silent running and long range of about ten to twelve hours at typical speeds make her ideal for relaxed outings. Commercial Tour Boat A completely different project involved a large tour boat operating in Amsterdam. Originally powered by a heavy six-cylinder diesel engine, we removed the diesel and installed a 1500 Ah battery bank together with a 20 kW liquid-cooled electric motor. Charging is provided by three parallel-connected MultiPlus II 5000 units, allowing fast three-phase charging from shore power. It’s also possible to charge from a single MultiPlus II unit using a standard household outlet if a three-phase power supply is not available. An Ekrano GX device manages system communication and a 4G/LTE provides engineering access to the set up from anywhere – using VRM . This solution makes powerful, silent, and flexible operation possible even on routes where three-phase shore power cannot be found. How much does it cost to upgrade to electric propulsion? From a financial point of view, a smaller electric conversion typically starts around €13.500 (US$16,000) while larger or more complex installations are quoted individually depending on battery size, motor power and onboard integrations. Although an electric installation can be a higher initial investment than a simple diesel swap, the long-term advantages—minimal maintenance, lower running costs, and the ability to enter emission- or noise-restricted waters —make electric propulsion the smart choice for many owners. And above all else, it’s so much more relaxing! Feedback We are proud to receive customer reviews – such as: “ Here they really know what they’re doing. The boat and motor are in top condition and the team is always reachable and calls back promptly; ” and: “ The best products and services come from passionate people. E-WERF is client-focused, hands-on, practical and sticks to budget. Now we cruise the Frisian lakes in complete silence. ” Our customers value the comfort of silent, vibration-free cruising and the absence of diesel fumes. Many also enjoy freedoms which diesel simply can’t offer – from whisper-quiet evening trips through Amsterdam’s canals to unrestricted access to protected natural waters and marinas that ban internal-combustion engines. E-WERF has also played an active role in the development of Victron Energy’s Boat Page available on GX communication user-interface displays. We collected and shared market feedback about what boat owners need to see, built test setups, and worked with a range of motor manufacturers to ensure the system displays all the relevant data. In every installation where the motor supplier is Victron-compatible, we make sure the integration is complete and fully functional. A word from Victron Energy It’s a great gift for Victron to have found a partner in E-WERF who has supported our R&D work with dedication and enthusiasm throughout the entire development cycle of this new feature. From the initial concept to gathering requirements and validating the design drafts, E-WERF have supported us with their expertise in electric propulsion. We were also able to benefit from their trade network, which put us in touch with numerous propulsion manufacturers and enabled us to conduct integration tests on real vessels. Their years of experience in the electric boating market and the hands-on mentality of Olivier and his team contributed significantly to the success of the new Boat page and and we look forward to continuing to staying in close contact and learning from their experiences in the field. Olivier Venema Working at this high-level, both technically and in terms of finish, comes naturally to us. We care about every detail, from the underwater hull to the final cable. And it is especially rewarding to be involved, as a relatively small yard, in the innovation process of a major international company like Victron Energy . That collaboration makes our work not only technically challenging, but also genuinely enjoyable.
Justin Tyers • 01 September 2025
Half a Century of Innovation
This year marks the 50 th anniversary of Victron Energy. Let’s meet the man who founded the company – Reinout Vader – who still works everyday. How did the company begin? The inspiration to launch Victron Energy came about in an unusual way: Whilst at university studying Physics, Reinout decided to have an aquarium in his room to make the place more homely – he would collect the sea-life for it, himself, from the warm waters of the mediterranean 1200 kilometers away. In order to pay for the journey he offered to collect specimens on behalf of a public Zoo, and an Aquarium – they both agreed, providing him with a list of their needs and an advance payment. The zoo also lent him an inverter to keep the water oxygenated and filtered from battery power during the return trip. Having successfully gathered the shopping list of sea creatures, he hadn’t gone far toward home when the inverter failed. Having just a few hours to save the marine lives he stripped the inverter, identified the failed components and was fortunate to find an electronic component supplier, close-by, whose stock enabled him to make the repair. The inverter ran perfectly. thereafter, and the trip was a success! Identifying a Business opportunity Back home, Reinout learned that inverter failure was normal in the industry. The cause of failure was usually overload . Realising that he could build better inverters, and discovering that the biggest market for them was among the skippers and owners of inland waterway vessels – thousands of whom, in the mid 1970’s, were buying new Colour Televisions, which could only run on AC power. At that time Inverter failure was the biggest headache for Chandlers – so when Reinout offered them inverters which wouldn’t fail they bit his arm off! He decided to launch Victron and go into production with breadboard Inverters. To make his tiny company appear more substantial Reinout added a range of products to the price list which he had never actually made – but knew he could make on demand! Growth from reputation The secret of success was attention to detail during the build process: quality components, built to last with the right circuitry and topology. A reputation for reliability quickly grew – but the company was small and served a local market. Not for long… because the East Germany Railway Company , a large employer in East Germany, was having trouble with its Inverters through overloading and from vibration. Failure resulted in no power to the Buffet Car, no lighting, and dead power sockets for premium ticket holders. Reinout provided the railway with some ‘trial’ units – which were entirely successful – but before placing a very large order the East German Railway company wanted to visit the Victron factory as part of its Due Diligence. Reinout says: “ If they had seen the size of my tiny premises at that time, there is no way they would have placed the order !” To make the company appear larger, he and his business partner hired a large hall and moved all their plant, fixtures and fittings into it. Then they invited some associated companies to move in to help fill the space! “My business partner drove our Railway visitors around in his smart Jaguar to tour more associated manufacturers premises – giving the impression of multiple-site manufacture. Our visitors were entirely satisfied with what they saw and Victron became a state contract supplier.” Expanding the product range The core business – Inverters and Chargers for the Marine and Mobile markets – was expanded by building Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems, for the computer market. Retaining the Marine and Mobile business under the name Victron Energy, Reinout took a sailing sabbatical; but a year later to save the company from failing under its new management he returned and was quickly able to bring it back to profitability through streamlining, increasing sales, and through financial investment. Further expansion came from the introduction of products for Energy Storage Systems (ESS) – which was a global marketing opportunity …but a highly competitive one. “We subcontracted our Product Build to the far east in order to keep up with demand of 30% annual growth – and this decentralisation also allowed us to concentrate on research and development of new products and software.” he says. Software integrations – a new era of innovation “Having identified software integration as a company weakness in the early 2000’s, I asked my son Matthijs – a software specialist with his own company – to work on two major projects for Victron Energy. “ The success of those projects made it clear that Matthijs should join the company as chief executive, bringing with him a new focus on operating software and user-interfaces for system programming, management, and monitoring. These integrations proved to be a game-changer – the resulting application software and operating systems are widely acknowledged, today, as industry-leading technologies, allowing cross-manufacture networking and intuitive programming, management and monitoring tools which can be accessed both on site and remotely using Victron Remote Management – VRM . And the decision to make Victron’s data protocols open-source proved attractive both to advanced corporate users with unique operational requirements, and to knowledegable amateur system builders. Hands-off Management Structure accelerates change Working with the minimum management structure, team members in every department of the organisation are free to innovate: they choose the goals; they choose the method by which they can be achieved. This allows new ideas for product improvement, new methodology, and the launch of entirely new employee-inspired projects. As a result, Victron Energy is a happy and sociable work place – an exciting melting pot where experimentation and innovation is encouraged and shared to create products and applications no one has seen before! Victron people can try-out, and grow; and everyone wins. Responding to Challenge – Covid Worldwide lockdown during the Covid pandemic of 2020 resulted in component shortages, greatly extended delivery times (sometimes of more than a year) and led to liquidations, staff reductions, or business contraction for many seemingly resilient companies around the world. But the experience at Victron Energy was entirely different: Reinout says: “I could foresee shortages – particularly of semiconductors – and decided to invest in bulk-purchasing of all the components we would need to secure our manufacturing capability. This allowed us not just to continue operation, as before, but to meet an unexpected spike in demand for our products arising from the pandemic-inspired aspiration for self-reliance, and energy security.” Working with People Even after fifty years Reinout attends the office five days a week because he enjoys the fun and excitement of working with people. “I take care of everything related to Hardware and I really enjoy the energy of our project teams as they work to implement improvements, or to develop new products with greater capacity, improved efficiency, or smaller unit-size, or higher voltage …and bring them to market. It’s the social aspect of working at Victron Energy which makes it enjoyable.” Not every dream comes true… Around 25 years ago a Sterling engine powered DC Generator known as the Whisper Gen was attracting a lot of interest for its silent operation – but suffering from reliability problems. In that device, a naked flame burned diesel fuel to drive a four cylinder engine by hot/cold (thermodynamic) cycling of pressurised (to 28bar) Nitrogen …which in turn drove an alternator. The unit was capable of providing 5kW of heat and 750 Watts of power, and were available with either a 12 or 24VDC output. Inherently inefficient, the great advantage of these devices was its quietness – just 50dBA at 7m …similar to a domestic refrigerator. Reinout says: “ I was quite excited by the product and knew I could sort out the reliability problems if I could get to work directly with their engineers ;” (even though others including (Koninklijke) Philips had tried and failed!) I approached the manufacturer with a proposal only to discover that their company had just been sold to new owners – who didn’t understand the engineering problems they were dealing with. The new management structure was so complex that I found it impossible to work with the shop-floor engineers to sort out the problems without interference from above. Eventually the company folded and I had to let the project go – but it’s a missed opportunity I still regret twenty-five years later! Readers may think he has achieved quite a lot – even without perfecting the WhisperGen. Victron Family At the same time as congratulating Reinout Vader, his son Matthijs, I know both of them will wish to deflect any praise away from themselves… …and heap it instead on past and present staff, customers, distributors, installers, and on all in the Victron Community who discuss, brainstorm and feedback their experience and ideas. All those mentioned are valued beyond estimation. Thank you! Let’s meet Reinout and Matthijs and take a look behind the scenes For more information take a look at this video by producer Jono and the team which features full interviews with Reinout and Matthijs Vader, and takes us behind the scenes at Victron Energy. Secret of Success? Reinout is a keen rower of eight-oar water craft. Perhaps rowing is a good metaphor on how to achieve fifty years of corporate success? Pull more than your weight, keep harmony with the other oars, and most of all – deserve to win!
Beril Berkem • 23 July 2025
GX Boat Page
A few weeks ago, we introduced Venus OS v3.60 for our GX devices , which brings exciting new features developed especially with marine systems in mind. In this blog, we’d like to dive deeper into one of the key features of this update: the new GX Boat Page. The GX Boat Page is a dedicated display designed for electric or hybrid boats, showing battery, engine RPM, and electric drive information all in one place. It is an additional page in the menu, next to the Brief and Overview pages in the Venus OS v3.60, which can be accessed remotely via VRM, or through a GX display. The GX Boat Page displays data either through the NMEA2000 network, for integrated electric propulsion systems, or measured by a Victron SmartShunt. Whether your system uses NMEA 2000 or a Victron SmartShunt to provide battery and electric drive data, the GX Boat Page adjusts to the information available. Let’s take a closer look at these different configurations. 1. SmartShunt metering electric drive The SmartShunt is one of our simplest yet most versatile products, and it works just as well in electric drives. When configured as a DC Energy Meter > Electric Drive, the GX Boat Page displays real-time drive power alongside battery state of charge, Time to Go, and AC/DC loads. Boat page layout displaying SmartShunt metering, without GPS. 2. NMEA 2000-connected electric drive If your electric propulsion system is connected via NMEA 2000, the GX Boat Page pulls additional data directly from the network. This includes gear position (Forward, Neutral, or Reverse) displayed on the right side of the page, and engine RPM at the bottom centre. Boat page layout displaying NMEA 2000-connected electric drive, without GPS. 3. NMEA 2000-connected electric drive with GPS When GPS data is available, the GX Boat Page adjusts to show boat speed in knots in the centre of the screen, with RPM displayed underneath and electric drive information on the right. GX Boat Page layout displaying NMEA 2000-connected electric drive and GPS How to integrate the GX Boat Page into your system Integrating the GX Boat Page into your electric propulsion system is pretty straightforward. Here’s a quick overview of how it works: GPS integration: The GX Boat Page will display boat speed in knots if a GPS is connected via one of the following: A USB-connected GPS mouse NMEA 2000 network A Victron GX GSM device with additional external GPS antenna connected Electric drive integration: There are two main ways to get the electric drive data displayed on the GX Boat Page: Victron SmartShunt , configured in VictronConnect as DC Energy Meter > Electric Drive . This gives you real-time electric drive information, along with battery information. NMEA 2000-connected electric propulsion system , which will be automatically detected by the GX device to display all relevant information, including RPM and direction. As a third option, you can create a custom integration using Node-RED . For example, you can build a Virtual Motordrive by feeding in data from various sources, allowing the GX device to simulate an electric propulsion system. You can also add third-party devices such as temperature sensors and bilge water level monitors, and build your own automations. If you’d like to learn more about third-party integration options using Node-RED, have a look at our Software Integrator Program and connect with experienced Victron recommended software integrators who can help create custom solutions for your system. More information You can see the information on how to install Venus OS v3.60 in your GX device manual. Quick links to the relevant pages can be found here: Ekrano GX and Cerbo GX. To learn about all the new features introduced in Venus OS v3.60, you can read this blog post and have a look at this slide deck.
Matthijs Vader • 10 June 2025
Introducing Venus OS 3.60
Venus OS for Victron GX devices has been updated today to v3.60 with exciting new user interface features, some much needed fixes and a few great new features under the hood. Before we dive into this blog post, take a moment to look through this slide deck for a visual walkthrough of what’s new. Introducing the new switch pane The new switch pane The new switch pane offers quick access to switching functions in vehicles, boats, or stationary systems, either via touchscreen or through VRM. A button at the top left of the New UI opens the pane, giving users fast access to controls for loads and key systems. Currently, the Energy Solutions DC4 four-channel SmartSwitch is supported. Devices from other digital switching partners will follow soon. Marine-specific updates This release includes a significant update to the Marine MFD HTML5 App, greatly improving display quality on high-definition MFDs such as the Garmin 9000. A night mode has also been introduced, applying a soft red overlay that’s easier on the eyes in low-light conditions. The new night mode in the updated high-resolution layout on a Garmin 9000. This update also introduces a dedicated Electric Boat page, accessible via a new icon at the bottom of the New UI. It’s designed for small craft with electric propulsion systems and displays key information such as speed, RPM, electric motor power consumption, and battery state of charge. The new electric boat page Lastly, the Brief Page in the UI now allows individual tanks to be selected for display as ring gauges, rather than being limited to selection by tank type. This gives users—particularly in the marine and camper sectors—the flexibility to, for example, show total fuel alongside a day tank for quick reference to key values. Updated brief page displaying tank information VE.Bus settings backup and restore This update to the GX device firmware introduces a backup and restore feature for VE.Bus configuration and settings. It allows a multi-unit system to be quickly restored after the failure of a single unit. The restore process automatically identifies the replacement device and applies the correct configuration. This feature also makes it possible to quickly switch between different configurations in applications where regular configuration changes are needed. Restore and backup tabs Added compatibility with Sunwoda and Soluna batteries Support for automatic DVCC configuration has now been added for Sunwoda and Soluna batteries. Integration testing is complete, and both are now officially compatible. You can find more details on the battery compatibility page. Heating & cooling control for NG batteries This release also introduces a new feature that will be especially appreciated by campervan owners spending winters in the mountains or boats sailing in high latitudes. When used with Victron NG batteries, the GX device can now control a relay to manage battery heating in cold conditions and cooling if needed in hot environments. To use this feature, your system needs a CAN-connected battery and a relay configured for temperature control, along with heating pads or cooling equipment installed. Please note that it requires the Lynx Smart BMS NG, and isn’t compatible with the Small BMS NG or VE.Bus BMS NG. The feature also works with other managed batteries, as long as they send cell temperature data to the GX device. PV Inverter limiter support Support for managed PV inverters on GX devices has been expanded to include zero feed-in and dynamic ESS power control on any PV inverter that supports Sunspec™ information models 123 or 704. Equipment from SMA, SolarEdge, Kostal and Enphase has already been confirmed, and we encourage users to test other inverters that state support for Sunspec™ 123 or 704 in their firmware. Redesigned settings menu The GX device was launched well over a decade ago, and since then the range of features and supported devices has grown rapidly. The settings menu was due for an update to improve navigation and make better use of the higher-resolution layout in the New UI. Alongside new high-level categories, the updated menu now includes ‘breadcrumbs’ at the top of the screen, helping users see where they are and easily navigate back to a specific section with a single tap. Settings menu Modification checks page A new ‘Modification Checks’ page has been added under Settings > General, offering a quick overview of the software status on a GX device. More importantly, it gives installers and distributors a clear indication of whether a system has been modified, which can be helpful when diagnosing or providing support. If the startup configuration has been changed, for example to load a custom battery driver, or if an SSH key has been added, this will be shown at a glance. The page also allows users to disable modifications, reinstall the latest firmware, or run an online update, all from one place. Modification checks page Node-RED automation improvements This release brings exciting new updates to Node-RED and support for Victron’s new GX IO-Extender 150. The new version of Victron’s Node-RED support introduces ‘virtual devices’, making it possible to create virtual equivalents of the following devices on the GX: Batteries PV inverters Temperature sensors Tanks Grid meters Meteo/irradiance sensors (irradiance, wind speed, wind direction) GPS Electric motor drive (see boat page) Virtual devices allow data from external systems, such as those using MQTT or Modbus-TCP, to be made available within the GX device and on the VRM Portal. This means the information appears just like data from a fully supported Victron product. For example, it can be used to read or import data from a custom or specialised tank monitor. Another useful update is the ability to control the relay on an MPPT via Node-RED. This version also reduces CPU usage by communicating more efficiently with the GX device. GX IO – Extender 150 The new GX IO-Extender 150 is introduced with this release to give integrators more options to control and integrate devices and systems. It provides the following additional USB-connected I/O to GX devices: 2 x bi-stable relays 1 x solid-state relay 2 x 4 input/output digital IOs 4 x adjustable level outputs (PWM) Fixes and improvements This release brings important fixes to the Cerbo GX MK2 and the GX LTE, which have fixes to the stability of VE.Can port 2 and use with IPv6 respectively. Other improvements include: Systems with a second VE.Bus device connected via an MK3 can now be controlled by the BMS, thanks to a new option in the DVCC menu. The Orion XS can now be configured as a standard DC-DC converter instead of a charger, and in that case will not be controlled by DVCC. ESS no longer throttles PV production when a user selects Optimised together with 100% Minimum SOC. Multi RS now includes better support for generators and can be used in three-phase systems without batteries. The New UI now offers a button in the remote console to add a GX device to VRM without needing the portal ID from the device sticker. Generator control has been improved. It is now possible to stop a generator based on tank level, helping to avoid airlocks when the tank runs empty. DC generators are now detected at input. The ESS feed-in limit has been increased from 32 kW to allow import and export at higher power levels. Dynamic ESS now responds more accurately when actual consumption or solar production differs from the forecast. How to install You can see the information on how to install the firmware in your GX Device manual. Quick links to the relevant pages can be found here: Ekrano GX , Cerbo GX , Color Control GX and for the Venus GX . Before you go We’ve had a huge amount of support from our testing community in preparing this update for release, and I would like to thank everyone, both developers and testers, for helping us get this exciting release out! For more information, you can see the slide show here . Enjoy this new version, Matthijs Vader
Beril Berkem • 05 June 2025
Android GX WiFi Display
Our GX touch displays are the face of many Victron systems, offering user-friendly monitoring and control. But we know some installations need more flexibility than our standard display options. That’s why we’ve come up with a simple solution that can be easily adapted to your Victron system: the new Android GX WiFi Display. It’s an app that, once downloaded, turns any Android device into a dedicated GX display. By connecting to the same WiFi network as your GX device, it establishes a wireless link, giving you the freedom to mount a display, or multiple displays, wherever you like within the network range. Photo by Serge Duursema – AndereFoto Having multiple displays that work independently and without cables can be especially useful in larger installations, for example in a building with several floors or on a yacht with separate compartments. But it is also useful in tighter installations, like in a boat or a campervan, where runing cables can be tricky. With this app, you can simply mount an Android tablet or an old phone wherever it’s most convenient and enjoy the same monitoring experience as with our GX Touch displays. Which leads us to the last benefit: the option to repurpose an old Android phone or tablet. Most of us have an old device sitting in a drawer, and this is a great chance to give it a new purpose instead of buying a new display. Just be sure to backup your photos first, then your old device can start a new life as part of your Victron system. So how does it work? You can use either an old or a new Android tablet or phone running Android 8.0 or higher. If you are using an old device, it will need to be factory reset first, which will permanently erase all data. Also, if you are repurposing an old device, make sure it still holds a decent charge, or plan to mount it near a power outlet. Once the app is installed, the Android device becomes a full-time GX display. It will no longer be usable for other tasks and will stay in this mode until you reset it again. You will find the full setup instructions, including a barcode to download the app, in the manual here . The video below will also give you a clearer idea of how it all works. We believe this new app will be a practical solution for systems that need more flexibility than our standard solutions. Give it a try and let us know what you think on Victron Community.
Beril Berkem • 23 May 2025
Paralleled BMSs for reliable power
We recently introduced a major upgrade to our Lynx BMS range: the ability to connect multiple BMSs in parallel. This feature not only expands the power storage capacity but also adds redundancy for a more reliable system. While redundancy is valuable in any system, it becomes essential when your entire vessel relies on electricity to cover 695 nautical miles across open water—like Nazca, the first yacht to compete in the legendary Fastnet Race powered only by renewable energy. Nazca is a 1984 Contessa 34 and has already sailed over 5,000 nautical miles without burning a drop of fossil fuel or using biocides. Her mission is to “sail for the ocean, without leaving a trace”, and the Fastnet race will put her to the test. She is powered by an Oceanvolt ServoProp 10kW electric saildrive, which also works as a hydrogenerator under sail—recharging the batteries with up to 1000W. Additional power comes from a 400Wp solar array mounted on the rear arch, feeding into a 48V, 20.4kWh Victron NG LFP battery bank, managed by two Lynx Smart BMS NG connected in parallel. Why paralleling matters offshore It is well known that paralleling battery banks allows the system to handle higher currents. But even more importantly, it adds redundancy. And for a fully electric race yacht aiming to leave no trace in one of the world’s most demanding offshore sailing races, reliability isn’t optional. “A paralleled LFP system aboard a pure electric yacht is a key evolution,” explains Wayne Peters, Nazca’s captain and the ‘mad scientist’ behind her electrical system. “When the only energy source is the LFP battery, and when historically if one battery in the system fails, it all fails, being able now with two BMSs to have the ‘spare’ to get you home, should the worst happen, is very reassuring.” Traditionally, if a lithium battery bank encountered an error, the entire system could shut down. This is a common drawback compared to lead-acid systems. Now, with paralleled BMSs, if one battery bank or its BMS experiences a low cell voltage, its BMS will disconnect that bank to protect it, while the other battery banks continue operating normally. When the bank is ready to reconnect, the BMS checks the voltage difference before closing the contactor, and once the levels are within a safe range, the battery bank reconnects automatically. With this paralleling feature, you can also connect existing Lynx Smart BMSs with the new Lynx Smart BMS NGs, making it possible to use Lithium Battery Smart and Lithium NG batteries in the same system — as long as the BMSs have the same current rating. Something to keep in mind if you’re thinking about going fully electric in the future. Monitoring onboard Nazca Just as important as the power generation and storage is how everything communicates on board. “With Nazca, integration is key,” says Wayne. “We know the three CANbus systems work together reliably — Oceanvolt, B&G, and Victron Energy.” At the centre of this integration is the Cerbo GX, which ties everything together and gives the crew a clear view of what’s happening in real time. When multiple Lynx BMSs are connected to the same VE.Can network, they are treated as if they’re connected to the same DC bus. These BMSs will then form a ‘virtual’ battery bank, which appears as a single battery bank in the GX device list, making monitoring easier. This virtual battery bank works just like a standard one, showing the overall system status, but with the option to also view each individual BMS, including which battery banks are connected or disconnected. Where you can learn more The Fastnet will be the first proper offshore test for Nazca’s fully electric system, and we’re excited to follow their journey throughout the race. We’ll be back with a follow-up blog after the race, with a closer look at how everything performed when it mattered most. If you’d like to follow along Nazca’s journey and support them as they write the next pages of green offshore racing, check out their website , where they share regular updates. And to learn more about the new paralleling feature, you can find everything, including system drawings, in the Lynx Smart BMS manual. We are proud to support Team Nazca, not only because they are committed to pushing boundaries, but because they will not compromise on what matters most while doing so. We wish them the best of luck for the Fastnet Race in July 2025.
Beril Berkem • 04 April 2025
New in VRM: Fleet Dashboard
For fleet owners managing multiple installations, the new VRM Fleet Dashboard offers a clearer and faster way to stay on top of your sites. Until now, there wasn’t really a place on VRM where you could see how your entire fleet was doing at a glance. This was especially challenging for those managing 10 sites or more. The installation overview page provides detailed information, but for fleet managers with hundreds of installations, spotting potential issues often meant manually filtering through sites. And when it came to fault finding, they had to check each site one by one, which could be a very time-consuming process. The new Fleet Dashboard changes that. Designed to make things easier Our development team uses the VRM portal every day, just like many other Victron users. They’re always looking for ways to make the experience smoother, so you can start your workday with more clarity and less clicking. So when a team member said, “As a fleet owner, I want to land on a VRM homepage that gives me at-a-glance info on my fleet, so I can quickly dive deeper into other parts of VRM,” it became the starting point for the new Fleet Dashboard: a clear overview of all installations that shows you what’s going on with your fleet right away. Alarms VRM Fleet Dashboard- alarms Fleet owners now land on a homepage that gives an instant overview of system status. At the top of the page, you’ll see: Total active alarms New alarms today Alarms in the past 24 hours Clicking on the active alarms takes you straight to the installation overview, which is already filtered to only show the sites with issues. The dashboard also includes a calendar-style graph that helps you identify patterns or recurring alarms over time. Insights VRM Fleet Dashboard – insights Scrolling down, the dashboard presents a range of detailed insights across all installations: Battery cell imbalance Identify early signs of degradation by spotting voltage differences between cells. Battery voltage mismatch Detect gaps between BMS and inverter or charger readings that could point to wiring or communication issues. Forecasted vs actual solar production Compare expected and actual solar yield. Battery temperature Monitor for unusually high or low temperatures that could affect performance or lifespan. Disconnected devices Quickly see which installations have devices that are no longer reporting. Generator service expiration Stay ahead of maintenance by tracking generator runtime until the next service. Generator inactivity Identify generators that have not run for a while and may need attention. Each installation shown in these insights can be pinned to the top for quick access, or snoozed if it doesn’t need immediate attention. What’s next We believe the new Fleet Dashboard is a valuable addition to the VRM portal for anyone managing 30 or more sites. It saves time, gives a clear overview of all installations, and helps you catch issues before they turn into bigger problems. We hope it makes your life a little easier. We’re always working to improve how you monitor and manage your systems, and your feedback plays a big part in what comes next. If you have any thoughts, ideas or suggestions, we’d love to hear from you on the Victron Community .
Beril Berkem • 21 March 2025
VRM on your smartwatch is now even better
In November, we introduced the VRM app for smartwatches , compatible with Garmin, Apple, and Google OS watches. This gave our users a new way to monitor and manage their Victron system on the go, whether checking system overviews, viewing temperature readings, or managing EV charging easily from their smartwatch. The response has been very positive, with users sharing stories of how the VRM smartwatch app has made their lives easier. Building on this feedback, we are excited to introduce the latest version with new features that give you even more control from your smartwatch: 1. Tank Levels Monitor your fresh water, black/gray water, fuel, and LPG tanks directly from your smartwatch. Tank level monitoring on Apple Watch 2. Relay Controls If your system includes relays, you can now turn them on or off with a quick tap and slide on your watch. Relay control feature on Android Watch 3. Generator Controls Similarly, you can now start or stop your generator directly from your watch. Generator control feature on Garmin Watch 4. VRM information on your watch face Monitoring your system is now even easier with the option to add VRM data directly to your watch face as a complication. This allows you to see key system information at a glance, without needing to open the app. VRM information on your watch face VRM on the go Having these features on your watch is especially useful when used together. Checking tank levels for the generator or diesel heater and switching them on or off in seconds makes life on the move much easier for some of us. How these features are used depends on individual needs. For some, it’s about keeping an eye on solar performance, while others may find them useful for simplifying their daily routines. If you’re heading out for a ski tour and leaving your dog in your campervan, for example, it’s reassuring to be able to check the temperature quickly without having to stop each time. If needed, you can then turn the diesel heater on or off via the relay, without taking out your phone. Sometimes small improvements can make a big difference. VRM on the go We hope you enjoy the new features and look forward to hearing about your experiences and feedback. If you haven’t tried the VRM Watch app yet, you can download it from the relevant link below: Apple Watch users: Apple App Store Garmin users: Garmin Connect IQ store Google OS users: Google Play Store
Matthijs Vader • 03 February 2025
Transform your boating experience with Victron GX
As we spend more time cruising, it’s increasingly clear that Victron installations are becoming a standard feature on modern boats. Whether it’s upgrading to lithium-ion batteries, installing solar panels, or optimizing electrical systems, these projects frequently include multiple Victron devices. In fact, it’s rare to find a boat with a serious solar setup that doesn’t include a Victron MPPT controller. While many of these boats also feature a Victron GX device, full integration with the rest of the boat’s electronics remains surprisingly uncommon—even though this integration can significantly enhance the boating experience out of the box. In this post, I’ll explore some of the key enhancements that a Victron GX device brings to your boating experience. I’ve categorized these improvements into three distinct tiers: Out-of-the-box enhancements: Gain immediate access to essential features, such as integrating your power systems with your chartplotter by connecting a Victron GX device to your boat’s NMEA 2000 network. Marine extensions with Venus OS Large: Unlock more powerful features, such as sharing instrument data with navigation apps, by upgrading to the Venus OS Large image, with a simple software update and the flip of a switch. Advanced integration with Signal K: Enable next-level capabilities powered by Signal K, such as automated tracking, advanced NMEA 2000 monitoring, or anchor alarm. This builds on Venus OS Large but also requires additional customizations. Each category adds layers of functionality, enabling you to tailor your marine electronics to suit your needs and preferences. Let’s dive into them in more detail. Out-of-the-box enhancements By simply connecting a Victron GX device to your boat’s NMEA 2000 network, several powerful features are immediately unlocked: Chartplotter Integration: Your power system data, such as battery status and energy flow, becomes instantly available on your chartplotters and navigation instruments. This seamless integration provides a centralized overview of your boat’s electrical systems. Data from Power Systems on a Garmin Chartplotter Tank Level Monitoring: NMEA 2000-compatible tank sensors¹ on your boat will automatically display their readings on the GX device. This makes it easy to monitor fuel, water, or waste tank levels from a single interface. NMEA 2000 Tank Levels displayed on Victron GX GPS Integration: The Victron GX device can receive GPS data from your NMEA 2000 network, supplying location and speed information to services like the Victron VRM Portal for enhanced monitoring and logging. These features work right out of the box, providing a solid foundation for monitoring and managing your boat’s power, navigation, and environmental systems and sensors in an integrated manner. Victron’s Marine Integration Guide covers these in detail. Marine extensions with Venus OS Large More advanced marine capabilities become available by upgrading the Victron GX firmware to a Venus OS Large Image and toggling on a simple setting. This upgrade enables marine extensions for Victron GX, unlocking the potential of a powerful platform called Signal K , enabling a range of new functionalities. By simply enabling marine extensions, you can share data from your instruments with popular navigation software, including Navionics, AquaMap, TimeZero, Coastal Explorer, or OpenCPN, providing seamless integration and enhanced usability for your navigation and marine data. Depth and AIS shared with Navionics Mobile App For those seeking a specialized and highly configurable nav station, Wilhelm SK provides an intuitive and feature-rich interface for accessing your boat’s data in real time. Wilhelm SK mobile App You can learn more about marine extensions in this blog post and video tutorial . Advanced Integration with Signal K Signal K, enabled by Venus OS Large Image, is an incredibly powerful platform. It offers a range of useful features right out of the box, but you can unlock even greater functionality by adding plugins or extensions with just a few simple steps. These customizable enhancements include: Anchor Alarm : Set a reliable and customizable anchor alarm to ensure peace of mind while at anchor. Automated Trip Logging : Automatically record and store trip data without manual input for detailed voyage tracking. Track Sharing : Share your boat’s live track and location with friends and family, including rich text updates and photos, for enhanced safety and connectivity. Starlink Integration : Leverage Starlink’s GPS to enhance your boat’s location tracking and navigation accuracy. Weather Stations : Transform your boat into a fully functional weather station to monitor and share real-time conditions. Additional Plugins : Expand your system’s functionality with a variety of Signal K plugins tailored to your specific needs. Since each of these extensions needs to be enabled individually, you may need to follow a few additional steps to activate them or fully utilize their capabilities. These steps allow you to customize the features to suit your specific needs and maximize the potential of these powerful tools. Saillogger Mobile App I am also one of the active developers of these extensions and the founder of Saillogger , a service designed for simplicity and automation with a modern, user-friendly interface. Saillogger offers effortless automated logging, track sharing, advanced NMEA 2000 monitoring, and the ability to preserve your boating memories forever. It leverages the powerful capabilities of Signal K while seamlessly integrating with your boat’s systems, using the Victron GX as the central hub. SV Atlas capturing memories of their around-the-world sail using Saillogger on a Cerbo GX For more information about these powerful capabilities, check out the video tutorials we publish regularly. While we don’t cover every add-on, these guides can help you get started with some of the most popular features. Conclusion Integrating a Victron GX device with your boat’s systems unlocks a world of possibilities: boaters can choose from out-of-the-box NMEA 2000 integration, marine extensions with Venus OS Large, or advanced integration with Signal K. Whether you’re monitoring power systems, integrating instrument data with your navigation apps, using Saillogger to provide real-time tracks to friends and family, or automating trip logs, these technologies transform your boating experience into a seamless blend of connectivity, convenience, and storytelling, making every journey more engaging and memorable. While some features require additional steps or customization, the benefits far outweigh the effort, making your time on the water safer, more efficient, and infinitely more enjoyable. References Victron Marine Integration Guide Venus OS Large Image Signal K Server Victron Cerbo GX on Stereoids Video Tutorials on Signal K and Saillogger How to Use Victron GX with Signal K NMEA 2000 Monitoring on Victron Cerbo GX Automated Logging and Tracking Demo Displaying Seawater Temperature on Victron GX ¹ Not all NMEA 2000 sensors are supported. For a list of compatible sensors, please visit this link . Sensors that are not natively supported by Victron can be integrated using an advanced Signal K and Node-RED setup .
Justin Tyers • 23 January 2025
Gewest Fryslân skaters race ahead
Training Coaches at Dutch skating club Gewest Fryslân have been rewarded with some impressive results over the last few days as they work to develop the young skating talent in their care. On 11 and 12 January, in Leeuwarden hosted the Daikin NK Shorttrack event, providing two days of thrilling action! With short track races of 500m, 1000m and 1500m distances, and the exciting mixed relay, it provided an exciting weekend for skaters and spectators alike. The National Championship Junior all-rounders and Long Distance took place at Icerink Twente , Enschede on 18 and 19 January, Willeke Bouwhuis achieved third place for the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m events. Thijs Wiersma achieved a track record in the 3000m race and was overall champion and long distance champion in the 1500-1000 metre events, whilst Sem Spruit achieve third place in the overall class and came second in the 1500 metre events. Berend Lange claimed third place for the 500metres – and second place in the 1000metre events; and Mika Kolder was overall champion and acheived second place for the 1500 metre event. Coach Peter Kolder Chris de Velde was the ‘mass start’ champion, whilst Sil van der Veen achieved third place. Skaters and Coaches alike will be very encouraged by these promising performances – both driven by an aspiration to stand among the top Dutch team skaters, and to represent their country on the world stage. Training is a gruelling and relentless process, but the rewards are sweet! There are meetings every week as the season unfolds. Last weekend the rink at Thialf hosted a selection event for the figure skating at which our shining star is Anna de Groot. Anna has been recovering from an injury, but is looking strong again in rehearsals. With meetings every week at Thialf or the Elfstedenhal both teams and coaches are working hard to achieve the goals they have set themselves for the season. Each team is committed – junior progress-makers and experienced skaters alike – are striving for excellence, and their passion shows. Some of our long distance skaters will compete at the Dutch championship sprint/pure sprint in Eindhoven this weekend (25/26 January). And Good luck to Mika Kolder , Sil van der Veen , Jasmijn Veenhuis and Mats Bendijk who are leaving for Collalbo, Italy, to prepare for the Worldcup (1/2 Feb) and World championship (8/9 Feb) . We at Victron Energy are proud to support our sponsored club team and coaches in their constant pursuit of greatness. We look forward to hearing more from the team as the season builds to a climax! You can follow team news straight from the horse’s mouth on the Gewest Fryslân club Facebook page. All photography reproduced here is the work of Dyane Ribbink.
Justin Tyers • 10 January 2025
Skating team turns on the heat
Netherlands skating team KNSB Gewest Fryslân has already achieved some impressive podium finishes this season. Don’t miss out on the climax of the action! Victron Energy is very proud to be nurturing young skating talent, once again, as Main Sponsor of the team. The more-than 100 year old club continues to produce world-class skaters through their coaching programmes. We’ll hear a little more about some of the successes they’ve achieved so far this season in a minute – but if you’re new to the sport, let’s take a quick look at what it’s all about! At first glance competition rules and event classes can seem a little bit baffling – sometimes they really are! But the sport of skating provides lots of excitement for the casual spectator and connoisseur alike. Competition skating is an Olympic class event practised, most notably, by a number of European countries, Canada, USA, South Korea, China and Japan. Ice Skating fans often have a favourite event and there are a number of skating disciplines to choose from – featuring Short and Long track events for individuals, teams and even Mass Start! – together with Figure Skating singles or pairs. Performing on ice-skating tracks of up to 400m in length, official Speed Skating competitions are organised into distances of 500, 1000, 1500, 1500, 5000 and 10,000 m. Even over long distances it is possible to maintain speeds of over 50kmh/30mph on blades which measure 420mm / 17 inches. Some events take place on a shorter track allowing the excitement to build as skaters navigate tighter curves at which they arrive more quickly! In races with four to eight skaters, success hinges on a combination of tactics, agility, and acceleration. It’s not always the strongest or fastest skater who wins; strategy plays a crucial role. During races between two (and sometimes three) competitors the inside and outside skater must swap lanes at each lap to share the advantage. Sprint Racing is a singles race over distances of 500m / 1,000m / 1,500m – where the skater’s overall performance is recalculated to provide their average speed over 500 metres. Figure Skating Performed as singles or pairs to music, competitors strive to exhibit their form, style, and technique through movements, spins, jumps, and figures on the ice. In the pairs events, these skills are thrillingly augmented by synchronized movements, where the partnership coordinates their actions – ‘both ahead’ or with one partner in reverse – and performs lifts, throws, throw jumps, and death spirals – making for hair-tingling viewing. Points are awarded based on the quality of their performance, including the execution of their elements and the technical difficulty. Team Pursuit The Team Pursuit event is contested between two teams of three skaters each, over six or eight laps. At the start of the race the teams begin on the straight, opposite each other on the oval rink – therefore separated by half-a-lap. A team wins when all three of its skaters cross the finish line ahead of all three of the other team – or when the whole of one team overtakes the other. Mass Start Arguably one of the most exciting events in skating is the Mass Start – in which up to 24 skaters race 16 laps. These ‘short track’ events see skaters compete en-masse, round tight curves with no designated lanes. They are frantic dashes to the winning line with a lot of contact between skaters, and great potential for clashes …and sometimes chaos! It’s an elimination event where succeeding heats are populated by the winners of previous bouts – on the way to the top there will be many falls and disqualifications! Gewest Fryslân are sliding ahead of the competition! This season’s Ice skating competition is warming up. Let’s take a quick look at some of the notable performances which have been achieved by our sponsored skaters – so far. Among the Junior team Mats Bendijk comfortably won his last 3000 meter event with Sil van der Veen taking third place. Elsewhere, Mats Bendijk achieved silver in one of his 1500 metre events, whilst in the Team Pursuit event Bendijk, Sil van der Veen and Mika Kolder achieved third place. Team eventers Britt Breider, Elbrich Nicolay and Elanne de Vrie s won the Team Sprint and their Mixed Relay race, whilst also achieving second place in the Team Pursuit. We’re very proud of the competitive spirit amongst all our team members – and whilst any one snapshot of stand-out performances may not reflect the efforts of the whole team – other skaters who have climbed the podium already this season include: Kai-Anre Ottenhof, Jonas de Jong; Leon Visser; Jack Boekema; Berend Lange; Sem Spruit; Jarin Ridder; Niek Almost; Rutger Jansma; Anouk Aalders; Eva-Sofie Elferink; Willeke Bouwhuis; Breider and Sietse de Vries; Kailey van der Veen and Tjalle Nijenuis; Otte Hilarides and Ingmar Carpenter; Djoeke Schmitz; Lana Sumirah Schiphof; Janna Wietske van der Ende; Silke Middeldorp; Isa Vijfhuizen; Aaliyah Naceri and Djura Elzinga. Tijn Borst secured the national title in the neo-senior women’s marathon, breaking away with Vera van Ditshuizen and Kaat van Steekelenburg in the final. In a strong sprint to the finish, she outpaced the others to claim the victory. That’s a quite lot of skaters who have stretched themselves to greatness. I hope I haven’t missed out any notable early successes – but we can see already that the whole team are really committed to achieving notoriety for their club, their coaches, and for themselves! The achievements of Pien Smit are worth singling-out as she seems to be shaping up for a World Cup debut. If you find yourself in the Netherlands this weekend or sometime over the next couple of weeks you can spectate the Gewest Fryslân team’s upcoming competitions on the following dates and locations: 11th and 12th of January: Daikin NK Shorttrack in Leeuwarden (the capital city of the province of Fryslân) 18th and 19th of January: KNSB Cup A3 Klaverblad Bokaal (figure skating) in Heerenveen 18th of January: KNSB Cup Top 2 Shorttrack in Heerenveen We wish our sponsored team all the luck and success in the world and we will be bringing you more news as the culmination events of the 24/25 winter season reaches their climax! All photographic images are the work of Wiebe Sietze
Beril Berkem • 08 January 2025
Digital Yacht’s veKonvert
Introducing veKonvert by Digital Yacht. A simple and effective solution for integrating battery data into your existing marine electronics. It connects the Victron SmartShunt to an NMEA 2000 network, providing easy access to battery information on your boat’s multi-function displays (MFDs). About Digital Yacht Digital Yacht started in 2010 with a vision to simplify life onboard. Their first product, a wireless AIS receiver that transformed the Apple iPad into a fully functional marine chart plotter with AIS overlay, won the prestigious DAME Design Award in the electronics category and laid the foundation for their success. AIS has remained a core product line for Digital Yacht, alongside wireless integration with tablets. Over the years, their portfolio have expanded to include navigation sensors, internet connectivity solutions, instrument sensors, monitoring and alert systems, and expertise in integrating boat data into NMEA 2000 networks. Today, Digital Yacht exports to over 100 countries and has been honoured with accolades such as the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2022. Looking to the future, their focus on AI and cloud connectivity promises to bring even more innovative, user-friendly solutions to simplify life onboard. What is veKonvert? “Battery monitoring is a “must have” for every boat owner, and this sparked the idea for a complete battery monitoring solution,” explains Nick Heyes, CEO of Digital Yacht. “A quick market analysis found the Victron SmartShunt, and it was difficult to see how this could be bettered,” he adds. “It was reliable, accurate, and solved every requirement with voltage, current, state of charge, and historical analysis – and at an affordable price.” However, there was one gap: a straightforward way to connect the SmartShunt to NMEA 2000 networks and display battery data on an MFD. While the Victron Cerbo offered comprehensive system integration, many boat owners needed a simpler solution, especially for smaller systems where space and simplicity are priorities. This is where veKonvert comes in. Designed as a simple, plug-and-play solution, veKonvert connects directly to the SmartShunt and integrates it with the NMEA 2000 network. Once connected, real time battery data such as voltage, current, and state of charge becomes easily accessible on your MFD, providing a practical way to monitor key battery parameters. Alarms and alerts for low battery voltage can also be configured. Who is veKonvert for? Boatbuilders: Ideal for boatbuilders needing a plug-and-play monitoring solution. DIY Enthusiasts: Easy to install and configure, perfect for users installing their own system. Smaller Boats: Provides essential monitoring for simple systems. Tenders: Suitable for tenders, displaying SmartShunt data on an MFD for independent monitoring. By consolidating navigation and electrical data onto a single multi-function display, veKonvert saves valuable space on the dash or chart table. Its broad compatibility with brands like Raymarine, Garmin, Navico, and Furuno ensures it works effectively across various systems. Whether for professionals in the marine industry or recreational boat owners, veKonvert simplifies battery monitoring, making it accessible and efficient for everyone. Collaboration and future plans “Victron’s open approach to sharing data protocols enabled super quick development,” says Nick Heyes. This collaboration has also sparked new ideas for innovation. Digital Yacht plans to expand their product range by introducing enhanced alert and monitoring capabilities via the NMEA 2000 network. Their existing NavLINK wireless NMEA 2000 data server already complements the SmartShunt’s Bluetooth functionality, pointing towards even more possibilities in the future. Future developments may also incorporate AI and cloud connectivity, paving the way for a smarter onboard monitoring ecosystem. For more information about veKonvert and Digital Yacht’s product range, visit Digital Yacht’s website and see how their solutions make life onboard easier.
Beril Berkem • 03 January 2025
VictronConnect App v6.10
We’re excited to announce the release of VictronConnect App v6.10, a significant update that brings a range of improvements to make system configuration and management easier. Highlights LAN/WiFi Connectivity for GX Devices The standout feature of this release is the ability to connect directly to your GX device over your local network. This eliminates the need for individual Bluetooth connections, speeding up commissioning and configuration adjustments. By connecting directly to your GX device over LAN or WiFi, you can now access and configure your entire system more efficiently, without the limitations of Bluetooth range or the need for multiple pairings. User experience Profile pictures in the VRM installations list make it easier to navigate and identify your systems. The settings lock feature is now more accessible, with a lock icon always visible on the settings page of each device. The product discovery troubleshooting page now provides clearer notifications about potential connection issues, such as disabled Bluetooth or missing network permissions. Firmware updates EV Charging Stations can be firmware updated directly through the app, using a combination of Bluetooth and LAN/WiFi connectivity, and the included firmware has been updated to v2.0.0. Settings for standalone VE.Bus Inverter/Chargers are now automatically restored after a firmware update, simplifying the process and minimising downtime. Assistants are not supported, so if you are using assistants, please continue to use the VE.Bus tool suite. Firmware v1.19 for the Multi RS has been added, which brings support for Europe, Belgium, and Poland Grid Codes, enabling ESS functionality and grid feed-in for users in these regions. Additional improvements Energy meter support for Multi RS: The Multi RS now supports energy meters, providing more comprehensive monitoring and management of your energy consumption. Victron energy meter line-to-line voltages and split phase support: The VM3P-75CT Energy Meter functionality has been expanded to include line-to-line voltages and split phase support (L1/L2). Instant readout for Phoenix and Blue Smart Chargers: Firmware v3.61 for Phoenix & Blue Smart Chargers introduces Instant Readout for quicker access to key information. Set the security profile for a GX device: The new Network Security Profile introduced in Venus OS v3.50 can be set on GX devices over Bluetooth. Get the update VictronConnect App v6.10 is available now. Update your app from the Apple App Store, Google Play Store or by downloading it from the Victron website . Let us know how it goes! We value your feedback! Please share your thoughts and suggestions on the Victron Community forum .
Beril Berkem • 20 December 2024
BoatHowTo simplifying marine electrics
Last month, I had the pleasure of meeting Jan C. Athenstädt and Nigel Calder—the inspiring duo behind BoatHowTo. I already knew Nigel’s name from his articles in sailing magazines. Many sailors also know him as the author of Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual and Marine Diesel Engines , which have been the go-to sources for countless boaters. It was such a treat to hear some of his stories drawn from years of experience on board. Jan, the creative mind behind BoatHowTo, brings his impressive background and skills to the team. A seasoned sailor who has navigated over 10,000 nautical miles on tall ships and rewired countless yachts, Jan blends hands-on experience, with a talent for making technical topics accessible. Together, they’ve built BoatHowTo into a trusted hub for marine electrical training. Hoisting the sails BoatHowTo started with a simple but powerful idea: to make marine electrical systems easier to understand for everyone. During the pandemic, Jan and Nigel collaborated remotely to create an online platform that combines technical and practical knowledge on boat systems with engaging visuals. Since its launch in 2021, BoatHowTo has become the go-to source for motivated boatowners venturing away from the dock, needing reliable electrical systems and the skills to maintain them offshore. Their courses have also been widely used by professionals in the marine industry. “We’ve seen boatyard technicians, surveyors, and even trade schools use our courses,” Nigel says. “Two boatbuilding schools in the US now include our material in their curriculum, and boat surveyors can even earn Continuous Education Units with our programs,” Jan adds. What sets their courses apart is the use of real-world examples drawn from Nigel and Jan’s extensive experience, presented with Jan’s easy-to-follow and engaging visual skills. The combination of practical insights and the use of widely recognised products in the marine sector, such as Victron, makes their teaching material relatable and highly applicable, giving students the confidence to apply their knowledge to their own systems. As Nigel puts it, “We come at this from what works and does not work in boats rather than an academic approach to electricity.” Their course content builds knowledge step by step, making it easy for non-technical boatowners to follow. He adds, “For forty years, my primary focus has been on translating complex technical subjects into language that is accessible to non-technical boatowners.” Battery bank testing Moving against the current When it comes to electrical faults on boats, Nigel notes: “The typical electrical system is installed to minimum standards with little resilience in the face of problems.” He continues, “The installers are frequently very poorly trained in basic installation requirements, especially related to overcurrent protection. Almost all the photos [of incorrect installations] come from new boats direct from the boatbuilder!” BoatHowTo helps bridge this knowledge gap, teaching students the skills needed to design and maintain safe, reliable systems. Nigel mentions that students often share photos of their “beautifully installed, standards-compliant electrical systems” after completing the courses. Student installation – Before the course Student installation – After the course One of their students, Torsten Hansen, shares this lovely feedback: “I recommend BoatHowTo any chance I get and consider it an essential investment for anyone who is about to tackle the electrical system on their boat. The Boat Electrics 101 course provides essential information and knowledge in an easy-to-consume format; the Advanced course takes it several steps further. Together, the two courses give the viewer an excellent, cohesive understanding of how the elements of a boat electrical system tie together. Combine that with Nigel’s Boatowner’s Manual for the details, and you will be much less likely to make costly and potentially dangerous mistakes.” Trimming the sails Nigel and Jan are constantly evolving their courses. “We have learned a lot over the past couple of years, both in terms of how to improve the presentations and also from the questions our subscribers ask,” Nigel explains. Nigel’s boat in the Scottish Highlands They plan to update their basic electrical course with additional technical content and incorporate recent changes to ABYC standards. Their recently released Diesel Engine Maintenance course will also soon be translated into Spanish and German. Looking ahead, Jan and Nigel envision creating a boat-buying guide in collaboration with a new partner. Nigel sums up what’s ahead for BoatHowTo, “We see BoatHowTo growing into the go-to site for accurate information on all things boat technical!” Dropping anchor Whether you’re a sailor wanting to be more self-sufficient for longer trips, or a marine professional looking to sharpen your skills, BoatHowTo has something for you. Their courses break down tricky topics into practical, real-world lessons, giving you the knowledge and confidence to handle your boat’s electrics with ease. Curious to learn more about their courses? Head over to BoatHowTo.com
Beril Berkem • 04 December 2024
Introducing our new Software Integrator Program
Victron is dedicated to delivering products that enable highly customisable solutions. Many of our customers require bespoke solutions to unlock the full potential of their systems and meet their specific needs. That’s why we created the Software Integrator Program. This program equips installers with the tools and expertise to tailor their Victron systems, enabling businesses to quickly and effectively develop solutions that meet specific needs. By connecting you with qualified software integrators, we aim to accelerate the development of practical, customised solutions for your projects. Tools for bespoke solutions The Victron Recomended Software Integrator Program bridges the gap between the Victron ecosystem and client-specific needs, enabling deep integrations, automations, and customisations for special projects. Node-RED: Open-source modules enhance connectivity with third-party software and hardware, while customisable dashboards facilitate intuitive control and monitoring. MQTT: Enables bidirectional, real-time system monitoring and control through an industry-standard protocol. VRM API: Integrates Victron’s Remote Monitoring Portal, enabling existing fleet controls and monitoring through a unified interface. Venus OS – custom interface development: Modify low level interfaces for specific applications, maximising control and functionality in unique projects. Grafana: Provides extensive, customisable dashboards with high-resolution, per-second time-series database access to monitor hundreds of Victron system parameters. Automatic configuration & commissioning: Streamline system setup and deployment, speeding up production, and reducing points of error. Supporting installers with tailored solutions If you are an installer looking to streamline your workflow, this program opens up new possibilities, including: Develop unique features: Do you have a customer case that demands new capabilities? Our program allows you to build your own solutions, tailored to your specific needs. Get help from qualified software integrators: Our network of authorised integrators are ready to support you. We can connect you with the right expert to get the job done efficiently. Customisation and integration: Our open platform facilitates customisation by allowing external integrators to add new features using tools like Node-RED and Signal K. Proven success: We have many customers who have developed solutions to their unique challenges using our developer network. Fast and user-friendly solutions: Get started quickly with low-code programming like Node-RED and other open-source tools, making development fast and straightforward. Multi-brand integration: We facilitate the seamless integration of products from other brands into the Victron ecosystem, ensuring compatibility and flexibility for your solutions. If your company has been developing unique features and can offer these services to other installers and distributors, we invite you to join our Victron Recommended Software Integrator Program. This is a great opportunity to share your expertise and expand your business by helping others enhance their capabilities. For now, participation is limited to one expert per topic. Next steps: To find the right software integrator for your needs, visit our software integrators list. If you require more information, please contact your local Victron Sales manager or Distributor. For software integrators Joining the program provides a range of benefits, including: Easily create custom solutions: Create custom logic flows using Node-RED on Venus OS. Advanced integration: Easily connect to the Victron ecosystem through our VRM API from any device or platform, or integrate 3rd party products for more flexible solutions. Expert community support: Be a part of a global network of integrators to collaborate, share knowledge, and solve challenges together. Comprehensive documentation: Utilise our Open Sources to guide you along the way. Global network: Gain exposure as a recommended software integrator, connect with new clients worldwide, and expand your business reach through Victron’s extensive global network. Final Remarks Through the Victron Recommended Software Integrator Program, we aim to connect businesses with skilled software integrators, helping them customise their Victron systems to meet specific needs. If you’d like more information, visit our website or email us at softwareintegrators@victronenergy.com . We’d love to hear about your projects and see the innovative solutions you’re creating!
Justin Tyers • 15 November 2024
METSTRADE Amsterdam 2024
We’re looking forward to seeing you on stand number 01.541 at METSTRADE , Amsterdam – the world’s largest marine equipment trade show which takes place next week. We’ve been innovating battery-based power systems for almost fifty years; during that time we’ve become best known for building the world’s largest range of Solar Charge Controllers , Inverters, Chargers , and DC-DC converters for the Marine, Industrial, Hybrid Generator, Mobile, Off-Grid, and Grid-connected power markets. Our already world-leading User Interface for power system Management and Control just got even better! We’ll be excited to show you our very latest New UI for GX communication devices . Intuitive graphics and new features add to the many unique controls our customers already love using – whether you have one power system or you manage a fleet of systems, it places all that power at your fingertips. What can you see when you visit our stand? Our latest developments for Marine Power systems are turned on and waiting for you at the show. Visit our well-manned stand to ask any question and get the expert answer you’ve been looking for. This year we will be highlighting the following new innovations: Lithium NG Batteries – Next Generation Lithium NG Batteries Our Next Generation batteries have digital communication to the Battery Management System (BMS) allowing up to 50 Next Generation Lithium batteries to be configured in a single system – offering a max 384kWh of stored energy. Heavy duty, fast charge, high round-trip efficiency, with integrated shunt, cell-balancing and monitoring, the status of each connected battery or individual cells can be read from a single Bluetooth communication to the BMS. NG Battery Management (BMS) is mandatory by using the Lynx Smart BMS NG 500 and 1000. Lynx Smart BMS NG Our most feature-rich BMS for fast, accurate and safe charging – the new parallel redundancy of the Lynx Smart BMS NG series allows up to five Lynx BMS’s to be connected in the same installation – each with its own battery bank to provide significant energy storage and/or power redundancy. You can see a live system at the show to demonstrate the advantages of power redundancy. Orion XS 1400 12-24 DC-DC Battery Charger Adaptive DC-DC battery charging for use in dual-battery systems – including those with ‘Intelligent’ alternators. Safely charge any 12v or 24v battery from any 12v or 24v alternator. Alternator overload protection; 98.5% efficienciency Orion XS has user-configurable input/output current and engine running/shutdown detection to protect the starter battery. Parallelable to increase output current, multiple electronic and temperature protections and an adaptive charge algorithm provide safe, optimised battery charging. The Orion XS 1400 is the new member of the Orion XS family. New User Interface. Exciting new graphics – Brand new features Venus OS – the operating system which runs our GX communication devices such as the Cerbo GX – has just reached a major milestone in features and GUI update! Read data in Watts or Amps; further alternator-controller compatibilities; enhanced Genset integration; wireless Safiery STAR-tank sensor connection; tank-levels summed across multiple tanks; wind turbine input display; enhanced security, and much more! These new enhancements build on the unique features already in place for Marine applications – such as Solar and Wind Priority for which we will have a live demonstration system on display. You can learn more about the New UI on our stand, or attend a Power Session headphone presentation at 14:00 hrs on each show day highlighting all the most useful new features of the New UI. Speaking of which… Power Sessions – 20 minutes of expert knowledge via audience Headphone Presentations Get up to speed with two of our most exciting developments. Are you interested in what is now possible with our Next Generation Lithium Batteries? Do you want to experience full marine system control with our New UI? Come along to one of our 20-minute headphone expert presentations and learn all there is to know! Walk in sessions will be held every day of the show as follows: Monitoring and Control Victron Remote Management ( VRM ) on your smartwatch …MFD …Glass Bridge …GX Touch screen, or phone. We have just announced our new smart watch app . Battery status, power-in and loads are all available on the overview, temperature sensor readings can also be checked. Whether your power installation is on your boat, at home or at work – it’s also on your wrist. You’ll find all our communication centre devices – such as the Ekrano GX and Cerbo GX , together with cellular data com devices – such as the GlobalLink 520 and GX LTE 4G – for remote system monitoring and Geofencing wherever your boat is moored. Come and explore all our Glass Bridge user-interface options for Multi Function Display (MFD) via Marine HTML5 and NMEA 2000. See our latest version of the GX Touch display – for Flush Mount . High Power AC-DC Chargers You’ll find our range of high-power and Smart battery chargers from shore power. Connect anywhere in the world – choose from units with a wide range of AC input voltages; voltage/temperature sense; current control; parallelable …synchronised; communication compatibility, ingress protections (IPxx), and much more. When and where is the show? METSTRADE doors open at 10:00 on the 19th, 20th and 21st November. We’re ready to welcome you on stand number 01.541 METSTRADE takes place at: RAI Amsterdam Europaplein 1078 GZ Amsterdam The Netherlands See you there!
Beril Berkem • 11 November 2024
VRM on Your Smartwatch
We are excited to announce that our VRM App is now available on smartwatches! You can now monitor your Victron system on the go, directly from your wrist. With VRM on your smartwatch, keeping an eye on essential aspects of your system has never been easier. Quickly view the state of charge, solar power, grid consumption, battery status, load levels, and more. You can even control the EV charging station – all without needing to open your phone or tablet. Here’s everything you need to know. What You Can See on Your Smartwatch The VRM app offers detailed insights into your power system through three main displays: 1. Overview The Overview screen offers an essential snapshot of your system, displaying: Grid Power (W) – Track your current power draw from the grid. Battery Status (%) – Monitor the remaining charge percentage of your battery. PV Power (W) – See how much solar power your panels are generating. Loads (W) – Check how much power your appliances are using. If there are multiple installations, a screen will display a list of all installations before showing the Overview screen. You can star up to five installations to prioritise them at the top of the list. 2. Temperature Readings Get temperature information across different areas: Display temperature readings from sensors located in specific areas or devices. If there are more than four temperature readings, the additional readings will be displayed on the next screen. 3. EV Charging Status The VRM app also provides detailed information about your electric vehicle charging, allowing you to: View Charging Power (W), Energy (kWh), and Current (A). If the system includes multiple EV charging stations, an overview page will display all the stations. Remotely start or stop EV charging directly from your smartwatch, giving you full control without needing to reach for another device. Get Started with VRM on Your Smartwatch The VRM App is compatible with three major smartwatch platforms: Garmin, Apple, and Google OS (for Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, and other Google OS-compatible devices). To start monitoring your Victron system on your smartwatch, simply download the VRM app from the relevant app store for your device: Apple Watch users: Apple App Store Garmin users: Garmin Connect IQ store Google OS users: Google Play Store Conclusion With the new VRM App on your wrist, you can stay connected to your Victron system no matter where you are, enjoying the convenience of managing your system directly from your smartwatch. With just a quick glance, you can monitor and manage your Victron system effectively, and stay in control, even while on the go.
Beril Berkem • 04 November 2024
Introducing the New EVCS Firmware v2.0
We’re pleased to announce the release of EVCS Firmware Version 2! This update introduces a redesigned web interface and display GUI, enhanced charging management, and other improvements to make your EVCS more efficient and easier to manage. Here’s a closer look at what’s new. 1. Fresh New Internal Web Interface The EVCS internal web interface has been thoroughly refreshed, featuring a modern look inspired by the recently released Venus OS gui-v2. Designed to be accessible on all screens, this new interface offers: Enhanced User Experience: The new design features a smooth, intuitive interface that makes system management straightforward. With a modern layout, it offers a clear, at-a-glance view of your entire system. Responsive Design: A responsive layout optimised for mobile phones, tablets, and desktops. Adaptive Menus and Themes: Choose between light and dark themes to suit your preference and enjoy adaptive menus for easy access to settings. Full-Screen Mode & EV Status Animation: The web interface now includes a full-screen mode and EV status animations, designed to enhance your experience. Remote Access: EVCS web interface can be accessed through the Victron Remote Management (VRM) portal, allowing you to monitor and control your system from anywhere. 2. Enhanced Display GUI For EV chargers with built-in displays, the new firmware introduces a refreshed graphical user interface, delivering a more user-friendly and efficient experience: Improved Visual Layout: The new design provides a clean, modern look, similar to the enhancing usability and visual appeal. Dedicated EV Status Screen: Keep track of charging status, consumption, and other essential information on a dedicated screen. Venus OS-Like Schematic: Familiar Venus OS layout provides clear, structured system information. 3. Advanced Charging Management and Protection With this new firmware, you gain more flexibility in managing and protecting your EVCS. Here are some notable updates: Power Calibration: A new power calibration table allows users to adjust power calibration across charging current ranges, providing more accurate EV power consumption measurements. Inverter Overtemperature Protection: To protect your equipment, the firmware now reduces charging current if an overtemperature alarm is detected on the inverter, displaying a warning message. Enhanced Current Limit Options: The maximum charging current limit can now be adjusted down to 6A, meeting the latest German charging regulations. Additional Reboot and Reset Options: Choose from extra options for rebooting to factory defaults. 4. Other Key Improvements Firmware version 2 also includes multiple improvements to enhance system performance, and a range of bug fixes to address specific issues. Highlights include: Automatic Mode Activation: Auto mode will now activate when the backup battery is full, and there’s no solar power production, ensuring efficient use of available power. Modbus TCP Server Updates: The Modbus TCP server registers have been extended for expanded data access, improving integration with third-party systems. iOS and WiFi Fixes: Connectivity issues affecting Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and WiFi on iOS devices have been resolved. How to Install Instructions for installing the new firmware are available in your GX device’s manual. Quick links to the relevant pages can be found here: Ekrano GX , CerboGX , Color Control GX and Venus GX. Conclusion With EVCS Firmware v2, managing and monitoring your EV charging station has never been easier or more efficient. This update combines powerful new features with design enhancements that improve usability across the board. To view the full change log, please visit our Victron Professional website.
Matthijs Vader • 30 October 2024
Venus OS v3.50 – New User Interface, Security and Generator Improvements
We are excited to announce the release of Venus OS v3.50. A massive milestone and improvement for our range of GX control and monitoring solutions . Whether you’re managing a system at home, in a marine environment, or on an industrial site, this release has something for you. The new user interface The most significant change in the new release is the new graphical user interface. The new UI brings a modern look, improved functionality, and a faster, more responsive experience. The best introduction is through watching this video: To discover the full details and benefits of the new UI, explore our detailed slides covering this release . Marine-specific updates The Marine MFD HTML5 App now supports Watts units for real time monitoring on multifunction displays and chart plotters. To see power/Watts instead of current/Amps, change the preference in the new UI. The integration with the ARGO Zeus Alternator controller now features DVCC integration, where the GX controls and optimises the total system – including limiting charge current to be within the max allowed charge current by the batteries. The MG Energy Systems AFC 300 is now supported as an alternator controller The Fischer Panda AGT series of DC gensets can now be integrated over CAN-bus, providing (remote) read-out of all parameters. Wind turbine energy production, as well as the alternator outputs, can now be displayed on-screen, using a SmartShunt as a DC energy meter. Support has been added for the soon-to-be-launched Safiery STAR-tank sensors, which connect wirelessly to the GX via Bluetooth. These long-range Bluetooth radar tank level sensors, which are part of the Safiery STARSHIP product range , to be released at the METSTRADE Amsterdam next month. For yachts with multiple tanks, the new UI features some nice functions where it will display the total available fresh water, summarised across all tanks, and same for fuel or any other fluid type. Improved security The new release brings improved local network security to Venus OS, by adding HTTPS security to the Remote Console on LAN. Additionally, the related settings have been simplified into a single new setting: the “Network Security Profile”. Password protection for MQTT provides additional security for third-party integrations, such as Home Assistant and Node-RED. The VRM Portal-related settings have been simplified into a single option, allowing the system to be either completely disconnected from the VRM Portal, connected in read-only mode (which does not permit remote access for settings changes or firmware updates), or to have full control. This change removes the former “VRM Two way communication on/off” setting. See the Security section of the slides for this release for more details. Enhanced Genset integration & start/stop Support has been added for five new genset controllers, including the popular Deep Sea DSE4520 MKII, as well as support for DSE over RTU. The new option to connect to DSE controllers using RTU instead of Ethernet is a significant enhancement. For the middle tier DSE controllers, it is now no longer required to add a DSE ethernet gateway. The other advantage of using RTU is that it simplifies installation, and does not require networking knowledge. Please do note the requirement for an isolated USB to RS485 interface; see genset features slides linked below for more information. DC generators are now also supported in the form of Hatz and Fischer Panda. Improvements have been made to the accuracy of reporting on generator runtime for both controller connected gensets and relay-controlled generators. To see the full details on these updates, please refer to the genset features slides . Node-RED This release makes it possible to factory reset Node-RED on a GX device from the Venus OS Large submenu. This removes all flows and settings, allowing for a fresh start without the need for physical access to the device to factory reset its Node-RED settings, or completely. Additionally, various new nodes have been added and existing nodes are improved, especially for Dynamic ESS, Peak Shaving, VRM and genset. For details, see its change log , starting from v1.5.18 up to and including v1.5.23. Managed battery improvements Various improvements have been made, including: Venus OS 3.50 now better handles Pylontech batteries experiencing cell voltage imbalance. For this improvement to be active, the GX needs to have access to the cell voltages from the Pylontech BMS. To check if a system has this capability, navigate to the Battery, then Details, and check for Lowest cell and Highest cell voltage readings. If not, it might indicate that the BMS doesn’t support it or needs a firmware update. Leoch-, new on the compatibility list, and Pytes battery integration now features auto configuration, DVCC force enabled, SVS and STS off. ZYC batteries integration also features auto configuration now, and moreover can now receive firmware updates directly through the GX device and the VRM Portal, marking a significant step in expanding remote management capabilities for supported batteries. Lithium Batteries South Africa, LBSA, has been added to our battery compatibility list earlier this week. Please note that there is no auto-configuration in the GX for LBSA yet: ensure that DVCC and other settings are enabled as recommended in the LBSA / Victron manual . How to install and the complete change log Aside from the highlighted improvements above, there are additional enhancements and changes. To read the details, please refer to the full change log by logging into Victron Professional and selecting ‘Firmware’ -> ‘Venus OS’ -> ‘firmware changelog’. Information about how to install the firmware is in the manual of your GX Device. Quick links to the relevant pages can be found here: Ekrano GX , Cerbo GX , Color Control GX and for the Venus GX . Conclusion A big thank you to all the developers, designers as well as all users and professionals that helped to test this massive project. Re-implementing and improving such a large part of Venus OS is no piece of cake – and the result shows! Enjoy the new version, Matthijs Vader
Justin Tyers • 12 September 2024
The Opal Mines still running as temp soars to 50°C
In an opal mining area where the temperature regularly exceeds 45°C, all work stops between 10 and 5. The extreme heat doesn’t affect the miners so much, in Coober Pedy, South Australia – as they work underground …they often live underground, too, in ‘dugouts’ – but it’s just too hot for the diesel generators to run. No power, no work. However, one mine has installed a solution which changes everything! Forward-thinking mine owner Terry Easy lives on French Island, Victoria , which is not connected to the grid and residents adopt a low-carbon lifestyle. He was one of the first people to install a solar-powered energy system using Faradion Sodium Ion battery storage. The servicing of that battery, connected to Victron system architecture, was overseen by Adam Smith who has since established Everest Energy – the Melbourne based Victron Energy installer – with his partner Jack Sutton . Terry’s installation was so successful he quickly realised that a solar-based three-phase power system built into a temperature-controlled container would be capable of running his mines right through the heat of the day even when a diesel generator would have to be shut down. In fact, with solar power, he would scarcely need a generator at all except, perhaps, during extended periods of poor weather in the winter. Opal Mining uses power to run its electric jack hammers, conveyer belts, washers, noodlers, and the UV dark rooms which help identify the precious stone from among the dirt. The whole process typically requires a 30 – 50 kVA generator. For the power ‘container’, Terry bought an old bus for $14,000Aus allowing him to have the system built in by his trusted installer Everest Energy, which he would then drive to site – eighteen hours away – and be able to move between his mining operations as required. The idea of installing the panels vertically on the sides of the bus utilises all available space and although it might seem unconventional, in a location where the optimal panel tilt-angle is 39°-45°, during the winter months the vertical panels can produce similar …sometimes more energy than those on the roof. In summer the increased angle is still productive because longer days and higher irradiance compensate for the less than optimal summer angle. Also, the panels are not in close contact with the sides of the bus but an air gap has been provided – keeping the bus cooler by adding shade and air flow. The same drive to overcome problems resulted in the stylish installation completed by Adam Smith and his business partner Jack Sutton. They wanted to present all system devices together and the best way of doing that was to build a couple of tiered ventilated ‘stages’ at the back of the passenger area of the bus. The addition cool-blue lighting makes it look even better! The installation is climate controlled – the bus has been insulated around the installation area and there’s a 7.1 kW Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) split system air conditioner. Explaining the build Adam says: The main system in the bus consists of three Quattro 15 kVA inverter chargers (48V), configured for three phase operation. Power is drawn from 60 kWh of Pylontech battery storage. There are two SmartSolar MPPT RS 450/200 charge controllers; one is for the 440W Suntech all-black panels mounted on the bus which are rated at around 12 kWp; the other is for auxiliary solar panels which can be deployed in the form of flexible solar mats using 430W panels that can be pinned to the ground, allowing easy expansion of the system. However, we haven’t needed the auxiliary solar yet, as the system is performing excellently as it is. The system build even includes an EV Charging point . Another innovation is a secondary power system comprising a custom-built alternator power take-off running at 24 volts and capable of producing up to 9kW. It feeds three MultiPlus 24/3000 inverter/chargers, and has a Cerbo GX communication centre for monitoring and tuning. The MultiPlus’s take their power from the alternators to deliver three-phase AC power into the second AC input of the Quattros – where it is seen as generator power. This setup allows the system to run loads or charge batteries whilst driving or when the engine is idling. The main system has an Ekrano GX communication centre which provides remote monitoring and control on site using the touch screen, or remotely via the free-to-use Victron Remote Management platform (VRM). Engineering support is instantly available whenever it’s needed thanks to a high speed Starlink satellite internet connection – which is invaluable when the installation is 18 hours away in the middle of a dessert. Adam wants to give a shoutout to their Victron distribution partner, Darren Helleren from Retro Power in Clayton. Adams says: Darren is our trusted Victron dealer and repair center, and he has an absolute wealth of knowledge and expertise on Victron products in Australia. We regularly exchange ideas with each other, and both of us have unique strengths across different ranges of Victron products. This collaboration reinforces the fact that Victron dealers, users, and the broader community are strongest when they support one another, helping each other leverage Victron equipment to achieve almost any conceivable power solution. The un-edited headline image is by qwesy qwesy . The opal miner image is the property of NSW DPI
Beril Berkem • 04 September 2024
Introducing The Victron Toolkit App
What is the Victron Toolkit App? The Victron Toolkit is an open-source app specifically designed to provide essential tools and information for your Victron devices. Tailored with our community’s needs in mind, it offers a user-friendly interface that ensures you have everything you need right at your fingertips. The Victron Toolkit app simplifies complex tasks, allowing you to focus on what truly matters—optimising the performance of your electrical system while saving you time. Key Features The Victron Toolkit App comes equipped with a range of powerful features: Status Definitions: Easily view status definitions for your Victron devices. This feature provides clear and concise information, helping you troubleshoot and maintain your system effectively. Status Definition Voltage Drop Calculator: Accurately calculate the voltage drop across cables. This tool ensures your system operates at peak efficiency, preventing potential issues caused by incorrect voltage levels. Voltage Drop Calculator Temperature Derating Calculator: Determine the temperature derating for your Victron inverters, chargers, or inverter/chargers. This is crucial for maintaining optimal performance under varying environmental conditions. Temperature Derating Calculator QR Code Scanner: Instantly access device information by scanning QR codes. This feature saves time and effort, making it easier to manage and monitor your devices. QR Code Scanner Coming Soon The Victron Toolkit App will soon be updated to include US units for calculations in Fahrenheit, feet, and AWG. How to Install the Victron Toolkit App The Victron Toolkit App is available for free download on both the App Store for iOS users and the Google Play Store for Android users. Simply search for “Victron Toolkit” and install the app on your device to get started. Why You Should Download the Victron Toolkit App We believe the Victron Toolkit App will be an essential tool for our Victron Community. It’s not just about the features it offers today but also about what’s to come. Our team is dedicated to continuously upgrading and enhancing the app with new tools and capabilities, so be sure to keep your app updated through the “Settings” menu to benefit from the latest improvements. For us, the Victron Toolkit is more than just an app; it’s a testament to our commitment to supporting our community with the best tools and resources available. We’re excited to see how you’ll use this app along with your Victron products. We appreciate your feedback and encourage you to share any suggestions for future improvements in the comments below, or in our community forum .
Justin Tyers • 02 August 2024
Olympic Gold for Dutch Sailors!!
Victron sponsored sailors Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz have achieved the dream of a lifetime winning a Gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics games in their skiff 49erFX! Unexpected finish line Error! The competition consisting of 13 races was fiercely contested with the lead changing hands many times over five days of events. It was so close that by the final race the Gold medal could go to any of five boats. In the event it was won by Nederlands – as we know – in spite of the fact that passing between two buoys and believing they’d finished the race in first place the Dutch team stopped and began celebrating! Only when they saw the Swedish and Italian teams fly past on their way to the real finish line to take first and second place in the race did the Dutch Duo realise their error, sheet in, and continue for 100 metres eventually crossing the line in third!! Thankfully that result was still good enough to secure them the Gold medal overall. Phew! What a good job they realised their error in time to save the whole competition after all their hard work! The full detail of that race plus a roundup of the action over five day follows: Olympic 49erFX highlights On the first day there were light winds and calm water – conditions in which anything can happen and which favour the lightest competitors. At the end of the day’s three heats Nederland – who are not the lightest boat – were in the lead having achieved positions 5th – 1st – 1st respectively. Day 2 first race witnessed the tactical brilliance of Dutch skipper Van Aanholt. In a really tight race with all skiffs bunched together and only seconds between any of them the French boat was in second place with the Netherlands in 9th. Climbing slowly through the pack they found that the French boat’s Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon were denying them any chance to overtake by keeping the Dutch in their wind shadow …when NED turned, the French turned to block them. The race might have continued like that all the way to the finish line with NED being unable to make any more speed and thus pull away from the fleet because of wind shadow from the French team . NED’s Odile waited for her chance and seized it when the French boat was locked in a cluster – making it impossible for the French boat to follow the Dutch team when they turned: within a couple of minutes of that shrewd manoeuvre the Netherlands were ranking in first position whilst the French had dropped to 11th! It was already clear that during the rest of the competition the French boat was the one that Van Aanholt and Duetz would have to beat to win the competition. Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing in Marseille, France on 28 July, 2024. (Photo by World Sailing / Lloyd Images) Former World Champions Vilma Bobec and Rebecca Netzler of Sweden had a bad start to the competition but a change of form and some stronger winds produced excellent results lifting them to rank in third position by Day 3. From the point of view of the Dutch team, Sweden were beginning to sail dangerously well! Nail biting Day 3! Having lost the top spot to France at the close of day 2, the first race on day 3 was exactly the race NED didn’t want. Let’s take a quick look at all three races of Day 3 which brought highs and lows: After a suboptimal start to the first race (to use a NASA expression, when one of their rockets fails to lift off) by the seventh-minute team NED had climbed from the middle ranks to second place. Shortly before the first turn, however, a misjudged approach lost them speed – dropping to fifth – as they were forced to pinch higher into the wind in order to get round the mark. From their line of approach the track around the mark was not a simple U-Turn, but a loop – like the ‘awareness ribbons’ people sometimes wear on their blouse. As they closed with the mark the boats ahead of them had already done their loop and were now streaming directly toward team NED! forcing NED to give way, with more time lost. They rounded the mark in 10th. Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing in Marseille, France on 28 July, 2024. (Photo by World Sailing / Lloyd Images) Meanwhile, their main competitor the French boat began that race even more disastrously in last position, but determined sailing in the second half saw them climb steadily through the pack to position five – before falling back to finish over the line in 12th. For team NED, lots of tactics under pressure and some unlucky changes of wind direction saw them fall ever further. Every change of course, it seemed, put them in a more disadvantageous position. Even some super performances in between those tactical changes were not enough to save them from their 19th place at the finish line – ending a race which had seen them occupy every position on the table but ‘First’ and ‘Last’! Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing in Marseille, France on 28 July, 2024. (Photo by World Sailing / Lloyd Images) In the second race of Day 3 France was first over the line and NED made a poor start in 16th. Three minutes into the race France put in the first tack which turned out to be premature and saw them fall down the table to 6th by which time NED had climbed to 8th. It may have stayed that way but for a brave decision by Van Aaholt half way through the race (the first return to the starting line) where it is permitted to round either of the two buoys turning left (Port) or right (Starboard). NED was the only boat to take the right hand turn having spotted better wind in that area. (Other boats soon followed!) That decision immediately lifted NED up the rank – to first place for a while – and they eventually crossed the finishing line in 3rd. Another premature tack from the French boat saw them fall to 11th position – a rank from which they never recovered. Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing in Marseille, France on 28 July, 2024. (Photo by World Sailing / Sander van der Borch) In the last race of Day 3 both the Netherlands and France came over the starting line to settle into the race in middle-ranking positions, but an early tack by France sent them down the table to 19th whilst the Dutch boat climbed steadily to first. A mistimed tack by the Netherlands sent them down the table to sixth; meanwhile the french had climbed back to 11th. Approaching the final turn in that race NED had a bit of luck – three of the boats ahead of them mis-timed their tack, and a fourth – team Finland – crossed close in front on a port tack (port tack is meant to ‘give way’ and pass behind) …although that break in protocol didn’t appear to have a detrimental effect on the Dutch boat the Fins made a ‘go-around’ (a 360 degree turn performed as a penalty to avoid disqualification should any protest or appeal be made after the race). That series of events lifted the Dutch boat from fifth to first position in a matter of seconds. At last – a bit of luck! Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing in Marseille, France on 28 July, 2024. (Photo by World Sailing / Sander van der Borch) They finished the race in 2nd having been overtaken by some great sailing from the NZ team of Jo Aleh and Molly Meech …and the French boat crossed the line in 11th. At the end of Day 3 NED had held their nerve after serious setbacks and hoisted themselves back to the number 1 position on the leader board! What a day it was! Day 4 With the focus now on the Dutch and French sailors exchanging first and second places on a daily basis – Day 4 was not great for either team mostly finishing outside the top ten …but France had a ‘less worse’ day which secured them a 1 point lead over team NED, and put them back at the top of the table. Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing in Marseille, France on 26 July, 2024. (Photo by World Sailing / Sander van der Borch) And now for a rundown of that EXTRAORDINARY Medal race! After four days of competition the contest was so close that it was possible for any one of the top five teams to take the Gold medal. With just ten boats in the race – that’s half the fleet eligible for Gold! The excitement could not have been higher as the boats sheeted in and sped over the start line for the final time with an ideal wind strength of 12 knots. The race began with arch-rivals France in 10th, Nederlands in 4th and NZ in the lead. But NED soon climbed to first place before a tack sent them back to 4th. The sudden changes in rank demonstrate how a single decision can cost the race – even if it’s remedied after a few seconds! Meanwhile France – the team they had to beat – had begun to climb into a threatening position and were at 4th by the time NED had climbed back to 3rd. At the first mark NED performed an excellent turn and downwind-sail hoist, catapulting them into the lead in first position – ahead of Sweden in 2. France wasn’t having much luck and fell down the table again to 8th. It was at the second turn – halfway through the race – that NED secured what was surely going to be an unassailable lead? After an excellent gybe they were sailing faster than anyone else and pointing higher into the wind than anyone else. But with half the race still to run they weren’t secure yet …France had sailed fast to climb back to 4th. A ‘give way’ just before the third and final turn saw NED fall to 6th place in no time at all …but France too had fallen down the table to 9th. A brilliant tack around the final mark shot NED back into first place – I scarcely know how it was achieved! They romped home to what they thought was the finish line (as mentioned earlier) with USA in second place at which point both boats came to a stop and began to celebrate – only to see the Swedish boat fly past them and cross the real finish line in first – usurping NED of their achievement – closely followed by Italy in second. Realising their mistake NED accelerated away to cross the line in 3rd. (USA’s Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea who made the same mistake thinking they had achieved second place didn’t realise their error until much later and eventually finished last across the line – which will be a bitter disappointment, which we commiserate). Many Congratulations to our sponsored sailors Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz and the team around them who have dedicated their lives to achieving this dream. Not only are Odile and Annette the Olympic Gold medal holders of the 49erFX skiff racing but they are also the current World Champions! We admire their enthusiasm to learn; practice what they learned; and deploy those skills under pressure – never failing to believe they can become the best in the world! They have achieved it. Final result for the 49erFX event : Nederlands Gold; Sweden Silver; France Bronze Congratulations to all participating teams. Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing in Marseille, France on 1 August, 2024. (Photo by World Sailing / Jean-Louis Carli)
Justin Tyers • 26 July 2024
Olympics: How to watch our sailors?
We’re really looking forward to following the sailing action at the Paris Olympic Games where our very own sponsored sailors Odile van Aahholt and Annette Duetz will be competing for a coveted Bronze, Silver or Gold Medal! Since teaming up two and half years ago Netherlands skipper Odile and crew Annette have been focused on qualifying for the Paris Olympic Games event. During their partnership they’ve achieved some pretty amazing results and now enter the Olympic Games as the current World Champions of the super-fast Women’s skiff known as the 49erFX. What is a 49er / FX? This explainer video, featuring Odile and Annette will get you up to speed on the super fast Olympic Class skiff known as the 49erFX: Twenty 49erFX Olympic sailing teams – the best of the best – will compete to take home the world’s most prestigious sporting Medal. The sailing venue is the French Mediterranean coastal city of Marseille. Beginning on Sunday 28th July and concluding on Thursday August 1 – our sailors will compete with the best sailors from twenty nations. Each team will be dreaming of winning a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal for their country’s national pride, and for their supporters wherever in the world they may be. The stakes for all of them couldn’t be higher! 2024 Lanzarote 49er and FX Worlds © Sailing Energy / Lanzarote Sailing Center 05 March, 2024 Event heats The first race on the first day of the Women’s skiff event (Sunday July 28th) begins at 15:35 Central European Time (UTC + 1 hour). There will be three races today and on each subsequent day as follows. Day two (Monday) (Stop Press: delayed to the afternoon at the time of writing – insufficient breeze) will feature races 4, 5 and 6 Day three (Tuesday) begins at 15:45 and will feature races 7, 8 and 9 Day four (Wednesday begins at 12:15 and will feature races 10, 11 and 12 Day five (Thursday) begins at 15:45 will feature one single race – the Medal race! Watch Live To watch a race, there are two options: The first one is by tracking (an interactive map), and the link for that becomes available only shortly before the race. The other option is to watch the videos. Probably best done by HBO MAX, which requires a subscription. But some races are covered, and others are not. You can watch live or on-demand sports coverage from the broadcast rights holder in your country. Follow the results race by race [STOP PRESS – Day 4 completed: our sailors are in second place, a single point behind the leaders – France!] Race results and overall ranking will be posted immediately after each heat on the World Sailing website. Odile/Annette athlete Instagram Account You can follow Odile and Annette daily on their Instagram channel: https://www.instagram.com/annetteodile/ TV coverage in your country You can watch live or on-demand sports coverage is available from the broadcast rights holder in your country. How does a 49er FX race work? Races will not usually take place if the wind speed is below 4 knots or above 25 knots. At wind speeds above 8 knots the 49erFX will begin to plane – making for exciting racing. The target time for each race is 30 minutes, and 20 minutes for the medal race. The course distance will be lengthened or shortened to achieve those times as nearly as possible. The course begins with an upwind leg, round a marker buoy, then downwind back to the starting gate; for each heat the course is run twice (very occasionally three times). The top speed of a 49erFX is around 25 knots / 30 mph / 46km/h. The waiting time between finishing one heat and beginning the next is kept to a minimum – a few minutes, usually. Good Luck! We will of course be publishing the Sailing results and the competition’s highlights after the event. Good Luck to Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz !
Beril Berkem • 18 July 2024
Introducing the GX Touch 50 and 70 Flush Mount Versions
We are excited to announce the launch of the GX Touch 50 and GX Touch 70 Flush Mount Versions! These new versions of the existing 5-inch and 7-inch touch screen displays for the Cerbo GX are designed to be mounted flush on the wall, providing a sleek and modern look for any installation. Key Features: 1. Sleek, Modern Aesthetic Achieve a clean, contemporary aesthetic with the new GX Touch Flush Mount versions. These updated versions of the GX Touch displays seamlessly integrate into the wall, offering a sleek and streamlined appearance. 2. Versatile Mounting Options The GX Touch 50 and 70 Flush Mount Versions come with two different mounting options to suit various installation needs: Sealed Mount: A rubber seal is applied to a double-sided tape on the screen, and the GX Touch screen is installed using brackets and rods. This method ensures a secure and stable mount, preventing water from getting behind the screen while also allowing for easy removal if needed. This method can only be used on flat and clean surfaces with rear access. Sealed Mount Glued Mount: For installations where rear access to the mounting surface is not available, the screen can be glued in place using double-sided tape. This method is straightforward and effective for achieving a flush mount without the need for additional hardware. Glued Mount 3. Durability With an IP65 rating, the GX Touch 50 and 70 Flush Mount Versions are perfect for a variety of environments, including marine applications. Whether you’re installing on a yacht or an overlander, these models offer the durability and protection needed to withstand humidity and water sprays. The seal ensures no water gets behind the mounting panel, keeping the IP65-rated screen dry regardless of the mounting method. 4. Installation Flexibility The sealed mount offers an alternative to the glued mount, particularly advantageous if glue is not preferred and there is rear access to the mounting surface. For both mounting options, there are two different intsallation methods: Standard Installation: This method involves creating an opening in the wall or panel and then securing the screen using either tape or a rubber seal. With this installation method, the frame of the display will protrude from the wall or panel. Recessed Installation: In this installation method, the frame surrounding the screen is embedded into the wall or panel, ensuring the screen surface aligns perfectly with the surrounding surface, resulting in a fully flush appearance. Ensure the surface is smooth and clean for both installation methods Full Product Details: For more detailed information on the GX Touch 50 and GX Touch 70 Flush Mount Versions, visit our product page and experience the perfect blend of functionality and style.
Justin Tyers • 14 June 2024
Intersolar Europe June 19th – 21st
We’re looking forward to seeing you on stand B4.150 at InterSolar 2024 in Munich between June 19th and 21st. Allow us to show you the power that could be in your hands! For almost fifty-years we’ve been known for building reliable inverter/chargers, solar charge controllers, DC-DC converters; and for our world-class monitoring and control apps for the Industrial, Marine, Mobile, Off-grid, Backup and Energy Storage markets. At this year’s show we’re putting the spotlight on some ground-breaking solutions which become possible with our products and software. Hybrid Generators Learn how Hybrid Generators can save a remarkable 80% on fuel costs. Also, the peak power shaving ability of our powerful inverters allows a smaller generator to be specified – cutting the cost of fixed assets. By sizing the site generator for the typical or average power demand, and allowing our powerful inverters to meet peak power demands there will be huge savings on the cost of plant. Next Generation Storage is here Take a look at our new generation Lithium Smart NG batteries. Available in 12.8V, 25.6V and 51.2V formats, up to 50 batteries can be configured into a single battery bank offering up to 384kWh of energy storage. remote read-out of cell voltages and other battery-level data increased maximum system size for each BMS, further extended by our new parallel BMS feature. improved balancing Our new NG range of Lithium batteries deliver lots of power and have a very useful IP65 rating. Consumed power is also replaced super-fast using our dedicated Battery Management System the Lynx Smart BMS NG which is available in 500A and 1000A models. Up to 5 managed battery banks can be included in the same installation providing a lot of stored energy and deliverable power. And for installations where power absolutely MUST be available at all times, it’s reassuring to know there’s a lot of redundancy. Lynx Class-T Power In Our Lynx Distribution System range now includes a Power In model for Class-T fuses. The device provides M10 busbar connection for two battery strings with two mounts for T-Class fuses which can be 225A, 250A, 350A or 400A – to be purchased from your usual supplier. Off-grid and Backup storage systems – including Multi HS19 and Multi RS19 Learn about our Inverter/Chargers for off-grid and energy storage systems – including our new rack mountable ‘Multi’ models which have MPPT Solar Charge Controllers on board. The Multi HS19 is a new series of high voltage hybrid inverters. The first model to become available is the (800VDC) 3-phase 15kVA model with four MPPT trackers (which have a voltage range of 80 to 1000VDC). A 30kVA model will be available shortly thereafter. The range is designed for 19 inch rack mounting. Similarly the Multi RS19 is a 48VDC single-phase 6kVA unit with two MPPT trackers built in, and is also designed for 19 inch rack mounting. These multi-function, charge-controller, inverter/chargers are quick and easy to install in 19″ racks. Headphone Audience – Live Presentation Join one of our scheduled presentations for deeper learning about: Dynamic Energy Storage System algorithm which saves money on your energy bills by learning your amortisation costs, forecasting your energy use …and harvest, and making a cost comparison to live ‘day-ahead’ grid prices. Victron/Other manufacturer product compatibility – for seamless integration. Hybrid Generators – save up to 80% on fuel costs. Fleet Management – control hundreds or thousands of installations effortlessly with VRM . Monitoring and Control Learn about the latest features available straight to your phone from our world beating app VictronConnect ; and how you can tailor the Victron Remote Management Platform VRM to your needs whether you follow a single system or you’re responsible for thousands… MPPT Wall Come and see the world’s largest range of Solar Charge Controllers. No one makes more MPPT and PWM charge controllers than we do. Learn how to choose a solar charge controller which is exactly right for the job, and what our range allows you to achieve. Come and meet us on stand B4.150 and learn how our latest innovations are designed to help you keep control. Intersolar Europe takes place in Germany at the Messe München on June 19th, 20th and 21st.
Justin Tyers • 07 June 2024
In pursuit of OLYMPIC Gold
The eyes of the world will be focused on World Champion sailors Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz when they climb aboard the fast and furious 49erFX skiff to battle for Gold at the Olympic Games of Paris 2024 The excitement here at Victron Energy is electric! During the last two years our sponsored Dutch sailors have worked hard to become the world champion 49erFX team. Their dominant title gives them a psychological advantage – but that doesn’t mean they are complacent. Odile and Annette are both crackling with energy when we talk to them. We caught up with them during a home break from their punishing schedule of twenty days on ten off Odile says: It’s pretty full on at the moment! At home the training continues. We still have gym sessions for body strength and we train our mindset for the competition. Somewhere we have to find some space to let it all go, too! Barista: Time to unwind for Odile van Aanholt Summing up the last three months since they regained their world champion title in Lanzarote, Annette says: During the ‘Worlds’ in March we were stressed and nervous (which was actually good practice for the Games!) After we won we could just let go with relief …but now we’re starting to get energised again …and a bit nervous! To get over that we keep doing all the routine things we normally do, and that allows us to stay focussed on the training – although we always want to win every little thing! I wonder – will there be a moment right at the start of that first race on Olympic water when they suddenly take fright as the thought hits them: ‘ Hey! …this is the OLYMPICS!? Odile remembers that’s exactly what happened at the World Championships when they were fighting so hard to recover their World Title: At the start of the first race we were like – ‘ Oh this is the first race of the ‘Worlds!’. But we learned to acknowledge those nerves and declare them out loud to the other person. It’s good to hear back : ‘Oh yes, me too!’ Then we have a little giggle and say ‘Okay, back to work now!’ By acknowledging it, it allows you to let go a little bit. Healthy fuel by the pool – Annette Duetz Olympics experience The Olympic 49erFX Women’s skiff racing takes place over five days between Sunday 28th July and Thursday 1st August. The event will be Annette’s third Olympics – at Rio eight years ago she and her sailing partner back then Annemiek Bekkering were overwhelmed by the ‘big stage’ of an olympic event, but still achieved seventh place; and at Tokyo the duo produced a brilliant performance to take Bronze. Odile has experience from a ‘Youth’ Olympics in 2014 – an experience she loved so much she can’t wait to compete in the real thing! Training The event is held not in Paris of course – but 660km further south at the Olympic Marina in Marseille on France’s mediterranean coast. Since early May all training has been held on location in Marseille. After taking a short paternity break to enjoy the birth of his second child, team coach Kaj Böcker is returning in time to steer the team to the start line at world’s biggest sporting competition. For the past six weeks Odile and Annette have been working with interim coach – Fernando Kuo – which they both agree has been full of insight. A different coach brings new input and learning – sometimes just by telling it in a different way. After all their experience – can there still be more to learn? Odile says: Sailing is a sport in which you can always improve. Fernando has a team which is very good in light winds. He taught us to trim the sails slightly differently. Also, on shore, we became more decisive about light wind preparation – we had become too conservative about that. If we suspected light winds we would still hedge our bets rather than definitely setting the boat up for those conditions. Now we are more decisive – for light winds we tune the mast straighter to give a deep and full sail, and we slacken the cunningham (a downhaul for the boom – slackening it allows the mainsail to billow and adopt an aerofoil curve) . Annette says : Whilst racing in light winds we can fine-tune using the main sheet and adjusting the sails – but it really helps if you make up your mind before the race. It made us feel comfortable about sailing in light winds. Making those decisions seems a small thing – but really helps a lot. Having an interim coach has made us open-minded again. 2024 Lanzarote 49er and FX Worlds © Sailing Energy / Lanzarote Sailing Center Odile and Annette, along with other Olympic Games competitors, are already familiar with the venue having sailed there last July at the Summer Games Test Event. Back on french waters since May all the Dutch olympic training now takes place in Marseille. They train for ‘speed’ and ‘starts’, but also sail around the bay to see how the wind behaves in certain areas. Odile says: From now, we’ve got the sailing instructions for the Olympic event, so we know the times and courses of the races and we can practice in those places. Also, it’s going to be really hot – perhaps 35C or 36C. If there’s no breeze for sailing then we do heat training. We learn ways to cool down the body when we get too hot – but acclimatising to the heat is much more important. We have ten training sessions where we take our core temperature above 38.5 – basically a fever! Amongst the boys Flores goes cycling wearing layers of fleece – and a rain jacket to keep the heat in! He likes to torture himself. We all get very tired during heat training, but we must all do it. Team coach Kaj Böcker takes an early morning hike into the hills above Marseille in order to feel the day’s breeze… Training includes racing against other-nation sailing-partners. Odile says: The Polish team are good all-rounders and good in light breeze; the Norwegians are superstars in light breeze; the Swedish are good in strong breezes. We made a conscious decision to pick these really good sailors; we let them learn from us – yes – but we also learn from them. We also have ‘fundamentals’ training with them ashore. And by taking the opportunity to be surrounded by them in training means in the race there will probably be no surprises because we already know how they race. After two-and-a-half or three hours on-the-water training it’s time to get back ashore. In Marseille, away from the olympic village, Odile and Annette are really enjoying the company of their Olympic host family. They spend relaxing evenings sampling local food and wine – en plein air – with hosts Patrick and Bernadette Martigny. Relaxing with Olympic hosts Patrick and Bernadette Martigny The Dutch 49erFX team will make their Olympic arrival in Marseille on July 20th, by train …eight days before the first heat. Train travel is a nod to sustainability, but in fact only takes six hours from the Netherlands. Everyone is getting revved up for the ‘Games’: You can tell by the questions that our Physio and Gym coach ask that they’re getting excited for you… says Odile. Annette says: We’ve selected the sails and the mast and the boat we’re going to race with. The 49er boats are built by two different builders and have slight differences. Also the sails are made by three different sailmakers – each one stitches slightly differently and so they perform slightly differently, too. But we’re happy with our choices. The Dutch team has brand new sails – but we chose the ones we’re happy with, …the new sails can be used by the younger team members. Odile and Annette sound like they know exactly where they’re going with this campaign. The pressure on them must be immense, but as they’ve demonstrated repeatedly during previous competitions they have the experience and intelligence to lead the fleet. Nothing can stop them from bringing home Olympic GOLD …except the twenty other teams who share the same ambition. We can’t wait to see how they deal with THAT!! 2024 Lanzarote 49er and FX Worlds © Sailing Energy / Lanzarote Sailing Center Make sure you don’t miss a moment of the sailing action between July 28th and August 1st – on screen or in person at the event arena in Marseille. To follow the event you can check the sailing schedule – look for ‘Women’s Skiff’ (race timings are being scheduled as we write) and then tune in to your national Olympic coverage broadcaster.§ Showcasing the world’s 10,000 most elite athletes across thirty-two sport disciplines, three and a half billion people will tune in to watch the greatest sporting even on Earth – the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Headline image © Sailing Energy.
Justin Tyers • 23 April 2024
Dynamic Energy Storage System: save energy costs – automatically
Dynamic Energy Storage System is a powerful new feature available for grid-connected Victron Energy installations. It is particularly effective in Europe, for example, where it will save money if your energy provider publishes energy prices for the day ahead – as often happens in Germany and the Netherlands, for example – and it will also save money for those on day/night/weekend and fixed tariffs. Who is Dynamic ESS for? It can be used by owners of home Energy Storage Systems – Solar energy systems which include battery storage, and a grid connection – which are controlled by a GX device. A supported grid energy meter will further enhance the feature accuracy and cost savings. (The home installation can include a generator as long as it is only normally used for emergency back-up power.) Read on for more information or view this short video presentation: What does the Dynamic ESS feature do? Dynamic ESS intelligently switches between battery storage, solar energy, and the electricity grid. Based on ‘input data’ and ‘learning’ it optimally stores low-cost energy for use when prices are high. How does it work? An algorithm takes into account information such as the cost of energy right now, battery type (and therefor cycle-life and cost), capacity, SoC, maximum charge/discharge rates; your typical energy use based on a four-week history; and a weather-related solar yield forecast – for which your location must be known. Dynamic ESS plans ahead to ensure that energy you are predicted to use later in the day has already been stored – and at the most economical price. How do I implement Dynamic ESS? Dynamic Energy Storage System (Dynamic ESS) is one of the most exciting features made available by software release v3.30 of our Venus OS – the operating system which drives all our GX communication centre devices, such as the Cerbo GX . Dynamic ESS can be set up through your GX device’s user-interface, or remotely via the Victron Remote Management ( VRM ) platform. Go to ‘Settings/Firmware’ to ensure you are running v3.30 or later – or visit the VRM portal, go to device list, click Firmware Update. The firmware can also be updated with an SD-card or USB memory stick. When you are running v3.30 or later which has an ESS assistant installed you will find Dynamic ESS as a menu option within Settings . You will be asked to provide a range of information which may take fifteen minutes. Your cost savings will begin immediately, improve over the next 28 days, and go on for life! And you can read more about Energy Storage Systems on our Energy Storage Market page.
Matthijs Vader • 19 March 2024
Venus OS v3.30 – Peak shaving for ESS
Today we’re releasing version 3.30 of Venus OS, the software on our GX monitoring product range such as the Cerbo GX , and the recently launched Ekrano GX . Let’s get into the highlights: ESS Peak shaving A while ago, we added peak shaving for ESS systems built without an Energy Meter. Today we add the same, but then for ESS systems that do include an energy meter. There are two new AC current-limit settings, and those limits will apply to the complete system. Therefore they now include any high-power loads which are usually installed in parallel to the inverter/charger system such as EV Chargers and Heat pumps. How does it work? The system monitors the current at the meter, and when needed engages to keep that within the configured limits: to prevent overcurrent during export, system limits solar production and battery discharge. to prevent overcurrent during import, system limits battery charging. to prevent overcurrent during import because of loads, system will assist using battery power. (As long as battery permits this, of course). when the SOC has dropped more than 5% below the configured ESS minimum SOC, the battery will be recharged from the grid as soon as the loads drop sufficiently to allow for charging. Requirements and other details The feature is part of ESS; and applies to MultiPlus, Quattro, MultiPlus-II and EasySolar inverter/chargers. The Multi RS will have the same feature when we release Energy Meter and ESS support for that, but that’s a different project and implementation. The inverter/chargers require an updated ESS Assistant – for which you’ll need VEConfigure. The required version of the ESS Assistant is 018C. Note that this software configuration change requires a trained installer. Making such changes is not for end-users About the existing “Limit system feed-in” option in the ESS menu, in watts: if you have both set, the lower of the two is followed for feeding in DC-coupled PV. The GX does not limit PV-inverters in relation to the new export current-limit. To illustrate: in case of major solar production, at the same time as a high-tariff for selling energy to the utility, the new mechanism will limit feed-in power from the battery to zero. So, as long as the installed PV Inverter system is configured in such a way that it can’t by itself blow the fuse – then it’s fine. The feature works with all ESS supported energy meters. Three phase operation details When the import/export limit is not being exceeded on any phase, the system operates normally, according to the “Multiphase regulation” setting. If the current-limit is exceeded on any one phase, in either direction, power will be moved to other phases in equal measures. If all phases are maxed-out and more power is needed to run the loads without exceeding the BMS limits, all phases are overloaded equally – resulting in the lowest probability of tripping a breaker or blowing a fuse. Power will be passed through the DC bus to accomplish this goal, even if Multiphase regulation is set to “total of phases”. Comparison of the two features It’s important to understand when to use which AC current-limit settings: ESS systems with an energy meter: use the new feature as explained in this post. ESS systems without an energy meter: use the settings explained in the v3.00 release blog. This includes systems using our AC current sensors that plug directly into the inverter/charger. Marine MFD App improvements Last month, we launched the renewed Marine MFD App, with a complete new look as well as various new features: This release includes various improvements, and one very welcome one – at least for me when sailing – is the improved load time. When clicking the Victron icon, the app now loads much faster. Generator start/stop controller integration DSE: Add support for the SE 8620-MKII and the DSE 6120 models ComAp: Fix coolant temperature and oil pressure register decimals How to install and complete change log Aside from the above highlighted explanations, there are additional improvements and changes. To read the details, see the full change log by logging into Victron Professional and selecting ‘Firmware’ -> ‘Venus OS’ -> ‘firmware changelog’. Information about how to install the firmware is in the manual of your GX Device. Quick links to the relevant pages can be found here: Ekrano GX , Cerbo GX , Color Control GX and for the Venus GX .
Justin Tyers • 13 March 2024
New for VictronConnect: Settings Lock
VictronConnect now allows you to secure critical system-settings with a tamper seal. ‘Settings lock’ offers installers the chance to lock critical settings to prevent accidental or unhelpful changes being made to a system’s operating parameters. It will enhance system stability and is invaluable to engineers who manage hundreds of installations! All other controls – such as setting low-voltage alarms, initiating a battery equalisation, updating firmware and setting current limits – remain available to system owners and end-users. Real time data, historic data, and graph analysis also remain accessible. Tamper seal Installer settings-lock prevents unwanted changes. End-users can break the seal in an emergency at any time using the ‘lost password’ function. Engineers or installers will be notified if the tamper seal has been unlocked next time they connect to the device. Take a look a this Video walkthrough: One-step lock Critical settings can be locked with a single click. The process can be repeated for each device in the system. There’s no need to remember the password as it will be stored by a password manager on the installer’s VRM account and their phone (or connecting device). No need to worry if the phone is lost. For the password holder all settings are editable, for users the critical settings become ‘view only’. Removing the Settings Lock is simple, too. Settings-lock can be removed either with the original password; with the PUK code; or by using a VEDirect cable. Which products can be ‘Settings Locked’? The products that now support the Settings lock feature are the BMV 712, all SmartShunts, all SmartSolar chargers, and the RS product range. The rollout continues, so even more products will support the feature soon – next up is the Orion XS DC to DC charger. Settings Lock – quick set up and easy to remove Go to the ‘Product Info’ tab Under Lock Product Settings choose ‘Add lock’ Choose a password or accept the auto-generated 8-figure password. (You can ‘copy’ the password to other system devices, if you wish – but it’s not recommended to use the same password for other installations.) You will now see a confirmation screen. For more information take a look at this slide presentation designed to quickly help you get familiar with VictronConnect’s powerful new tool!
Justin Tyers • 10 March 2024
Dutch sailors Crowned – World Champions 2024!
Many CONGRATULATIONS to our sponsored sailors of the 49erFX Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz who have taken back their World Champion title today (Sunday 10th March) in the ‘World’ sailing series in Lanzarote, Spain. After a fierce battle which could have gone either way right up until the 16th and final heat of the competition the Dutch Sailors have won back their NED ‘1’ sail number from the Swedish team Bobeck and Netzler. Last year the Swedish team (who are also ‘training partners’ with the Dutch team) took the title away from our Dutch sailors – and on Dutch territorial water! – so winning it back again today must feel all the sweeter! This win also makes Annette Duetz the most successful sailor of the 49erFX of all time – with four World titles to her credit. It was Day 4 of the six-day competition which changed everything for friends-and-rivals Sweden and Nederlands. The world’s number one and number two 49erFX teams had locked horns for three days leaving the Swedish team with a two point lead -but day 4 overturned that score leaving the Swedes in second place, trailing the Dutch by sixteen points. 2024 Lanzarote 49er and FX Worlds © Sailing Energy / Lanzarote Sailing Center 09 March, 2024 You might hope that kind of lead would put the Dutch on much firmer ground (to use exactly the wrong metaphor) but listen to what happened in one single heat and you’ll see how easily those points can be lost: The last race on Day 4 featured gusts and inexplicable lulls – so that decisions which looked great just a few seconds earlier seemed like madness moments later when a hole in the wind frequently left one single boat bobbing around in the doldrums whilst the rest of the fleet sailed past a few yards away. I don’t know what it was like on board NED2 placing all their chips in this decision …or that one – but it was a hand-wringing experience for viewers at home to watch our sailors parked up on the motorway. During the 30 minute ordeal NED2 tried every place on the scorecard between 1st and 15th …eventually settling for 5th over the line. That’s how unpredictable the Lanzarote breeze was even for the most experienced sailors in the world. On DAY 5 the Swedish boat was uncatchable – absolutely flying to the finish line in the first and second races of the day. They seemed to have a higher gear in the box as they skimmed over the waves providing at least an extra knot of speed which no other competitor could find. Their technique could not be faulted, particularly on the more dangerous downwind legs: Travelling faster than the waves, every few seconds the boat falls over the crest it has overtaken and plunges into the trough below. The bow, pointing down, is in danger of submerging which might trip the boat – like locking the front wheel on a motorbike – causing a ‘pitch pole’ …or somersault. To avoid that danger the kite (the most powerful sail in the downwind set-up) has to be de-powered by slacking the control line. These windy conditions favoured Bobeck and Neztler (who are tall) – and their sailing technique allowed them to put a stunning 300m between them and second-placed Germany …and a whopping 500m lead over the Dutch, in 5th. The swedes easily won that race. Odile and Annette ultimately finished in 3rd. 2024 Lanzarote 49er and FX Worlds © Sailing Energy / Lanzarote Sailing Center 09 March, 2024 In the second race of the day Sweden clinched another 1st with the Dutch boat in second place – but it was in the final race of the day which provided the best dramatic action between these top two World Champion contenders: With the Dutch boat enjoying a complete change of the day’s fortune – well out in the lead – the Swedes were trying to make-good a bad start and had done well to climb into second place – 200 metres behind the Dutch whom they were chasing hard. Perhaps too hard. Flying over the water on trapezes with only their toes touching the boat the Swedes were slamming over the waves with the wind coming from the starboard quarter (behind, right) when suddenly they hit a wave which threw them up into the air from where they crashed down onto the next rising wave which swamped them, wiping Netzler clean overboard. Bobeck clung on to the rigging and the boat continued to sail for almost 200 metres before capsizing. A drone, happening to be flying along behind them at exactly the right moment captured breathtaking footage of the event!: There was no recovering from that disaster and the day ended with the Dutch team in first place 25 points ahead of the Swedes, and the Italian boat’s Germani and Bertuzzi in third. On the last day of racing a bad start saw the Dutch boat way down in the teens of the fleet most of the time, finishing in 17th with the Swedish team crossing in 3rd – keeping their hopes of retaining their World Champion title alive and setting us all up for a nail-biting finish right up to the very last ‘medal’ race of the event. Our sailors needed to finish in the top eight – so their tactic was to produce a professional risk-free performance. Clinching a two place lead over the Swedish boat right from the start they dominated – copying the Swedish moves throughout race, caging them, and tactically spoiling all of the Swede’s new initiatives. There’s more to world class sailing than brilliant boat handling! Many many congratulations to our sponsored sailors – we’re proud of you, and admire your passion to be the world’s number one! Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz as a team are driven – and love what they do! 2024 Lanzarote 49er and FX Worlds © Sailing Energy / Lanzarote Sailing Center 09 March, 2024
Justin Tyers • 08 March 2024
49erFX – Sailors back with a splash!
The 2024 sailing season has begun at Marina Rubicòn, Lanzarote, Spain and the search is on for this year’s World Champions! Our sponsored Dutch sailors Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz who sail the mad-fast Olympic skiff known as the 49erFX have held that title twice – but last year narrowly conceded it to the Swedish team of Bobeck and Netzler. This year they’re back. And they mean business!! At the time of writing the six-day competition is half-way through and the score board finds the current world champions – Swedish sailors Bobeck and Netzler – in first place with our Dutch team in second place. I guess that’s exactly how the new season should begin! Watch Live video! From today, Friday 8th, the event will be broadcasting live video with commentary. We hope you will join us in following the action! You can watch the live feed from the event HERE . In a fleet of 51 boats just two points separate the two leading vessels – and with nine more races to run over the next three days, we’re all set for a truly nail-biting competition! Even the weather forecast promises the crews won’t always get a smooth ride! The competition so far… The surprises began right from day one: To avoid overcrowding at the turns, the fleet of fifty boats were split into two groups – each sailing a separate course. A northerly wind was blowing 10 to 15 knots over a plunging swell – yet when the racing started the conditions on each course could not have been more different, with lulls and smooth seas on one, and gusty winds over the heaving water on the other! The smooth water group raced tactically between the lulls – whilst the rough-water group fought hard to keep their skiffs upright! In fact there were many capsizes in the rough-water fleet amongst whom our sailors Odile and Annette were competing, but ‘guess what?’, they avoided all dangers to finish the day right at the front of the fleet, tying on points with (and here’s another surprise) the team from China. China have been working hard at their craft, but not until this week had they been counted amongst the 49erFX elite. Day 2… It was on the second day of the event that the Swedish reigning World Champions took their rightful place at number one on the score card – with the Dutch team in second place. 2024 Lanzarote 49er and FX Worlds © Sailing Energy / Lanzarote Sailing Center 07 March, 2024 Day 3… The leader board remains unchanged since yesterday, but Odile and Annette have a technical advantage over the swedes in that they have fewer points: the race rules allows teams to strike out their worst-scoring heat throughout the competition. An unlucky race can be scratched from a team’s score – but that leaves any past bad performance bare. As the race continues over the next three days we’ll be on the edge of our seats watching how the teams perform in the second half of the competition and over the weekend. Keep up with the results… The score card is updated immediately after each heat and can be found here …along with live/replay trackers , a summary of the day’s news and a gallery of photos and video showing the highlights of all the day’s excitement on the water! If you’re unable to follow the action – don’t worry, we’ll let you know on Sunday at the close of the competition how the Dutch team got on, of course! We’re thrilled to see our team back in action, clearing themselves a space at the top, and determined to take Gold! As sponsors for the Dutch 49erFX team, we’re inspired by their constant striving to be the best they can be!
Justin Tyers • 23 February 2024
Node-RED – update for Victron users
In this blog Dirk-Jan Faber shows us some of the new tools which have been made available in the latest version changes to Node RED, and where to find the latest files. Between releases 3.14 to 3.20 quite a lot has changed on the Node-RED nodes, but not all of the changes are immediately obvious when you check your Node-RED flows. In this blog post I’ll walk you through the changes that will help you to create more efficient and easy-to-use flows. If you are not already familiar with Node-RED, you can read all about it here . Nodes showing the last seen value Previously , the input nodes reported “ O k” or “( D is) C onnected ” as a status. With the update to 3.20 this behavio u r has changed – it now reports the last value seen by the node. This is how the input node used to appear: It now appears like this, for example: Having your flow open and being able to view the PV power value change makes developing the rest of the flow a lot easier . If you expect to see values in kilowatts but you see the values in watts , you ’ll need to divide by 1000 t o obtain the expected value s . If you don’t like this new behavior , you can disable it via the Configuration nodes , and then select the Victron Energy Client . Previously this configuration node offered no ‘ options ’ – now there are two checkboxes . The first one allows you to disable the ‘ value ’ readings and revert simply to showing “ connected ”. You probably want to leave the option checked . Storing the last value in the global context Whilst in the Victron Client configuration, you may also notice the new “Context store” option. Enabling this will result in the node storing the last seen value into the global context. This is a way to store information that can be shared between different nodes without using the messages that pass through a flow. The values are stored under ‘victronenergy’ in an object containing all of the seen values. With this, you can fetch the latest value from the context by using a change node (or directly from a function node). Perhaps not everyone will want to use this, but it can simplify your flows. The above picture shows that my current flows have 3 input nodes: A system node, showing the VRM portal ID of the GX device A temperature sensor, showing the current temperature. The temperature meter has device instance 21. And thirdly, a tank sensor with device instance 25, shows the battery voltage. With this data, I can use a change node to set the msg.payload to the latest battery voltage of the tank. The change node needs to be configured to retrieve “ victronenergy.tank ._ 25.BatteryVoltage ” from the global context in order to get that information. The device instance is used to differentiate between multiple devices. These id’s will vary depending on your installation. In the drop-down menu of the custom input and custom output nodes you may also notice these identification numbers. The edit panel of the change node then looks simliar to this: Using the custom input and output nodes The two custom nodes have also been recently added and I would like to explain their use, as they are quite versatile. These two nodes use the complete underlying communication bus, where all of the other nodes also read from, and write to. The normal Victron nodes only show a filtered result. This means that you might be able to find values in the custom nodes which haven’t been made available in the task-specific node. Usually some product-specific values can be retrieved from here; e.g. the Refresh time from a Victron grid meter. Also, things like a (numerical representation) of the firmware version. One thing to be aware of is that you do need to be careful when writing values with the custom output node. There might be system processes also writing to the same entries, causing the system to get confused. Node-RED Dashboard 2.0 Node RED is migrating from dashboard version 1.0 to version 2.0. Read the full statement on why they are pushing this successor here . In order to get started with dashboard 2.0, you will need to add [ @flowfuse/node-red-dashboard ] to your palette. After y ou’v e installe d th e module, a new til e wil l appea r on th e Venus OS Large menu on VRM, thu s allowin g yo u t o access th e new dashboard easil y via VRM. More Victron nodes Although not being shipped by default, there are some extra installable nodes, which can be helpful for Victron systems. These can be installed via the install tab on the Manage palette menu item. Everyone can create new nodes and publish them. Finding new nodes can be done by searching for “victron” in the search tab on https://flows.nodered.org/search?term=victron I’ll cover two of them below , but there are several more to discover . Also , when you look for inspiration or more examples , check out the examples here . Victron VRM API This node allows you to directly query the VRM API for information on your site. You will need to create an access token first to get started, but once you’ve done that, you can perform several queries. E.g. get the solar forecast for your site. More information on the VRM API can be found here . Node to install : [ victron-vrm-api ] Victron Modbus Instead of using the default Victron nodes, some people prefer to get values via the modbus instead. This node makes it easier to access the correct values. As this node uses the configuration of node-red-contrib-modbus to make the connection, you will need to install that node first, before getting this to work. Once installed, you can just select the value you want to retrieve or write to from the dropdown. You will also need to input the Unit ID to make this work, but that can be easily found in the Remote Console under Settings -> Services -> Modbus TCP -> Available services. Nodes to install: [ node -red- contrib – modbus ] [ node -red- contrib – victron-modbus ]
Justin Tyers • 26 January 2024
Information Delivery …arriving soon
If your business is located in the Netherlands or Belgium and you’d like hands-on, one-to-one information about installing Energy Storage Systems – this tour is made for you. From February 1st you can request our Blue Power Demonstration Van comes straight to your door. It’s equipped with fully-operational energy storage systems – the ones you’re most likely to install in Homes and Businesses. Plus there’s expert information on hand to answer any question you may have! Step on board and get close to 3-Phase, Off-grid and Grid-tied energy storage systems. You’ll receive professional guidance about: system design, choosing the right devices for the job, the wiring process; final checks and commissioning – allowing you to achieve the perfect system for your clients’ needs. Who is the demonstration van for? If you’re an installer of Energy Storage Systems for the Home, Office, or for Industry, you’ll find the Blue Power Demonstration van has been built to help you understand all that can be achieved by using our devices. If you have Maintenance contracts – we’ll help you explore what becomes possible with VRM remote monitoring. What systems will I see? There are three live systems installed in the van: (D)ESS single phase in a three phase system – devices include a Multi RS Solar 6kVA Inverter/Charger for 48V storage (a Pylontech US5000 lithium bank is used in this instance) which has two MPPT trackers each capable of harvesting up to 3kWp; an Energy meter VM-3p75ct suitable for single- or three-phase supply; an EV Charging station , and a touch screen user interface – the Ekrano GX communication centre facilitates data communication between devices and allows remote monitoring for engineers and end-users alike via the Victron Remote Management platform VRM . (D)ESS 3-phase uninterruptible power is demonstrated using: Three MultiPlus 48/5kVA units configured for 3-Phase 230/400VAC UPS. There’s a high voltage SmartSolar MPPT RS for large solar arrays, and a Lynx Distributor DC busbar with monitored fuses takes care of the DC distribution to and from a Pylontech US5000 lithium bank. A Cerbo GX provides system communication to a GX Touch display …and, of course, to anywhere in the world using VRM. The van itself is powered by an All-in-One Easysolar device. Super-easy to install it combines a 1600W Inverter/Charger, an MPPT Solar Charger, and four RCD monitored AC outlets protected by two 10A and two 16A breakers. This system includes two batteries – 12/200Ah Lithium Battery Smart …and a Lynx Smart BMS controls battery charging. How many delegates can attend – and how long does the session last? Up to five delegates can attend at any one time. During a two-hour session you can ask all the questions you have about how each device is chosen and configured to provide reliable power for years to come. How can I request a visit? You can either get in touch with us direct at sales@victronenergy.com – telling us where you are located and what work you do; or you can make your request via your distributor – they may be able to facilitate a demonstration at their own premises. Get in touch now, and follow the know-how.
Justin Tyers • 12 January 2024
Out Now! – Victron Calendar 2024
Every year we at Victron Energy meet the people behind some of our most exciting installations, set up a photo-shoot, and use the most dramatic images for our all-action Calendar! We think you’ll like it… Featuring power applications on land, on water, at work, and at play the Victron Energy Calendar 2024 shows the fun and the sheer power which becomes possible with our distinctive ‘blue-boxes’ – whether you’re mobile, working or living remotely, enjoying your hobby to the max …or just relaxing for a while and taking in some amazing scenery! Why not give a copy away to all your regular customers and installers. For them it’s a really useful gift which lasts all year – helping them to plan their work, rest and play at the same time as connecting with you and your business, everyday. Keep a copy of the Victron Calendar on the wall right there where customers and colleagues can see it. It will provide inspiration for some really cool power applications and underpin your commitment to quality, professionalism and innovation when designing tailor made solutions to your customer’s needs. Ask your distributor for a copy. Let’s take a preview of those striking images which will brighten your office wall throughout the year!:
Justin Tyers • 28 December 2023
Teamwork secures Fronius award
We wish you a healthy, happy and successful 2024. Bring it on! Let’s wrap up 2023 with a story from one of our Polish installers about their greatest achievement of the year. Congratulations to Patrycjusz Kopacz – CEO & Founder at greenOn.pl – and his team who have been recognised by the long-established innovator in electronics best known for their AC Inverters – Fronius . The award for ‘ The Best Photovoltaic Installation with Energy Management System in Poland 2023 ‘ was made at the Fronius System Partners Conference which took place in Salzburg, Austria last month. The award demonstrates what can be achieved by a motivated and energetic installation team working with other industry specialists to form a well-considered installation plan. The winning installation powers a substantial private residence in Poland’s southern city of Bystra and helps provide the annual energy consumption of 35,000 kWh. A significant part of this consumption is used to feed a heat pump. More is required for the domestic EV charger. That level of power demand is at the very limit of what can be provided by the customer’s local electricity network …sometimes just beyond it! Consequently it is important that the new system offered power-peak shaving; an uninterrupted power supply (of course); and significant cost savings on the energy bill. At tender, only ‘g reenOn’ – working in collaboration with the technical assistance of Michał Pobłocki at Globtechnic – were able to meet all the customer’s requirements. Patrycjusz says: When I started working on the project, I knew that it would not be another standard energy storage system. Almost a year ago, we started the implementation process by coming up with the power installation concept and a suitable location to install all the equipment. A special building was constructed for this purpose, which includes three parking spaces and an EV charging station. There were no plans to heat the building, so the next problem was to ensure the batteries never fell below their operating temperature. In the region, the outdoor temperature falls well below zero frequently, for at least 4 months of the year. The solution was to design a special cabinet with its own heating and air conditioning in which a steady temperature can be maintained. The cabinet also provides protection against dust and other environmental factors. A 40kWp solar array had been installed a few years earlier by a different contractor but Patrycjusz had strong reservations about incorporating that into the new installation in it’s existing form: We’d been observing the operation of the PV system for two years and were able to demonstrate some technical errors which were limiting its effectiveness. Deciding to re-build the solar array from scratch the team achieved about 30% more energy from the same panels. Patrycjusz explains: We also decided to remove the Fronius Symo photovoltaic inverters from the house and install them in the new building. This allowed us to reduce the temperature at their confined location and to eliminate DC cables entirely from the house. To ensure uninterrupted operation of the system, we installed three Victron Energy Quattro 15000VA inverters, one for each phase, and 16 Pytes batteries to provide a total storage capacity of 81.9 kWh. The system comprises 3 x Quattro 48/15000/200-100/100 Cerbo GX + Touch 50 3 x Lynx Power In EV Charging Station NS + Black front EV Charger BMW Energy meter ET340 16 x Pytes E-Box-48100R-C 5,12kWh Specially designed rack cabinet PV Inverters 2 x Fronius Symo 7.0.3-M, Fronius Symo 12.5.3-M, Fronius Symo 10.0.3-M Patrycjusz says: Modern technology and art often go hand in hand. The renewable energy systems we build serve a purpose, but they are also visually appealing. That’s why we decided to submit our system to the competition organized by Fronius International and Fronius Poland. Winning first prize for the Best Photovoltaic Installation with Energy Management System in Poland is a huge distinction of which we are very proud, but above all a confirmation that our hard work, innovative ideas and passion bring measurable results. Let’s take a look at the installation: Patrycjusz would also like to thank: Ekosun – design facilities, technical and logistic support, Globtechnic – Victron Energy distributor and technical support Pytes Energy – manufacturer of energy storage Prefel.PL – prefabrication of an energy storage cabinet with a heating and cooling system
Justin Tyers • 18 December 2023
One million active users for VictronConnect!
In 2015 we set out to create the world’s best mobile power-management app. VictronConnect has a million active users – but what can it do for you? The VictronConnect App allows intuitive monitoring, configuration and updating of Victron devices – straight from a phone or tablet. It’s a Pocket Powerhouse which connects you to your power system locally using Bluetooth, USB, Wifi, LAN – or via the internet from wherever you are in the world. The simple-to-use VictronConnect app puts power in the hands of users and engineers alike – providing: real time system data – voltage, temperature, current, tank-levels State of Charge and much more… 30-day historic data analyse power trends over 45-days change minor settings, or carry out whole-system programming update firmware instant configuration – apply whole-system settings from a settings library Demo Library – explore features of products you don’t yet own set alarms, operate remote switching receive warnings and notifications Continuous development The VictronConnect team are continually expanding the capability of what is already the most comprehensive power management app in the world. We’ll take a look at what’s coming in early 2024 in a moment – but first let’s look back at what’s already been achieved. VictronConnect – it began with an idea Back in 2015 the ColorControl GX provided a visual representation of the installation data, but the potential for user-experience had yet to be explored. Coincidentally, at about the same time a young software engineer in Spain – Jesús Pérez – had just blown up his microwave whilst experimenting with a PV energy system he’d bought for a bargain price. His next move was to invest in Victron Energy devices which allowed him to develop his own system configurations using Victron’s open-source software. He didn’t waste much time. Reconfiguring a redundant internet router he engineered it to gather information from Victron devices – just as if it were a Color Control GX- and send system data to his personal cloud storage, website and phone. Writing a blog about how that had been achieved was enough to secure him employment with our software development team! On his way home from the office one day, on a hunch he bought an Android to USB adaptor and worked through the night on what he describes as a ‘nerdy project’ to enable his BMV700 battery monitor to present data on his phone. His colleagues found the idea so interesting that some weeks later he was offered the opportunity of taking over the development of our nascent VictronConnect app from the out-sourced consultants and re-building it from scratch, in-house. Key Milestones in the development of VictronConnect [Click to enlarge image] Jesús Pérez laments that so many years work can be summed up in so few words – but here are the key milestones in VictronConnect development story! March 2015 – At its launch, VictronConnect offered data monitoring in iOS November 2015 – Configure with USB added – Android only January 2016 – Configure using Bluetooth – Android and iOS March 2016 – Windows and macOS compatible March 2016 – Firmware Update – Prompt and action December 2016 – Add custom names for products August 2017 – Libraries available: Settings Files and Product Demos January 2018 – Brand new visual presentation March 2018 – Smart networking Parallel charging and sense data sharing August 2018 VE.Bus smart dongle allows Multis and Quattros monitoring July 2019- Configure and update Multis and Quattros April 2020 – Access to VRM provides system management from anywhere in the world February 2021 – Inverter/Charger full configuration tools: 3-Phase, Split-, Parallel etc. July 2022 – Instant Readout: at-a-glance system data; and Stored Trends: 30-day history graph June 2023 – Multi RS & Inverter RS: full configure tools November 2023 – Support for Victron Energy Meter and Orion XS Coming Soon in 2024 – settings lock Beta Testers There have been many more incremental enhancements along the way. Each is rigorously tested in house, and then released to our 1000-or-so beta testers – whom we’d like to take this opportunity of thanking. Speaking about the achievements which Jesús and his team are most proud, he says: With a million active users, I’m pleased we have so few user-problems or complaints. We work hard to ensure that the app works faultlessly – even though so many phones on the market use non-standard hardware and system protocols. And I’m amazed at how normal it is nowadays for installers to configure a system with this simple tool. Not many years ago it was necessary to use complex tools and a laptop (with all the attendant irritations, like finding a power socket because the laptop battery was low…) when commissioning a system – whatever brand it was. And performing firmware updates was even more complicated. Now you just stand in front of the installation with a phone and in a few clicks you can set up anything from small- to industrial-sized installations. In fact using Victron equipment with VictronConnect you don’t even need to be in front of the installation – your colleague can do it remotely from the office while you’re tightening the last bolts! I think VictronConnect had a lot of to do with that. And innovations in user-experience have pushed standards higher across the industry. Coming soon: Settings Lock Let’s take a look at the next VictronConnect feature release – due early 2024. Settings lock resists alterations being made to the programming of an installation by introducing password access. It will still be possible for users to access their data, of course, and to implement changes which don’t affect the system’s performance. Installers will not need to remember their password as it is stored remotely in the VRM cloud. Remote installations having only intermittent internet connection, or none at all – or installations which are not registered on the VRM platform – can be protected by the installer-password feature. Full details of this new feature will be announced soon. With One million active users – what better time to meet the developer! My name is Jesús Pérez, and since 2014 I have worked as a software engineer at Victron Energy. My first task upon joining the company was the redesign of the Color Control GX user interface, a design that the rest of the GX products have inherited. Although I continue to collaborate with the interface and other pieces of software for GX products, the project that occupies most of my time is VictronConnect in which I play the role of product owner and lead developer. I grew up in Torrent, a town 10km from the city of Valencia where I studied software engineering. There I worked for several years in the IT department of a container terminal in the port of Valencia. Until I made the decision that it was not yet time to settle down and I went to live in Reading (England) where I lived and worked for a year. In the United Kingdom, I lived great moments, I met many people, as well as British culture and many others. This gave me good tools and experience for my next stage, moving to Groningen, Netherlands. My interest in technology arose in me as a child, I remember being fascinated watching how my father fixed that old television, taking readings with a multimeter until he found out which component was failing, then he replaced it and voila, it worked again! My main passion has always been technology in general and computing specifically. Whenever I can I work on a personal project related to it. One of these projects, a monitoring software for my brand new BMV-600 caught the attention of Matthijs Vader, who contacted me to write about my project on this very blog and the rest is history… Another of my hobbies is cooking, I like to challenge myself to cook dishes from my favorite restaurants at home and I don’t stop until I match the flavor, although I have to say that most of the time I end up surpassing it. So in my free time you will always find me with a laptop or a frying pan in my hands, as long as I am not busy with what I enjoy most in my life: spending time doing any activity with my family. I currently reside in Valencia where I have finally settled down and live happily with my wife Mónica and my 21-month-old son Alonso. At home we are never bored. My wife and I are a great team and one of us always has some crazy idea in mind that keeps the whole family busy. Something we also love and try to do as much as we can is travel by road, with a vaguely defined destination without scheduled intermediate stops, spending the night in the places we find most interesting.
Justin Tyers • 01 December 2023
Christmas Quiz 2023 – has begun!
To enter go to Victron Professional , log in and click on the ‘Christmas Quiz’ tab at the top of the page. You can learn all about the quiz in yesterday’s blogpost . Hint: Setting a daily reminder to take part will help you climb the ladder! Good luck!
Justin Tyers • 30 November 2023
Get your skates on!
It’s December 1st tomorrow which can only mean ONE thing: …the first day of the Victron Energy Christmas quiz! This year we’ve got five amazing prizes – check them out! Five Fabulous Prizes First of all – the most desirable tool for the professional electronics installer: it’s an electric crimper capable of securing lugs and connectors to any cable between 6mm and 150mm section with a clamping force of 3.5 tons – in under four seconds! The other fantastic prizes you can choose from are: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Swell Trinity 100 – in-line skates for stylish city rollers from SkatePro Tablet – Apple or Android. Choose your preferred OS. ( Samsung shown) Victory Energy Surprise Box! You won’t be disappointed when you open it! Starts on December 1st The competition starts on December 1st 2023 (that’s tomorrow!) and ends on Christmas Eve. Each day for 24 days we will ask you a Victron Energy themed question. They’re not difficult, and the answers to all of them can be found on our website – so you’re in with a chance to win whether you’ve been using our devices for years …or you’ve only recently discovered our brand (in which case, Welcome!) So you definitely have a chance to win yourself a fantastic Christmas pressie! How to play To win one of these five great prizes, answer one multiple-choice question per day for 24 days in the run up to Christmas. The winner with the most correct answers gets to choose their prize first. Runners-up get to choose from the remaining prizes. Don’t worry if you miss a day …or two – if you answer a lot of questions correctly you could still be one of our five winners! How to enter Each day, for 24 days, you will find a new question on the Victron Professional portal. If you don’t yet have a Victron Professional account, you’re very welcome to register one – click the ‘Sign Up’ box on that page. Why not set yourself a daily reminder? Coffee – then Victron Advent Calendar Competition ! Beginning December 1st visit Victron Professional , log in and click on the blue Christmas Quiz tab at the top of the page. It looks like this: That’s it! GOOD LUCK! The Christmas Quiz is not open to personnel directly employed by Victron Energy. In the event that a prize is sold out or unavailable you will be invited to choose a similar item which is available at the retailer.
Justin Tyers • 10 November 2023
METSTRADE 2023 – Will you be there?
The biggest marine equipment trade show METSTRADE opens from 15 until 17 November, in Amsterdam. We’ll be there, will you? Come and visit us on stand number 01.541 During the past 48 years of innovation Victron Energy have become best known for making the largest range of solar charge controllers in the world and a huge range of Inverters, Chargers, and Inverter/Chargers for the Marine, Industrial, Hybrid Generator, Mobile, Off-Grid, and Grid-connected power markets. We’ve also developed – and are continually adding features to – the most desirable app-based user-interfaces. Single-glance system status Deep-dive analysis with management control – for one system, or the hundreds of systems you control. Wind and Solar Priority – minimises use of shore power when docked Automatic relays – eg. generator auto-start/stop Instant-access mobile widgets Push-notifications to alert you to anything you should be aware of right now. METSTRADE 2023 – What can you see at Victron Energy? We’ve built live demonstrations featuring all our latest Marine products and Software developments – such as the Smart BuckBoost: Orion XS 12/12-50A DC-DC Allowing you to charge any battery from any alternator, the Orion XS 12/12-50A DC-DC DC-DC Charger can be used as a dual-battery charger or as a power supply. With a wide input and output voltage range, it features: Dual Battery charging from ‘Intelligent’ alternator – overcomes voltage fluctuation and/or cable drop. Configurable input/output current to 50A – add unlimited parallel units for even greater power Automatic engine-shutdown detection – eliminates extra wiring Low Voltage/Low Temperature shut down Instant Readout, and live status direct to your phone Efficient cooling thanks to aluminium circuit board technology VE.Direct port for optional integration with a communication centre. The charger has a four-stage adaptive charge algorithm. Controlled charging protects the alternator from being overloaded whilst charging lithium batteries. In power supply mode, the output voltage remains stable regardless of the applied load or fluctuating input voltage (within the specified range). Orion XS can be set to supply power only when the engine is running – eliminating the need to re-wire or add an engine detection sensor. Smart BuckBoost is programmed and monitored using the mobile VictronConnect App . Check out the full list of Orion XS features here . Ekrano GX The Ekrano GX is a fully-featured communication centre – quad-core, multi-port, touch-screen – which provides data compatibility and control between multiple Victron- and Third-party devices. The 7″ touchscreen allows finger-tip monitoring and control. Ekrano GX is also a gateway device to our Victron Remote Management (VRM) portal so that you can stay in touch with your vessel’s status – power, tank-levels, location, environmental conditions – from home, or from anywhere in the world. It can be ‘surface’ …or ‘flush-mounted’ – in which case the Ekrano GX is waterproof. Behind the display there is a comprehensive range of communication ports. Two relays provide automated actions – such as generator auto-start/stop. Victron Energy devices and events you’ll be able to see, touch and hear at METSTRADE: MultiPlus, Quattro and Skylla : Powerful Chargers and Inverter/Chargers – pure sine wave, high efficiency, ultra-reliable, wide-range of IP ratings for harsh environments SmartSolar Charge Controllers – maximise solar harvest in spite of shading Orion XS 12/12-50A DC-DC – charge any battery from any alternator Lynx Smart BMS 1000, Lynx Distributor 1000 – ‘T’ Class fuse option, M10 Busbar inter-connection Plus information-packed Live Discussions which are free to attend – [see ‘Power Session’ below.] Venus OS – Graphical User Interface (GUI) Like all our ‘GX’ communication centre devices the Ekrano GX runs our Venus OS. Coming soon – it will offer a super intuitive new way of viewing system data as GUI. Take a look at the Experience the power preview image shown above. Multi-Function Display (MFD) Integration Speaking of user-interfaces – our MFD demonstration will show you how easily Victron products integrate with leading navigation systems to present data straight to the Glass Bridge using HTML5 or NMEA2000. *Why not attend one of our twenty-minute ‘Power Sessions’ – live discussions to learn about Victron power products and MFD integration? [See ‘ Power Session’ below.] Solar and Wind Priority – put green power first There’s been quite a buzz around our recently-launched feature ‘Wind and Solar Priority’ which allows users to prioritise the use of ‘free’ green energy – even whilst the vessel is plugged into shore power! It overcomes the frustration of solar panels and wind turbines becoming almost useless in dock because they are overridden by the AC shore connection. Not now! Once enabled, shore power will only be used if the battery state-of-charge falls below a desired level; if there’s been a poor power-harvest for seven consecutive days; or to supply big loads. Solar and Wind Priority – enabled. Power Session – Live Discussions, Free, Every Day Come along to our live discussions – available four times per day – and learn about either: Intergrating Marine Energy Systems – in which we discuss our communication centre devices and software: Ekrano GX / Venus OS / VictronConnect / VRM / MFD / and our Wind and Solar Priority feature. Building Marine Energy Systems – in which we discuss Inverters/Chargers and the safe use of Alternators in power hungry systems. All the latest products. Each information-packed discussion runs for just 20 minutes, and each topic is available once in the morning and once in the afternoon on all show-days. METSTRADE takes place at RAI Amsterdam , Europaplein, 1078 GZ Amsterdam , The Netherlands See you there!
Justin Tyers • 08 November 2023
Speed skaters get fast results
Ice Skating is the winter National Sport of the Netherlands. Ice skating club ‘Gewest Fryslân’ use two rinks – Thialf and Elfstedenhal – where they run a successful training programme which finds and nurtures talent, and is constantly elevating skaters to the world stage. Fast and furious skating events cover distances of 500m, 1000m, 1500m 3000m and 5000m – with classes for both women, and for men (who also have a 10,000m event) – together with team relay events, and chaotic mass starts where up to 24 athletes complete 16 laps of the rink. It’s an exciting sport and we at Victron Energy are proud to sponsor the very successful Skaters of the club Gewest Fryslân. The season is off to a successful start with eyes on the World Cup Cycle. Let’s hear what it was like to attend the event: Sytse Prins – a well-known broadcaster, and competition ice skating promoter – had a ringside seat. “The excitement in the speed skating centre at Thialf was unprecedented a week ago. For each distance a remarkable 5 skaters secured spots for the World Cup Cycle which kicks off on November 10 in Obihiro, Japan. “With at least ten top skaters vying for a coveted ticket on each distance, the suspense rivaled that of an Olympic qualification tournament. “Gewest Fryslân had a strong representation offering 30 skaters for the event, making it the primary provider of participants for the tournament. While the renowned Dutch training institute for skating talents is not the usual source of skaters for the World Cup or World Championships, there are occasional standout performances, as seen this weekend. “Sanne in ‘t Hof may already be considered a fixture in the world elite, but skater Helga Drost certainly wasn’t …until now; she managed to secure a coveted ticket for the 1000 meters. This truly comes as a big surprise. For years, I’ve been trying to establish myself among the national elite, but I always fell just short. While others from my team could make the leap to a professional team, I seemed to be stuck. And just as I was considering stopping altogether, this happens to me; expressed an astonished Helga just after crossing the finish line. I was in the midst of planning a solo trip to Asia and Nepal to take some distance from skating. And now, suddenly, I’m going to Asia as a skater. It’s not only a big surprise but also a tremendous boost to continue . “Sanne in ‘t Hof has been a member of the top team of Gewest Fryslân for several years, previously combining it with training sessions with the Norwegian national team. Sanne excels in the 5000 meter in the Netherlands, seeking international competition to further improve. Since this year, she is a dual member of Region Fryslân and the international Team for Gold, consisting of top athletes from Japan and China. Despite feeling at home in the training institute in Friesland, a lack of training partners prompted her to cross the seas to faraway Asia. “This past weekend, she was briefly back at her home base. With success. Sanne effortlessly qualified for the upcoming World Cup circuit on the 3000 and 5000 meters and was happy to be ‘home’ in Friesland again. I’ve become a true globetrotter, but I’m always delighted to be with my own team at Thialf. The atmosphere and team spirit give me a warm feeling, and I perform well in that environment . “And that was evident with her qualification on the 3000 and 5000 meters. “Sanne and Helga will depart for Obihiro, Japan, next week. The cycle then continues with competitions in Beijing (China), Stavanger (Norway) and concludes the first series in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland, on December 8th to 10th. After that, the skaters will return to the team to prepare for the National Championships – a qualifying event for the next series of World Cups and the ISU European Championships in Thialf Heerenveen.” At the time of writing Helga and Sanne have traveled to Obihiro, to attend the International Skating Union World Cup heats this coming weekend. We wish them continued success and will keep you informed of their progress.
Justin Tyers • 27 October 2023
Training Poland’s installers
Polish authorized distributor of Victron Energy SunTrack decided a few years ago that the secret of success will be to provide as much product knowledge as their installers wish to consume. In-depth, easily-accessible information helps engineers – and end-users – to understand and fully optimise battery-based power installations which will exceed expectation. On SunTrack’s website no opportunity has been missed to offer visitors more information about the products they are searching for. Product listings offer general ‘orientation’ – as well as a more detailed description for those wishing to dig deeper. More widely on the web – SunTrack contribute expert articles to popular industry web portals. SunTrack are also building a YouTube video library which hosts educational courses in the Polish language. They’ve commissioned a professional presenter to disseminate information with a rolling program of new topics being added all the time. Purpose-made educational facility In order to support their installers at every stage – from equipment selection, through assembly and installation, to system startup – SunTrack have also invested in their own purpose-built training facility at which they offer theoretical and practical training on the design and installation of Victron Energy systems for home and industry, automotive, and the marine sectors. At theses training sessions they take pride in creating easy-to-understand face to face presentations backed by innovative visuals such as the following animation which helps explain how a three-phase grid-tied installation will respond to various events. In their training room – which is dedicated exclusively to Victron Energy training – a three-phase Victron MultiPlus system has been installed which allows for practical hands-on training during which participants can learn in real-life how to design, connect and program devices in various configurations. SunTrack believe their marketing and educational initiatives not only achieve better results for the company, but without them the Victron Energy brand would be far less recognisable in Poland, greatly hindering the work of installers. SunTrack’s founder Filip Mączyński says: “Brand recognition and perception are key matters in times of high competition and market flooding by Chinese companies. It’s important to work continually on brand recognition among end customers because without it, they will not choose Victron Energy solutions, but instead will look more favourably at other brands which in the vast majority of cases will be significantly lower in quality.” ‘SunTrack’ Technical Manager and engineer Michał Kata, is the course trainer and the product manager for Victron Energy. Interview with SunTrack Installer – Piotr Sejfried “I consistently participate in training sessions offered by SunTrack. Our collaboration is a true synergy – their professionalism and commitment allow me to always be a step ahead of the market. Victron Energy products symbolize the essence of quality for me, which I strive to deliver to my clients, whether we’re talking about home or industrial installations. Piotr Sejfried is a YouTube channel creator (EkoNiezależny) and an expert in Victron Energy-based installations My passion for energy independence is vividly expressed on my YouTube channel. On this platform, I delve into the technical intricacies of energy storage, showcasing the myriad benefits of owning energy storage systems and living off- grid. Notably, I am immensely proud of having implemented the first fully off-grid installation in Poland, based on Victron Energy Quattro inverters, and it’s situated in my own home. This serves as a tangible testament to the feasibility and advantages of such a lifestyle in our country. Thanks to the close cooperation with SunTrack, I feel that I have not only the tools but also the inspiration to spread the idea of energy sovereignty among my community.”
Justin Tyers • 08 September 2023
Latin American Distributers meet in shipping lane
Victron Distributors from 25 countries met recently in Panama for some top flight training – and fun. It was a convenient location for our Latin American distributors to meet face to face and hear first-hand the priorities Victron has set for itself in terms of product development for their region, the ways in which we are meeting the demands of rapid growth, to provide us with feedback about their local customers, together with some lively open-discussions. During the event tuition was provided on three important installation topics: Advanced VE Configure – a detailed discussion about using the VE Configure tool to achieve tailor-made solutions to suit unique client applications Mobile installations – autonomous power supply for Marine and Vehicle applications Parallel, split- and three-phase configuration – supplying power to high demand appliances Attendees also had the opportunity for some hands-on training. Divided into smaller groups they rotated between three live installations allowing them to put into practise the theoretical instruction they had received. In fact, two distributor meetings were held which were identical in every way except that one was conducted in Spanish, and the other in English in order to make the content more accessible to visitors from, respectively, Central and South America, and also from Caribbean nations. The events – which had been in planning for a year, and in preparation for many months – were the initiative of David Lopez, who delivered the courses to 55 attendees in company with Jorge Ortiz, David Gutierrez, Juan Alberto Felix, Jan Klumpenaar and our ambassadors in the region: Gerrit Jacobs (Panama) and Heraldo Jara (Chile) The event borrowed some of the curriculum which has been appreciated by attendees to our well-established European distributor meetings – in which we try to provide liberal access to our corporate thinking, information about our progress, and share our strategic frameworks. Both the European and Lat Am meetings recognise the importance of inclusivity – offering audience participation at informal ‘on-stage sofa-discussions’ which provide the opportunity to ask bigger questions, obtain answers …and which often lead to unexpected benefits for all participants – and even eureka moments! There was an awards ceremony for contribution and generous sharing which saw presentations go to representatives from Electec (Saint Maarten), Solar Watt Systems (Barbados), Temp-Rite (Trinidad & Tobago) – Baratec (Argentina), Battery Depot (Mexico), and Novum Solar (Peru). The events provided some well thought-out social events – the crown jewel of which was a trip along the Panama Canal in a 100 passenger private charter boat, during which participants enjoyed a passage through a couple of the locks witnessing how the world’s commerce is efficiently conducted through one of the busiest commercial seaways in the world. It also provided an opportunity for distributors to network, discuss and share some of the challenges and they face and suggest ways in which they have been able to overcome difficulties and solve problems. The evening entertainment was held at an Indoor Bowling club – a sport in which everyone can participate, relax and enjoy. Juan Alberto, a Basketball enthusiast, played a high shot taking out all ten pins, the back wall and most of Panama’s electricity grid. The event organisers were rewarded with an avalanche of positive feedback concerning the commercial and technical information shared; and as for the rest and relaxation – participants were thrilled with the Panama Canal cruise with a number of them mentioning that it was on their bucket list, anyway! Good choice. Here’s what they had to say: Veronica Ortega – Petasolar (Republica Dominicana) – “It was one of the best meetings in this sector that I have attended during my life and it was the most creative. We never got bored.” Fabricio Bussolini – Enertik Chile and Argentina – “technically it was very good, very dynamic. We also enjoyed sharing opinions with other distributors, it created cooperations with other colleagues around the world ” We’d like to extend a big thank you to all the distributors who were able to attend – and to those who they left back-in-the-office which provided them with the opportunity. Also – well done to the organisers for delivering a very professional and beneficial event. The conference venue was The Westin Playa Bonita, Panama. Let’s take a look at the delegates at work: …and at play:
Justin Tyers • 25 August 2023
Distributors being the change
With an interest in Camping in remote places to see wild nature – but with all the comforts of home – Ed Jones founded Off-Grid Power Systems initially to share his knowledge of mobile power systems and to serve the RV community. But that business quickly expanded into Speciality vehicles – such as mobile health clinics, food trucks and first-responder vehicles; and also into off-grid homes, businesses, and agriculture. The expansion he didn’t see coming was into training! The fact is everyone’s interested in saving costs on their energy bills by tapping into solar, or in smart energy generation using alternators that they probably already own; and everyone is increasingly interested in energy security – storing their own energy using cutting-edge technology battery chemistry to meet any power demand, night or day. Each of us is different, and the solutions to our power needs are boundless. To serve everyone well you just have to spread some know-how. Ed decided to host Victron Energy training from his own premises to increase brand awareness in his region – Delaware, Ohio, USA – and to expand the distribution side of his business. In partnership with Victron sales managers and training specialists he helped draw up a two-day training curriculum which was appropriate to the typical customer-demand is his area. Eighteen delegates learned system design, installation topography and programming for the applications they’re most likely to encounter. The delegates were local installers already experienced in battery-based power systems, yet keen to learn how our devices and software can be set up and programmed to offer tailor-made solutions for any customer’s private power needs. The goal, of course, is not to meet those needs but to exceed them by a country mile – installing systems which customers will find easy-to-use, intuitive to monitor, and where all the clever stuff happens automatically, behind the scenes. The training took place at four stations in groups of up to six delegates, and some of the content reflects Ed’s experience of the industry in his location, helping local installers to choose devices appropriate to applications from small RV’s to large off-grid sites. Taking one recent customer – a farmer – Off-Grid Power Systems was given the brief of providing an off-grid supply for a house, a workshop, and for an industrial-sized meat processing plant. The system was to serve three buildings but with some crossover so that unused capacity in one location could be used elsewhere in the farmstead. The actual installation comprises of two units – one principally for home, the other for work – each having their own solar installations, inverters, and battery storage, but they are linked so that each system can operate as back up for the other – and each system ‘knows’ how the other one is getting on. Training allows system designers and installers to choose the right devices, with the right programming to perfectly meet customer needs. The training sessions offer hands-on guided tutorials with real live equipment, which can be wired, programmed, and then tested for troubleshooting. Ed says that the next training session, planned for November, will accommodate 24 delegates, and he can see a way to build that to 30 using his present facitilites. True to all developing programmes each future training session will incorporate new training material and in-the-room improvements based on feedback. The training syllabus was created and delivered in partnership with Victron Energy Sales Manager Rich Shea who says: Events like this reaffirm my belief that hands-on technical training with Victron Energy products is the best way to realize the full potential of our systems, both in the technical specifications we can meet, and also in the variety of commercial applications to which Victron Energy components can be applied. Any time you need to create, convert, or store energy at one time or location to be put to use at some other time or location, you will find a combination of Victron products to achieve this goal. Participants in the Hands On Distributor Trainings reflect this diversity of application and opportunity. From the professional OEM RV installer, to the local marine chandlery manager, to the Off-Grid systems designer- each one brings to the table a different set of needs and experiences. When everyone participates and shares their background and technical abilities in an open forum like this, they gain the confidence to dig deeper into our products and see concrete examples of where their efforts can take them. The horizon of commercial opportunities expands for them, while at the same time their comfort with Victron Energy products increases. Enthusiasm starts to build and participants leave with a new perspective on how their business can grow. The best part for me is that I can depart from a training event like this feeling confident that Off-Grid Power Systems has the knowledge and drive to keep this momentum going for their customers. ============ If you’d like to take the service you provide on to a new level and are interested in hearing how you could host Victron training in your area the first step is to talk to your Victron Sales Manager. We look forward to hearing from you.
Justin Tyers • 19 August 2023
Our Sailors earn a place at 2024 Summer Olympics!
Many congratulations to our sponsored sailors Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz who have just taken the Silver Medal in their latest Olympic-qualifying event! Completing their latest event yesterday (Friday 18th) sailing the super-fast skiff the 49erFX in their home waters at the Allianz Sailing World Championships, held at The Hague, Nederland, over a wide range of sea, tide and wind conditions the Dutch sailing duo secured their medal in spite of injury (sail-handler and foredeck foot-worker Annette raced wearing a knee brace) and in spite of a disqualification in race 6 for an over-zealous rounding of the third mark which burdened them with a 30 point penalty. Yet still they managed to stay ahead of 56 other boats! Anyone who has ever finished last in a local yacht club race (am I alone?) will know that achieving 2nd place among a 58-boat fleet crewed by the world’s best sailors – in a competition as grand as the World Championships – is an AMAZING achievement! Throughout the sailing season Odile and Annette have consistently delivered top-performances keeping their names on the medal board. Denmark’s Nojgaard and Bojsen-Moller emerging from a trough Rolling seas and high winds earlier in the competition threw many sailors overboard, whilst the soft breezes and strong tides towards the end of the event tested every team’s tactics with many pile-ups at the marks. During one event – the dinghy class known as the Ilca 7 in which seventy-boats were competing – there was a whirlpool-crush at the first turn which only became more chaotic as the boats which had missed the mark in the strong tide performed a ‘turn-around’ – presenting themselves at the mark moments later for a second time as yet more competitors piled in from further down the fleet. It became so crowded you couldn’t see the mark from any direction – making it impossible to say which boats had committed an infringement and which had gone clear! The conditions throughout the event were challenging for every one of the event’s 1000 sailors. Odile and Annette’s achievement means they have now qualified to represent The Nederlands at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. Of course they will be disappointed not to have taken Gold to retain the World Champion title – but I suspect they are merely lending 🙂 that distinction to Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler, of Sweden for one year only in recognition of a very creditable performance during this event in which they finished half of the heats in first place. Taking the Bronze medal were the Australians Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine . We wish Odile and Annette fair winds and happy travels during the long months of training which lie ahead now that they can be certain of their appearance on the grandest stage of all – next year’s Summer Olympics, which will be hosted by Paris.
Justin Tyers • 18 July 2023
Gold Rush!
The Nederland World Champion 49erFX sailing duo Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz absolutely smashed it at the World Sailing Olympic Summer Games Paris 2024 Test Event – which was held in Marseille, France, concluding on Sunday. If you were to judge only by the results table, this looks like an easy win for our sponsored sailors whose partnership has already notched up a string of Gold and Silver medals. But appearances can be deceptive. Let’s start by taking a look at that impressive scorecard : There were 13 races with 23 competing boats. Odile and Annette – who won their Gold medal with a 30 point lead separating them from their nearest rivals in the Brazilian boat – chalked up the following finish-line places over the five-day event: 1,1,1,1,2,2,3,3,4,6,6,6, a 13th place and a 21st place result. Talking to them about their win, what’s striking is the honesty and humility they bring to the start line. Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Test Event, Marseille, France. Conditions were windy for most of the event – so a capsize was only ever one mistake away. Large waves driven onshore by the mainly southerly wind to which Marseilles is exposed caused confused seas as the approaching swell was refracted by some islands close offshore, with the result that the waves were arriving from two directions at once. And the trouble wasn’t only out at sea – launching their skiff one morning for the days’ racing, a sudden wind-shift caught Odile and Annette by surprise and capsized them so close to the shore – just as they had climbed on board – that there wasn’t time to right their craft and sail out of trouble. Only the speedy intervention of the safety boat kept them from wrecking on the beach and ending their event. Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Test Event, Marseille, France. Odile and Annette, who have so many year’s experience of the 49erFX, found the near-wreck experience quite scary with the result that their mindset was to be cautious in the windy conditions during their competition sailing …an approach which is least likely to win races! It’s also a bad strategy when upholding your title as World Champions! But one of the strengths of the sailing duo and team coach Kaj Böcker is their honest communication with each other – no pretending. That philosophy, coupled with their enduring ambition to win, sets the stage for constant renewal so that as soon as the next race begins, any past tension is broken. The strength of their communication healed another disaster, early in the competition, before it could set them on a losing streak: On Day Two they lost the first race in spectacular style – they came over the line in last place! That was an entirely new experience for Odile and Annette, and not one they wish to repeat ….! They began the race on a starboard tack as did all but two of the fleet, but it soon became obvious that conditions favoured a port tack. Many vessels turned but, at first, Odile and Annette decided to stick with their decision and hope that it ‘came right’. They turned in 8th position at the buoy, deciding to break away to the left for the downwind leg sailing into clean air and clear water – being the only vessel to do so. That decision helped them climb up the board to make their second turn in 4th place …but then it all went wrong: choosing a starboard tack once again with the wind still unfavourable a decision to turn to starboard to make gains had to be delayed until the New Zealand competitor on their inside turned first. By that time they’d dropped to 17th position round the buoy. And just when things could scarcely get any worse, a flaw in the wind shift on the downward leg forced an early gybe. They turned off that lane too soon to make the finishing gate – forcing two more sail changes, and seeing them arrive over the line in last position, as mentioned. Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Test Event, Marseille, France. It was a stunning defeat which they found both humbling and embarrassing. Being the first race of the day, it threatened to spoil their performance for the race of the day – or indeed, event – if they couldn’t snatch back their former confidence. But they know just when to hold the right conversation, and having agreed between themselves that we’re better than this … went on to explode back on form and take two firsts in the next two races! It’s not only about the conversation – their tactical and mechanical skills are acute. They aim to make great starts, to hold and dominate their chosen lane, to arrive fast and furious at the turns …where taking the kite down early – not late – allows them to make choices without the risk of capsize – whilst those who take their kites down at the very last moment can only ‘respond’ to the changes around them. Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Test Event, Marseille, France. It’s always breathtakingly exciting to follow our sponsored sailors as they fight their way to the podium in competition – we’re very proud of them and their team for always aiming to be the best they can be! Brazil, as mentioned earlier, took Silver and Sweden claimed Bronze. Their next event takes place on their home territory in Scheveningen, in The Hague, Nederlands, on August 11th, at which the Olympic team selection will be made. The team are really looking forward to showing what they can do at that event as it will decide whether both their team, and their country are taking part in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. No pressure then.
• 05 July 2023
Introducing Solar Production Forecast
We are excited to announce the launch of a new feature for VRM – Solar Forecasts. This feature combines a model of your sites solar production potential with irradiance forecasting data from Solcasts global fleet of weather satellites. https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/solcast_232349675.mp4 The Solcast network provides 600 million new irradiance forecasts every hour. Getting started Existing installations with a solar history and location set can get started right now. To see the solar forecast, open your site VRM dashboard and select ‘Today’. This should reveal a Show/Hide forecast button. Clicking the Show Forecast button will expand the view to show what remains of the current day, and also draws bars to show the estimated solar production. If the forecast button isn’t there, please check: Your installation has a location set Your site is recording hourly solar yield You are on the ‘today’ view For new sites that don’t yet have a solar yield history, or if you’ve only recently set the site location, please wait up to 48 hours for it be enabled and have enough information to be accurate. This feature uses location data as a 4 km² grid, and doesn’t link any personally identifiable information or co-ordinates of your Victron site. This is accurate enough for the solar data while still maintaining your location privacy. Showing the forecast adds more information to the Solar info box on the dashboard as well. “Solar – Recorded” shows the actual solar energy that has been converted from the sun today. “Forecasted” is the estimate for how much solar production still remains for the day. This number will count down as the day progresses and the actual yield is added to the “recorded” figure. “Total” is a forecasted combined value of the forecast estimate and the actual recorded energy. There might be some rounding of these figures. How is it done? We have created a machine learning model that compares historical solar production and the irradiance at the time of day and then calculates the future projected solar production based on the estimated irradiance forecast. This automatically takes into account factors like system sizing, panel orientation & pitch, efficiency degradation, and shading without requiring any user input. This means that over time the model will get more accurate, even as panels degrade and trees grow. The model goes even further, accounting for when MPPT trackers were at maximum production, or limiting themselves (for example when batteries are full in an off-grid system). In addition to the dashboard estimate, we also have the underlying Solar Irradiance Forecast (W/m²) available as a new advanced VRM widget. Like the dashboard, in the ‘Today’ time frame view, this widget operates slightly differently to the rest and will expand out its time x-axis to include the whole 24 hours so you can see the estimate for that day. A future update for additional advanced VRM widgets will show the estimated production for each individual MPPT tracker. More functionality planned Testing is already well underway for how this new functionality can extended further, such as longer range forecasts and improving the performance of Victron systems in other ways. For example as part of a ‘ Dynamic ESS ‘ system that can take energy pricing information, combined with expectations of solar yield and decide whether to discharge or recharge the battery. It is currently not possible to see the estimates in the VRM phone app widgets. We are working on this for a later release. We’ll make another announcement with more details about these in the future. Going further with Node-RED controls For those who are interested in pushing further with this new solar yield estimate data from VRM for themselves, there is the possibility to integrate with Node-RED. For example the system could be programmed to trigger a relay control for a high load appliance based on the expectation of sufficient solar yield later that day to recharge the battery. Documentation on how to get started using data from VRM in your Node-RED flows is here . Once up and running there is even more detailed specific Node-RED estimated yield flow documentation here. As always with leading edge development like Node-RED the best place to find out more is via the Modifications space on Victron Community . Limitations Sites with these RS products may show less accurate estimates if there are other sources of solar production, or no forecast at all if they are the only source of solar production. We are working now to add full support for them in the near future. Feedback Please report any issues with the user interface, either suggestions for improvement or bugs. We are still improving the estimation algorithm, so are interested in reports of any unusual or impossible estimates. We hope you enjoy this new feature, and are looking forward to hearing your feedback .
Justin Tyers • 08 June 2023
Will we see you at Intersolar Europe 2023?
You’ll find a warm welcome and a chance to get ‘hands on’ with our latest products when you visit us on stand B4. 160 at Intersolar Europe on 14th – 16th June. For almost fifty years we’ve been building the world’s largest range of Inverter/Chargers, Transformers, Solar Charge Controllers and related power devices for industrial, mobile, leisure, off-grid, and remote-site working applications. Our power installations have user and engineer-access straight from your phone, or from the other side of the world. We’re always adding exciting new products to provide you with power – anywhere – a selection of which we are highlighting at Intersolar Europe 2023. Exhibition Highlights Multi RS Solar 48/6000 MPPT450/100 – this two MPPT tracker version replaces the former Multi RS that had one tracker. The two, fully independent, trackers are 3kW each. High efficiency, low standby, quiet in operation – it includes an on-board display together with Bluetooth for connection to a mobile device. Multi HS19 15kW is a rack mountable three-phase Inverter/Charger with 4 x Multi Power Point Tracking Solar Charge Controllers 800VDC from an (up to) 1000VDC, 32kWp solar array. The units can be paralleled to provide large industrial processes with power from an entirely sustainable energy supply. (This product is not yet available to order, but coming soon). Ekrano GX – our latest and most powerful GX communication and control device incorporates a 7 inch touch screen, an extensive range of communication ports and has twice the processing power of the Cerbo GX. Combining the advantages of visually-pleasing touch-control at the front, at the rear it offers extensive system connectivity: USB/VE.Direct/VE.Can/VE.Bus/Digital inputs/Resistive tank sender/Temp sensor together with Ethernet/WiFi/Bluetooth and a MicroSD card slot. Lynx Smart BMS 1000 is a Battery Management System especially designed for our Lithium Smart Batteries with greater current handling ability than the 500A version already available. Lynx BMS’s are part of our Lynx Distributor series of products offering Busbars with monitored fuses. (This product is not yet available to order, but coming soon). EV Charger NS is our new redesigned Electric Vehicle charger. The new style allows the charging cable to be coiled around the device which is now also available with a Black and a White fascia. It has no display – being entirely controlled from your phone using our VictronConnect app which allows you to set output charging current, charge your vehicle using only ‘surplus’ energy, configure scheduled charging and to monitor the charging progress. Energy Meter 3P offers faster measurements allowing three phase ESS (Energy Saving Systems) to respond more quickly. Featuring split-coil transformers for current measurement, rather than having to be wired in series with the distribution board, the new Energy Meter saves significantly on the installation time. Units are supplied with Current Transformers. (This product is not yet available to order, but coming soon). Hybrid Generator If your work includes the use of Site Generators come along and talk us about our extensive research into Hybrid Power Generation and our product configurations which result in up to 80% of on-site energy costs. Hybrid power generation brings a new age of greener, quieter, and worry-free power for construction sites, remote industry, security/surveillance, and temporary power utilities – with cost savings you won’t quite believe. We look forward to seeing you in Munich! Exhibition location Messe München Messegelände 81823 Munich, Germany Photo Credit. The image used at the head of this articles is © Solar Promotion
Justin Tyers • 29 April 2023
Dutch 49erFX sailors find Gold
When we heard that the Dutch 49erFX sailing team were going into the final ‘medal’ race day of the French Olympic Week competition – La Semaine Olympics Française , which has just taken place in Heyeres – with an unassailable 48 point lead over their nearest rivals and couldn’t possibly miss out on winning ‘Gold’, we asked if such a big lead over the second-placed team was a record. “For us it is!” they said. Modest, and keen admirers of the skills of their opponents Odile van Aanholt & Annette Duetz produced a truly amazing performance in this week’s competition which witnessed conditions which couldn’t very well have been more diverse. On the first day, strong winds of 25-30 knots – a wind known locally as a Mistral – resulted in the race organisers cancelling the day’s event for the 49erFX teams. Conditions were almost identical on the second day, but with a race-day already lost the fifty-boat fleet of 49erFX skiffs took to the water. Only thirty of them arrived back home! In choppy conditions the fast and deliberately unstable craft flew from crest to crest. Unavoidably in the strong and unpredictable conditions, boats pitch-poled or capsized throwing their crews through the air for a wet landing somewhere far, far away. Interestingly, at the end of the wildest race the first four boats to cross the finish line had all chosen to abandon their Gennakers – the most powerful sail in the wardrobe …but not always the most necessary, it seems. Italy’s Jana Germani & Giorgia Bertuzzi performed impeccably winning both the day’s races, whilst our sponsored Dutch team Aanholt & Duetz secured second place – again, in both races. Day 3 Day 3 was equally challenging for all crews but in a completely different way – the wind had fallen to just five knots. Determination To succeed in those light draughts you need eyes in the back of your head. Favouring tactical sailing and lighter crews, Odile says she was constantly removing her sunglasses, the better to survey the water all around looking for ‘catspaws’ on the surface – little ripples which inform the keen observer of an increase in wind activity. If you can get to where the wind is, you can sail. Job well done Odile happened to have a heart monitor attached during the event, later analysis showed that her heart rate was as elevated by the rough and tumble of wild weather as it was in the calm weather – whilst she only watched and waited for her opportunity. Odile says: We were racing the second and third races with Malta (Antonia Schultheis and Victoria Schultheis), two young and very talented girls, quite light bodyweight and it was really really challenging to keep up with them, but a lot of fun! The Dutch duo, with amazing consistency, finished two of that day’s races in second place which was nearly (but not quite) good enough to knock the Italians from their well-earned top spot. The Brazilian team, by the way, who frequently contribute top-three performances in meetings all around the world had a disastrous start to the series and despite some good results for the day were ‘languishing’ in 8th place overall. Van Aanholt and Duetz gold-winning teamwork Day 4 Current 49erFX world-champions the Dutch pair sailing NED1 produced exceptionally consistent results regardless of the wind and sea conditions, going on to finish every race of the competition in the top ten! That uniform quality of performance had lifted them into 1st place by the end of the 4th day’s racing. Their Italian challengers began the day promisingly with a first and second place which would have been a concern if they had kept it up, but unfortunately for them at the close of the final two races of the day they were not in the top third of finishers in the 50-strong fleet. That cost them heavily, though they will have been happy to secure Silver by the end of the week. DREAM TEAM: Coach Kaj Böcker, Annette Duetz, Odile van Aanholt, and head coach of the olympic team Arnoud Hummel, on the right. In the Medal race Van Aanholt and Duetz increased their point-lead to 52 over second-placed Silver cup winners, Germani and Bertuzzi for ITALY; and BRAZIL’s Grael and Kunze came back on form taking Bronze. The medal race will have been an exciting event to watch for sailing fans from many countries: although the Netherlands Gold medal was already secure, anything could have happened for the other 9 boats as they crowded around the marks at speeds of up to 15knts. At the close of the 5-day competition featuring 14 races, only a single point separated each of the competitors finishing 3rd to 9th – a single point out of a typical tally of 115. Breathtaking! Skipper and crew, picking lines… We couldn’t be more proud of the continued success of our sponsored Dutch national 49erFX sailors, and of the whole team!
Justin Tyers • 31 March 2023
Are you installing Van electrics?
If you’re planning to install a power system in a Recreational Vehicle, van or mobile home you’ll be interested in seeing the wiring schematic and accompanying tutorial just completed by Peter Bakker . Peter is the designer of all schematics in our free-to-use library, but this latest schematic – a link to which you’ll find at the end of this article – is different because it includes a talk-through about the system choices. It also demonstrates how different levels of user-interface and system-control can be offered by choosing from our range of monitoring, measuring and communication devices. It’s a study plan for professional installers and DIYers alike, demonstrating the versatility which allows you to build according to your client’s …or your own preferences and needs. The mobile installation featured is based around a 3kVA MultiPlus Inverter Charger, including 300Ah of Drop-in Lithium ion storage which has a battery management system (BMS) included; battery charging from Solar, Alternator (controlled by Orion Tr Smart DC-DC Charger) and AC sources; charge current control; and, as discussed, local and remote monitoring and management capabilities. Peter Bakker holds an American Yacht and Boat Council AYBC certificate The discussion text which accompanies the drawing includes a full explanation of the job performed by each of the installed devices, how they should be connected, including set up notes, cautions and alternatives suggestions which may be suitable for your own build. You can find Peter’s wiring diagram featuring a 3kVA inverter with Lithium storage for Recreation vehicles and mobile homes here. You can access all of Peter’s system schematics featuring all of our devices – when you visit this page you will be invited to enter the name of the Victron device in which you are interested in the search bar. The highly detailed schematics cannot advise you on wire gauge or fuse size as this depends on your system topography and current. You can find all the information you need to correctly size cables, fuses, and much more by consulting our online publication Wiring Unlimited .
Justin Tyers • 27 March 2023
Which type of Solar Panel works best?
Three years ago we set up a comparison test to evaluate the solar harvest from four different types of panels. The panels all face south. We’ve now added two more solar arrays to the comparison test to evaluate the harvest from East and West facing panels, in otherwise identical circumstances. The long-term test is taking place in the European country, Romania. You can view the live and accumulated harvest test results at any time by visiting the Victron Energy homepage , and clicking on ‘ Field Test: PV Modules ‘ at the top left of the page in the menu bar. Four panel-types The original South-facing comparison test includes Mono; Split-Cell; Poly; and Perc panels. The newly-added east and west facing arrays are Perc panels. For this new comparison test all accumulated values have now been reset – but the three-year test results have been saved for your information, and can be found bottom-right on the field test page. Results It’s interesting to note that the best performing panels in our test were Split-cell at 9511kWh over three years …but all four panel types ended the test with just 5% variation in results. Taking the Poly Panel result as our base (total = 9113kWh) and calling that 100% – the panels performed like this: Poly = 100% Mono = 100.5% Perc = 104% Split-Cell = 104.4% Video We’ve made a short video summarising the new test parameters: And if you’d like a reminder of the all the environmental circumstances and technical parameters we chose for the original test you can recap that information here:
Justin Tyers • 02 February 2023
EV Charger’s important new features
A firmware update for Victron Energy’s Electric Vehicle Charging Station enables bluetooth. Now you can access features using the VictronConnect app on your phone. Scheduled charge times have also been added – which is great if you can access lower-priced off-peak charging. Video maker Jono explains how to update your Firmware, and the benefits of scheduled charging, below.
Justin Tyers • 25 January 2023
Knowledge overcomes South Africa Load Shedding
Busy installers of private energy installations in South Africa can access a new style of drop-in training – starting today. Flexible training with the busy installer in mind. The training has been designed for the installer whose time is too precious to spend travelling, far away, to attend slow-paced events, working through information they already know – or won’t need to know. Imagine a three-hour classroom located in the parking lot right outside the Product Distributor you needed to visit anyway! You can get your training in the same visit. Imagine if you could arrive at a time to suit you. Imagine if you could set the training agenda to your own needs. Well …you’ve just imagined the new Victron Energy South Africa Trailer Training . What makes it different? It travels to you. The parking-lot training-school is scheduled to take up temporary residence – for a few days, or a couple of weeks – in a number of locations all around South Africa …so you can choose a location near you. It begins when you arrive. The three-hour course has places for 40 delegates and is scheduled to begin at 10 am each day – but if your super-busy, the course trainers can be flexible too. You choose the agenda. Say you’re working on site and you hit an unfamiliar problem: if the training is in your area, come along and get the answers you need – right now – to complete a perfect installation! That’s what the training is there for. You’ll be trained on fully-operational, live systems. Not just a classroom simulation – you’ll be hands on with five live systems representing the most common installations to be found in S.A. Designed for busy people – in three hours you’ll cover all five installation set-ups and receive a completion certificate. You’ll learn to choose devices and configure them into complete systems appropriate for your customers’ demands …and you’ll know where to find more information whenever you need it. Five Live Installations Professional knowledgeable Victron Energy trainers will train you on the five live systems – to help you understand how to build any installation, and to answer all your questions. The training installations represent typical customer systems and include: Back-up domestic or business power consisting of a MultiPlus II 3kVA with Cerbo GX, GX Touch 70 and SmartSolar MPPT 250/100 solar charge controller For quick and easy-to-install Energy Storage Systems ( ESS ) the EasySolar-II GX 3kVA Domestic, small business, or light industrial three-phase back-up system centred around the MultiPlus II 3kVA For upgrading existing power systems there’s a Parallel system cobining 2 x MultiPlus II 3kVA And for ESS hybrid system power back-up there’s a Multi RS Solar 48/6000 Inverter Charger with up to 450VDC solar input All systems are complete, wired and connected to batteries and solar panel voltage simulators. Training begins today – January 25th – and runs until July. Two hundred delegates have already booked their places on this week’s three days of training. You can be part of these inaugural events, which are taking place at the Solar MD factory in Cape Town until February 10th. The training team expect to be very busy during more than 100 days which have been scheduled. Venues are booked around the Western and Nothern Cape, Guateng, Free State, and both inland and at the coast of KwaZulu-Natal. More dates will follow. Here’s a quick look at the schedule: To book your training visit our Professional page / click on Events, and look for the South African flag. All future location events will be bookable at the end of today’s flagship event. To access the Victron Professional page you will need a Victron ‘ Professional ‘ account – if you don’t yet have one, you are welcome to register one using the same page. Load shedding might be here to stay – but at least you have the perfect solution for your customers. To help them choose the best, just follow the training trailer.
Justin Tyers • 02 December 2022
New for VRM – Push Notifications
One of the highlights of the latest VRM update is the enablement of Push Notifications . You can watch the webinar which announced all the latest VRM news using the link at the end of this roundup. Push Notifications When an alarm is triggered on an installation you monitor on VRM, an alert notification will be pushed straight to your Phone, Tablet, or Apple Laptop. You can choose what kind information you’d like to receive. Push notifications can be sent via the VRM app on your mobile device – or you can choose to receive them via your browser over the web. And, of course, you can still choose to receive event notifications by email. So there are now three ways you can get notification of system alarms and events. More New features – roundup Instant Readout – realtime device data displayed without the need to connect to it. This recently added feature is now also available on VRM device list shown in VictronConnect. GlobalLink 520 . This new product sends your System Data every 15 minutes to VRM. No system configuration is required – it works out-of-the-box anywhere in the world where LTE-M cellular networks are supported. Five years pre-paid data is included. App Widgets : at-a-glance System, Environment, EV charging, and Tank level data reported straight to your device in real-time. Fleet overview Totals. New enhancements to the Fleet Overview feature. For professionals with hundreds of Victron Energy systems under their control there are some new features, and preview of other yet to come. Dashboard Controls – control your Inverter/Charger, Generator or ESS variables straight from the dashboard. Event Logs. ‘Significant event’ and ‘user intervention’ time and date logging. Custom Advanced Widgets: You can now define your own custom y-axis graphic display for up to five data parameters in a single chart. Webinar links The webinar has now been edited and published. You’ll be fully briefed about all the new features of VRM within twenty minutes – or you can stay to listen to the team answer many interesting questions and feature requests. You can find the link to the webinar at the bottom of this page. If you’d like to jump to the section which explains Push Notifications you can start the webinar here . If you already know you’d like to enable Push Notifications on your VRM account and want to jump to the ‘ How to enable Push ‘ demo, you can join the webinar here . And here’s the webinar for you to enjoy in full:
Justin Tyers • 12 November 2022
Are you coming to METSTRADE 2022?
Best known for our robust Inverters, Chargers and Controllers capable of providing power anywhere for Industry, and Leisure; at METSTRADE 2022 we will be demonstrating the latest products designed for Yachts and Commercial Shipping. Continuous Software Development allows our power systems to be tailored to the exact needs of owners. And our communication platforms allows them to be monitored and controlled from nearby – on our touch screen, or your phone – or from anywhere in the world using Victron Remote Management ( VRM ). METSTRADE 2022 takes place in Amsterdam on the 15th, 16th and 17th of November. Come and say Hello on our Stand number 01.541. Live Display This year we have a live Lithium Battery based installation demonstrating the compatibility between our Cerbo GX communication device and the WakeSpeed™ alternator regulator. The installation also features our Lynx Smart BMS which controls Lithium Battery banks, and will include the associated plug-in product the Lynx Distributor – busbars and monitored fuses offering a professional distribution cabling hub. You will also be able to see how our software integration with leading Multi-Function Displays (MFD) systems (Furuno, Garmin, Lawrence B&G Simrad, Raymarine) allows all power system data to be reported directly on the bridge. Phoenix Smart IP43 Battery Charger – it works in all ports of arrival. Also on display is our Phoenix Smart IP43 battery charger . Built with the marine market in mind it features an extended AC input range of between 85 and 250VAC – wherever your port of arrival, it will work. There are 12v and 24v models with a maximum charge current of 50A and 25A respectively. It features a six-step adaptive charge algorithm, and can also charge Lithium ion batteries; and there are models for simultaneously charging two, or three battery banks. Also on display You can also view our harsh environment battery monitor – the SmartShunt IP65 . Installed out of sight it can be read straight from your phone – and is available in 500A / 1000A / and 2000A versions We make the largest range of Solar Charge Controllers in the industry – 43 models maximise the harvest from the largest to the smallest solar arrays, offering multi-device synchronised charging for any battery chemistries, and a wealth of user-defined battery control, and voltage/State of Charge shutdown features. RuuviTag™ compatibility with our GlobalLink 520 device offers worldwide remote system reporting to our monitoring platform VRM . In addition to essential power system data, Ruuvi Sensor compatibility allows you to monitor the temperature, humidity, air pressure – and even movement of the installation environment …from anywhere. On VRM , you can remotely monitor the tank levels of up to four tanks using our GX Tank 140 …from anywhere in the world. Ask for a demo of VRM Widgets – continuously monitored essential system data always on your phone! There’s more… At the show you will find Marine versions of all our most popular devices, including High Power Battery Chargers ; MultiPlus and Quattro Inverter/Chargers; Chargers from Alternator, Battery Protection devices, DC to DC converters …and many more. METSTRADE is located in the RAI exhibition centre: RAI Amsterdam Europaplein 1078 GZ Amsterdam The Netherlands Come and say Hello … We look forward to seeing you there!
Justin Tyers • 27 October 2022
Top flight training tours North America
A new programme of advanced Victron training has begun to tour North America. The two day training events will host 50 trainees – working in groups of five – to build, configure, programme and troubleshoot multifunctional Victron systems for Off-Grid and Marine power systems – together with three different kinds of Mobile applications. The Hands On training programme is aimed at professionals who already have a lot of electronic installation experience. It’s designed to provide deeper familiarity with product selection, system architecture, and software programming to offer system features which exactly match customer need. Hands On What makes the training so effective is the emphasis on learning-by-doing – rather than watching and then trying to remember what you saw! It teaches the trainees not just to build and programme but to think how to tailor the installation for the customer …building confidence in their product and programming choices. Each group of trainees are provided with a number of devices from which they have to make their selection – they are deliberately provided with too many devices for the system they will build. They are also provided with pre-made cables – again, too many for the system; and a printed itinerary which sets out the order in which the system should be built. Working amongst themselves the trainees discuss what they are doing and why. A trainer is on hand – not to answer questions directly – but to guide the team to where the answers can be found. The trainer may intervene to ensure that the system is built neatly and professionally – and, of course, that safety precautions are meticulously followed. There are hints in the team’s itinerary paperwork which allows them to discover advanced installer-information, and useful techniques to streamline the build. Super Sleuth Troubleshooting Once the trainees have completed and commissioned their project system they leave the room. In their absence the trainer will deliberately sabotage parts of the system they have built. The task for the trainees when they return is to identify the errors which have been introduced by understanding error reports, analysing where the faults must be located, and rectifying them to provide a correctly functioning system. Over an eight hour period, the trainees become very familiar with the system they have built. They are given the opportunity to move around the room and study the work of other trainees, who will have built different systems. Day Two – Programming On the second day trainees learn to programme their systems using VEConfigure. Familiarity with programming tools allows system configuration which exactly matches customer needs. Trainee programming tasks include configuring Inverters for Split Phase operation; initiating settings for Lithium-based battery storage; setting up Temperature activated relays; Allow to Discharge input configuration; and Programming Assisstants for ByPass and Dump loads. Here’s an excerpt from the course syllabus: Trainee Feedback Of the attendees at the first training event, one or two were completely new to our products but most already had significant experience of Victron system installation – up to 7 or 8 years in some cases. From amongst the chat at the end of the training we recreate these remarks: Lance Vickery This training is very different from last year’s tour which was much more class room style training. This one is 100% hands on and we get to work with all the different things we learned about last year. Elias Ristich , Nomad Vanz : Great structure. Even though I thought I knew most of the Victron components, there was still a ton of new stuff I learned – such as pairing two inverters together, and more. The first day was spent on wiring and commissioning the system, but day 2 was when the challenges started to come with assistant programming, dump loads and taking full advantage of the Cerbo GX features. In the end, I walked away learning a bunch of new tricks that I never thought I needed. Stuart MacKenzie Comox Marine : We sell and help design Victron systems, but we are not always hands-on with the installation process. This training helped provide us with a feeling for all the products, and was a great eye-opener with all the features and how to take advantage of different settings. There are so many ways to design Victron solutions and the best part was to brainstorm this within our group. Made some new friends in the industry, and learned a lot. Future dates The new ‘Hands On’ training will follow a rolling schedule, and currently has fifteen dates. Having just taken place in Vancouver and Seattle, over the next five months until late March 2023 it takes place at locations in: Portland; San Francisco; Los Angeles; San Diego; Houston; Tampa; Miami; Atlanta; Baltimore; Portsmouth; Toronto; Elkhart; and in Denver. This groundbreaking training programme is being delivered by our four North America Sales Managers, in partnership with their ten-man Victron Ambassador team. If you want check availability at one of those locations you can visit our training page. Let’s take a look at the action:
Justin Tyers • 30 September 2022
Rolex World Sailor of the year Award
Odile and Annette have got a little favour to ask you! Following their amazing achievement in becoming World Champion sailors of the 49erFX skiff, Victron Energy sponsored Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz have jointly been nominated for this year’s Rolex World Sailor of the Year awards! Odile says just being nominated is a huge honour. But they could actually win with your help! Could you take a moment to vote for them? Winners are selected both by you, as a voter, and by an international panel of nine judges – all sailing professionals. Odile and Annette really appreciate our support at Victron Energy, both as Netherland 49erFX Team sponsors and for cheering them on, race by race, to their world-beating performances! The Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards are recognised as the highest award a sailor can receive in recognition of outstanding achievements in the world of sailing. This year’s awards will be presented during the World Sailing Awards on Tuesday, 25 October in Abu Dhabi. Odile and Annette thank you for your continuing support!
Justin Tyers • 27 September 2022
GlobalLink 520 v2.06
In July we released Firmware version 2.06 for the GlobalLink 520 which includes some important new features – greatly increasing the GlobalLink’s value as a universal monitoring device for Victron Installations. In this post we’ll mention the highlights. You’ll find a link to the full changelog at the end of this post. What is the GlobalLink 520? The GlobalLink 520 connects your remote Victron system, or individual products, to our Victron Remote Management ( VRM ) platform – either wirelessly via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), or by using a VE.Direct cable. From the VRM platform you can view current and historical system data – such as battery voltage and state of charge – from anywhere in the world. VRM is free to use. The GlobalLink 520 uses a cellular network called LTE-M (CAT-M1) and comes with a pre-paid, pre-installed SIM card that will work for at least 5 years – you don’t need to sign up to a contract. And there’s no setting up – GlobalLink 520 will work straight out of the box. [LTE-M / CAT M-1 is not to be confused with common 4G service used for mobile phones.] What is Victron BLE Instant Readout ? Instant Readout is a new data broadcast feature which provides at-a-glance status information direct from our Smart (Bluetooth on board) devices. This major upgrade for the GlobalLink increases the number of devices that can be connected from 2 (using VE.Direct) to 12 using BLE Instant Readout. The two built-in VE.Direct ports are compatible with: MPPT Solar Charge Controllers which have a VE.Direct Port BMV Battery Monitor 700 series BMV Battery Monitor 710 Smart series Multi RS Solar and Inverter RS Smart Solar MPPT RS Phoenix Inverter VE.Direct SmartShunt Phoenix Smart IP43 Chargers The following Smart devices are compatible with Instant readout via Bluetooth: SmartBMV SmartShunt SmartSolar MPPT charger RuuviTag and RuuviTag Pro The device is not compatible with our Peak Power Packs. Support for a custom SIM card It’s now possible to swap the pre-paid factory-installed SIM for a SIM of your choice as long as it supports LTE-M (Cat-M1). This will greatly extend the list of countries and regions in which GlobalLink can be used. So take out your screwdriver and replace that SIM – we look forward to seeing the product going live in new locations! You can use the VictronConnect app to set the APN and PIN. The v2.06 update will automatically be installed on all devices if set to the standard stable release in VRM. New feature highlights Support for RuuviTag – the wireless temperature, humidity and air pressure sensors. Support for Victron’s new data broadcast feature – Instant Readout . Connect up to 10 Victron Smart products using BLE. (For a complete list of supported products please see the manual https://www.victronenergy.com/media/pg/GlobalLink_520/en/index-en.html ) It is now possible to replace the factory installed SIM card with a local SIM card. This allows users in many countries across central Africa, the Middle East, and Central America – where our service provider 1nce does not currently operate – to enjoy the benefits of remote system monitoring using your local LTE-M (Cat-M1) service provider. What is a RuuviTag? RuuviTag is a palm-sized device which monitors Temperature, Humidity, Air pressure and Motion. Its temperature range is between -20C and +70C. A battery upgrade extends this range to -40C and +85C. The standard ‘coin’ battery has a life expectancy of between 2 and 3 years. Suitable for outdoor use, the sensor has high moisture resistance. An underwater (50m depth) model is available. RuuviTag works on power-up, needs no integration, and is perfect for remote system monitoring on board your boat, cabin or camper. Fridge and freezer temperatures can also be monitored – and in VRM you can set up warning emails to be sent when triggered by temperature alarm conditions. A few notes: Victron does not stock Ruuvi sensors. They are available for purchase directly from ruuvi.com . The range of BLE indoors is limited to around 10 meters Full Changelog The full changelog for the GlobalLink 520 can be found on Victron Professional here . Click on GlobalLink. A Victron Professional account is needed to access the file – if you don’t yet have a Victron Professional account you are welcome to open one .
Justin Tyers • 20 September 2022
Latin America choosing Energy Storage Systems
Intersolar South America, which took place in São Paulo last month, was a useful event in many ways. Of course it’s a great showcase for all our latest products – but it’s also an opportunity to ‘take the pulse’ of the industry; and to see where it’s heading. In Latin America, the combination of de-regulation of the electricity network; high energy prices (both because of the European conflict, and because – locally – government fuel subsidies are being withdrawn); together with a frustration around poor-quality short-term solutions to power needs are combining to create a groundswell of change. The new normal is energy independence. Jorge Ortiz, Regional Sales Mgr for Latin America meeting guests Our participation in the event was organised by Jorge Ortiz, Regional Sales Manager in South America, and his colleagues: David Lopez, David Gutierrez and Gerrit Jacobs. Jorge says the main barrier consumers face, now, in Latin America is that people don’t yet realise that a solution to reliable energy is already available. Of course, everyone is aware that off-grid energy has a storage system – but consumers are only just waking up to the power and flexibility of on -grid energy storage systems (ESS). ESS is not simply solar power with grid-energy as back-up. Purpose designed energy saving systems are tailored to individual need and to local network conditions. Peak shaving and Load shifting, for example, drive down the price paid for energy at the same time as guaranteeing reliable energy for the consumer. (It improves conditions on the supply side, too!) With five hours average sunshine per day, every day in Jorge’s region, the efficiency of solar harvest is high. With battery storage comes 24 hour power – from your own power harvest (often called ‘self-consumption’). Consequently the pay-back time for the initial investment will be shorter …leading to zero energy costs for the business or domestic consumer within just a few years. Conference attendees eager to learn of the latest developments in the solar industry One other legacy problem that is changing in Latin America was referred to earlier. With average income lower than in some other world regions, the temptation has always been to find cheaper solutions to energy needs. Cheaper products will be of lower quality, of course, and will soon fail – breaking the promise of ‘free energy’ after amortising the initial system cost. When everybody has the same disappointing experience, the national conversation is that “that’s just the way it is…” and nothing better has been invented. But at exhibitions – such as Intersolar South America – the conversation is changing, and those high-quality, reliable products are available for all to see. The initial cost is higher – but the long life promise is kept. South America Distributor meeting The conversation-change starts with the product distributors and installers. As each industry-leader learns about the powerful, cutting-edge products he/she is able to offer to clients, and how those products can be individually programmed to customer need – to reduce, or sometimes eliminate energy costs – so the nation realises they have the freedom to choose better. Alongside the exhibition Jorge and his colleagues held a meeting for distributors and installers from seven nations – an event which was highly acclaimed by all attendees and organisers. It was a chance to learn from each other. Brazilian Installer Natalia Maesta says she chose to work with – and supply – only premium brands simply because 90% of installers weren’t! Her company, Fonte Solar , was looking for ‘ways to be different’ and providing high-quality installations was her natural inclination anyway, and a way in which she could be unique. Diego Alvarez whose company ADN Solar is a solar equipment distributor based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, found the meeting both constructive and refreshing – he particularly enjoyed the opportunity to talk to other distributors about shared frustrations and difficulties within the industry, and to exchange ideas about how to overcome them. Leonardo Labagata’s company Interbrasil is a specialist ‘spares’ stockist for a number of industries – mainly around arboriculture and agriculture. For him the availability of all-in-one products such as the EasySolar leads to fast, worry-free installations. Another favourite feature is that Victron Energy products are fully compatible with third-party battery brands – allowing easy integration with local product availability. Also, future system expansion is easy with our networking systems …which is crucial when, like other regions in the world, thoughts are turning to the future of Solar Electric Vehicle charging. We’ve got a product for that too 🙂 Let’s take a fly-through of the show!
Justin Tyers • 09 September 2022
NEW: Stored Trends
In part three of our series of blogs introducing extended features for our system management apps – the worldwide interface VRM , and VictronConnect for on-site control – we’re going to tell you about the new Stored Trends tool. You’ve probably discovered the Trends feature in VictronConnect which is available for devices such as Battery Monitors and Solar Charge Controllers? It offers a graphic presentation of realtime data, and allows you to observe and compare the interaction between two data sources. The data flow can also be paused for more considered analysis. A solar charge controller, for example, allows users to monitor two traces from the following data inputs: Load Current Solar Voltage Solar Power Battery temperature Battery Voltage Battery Current Solar Current Interrogate the Trend history What’s new is that we’ve recently added Trend data storage – allowing you to observe the graph history over the past 45 days – or as long as six months in the case of the Smart Battery Sense . The observation period can be chosen by using the magnifying tool – screen bottom-left (See above) – the minus button takes you back through time, and the plus button advances. This powerful record allows you to observe the performance of your installation before and after some significant change – adding a new device, perhaps – or seasonal changes; changing from lead to lithium; increasing charging ability, battery capacity …or load. The period of observation available is from between 15 seconds to 45 days (180 days for Smart Battery Sense). Between those two extremes there are twenty incremental steps. At maximum history span, the recorded observation interval is 30 minutes. Stored Trend trace lines are dotted at the moment of data collection – live data has a clear trace. Analysis of the actual performance over a period of time allows you to make informed decisions for the future management of your system. Watch our Video demonstration of the Stored Trends feature here: Knowledge is power Try the Stored Trends feature next time you’re using VictronConnect . Real-world analysis is a powerful tool which provides you with information a ‘Snapshot’ never can!
Justin Tyers • 06 September 2022
WORLD CHAMPIONS !!
Looking back at the approximately ten hours of sailing, over six days – featuring seventeen races which clocked-up seventy-odd miles on the water – it wasn’t clear until the last few minutes of the final race that our sponsored Dutch 49erFX sailing duo would snatch the victory for which they had fought so hard – WORLD CHAMPIONS! Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz achieved their extraordinary success in the 2022 World Championships which has just concluded in Nova Scotia, Canada. Although this is the first time they have become world champions together, it is Odile’s second World title win, and Annette’s third …which is itself a record! The competition was sailed in ideal conditions for spectators and sailors alike – mostly there was plenty of wind, and challenging sea conditions. Sailing at speeds of up to 30 knots competitors skim just above to the water on trapezes, keeping their weight well-aft in order to lift the bow on these fast and furious, and deliberately unstable sailing skiffs. If ever the bow is allowed to bury itself into a wave – catastrophe – the boat will trip and somersault. At Nova Scotia, some did! Odile and Annette produced remarkable consistency in all kinds of conditions, finishing ten of their races in the top three from amongst a fleet of 36 boats, sailed by the best athletes in the world. Three races, however, proved disastrous for NED 1 – finishing 29th, 24th, and 16th – and it’s a testament to their professionalism – and their coach – that they were able to put those results behind them and bounce straight back with fleet-leading finishes. How did they do it? Odile says after that terrible day she shut down, became withdrawn and was filled with doubt. Annette, too, wondered if they would be able to recover their form. That evening they had a great de-brief with team coach, Kaj Böcker. Kaj likes to keep things simple. He says there are three elements to winning races: Start; Speed; Strategy. You don’t need to worry about anything else. Odile and Annette have added two more S’s: Smooth; and Smile! ‘Smooth’ is all about handling the light-as-air boat with gentle well-timed movements. And ‘Smile’ is remembering to have a good time! They do that quite a lot! The morning after the disaster they both admit to having trepidation about what the new day would hold. But with confidence restored they immediately bounced back to form with a fourth , then a second , then a third . That’s really stylish sailing! Medal Race They began the final ‘Medal’ race assured of either Silver or Gold but their closest rivals – the Swedish team comprising Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler – were within easy reach of winning the contest. Moments before the starting gun a shift in the wind caught all competitors by surprise. At the gun, the Swedish boat was forced to tack in order to avoid a collision …even before crossing the start line! The same flaw in the wind stunned the whole fleet, however, and a slow-motion start allowed the Swedes – thanks to a really smart piece of boat handling – to make possibly the cleanest getaway, after all. The race was on! It was clear from the outset that Odile had Strategy . She helmed the Dutch boat on a clean and lean course which eventually delivered them to the first mark in fifth place, with the Swedish boat astern. Another shift in the wind added to the Swedish stress, and an error of judgement forced them into two more course corrections in order to round the same marker. From now on, at the back of the fleet, the Swedes could do no more than hope for a serious error aboard the Dutch boat. No Dutch errors came: Odile van Aanholt, and Annette Duetz were doing what they do best – picking great lines, fine tuning for speed, and slowly moving up the fleet. It wasn’t until they were half-way through the four-leg race that they noticed how much water they had put between themselves and the Swedish boat. Not daring to count their chicks before they’d hatched they continued to fight for every metre. They crossed the finish line in third which was easily enough to claim their title after some brilliantly consistent results over the previous five days! Sweden won silver – a reward very much deserved; and Spain’s Tàmara Echegoyen and Paula Barcelò were sure of Bronze even before the race started. Victron Energy are proud to sponsor the Dutch 49erFX sailing team – determination and persistence will always produce world-beating results! Congratulations to all teams for some really great sailing!
Justin Tyers • 01 September 2022
NEW: System status Widgets for VRM app
In the second of our three-part blog series introducing exciting features which provide instant access to your power system we’re going to tell you about the new Widgets for Victron Remote Management VRM . No doubt you’re familiar with logging onto VRM from where you can manage and browse the extensive information for all the devices in your power installation – wherever you are in the world. Widgets allow you to see the most important data, instantly, anytime, anywhere. And you don’t have to do anything! Widgets – instant access to your system’s headline data. Widgets present the latest installation data: State of Charge; Load; Solar harvest; and Grid power. You can also choose a widget to provide Tank-Level, Temperature, and ambient Climate Information related to your system …or to keep track of the charging progress for your Electric Vehicle. Always on – the widget window can be tethered to the ‘Home Page’, ‘Today View’ or other frequently used location on your phone or computer. It shows up-to-the-minute headline data whenever you navigate to it. There’s no logging-in. It’s an on-screen dashboard allowing you to glance at your system status whenever you choose. For more detailed information at any time, tapping on the widget will take you straight to the VRM web portal. To install VRM app Widgets follow the instructions in the VRM App Widget manual . Widget App Video Watch our video to learn more about choosing widget features and display options for Apple and Android devices here: Install the VRM App Widget on your mobile device today – checking headline system data just became as quick as checking the time! Monday’s blog – Stored Trends On Monday we’ll tell you about the our new stored trends – a feature allowing you to make before/after event comparisons over time.
Justin Tyers • 29 August 2022
Your power system now has Instant Readout!
Enhancements for Victron Remote Management (VRM) and for VictronConnect now provide you with more information – even faster. Instant readout is a front-page feature for VictronConnect. Instant readout – all essential front-page data on VictronConnect The Instant readout feature presents essential live-status information from a Bluetooth-equipped device as soon as it’s detected – you won’t even have to connect to the device! Compare the following images: Normally, in the device list you only see the device type and Bluetooth signal strength. For each product you will now be offered Instant data enabling – like this: Once Instant readout is enabled you won’t even need to connect to the device to see how it’s doing! All essential information will be presented under the device name. Here’s the same out-of-the-box Lithium battery with Instant readout enabled. Notice the Headline data information: The Instant readout box is expandable (as shown above) or it can be collapsed to show only the first line of data for the device. A fully populated device list with Instant readout enabled might look like this: You can now compare groups of devices – such as batteries – at a glance. No more going in and out of devices, and trying to remember what it said! Another useful feature with this upgrade is extended Bluetooth range. Because Instant readout is receive only – rather than a two-way communication – the range at which the Bluetooth signal can be received by your phone or laptop is extended. Alarms and Warnings VictronConnect v.5.90 adds Alarms and Warnings to the Instant Readout function: Handy! Watch our video demonstration of how to gain access to the exciting Instant Readout feature: Try the Instant readout feature, now – we’re sure you’ll like it! Thursday’s Blog… On Thursday this week we’ll tell you about some widgets for our Victron Remote Management platform. Heads-up system data – and you don’t have to do anything!
Justin Tyers • 22 August 2022
The Solar Show Africa 2022
Come and visit us on stand B30 at The Solar Show Africa which takes place at the Sandton Convention Centre , Johannesburg, on the 23rd and 24th of August 2022. New Products Best known for our Inverter/Chargers, and for our Solar Chargers, we offer hundreds of products for grid-connected and off-grid power for Industry, Leisure, Mobile, Marine and Remote Monitoring applications. Our stand at The Solar Show Africa will highlight Energy Storage Systems; Off-Grid; and back-up systems to provide secure energy during ‘Load Shedding’ across South Africa. Come and take a look at all our new products relevant to those markets and the launch of the new Multi RS Solar – a powerful Inverter/Charger with a 450V Solar Charger on board. We will have many live demo systems and large-screen interactive displays for visitors wishing to learn more about our systems and solutions. World Class Training During your visit you will be able to take advantage of our top flight training. The topics covered will be: Energy Storage Systems and LiFePo4 battery configuration. Using Victron Software Tools – VictronConnect and Victron Remote Management Large system design and configuration There will be three 90-minute training sessions per day. Tuition will be limited to 20 delegates per session. Three working systems will be provided for your scrutiny, offering an opportunity to learn about the Cerbo GX communication hub; the Smart Solar MPPT RS – which is a solar charger designed for 48V systems charged by large solar arrays – together with the rest of our Smart Solar MPPT solar chargers and our range of powerful MultiPlus II Inverter/Chargers. You’re welcome to reserve a place on one of these sessions free of charge. (In order to reserve a place you will need a Victron Professional account – if you don’t already have an account you are very welcome to open one.) We look forward to meeting you!
Justin Tyers • 11 July 2022
Super Sailers’ European win
Dutch sailing duo Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz have achieved another tremendous result, winning the 49erFX European Championship title! The final score in the European Championships – which also allows participation from competitors around the world – was Brazil’s Grael and Kunze in first place; Van Aanholt and Duetz in second; and Sweden’s Bobeck and Netzler in third. The event reached its climax on Sunday in Aarhus, Denmark and was one of the windiest competitions in recent times – producing some thrilling sailing! On Day One, for example, a 30 knot squall of wind (that’s just short of a gale) caused Odile and Annette to switch from Racing mode to Survival’ mode . (The images throughout this story provide a flavour of what it was like for competitors out there on the water!) Speaking about that day as they began their nine-hour drive home together after the event Odile and Annette explained: With all that wind we decided it wasn’t necessary to hoist the Gennaker (the big sail used for downwind legs of the race) – we were getting all the speed we needed from the two plain sails, and all our time was taken trying keep the boat upright! ‘ As the race progressed so many of the seventy competing boats had capsized that Event Officials decided to abandon that heat. Unfortunately there were some competitor injuries – but the abandonment was a huge disappointment for Odile and Annette as they were winning! Odile and Annette sail the 49erFX Olympic class vessel, and it is the ‘Olympic’ status of the 49er skiff which explains why there was such a big fleet during the European Championship event. The Paris Olympics are now just two years away, and every sailing nation has begun to prepare their crew for that event. A recent change on board the Dutch vessel is the use of 3di sails. This new sail-making technology incorporates a resin-and-fibre build, formed onto a three-dimensional mould and provides more power from the same sail area. Odile and Annette were quite nervous before the final day of the Aarhus event – they were in third place on points so although they were tantalisingly well-placed for a medal, they could easily be knocked off the podium by poor performance on that final day. Fuelling their nerves – the competition so far had seen some really strong performances, from many of the teams. And also, for the final day the race course was changed – so the familiarity they had built up about the wind-and-water over the previous event races was now useless. In order to achieve a good result they had to be right at the top of their game – tingling with energy in both mind and body! There were three races on the final day …the first didn’t go so well, finishing 9th. The second race produced first place – allowing their confidence to grow! And in the final race of the competition, the Medal race – in which errors are costly because points against you are doubled – they finished two places ahead of their arch-rivals from Brazil …achieving the brilliant result of second place overall! Soon they will be off to Marseille to get some experience of the kind of sailing they will experience at the Olympics. And we look forward to watching them in their next big competition – the World Championships – which takes place in Nova Scotia, Canada, during the first week of September. Victron Energy sponsor the Dutch 49erFX racing team. We admire the commitment and energy they bring to all the work they do!
Justin Tyers • 01 July 2022
Where can I find the answer to my question?
Whenever you have a question about one of our products, how best to install it, something’s not working quite as you expected, or you even suspect there may be a fault – we have a huge library of written information to help you, together with product videos; and a truly global infrastructure of verbal or face-to-face representation wherever you are located in the world, whenever you need help. Support Let’s begin with our brand new Support page, as we’ve been doing a lot of work on these pages recently to help you find answers to your question, and to get personal assistance quickly and easily if you need it. On the support page you will find easy-to-follow instructions guiding you to the huge information resources we have placed at your disposal …or if you want to talk to someone you can find the contact details of the Victron Energy representative in your area, and what level of assistance you can expect from each of your Victron Energy contacts. The Support tab is located above the header on our homepage …take a look now so that you can zip straight through to the information destinations whenever the need arises. We recognise that the quickest solution to your problem will often be achieved when you get that nugget of information which suddenly makes everything clear – our support pages guide you to relevant manuals, data sheets, schematics, software downloads and many other resources where you will find in depth information about your product, and how it connects to the other devices in your installation. Outside of the support tool, let’s take a deeper look at those resources, and where to find them on the Victron Energy website. It’s in the Manual! Very frequently you find that the information you were looking for was in the Manual all along! From our homepage menu you can get access to all product manuals – old and new, available in six languages – by clicking on Downloads ; and selecting your product from the hundreds of Manuals in the search-box drop down menu. Also, our products ship with a QR code – scanning it will take you straight to the manual. More Downloads From that same Downloads search bar you will notice that there are Eight tabs lead you to many other resources. Let’s take a quick look at them. Software downloads for current and old devices; software to help you calculate, set up, design, and even establish cross-manufacture datacoms in energy systems built using less-well-known component parts. Brochures for your application : We have brochures written for the following sectors: Automotive; Industrial; Marine; Mobility; Off-grid and backup; Energy Storage Systems; Telecoms; Energy Access and Pay-as-you-Go (PAYGo). These brochures suggest which products will be the most relevant to your need. Some of our products are specific to a particular application – you might not have realised we stock such items until you read those pages! Our brochures are designed to present new ideas to you and are available in twenty languages. Schematics Our industry leading wiring diagrams are packed with information, hints and cautions. We have hundreds of examples – so you can be sure we have got your product and your application covered. By taking time to study the schematic appropriate to your intended build, you will learn much about how the product might be placed within a larger installation, and you’ll get some new ideas, too. Browse the schematics library by selecting a product. Whilst on that page, searching for other products in your installation will reveal useful alternative wiring topographies for applications on land, sea, and mobile installations. Datasheets Are available for all our products, they provide at-a-glance information and technical data which allow you to make quick comparisons between models, select the best model for your application, and to make the optimum programme settings for the product you have. Technical Information Inspired by frequently asked questions, we’ve produced a series of superlative books and white papers written with absolute authority. You may wish to download these resources for easy reference now and in the future. Two such invaluable resources are the publications: Energy Unlimited and Wiring Unlimited . These two books explain in simple language everything there is to know about storing and using Energy – in the first case; and making informed decisions when connecting and protecting circuits, in the second. Enclosure Dimensions Will it fit? Here you have instant access to the size of everything we make to help you with your installation planning. Certificates Here you will find the library of conformity, compliance and safety certificates for all our products for all international certificating authorities. MPPT Calculator The MPPT Calculator will help you choose the correct model from amongst our many different models of Solar Charge Controllers. The calculator takes into consideration the PV panel peak output rating, string size and circuit topography, cable size and distance run, system battery voltage, and your geographic location in order to focus down to the products most suited to your installation. Looking for in-depth, guided technical knowledge and product training? Victron Professional can be accessed by Victron account holders – including staff, distributers and installers. You can request and account of your own, if you don’t have one already. Here you will be able to access our video training, and consult our rolling calendar of in-person training events. On Victron Professional you will also be able to browse the public events we will be hosting or attending, worldwide; access firmware files; download media assets – such as high quality images of products – and catch up on product and software announcements. Victron Community Victron Community is our discussion platform for users. It encourages conversation between users (in English, French and Spanish) with the aim of sharing product knowledge …so if you’ve got a technical question, you’ll be able to see if it has already been asked and solved – or post the question yourself. Many of the 10,000 registered users are already knowledgeable about Victron Products, and freely help others with advice. Community has over 230k page views per month – and over 13k questions have been answered,. The most active members, offering sound advice, can be recognised by their badges. Also on the community page, DIYers who carry out experimental modifications to our products or open-source software share what they have learned. We welcome their contribution – although for obvious reasons we don’t support or approve actions not listed in product manuals. Community is a great resource for seeking help; exchanging ideas; and finding novel ways to provide solutions to energy installations in unusual circumstances. Newsletter If you subscribe to our Newsletter you will receive regular roundups of all the latest product releases, changes to software, or certification, for example. The newsletter will highlight any events taking place in the near future – so that you get a heads-up on anything happening in your area. The newsletter contains at-a-glance information about everything we think it’s important you should know …and shows you where you can find more information. Whether you are a Professional Victron Installer or a Victron product user – it’s for you. Subscribe to the Newsletter by entering your email address in the ‘Stay in Touch’ section found on the bottom of our Homepage . Social Media We regularly post updates on our Social Media and Video channels. For quick news, information, entertainment or simply staying in touch – why not subscribe to one of the following outlets?: Facebook We use our FaceBook page as a fun way of keeping you informed about product developments; amazing installations; instructional video/document releases; competitions …anything that has ‘just happened’, really! – helping the page grow to almost 20,000 likes and follows. It’s great for reading short announcements if you’re in a hurry. We have pages which are originated in The Netherlands, Asia, South Africa, East West and Central Africa, and Romania – so the content is also specific to your region. Instagram Our Instagram account has quickly grown to over 16,000 followers. Instagram is where we communicate our photogenic news! Sometimes it features images of users and installations not published elsewhere on our social media channels. Instagram users all round the world can tag their installation to our page – some of which we will elevate as a feature. A picture paints a thousand words, and you can click through to more in-depth content. YouTube There are over 250 interesting and informative videos on our YouTube channel with new videos in production all the time. With over five million channel views and approaching 40k subscribers, Video allows us to show you the main features of our products; showcase users-own real-life installations; offer webinars, training and demonstrate how to perform software updates; explain little-known but powerful settings; as well as offering a selection of third-party lifestyle videos. LinkedIn We have a LinkedIn page which is great way of connecting with other electronics industry professionals, and also with customers who want to share the success of their installations. The LinkedIn page is constantly updated with links to our latest blogs. Twitter Our Twitter account has over 3000 followers. We use it to post updates to our latest user stories, videos, competitions and chatty news. Blogs Our Blogs provide a mixture of technical and user-stories. New products and services, software enhancements and new features will always be explained in a concise easy to read format allowing you to quickly grasp what’s new. User stories from around the world explore the interesting problems installers are asked to solve, and explains the choices made when building the system. Featuring big and small installations they stretch our imagination, demonstrate what’s possible, and introduce us to the many interesting applications of our end users. We’d be very interested in hearing about some of your work, too. You can subscribe to the blog – click on the blog tab on our home page, enter your email address, and click subscribe. Now you’ll always be in touch!
Justin Tyers • 17 June 2022
Going green in Amazonia
The rollout of reliable, low-cost electricity supply to some of the most inaccessible and fragile environments on earth is a blue print for all our future’s. Peruvian solar installer Novum Solar got in touch with news of three very different success stories within the Amazon rainforest: a commission to provide silent maintenance-free power to 15 Military bases; three phase energy for a fruit processing factory; and the third is an installation to provide 24 hour energy for the perishable-goods chiller in a communal market …together with power for village homes. Military Base The military bases are responsible for border patrol deep in the Amazon. They provide a visible presence in remote areas – and also support communities in times of crisis – such as earthquake, floods or landslides. Some of the bases can only be reached after a river journey taking days or even weeks – depending on the season. In these locations diesel-powered generator sets are relied upon – in spite of their huge logistical problems: constant fuel supply; maintenance; and the difficulty of bringing engineers and spare parts to site. But all of that has changed for fifteen military bases (so far) after a visionary decision by the Peruvian Army to opt for silent, environmentally benign, and reliable energy from the sun. Novum Solar – who are based in Lima, and have been working on these kinds of solar installation for five years – provided the sites with a 5kVA power supply from a Quattro 48/5000/70 Inverter/Charger. The generators, although redundant, have been retained to provide back up in case of emergency. Some of the military locations have access to grid power, although their location makes the grid very unreliable. The Quattro has two AC inputs which can take their source from both a generator and a grid-connection, for example – automatically switching to whichever source is active. The Quattro also has two AC outlets – one of which will always provide energy, the other will automatically shut down its supply if there is no AC power coming in . This feature allows users to connect and run high-current consuming devices to the second outlet worry-free, knowing that big or non essential power consumers – such as air conditioners – will be shut down in the event of AC grid black-out or generator failure, and that only essential devices connected to the system will continue to run direct from solar, or battery storage. The military bases have a 15kWp PV array energy from which power is harvested by SmartSolar MPPT 250/100 Charge Controller which stores solar energy in Lithium Batteries. Whole system performance is harmonised, and can be monitored remotely thanks to the Cerbo GX – the communication and control device which sits at the heart of the installation, and which can be accessed remotely via the free-to-use Victron Remote Management VRM platform. In practise, these barrack installations now have energy security and can meet 100% of their demand from systems capable of producing a remarkable 147MWh hours of power per year, between them. Novum Solar’s three-phase off-grid installation at a fruit plant processes the Aguaje – a palm fruit which grows in the Peruvian jungle and is in demand in health outlets all around the world thanks to its reputed ‘super-food’ reputation. Fruit processing For the processing plant – which is located in Chapis, Manseriche, in the department of Loreto-Peru – the high cost of diesel had always been a threat to profitability, and mechanical breakdown was always accompanied by loss of production. The new solar three phase off-grid system has 3 Quattro 48/8000 units at its heart. There are 48 solar panels controlled by four SmartSolar MPPT 250/100 devices, monitored by a Cerbo GX together with a GX Touch 50 which provides at-a-glance system monitoring and management via its touch-screen user interface. 70kWh of power storage is provided by 20 x Pylontech US3000 Lithium Batteries. Pylontech, and many other third party lithium battery manufacturers, can be controlled – and are fully supported by – Victron Energy based installations. It is estimated that this installation alone will save over 5 tons of CO2 emissions. Community Market And finally, a community-benefit installation in the oil-rich town of Bretaña. The oil company Petrotal agreed to fund a solar power installation for the community market as a social contribution for the largely indigenous population. The difficulty of access in Bretaña was an impediment to the supply of grid energy – it’s 200km from the nearest large town. Reliant, once again, on diesel generators the population found that they were unable to meet the power demand of their cooling plant – far less that of their domestic dwellings. Today they enjoy silent and reliable power 24 hours a day from an energy system which employs 74 solar panels which can produce 30kWp. Five SmartSolar MPPT 250/100 devices harvested the energy for storage in 12 x Pylontech US 3000 lithium batteries. Two Quattro 48/8000 Inverter/Chargers can provide 16kVA of continuous power, and the system can, once again, be locally or remotely controlled thanks to the Cerbo GX and GX Touch. In spite of its remote location the system was installed in fifteen days – and now meets all the community’s power demands, whilst avoiding over 12 tons of carbon emissions. It is easy to see how Solar Energy will one day be the agreeable choice we all make. Novum Solar Novum Solar are passionate about emissions-free energy-supply. In addition to their design-and-build projects they are importers and distributers of solar power devices to other organisations in Peru; and they are solar energy educators – regularly attending training to keep abreast of the latest innovations in the industry, and passing on their knowledge to others.
Justin Tyers • 07 June 2022
Sailors nail Dutch colours to the mast
When they launched their boat to take part in the Hempel World Cup series – the latest event of which has just taken place in the Netherlands – sailing duo Odile van Aanholt , and Annette Duetz suddenly became aware that all eyes were watching them! This was their first competition since announcing their 49erFX Team Allianz Dutch bid to participate in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. Of course, it was a good chance to show everyone what they’re capable of, but what if it all went wrong? There was huge pressure on them to impress the crowd! And as it happened the first race didn’t go well at all. With five boats crowding around the first marker buoy, very little time, and some not-so-clear race signage about which direction the course went from there, Odile and Annette shot off maintaining first place – but in the wrong direction! Sailing off-course and never getting back on it they picked up 27 points right at the start the the event. (By the way – picking up lots of points isn’t a good thing!) Perhaps it was just the sting they needed? In their very next race they finished in first place out of an armada of 26 boats. Weather conditions over the six-day event were mixed – sometimes there was very little wind, sometimes it was blowing at the ideal competition strength of Force-four. The sea was sometimes smooth and sometimes choppy. And the waves in that location arrive quite close together, too, so you get quite a bumpy ride at speed. Annette says that one of the advantages of her new partnership with Odile is that they can take on a whole range of conditions: Odile likes to play with light airs, and I like it when it gets a bit rough – so between us we have skills for all weathers. The duo have taken the opportunity to practise their starts. Annette says: When you are at one end of the start line, near a committee boat, it’s easy to imagine where the start line is on the water – but when you’re in the middle of the fleet line-up, it’s much harder. So we’ve been working on getting close to the line wherever we are in the middle of the fleet line-up. The outcome of the competition wasn’t clear until the very last race, and it was a nail-biting battle for the pair as they fought to regain their dominance, until finally – right there in the twelfth and final race Odile and Annette held off their nearest rivals – Belgium’s Isaura Maenhaut and Geurts Anouk – to finish just two points ahead and win Gold for the whole event! Knowing that the whole world was eying up this new Olympic-bid team, that’s just what they hoped would happen! If they qualify for the Olympics it will be Annette’s third appearance to represent her country – her participation at Tokyo (with skipper Annemiek Bekkering) brought home the Bronze medal. It will be Odile’s first Olympic challege. Team coach for their bid is Kaj Böcker who has been the 49erFX coach for some years – so they’re in safe hands. All three could scarcely be more pleased with this latest result – though it’s also true that the dozen Victron Energy staff who were at the event on the final day deserve some credit for cheering them on to that brilliant result! Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine from Australia who had put in a threatening performance throughout the show finished just five points behind Denmark, in third. Victron Energy sponsor the Dutch National 49erFX team. We’re all so proud of the winning spirit which keeps producing such creditable results for them. The next event to look out for takes place in Denmark between July 6th and 10th. All images used in this story belong to : © Sailing Energy / Hempel World Cup Series Allianz Regatta
Justin Tyers • 03 June 2022
RV with three battery systems
Mike Mas – famous for pioneering drone videography decades before most of us had ever heard of it – has fitted out his RV with a triple-battery system which is turning heads in the industry. He uses a state-of-the-art Canyon Star Toy Hauler for work and play, on board which he has integrated an enhanced electrical system tailored to his mainly off-grid RV use. One of the remarkable features of his installation – when you open the RV compartments – is how professional and factory-installed all his enhancements appear to be. His modifications are the result of many hours of planning and forethought. Almost endless domestic power The main ‘House’ battery now has a paralleled storage capacity of over 30 kWh, and in his excellent video with explainers ( see below ) Mike talks us through the advantages of employing a 48V (51V in practise) battery system. Efficiency, he explains, is greatly enhanced when inverting power from 48VDC to 120VAC because big loads, such as air conditioning, will draw just a quarter of the Amperage compared to a 12V battery system. This lower amperage greatly reduces energy lost along hot cables. The higher voltage will result in lower cable losses to, and installation cable runs between battery and inverter can be longer, if necessary. Mike’s Victron Energy installation includes the following principal devices: Quattro 48/5000 Inverter Charger Orion Tr Smart DC-DC charger MPPT SmartSolar 150/45 Charge Controller Cerbo GX provides whole-system control GX Touch 70 user interface display Mike is able to monitor his system via Victron’s free-to-use global management platform VRM – which has geofencing. But Mike’s redesign goes much further than this. Among other improvements he has relocated the battery installation to an enclosed compartment, and installed his 5kW Quattro Inverter close-by so that the batteries can benefit from the incidental heat produced by the Inverter when it’s in use. As a result the batteries are kept warm – making them more efficient – and the cable runs are so short that cable-losses are virtually nil. PowerAssist – changes everything Mike explains one of his favourite features of the Quattro is PowerAssist (a feature available on all Victron Energy’s Inverter Chargers). You’re probably familiar with the annoying problem of tripping the power supply when your van is hooked up to the mains at a camp site with current limitation and you turn on a device which places too much load on the circuit? Or you have ‘too many’ devices turned on. Not any more! The Inverter/Charger PowerAssist feature will automatically add battery power to the incoming AC to meet the demand. When demand once again falls below the available AC current PowerAssist is automatically turned off, and battery charging will be resumed using the surplus AC. Mike explains PowerAssist here : Second battery installation handles mechanical operations Mike has installed another 12V 4kWh lithium battery system to handle all of the RV mechanical devices – such as hydraulic sliders and lifters which use electricity during operation. He points out that because Lithium batteries are not prone to the dramatic voltage drop experienced by lead acid batteries whenever a large load is applied, the vehicle’s mechanical devices operate at full design speed – noticeably faster than when powered by lead acid. He even uses this installation to supply ’emergency’ top up energy to neighbouring campers who have come unstuck or even to supply a partial recharge to his EV. This installation includes an Orion DC to DC Converter explained in this clip: Protection from Frost Mike has also installed an automatic heating system so that his vehicle does not need to be winterised. Camper van, RV, and boat owners – particularly in the northern hemisphere – are used to the autumn (fall) rigmerôle of draining domestic water tanks and so forth to protect pipelines from rupturing in the winter freeze. Mike’s automated low-wattage domestic heating cuts in when temperatures fall to around 5°C and shut off again when the temperature has climbed to around 10°C. Mike provides us with a full explanation of why he has chosen Victron Energy components in his installation, and how he uses them in his installation here: Viewed at full-length, Mike’s video comprehensively describes all the equipment on his RV and why he has chosen to install them. After a lifetime of innovation, it goes without saying that what Mike Mas has to tell us is well worth listening to! View the full length video here:
Justin Tyers • 04 May 2022
Intersolar Europe 2022 – Preview
We’re looking forward to meeting you face-to-face at Intersolar Europe! It’s the world’s largest exhibition of Solar Energy, and takes place on May 11th, 12th or 13th at Messe München . Best known for our Inverter/Chargers and Solar Charge Controllers – we’re always adding exciting new devices to our range of products for private energy installations – for Industry, Leisure, Home, Off-Grid, and Mobile working. This year is no exception – We’ve got some great new products to show you when you come to our stand – number B4.160. For example, you’ll be able to take a really close look at our brand new Electric Vehicle Charging Station . Incorporating an LCD Touch Screen, it’s a 32A charger capable of providing 22kW of power from a 3-Phase supply, or 7.3kW from a standard single-phase supply. Fully programmable and customisable. User defined light rings provide at-a-glance state of charge. WiFi Communication on board. Can be programmed to use surplus Solar Energy. The latest addition to our extensive range of Inverter/Chargers is the Quattro-II 48/5000 . As part of an ESS (Energy Storage System) it maximises the consumption of ‘home’ produced energy. 2 AC inputs – power will automatically be taken from a connected grid or generator, whichever has live AC available. 2 AC outputs – Second AC output is only active when there is an AC input, so non-essential loads are dropped in case of loss of grid or generator power. Plus all the useful features of our Inverter/Charger range The Multi RS Solar 48/6000 is an Inverter Charger with a 450V Solar Charger on board. It also has a bi-directional DC-DC charger which charges the battery with excess solar power, or converts power from the battery when required. The 4kWp Solar Charger can be daisy chained to more Solar Chargers, with the possibility of synchronised charging; the Multi RS can also be connected to PV Inverters. 80 – 450VDC input Display. Data can also be read from phone or Bluetooth device. Extendable PV capacity – both AC and DC coupled. Can be connected to a GX device via VE Can. Can be connected to a GlobalLink 520 vie VE Direct The new SmartShunt IP65 is an all-in-one battery monitor which you access using your phone – via Bluetooth. The unit allows clutter-free installation, having less cabling – and its IP65 rating allows it to be installed in tough environments such as an engine room which might be prone to dust and water spray. Remote data access via your phone means it can be installed out-of-sight and out of the way. The SmartShunt is available in three models: 500A / 1000A / 2000A Extensive Live and Historic Data parameters available straight to your phone Can also be read by a GX device for screen data display Can monitor second battery, midpoint monitoring, or temperature input 500A / 1000A /2000A models available Much more to see You’ll be able to see many more new products on our stand. Here are the additional products we will be able to demonstrate on your visit: Easysolar-II GX 48/5000 – is a combined Inverter/Charger, Solar Charge Controller, and system controller for easy installation. SmartSolar MPPT RS 450/100 and SmartSolar MPPT RS 450/200 – are Solar Charge Controllers for large PV arrays charging 48 volt batteries. Lynx Smart BMS is a feature-rich Battery Management System for Lithium Batteries Lynx Smart Shunt is a 1000A shunt for systems with a GX device. Part of the cool ‘Lynx’ distribution series. Your visit is a chance to get answers to all your questions about any of these new devices, or any of our hundreds of power products for Leisure, Industry, Marine, Home, and Mobile work setups. Parallel Conference Intersolar Attendees interested in Off-Grid applications might like to register for the parallel conference entitled Off-Grid Innovation – Digital, Control & Monitoring Solutions, Batteries during which our own Bob Hopman will be talking on the subject of: Innovating Integration of Efficient Power Electronics, Monitoring & Control. The conference takes place on Wednesday 11th from 11:00 – 12:30 in Room 12. See you at Intersolar 2022!
Justin Tyers • 03 March 2022
Training Tour’s Finale
On Friday 25th February – the great North American Training Tour hosted its final guests. From Florida to British Columbia – between July and February – 14 team members delivered 68 days of training and 34 days of events to 2000 people. Members of Victron staff, and Victron-product Ambassadors would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has attended, and to everyone who helped host the marathon event. Now we know how much we didn’t know! That was a remark we often heard. And team members, too, found the experience invaluable – listening, finding out what users want to see in our products, what information they need …and how they like to get it. Installer David Flather of Pinnacle Innovations was one of the two thousand professional attendees. What’s next? We’re going bigger …and different! This year – 2022 – we’ll launch a series of ‘whole weekend’ in-depth hands-on training. In partnership with our distributors we’ll offer System Installers detailed product schooling across our entire range, covering all product applications. These events will take place across ten North American states – convening on a Friday evening at 17:00 they’ll go right through ’til Sunday afternoon at 16:00, delivering a fully immersive weekend of information and fun as, together, we build systems hands on, from scratch. It’s a place where professionals can meet peers, gain knowledge, be challenged …and get connected to a network of like-minded individuals so that no future challenge will be too great! Dates for these events will be posted on our Victron Professional page next month – do look out for it. If you don’t have a Victron Professional account yet you’re welcome to visit the ‘ Professional ‘ page, now, and create one. …And next year, in 2023, we’ll be hosting the world’s biggest training event in Miami – strap in, more news to follow! Face to face training available across the globe At the time of writing we have 25 ‘in-person’ training events in the calendar taking place in countries around the world. Aimed at Energy System installers and Product Distributors you are welcome to attend an event at a venue near you. New events are being added to our rolling diary all the time – you can browse the list of events we have already planned on the Victron Professional page …click on the ‘Events’ tab. To access that page you will need a Victron Professional account – again, if you don’t yet have an account, you are very welcome to register one from the login page. Or access training from the comfort of your home! Lithium Batteries and BMS integration presented by Margreet Leeftink – this slide occurs at 36:38 [Victron Professional login required to use link] You can access training right now – at home or in your office – by choosing from around 100 online learning videos and webinars. The scope of these videos runs from short ‘explainers’ to in-depth product-integration seminars. Check out our YouTube channel if you’re interested in learning more about how to use our products in your DIY build – or if installing private power is what you do for a living, visit the Victron Professional page and click on the ‘Videos’ or ‘Online Training’ tabs to get access to our complete range of video resources – including those in-depth product installation videos. And finally… Let’s hear some thoughts about the huge North American Trailer Training tour now that all dates have been completed: Tour Manager Reian Werkman describes the whole experience as a …two-way Knowledge-Sharing platform where we gave our training – and learnt valuable lessons from the trainees. Event organiser Saul Charlesworth says that …b eing part of such a grand scale project has been exciting, challenging, and rewarding – all at the same time! Its success is due to hard work and dedication from Victron staff and ambassadors who have contributed their skills, knowledge, and passion for Victron. The lessons we learned over the course of the 8-month training tour will now be applied to future training events, in North America, and across the globe. …and here are some thoughts from our visitors I have an appreciation for Victron as a company that is responsive to customer requests, innovative and focused on quality. – Palm Beach, FL (Feb 22, 2022) I look forward to working with Victron and learning all about Victron the company and the Victron products. Perhaps even becoming a Victron ambassador someday! – Palm Beach, FL (Feb 22, 2022) I think Victron is a very well-organized company offering the best products and features to the market. – Palm Beach, FL (Feb 21, 2022) The number of attendees was high enough to evoke plenty of questions but low enough to avoid making attendees being lost in a crowd. I would recommend anyone that is considering DIY system installation, they should attend one of these training events. If there are other events I would very much like to attend. – Ft Lauderdale, FL (Feb 14, 2022) Victron makes great products and is trying hard to educate installers on how to avoid time consuming issues during the set up and commissioning process. – Tampa, FL (Feb 9, 2022) I gained a nice depth of product capabilities, as well as learning how versatile they can be, vs the general overview I knew before – Dallas, TX (Jan 25, 2022) Being a DIY’er, I came away with more confidence with what I had learned before the training day. Good to get experienced feedback from experts at Victron. – San Diego, CA (Dec 1, 2021) First there was a great top-level presentation of all the building blocks offered by Victron. Second the trainers showed that there are multiple options for doing a given power installation by using the different building blocks. Finally there was a good discussion of perils and pitfalls bassed on installers and distributors direct experience. – San Diego, CA (Dec 1, 2021) Being new to Victron it was very helpful to get a real-world overview of all the products and how they work together. Along with learning about the company itself and how it operates. The RV setup with all the systems available for hands on demonstration was very neat. – Victoria, BC (Nov 12, 2021) I was not aware of Victron at all before the training, but I was blown away by the products. I learned a lot of little details that will help us with installing Victron products. We have installed hundreds of your BMV, MPPT & Inverters. We love your product. – San Francisco, CA (Nov 3, 2021) The presenters were great. They were knowledgeable and friendly. – Ashland, OR (Oct 21, 2021) It was great to meet the Victron team and network. Also, great to talk shop about all of the products. Looking forward to the next one! Thanks! – Price, UT (Aug 31, 2021) Great to have the ability to ask specific nitty-gritty questions of the trainers, especially with the example systems laid out right there. The Victron system diagrams I have seen are all very complex, and it was great to be able to talk through specific issues with a sample system at hand. – Colorado Springs, CO (Aug 23, 2021)
Justin Tyers • 04 February 2022
North America Training Tour
The Training Trailer is on the last leg of the North America tour. Now in Florida, it will be welcoming its last visitors during the final month of tour dates. Will you be among them? What is the Training Trailer? The Training Trailer is a hands-on, single-day, rapid learning event offering in-depth knowledge on designing and installing private power systems. During the day you will rotate between seven power installation-examples including: Off-Grid installation Small Recreational Vehicle set-up Large Recreational Vehicle system System Monitoring Marine Glass Bridge Integration Battery Management systems and DC to DC converters Victron Remote Management Portal – an in-depth exploration of this invaluable platform Who is it for? Everyone. Formal training is offered to Victron product Installers, Dealers and Distributors – there are 35 places, and attendees participate in small groups to achieve one-to-one training. If you would like to take this last opportunity to attend one of the final 11 dates in Florida between Feb 9th and Feb 25th. On informal ‘Open’ Trailer Days, DIY installers, power-hungry hobbyists, and anyone whose lifestyle takes them off-grid with all the comforts of home is welcome! At the time of writing two Open days are available – February 17th in Miami and on February 25th in Jacksonville. Click on either of those destinations if you’d like to attend. Always new faces… Victron’s Sales Manager for South America and the Caribbean – David Lopez – will be available to conduct training in both Spanish and Portuguese languages. He will be attending Riviera Beach, Florida on February 21st; Jacksonville, Florida on February 23rd/24th. Nigel Vincent – Sales Manager from the UK – will also be in attendance, so if your organisation or products serve the European market, Nigel can give you the view from there. Attendee: ‘I learned we have a lot to learn!…’ John Copeland attended the Training Tour in Clear Lake, Houston, Texas with five of his colleagues. He is the Operations and Strategic Project Manager for ESI Fire & Security. He and his team are installing solar-based autonomous power in their fleet of 125 security surveillance trailers (275 trailers by year end). Meeting all the super-enthusiastic knowledgable guys – and from the Netherlands – was great, and real useful! Says John. Speaking about his plans to convert his trailers over to a Victron-based power supply, he said: Having conducted side-by-side real-life testing of Victron and ‘other manufacturer’ equipment, it was a clear case. After a spell of poor weather we’d drive out to each trailer to see how it was doing. With Victron we just haven’t had a failure yet. But remote monitoring changes everything – using Victron Remote Management (VRM) we don’t even have to visit site to see how it’s doing. Each security trailer is equipped with live surveillance cameras capable of distinguishing suspicious activity. When an intruder is detected the trailer sends an automatic alert to ESI’s Control Centre – and live voiced warnings are issued to the intruder. If those warnings go unheeded police presence is requested. The security trailers are invaluable at Chemical plants and at lay-down (storage) areas at temporary Construction sites, for example. When Texas gas and electricity infrastructure installer CentrePoint Energy build new lines they establish storage areas of up to 12 acres where they lay down the plant and construction material they’ll use for the next 4 miles ahead. The entire area can be guarded by two, three or four security trailers. The trailers are equipped with: 1680Wp solar array MultiPlus Compact Inverter/Charger 24/2000 SmartSolar MPPT 100/50 Cerbo GX and GX Touch 50 8 x Gel Batteries 12V / 165Ah Since making the decision to provide their trailers with Victron Energy they’ve completed 30 installations …another 120 – 150 worry-free installations are planned this year. Let’s hear from the Tour Coaches The Training Trailer Tour has been an incredible journey for everyone involved – hard work, but fun. Our North America Sales Managers have worked hard to offer top-flight tuition and coaching which exceeds the expectation of visitors. Everyone gains …what are the Coaches taking away from the experience? Simon Ytterbom : It’s really interesting and useful to get feedback from installers and end-users as most of our daily interactions are with our distribution channel. Rich Shea : It’s rewarding to see attendees “light bulb” moment when they understand the scope of possibilities with our products – from the smallest Smart Battery Sense up to the largest 3-phase Quattro systems. Alan Santos-Buch : I often hear visitors say : “To be able to see and touch the products and have a clear understanding how they connect and work together is something no one else does, and I’m very thankful for the hands-on training. So speaking for myself – it’s a great feeling to be able to share all this accumulated knowledge in a group dynamic and to get such enthusiastic responses and engaged participation from the attendees. Lance Vickery : Wow, I learnt so much more, my head is still spinning. When is the next training? I will be there. Justin Larrabee: I’ve enjoyed the personal interaction with the attendees. There are always interesting conversations regarding different applications for Victron Energy products. It’s been nice to see people leaving with more knowledge and the confidence to reach their goal of providing the necessary energy wherever the application may be. Victron Ambassador Caza Gomis : This tour has been such a great opportunity to not only teach DIYers and Professionals about all the possibilities Victron has to offer, but also learn about the particular needs and challenges that Victron users face. We got to meet so many interesting people in the midst of their own creative projects, and we all learned from each other! One of the main goals of these training sessions was to make renewable energy systems more accessible, regardless of skill level. We set out on a mission each day to share knowledge and answer all of the questions our visitors brought with them. Based on the feedback we’ve received, I’d say this was a very successful training tour! Grab your last chance… Places are still available on board the Victron Trailer as it rolls through Florida – so take this last chance to attend and be amazed at how much you learn …and how much that learning allows you to achieve.
Justin Tyers • 24 December 2021
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Thank you for subscribing to our blog. During 2021 we hope you’ve enjoyed reading about the huge, sometime tiny – but always game-changing installations of our products about factories and offices ‘going green’; or essential infrastructure installed remote from any electricity grid; and also about the businesses and homes which do have a grid connection but have chosen to use it only as a back up to harvesting and storing their own energy …protecting themselves from escalating energy prices. Shore-based, Marine, Mobile, Industrial and Leisure – we’ve enjoyed hearing about them all! Keep them coming in 2022. And we’ve enjoyed hearing the human stories: Victron-sponsored sportspeople who have achieved greatness; DIYers building energy freedom into Recreational Vehicles, Boats, or their remote Cabins; and about super-mobility in the case of Philip James with whose story we’d like to end the year!: Mobility scooter gets 50 mile range – but how to charge it? Philip James found an economical way to extend the range of his mobility scooter from ten miles to over fifty miles by buying component-parts from listing sites and building an under-seat Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery. He began charging his new battery using a low cost DC/DC converter – but was right to feel deeply uneasy about using a voltage converter in that way. Lithium Batteries require intelligent monitoring-and-charging at cell level in order to keep them safe, and to extend their life. Philip asked for advice from YouTuber Andreas (Andy) Kirch whose channel Off-Grid-Garage Australia discusses DIY solar battery projects. As a result Andy decided to divert his channel’s ‘Buy me a Beer’ donations towards raising funds to purchase a professional Blue Smart IP22 Charger which he planned to give to Philip. Philip James’ new BlueTooth enabled battery charger was demonstrated by Victron Distributor Paul Collins. Photo: Keith Mindham (keithpix@btinternet.com) In a single day Andy’s channel raised AU$5400 from 190 generous followers! Andy also got in touch with us at Victron Energy to ask if we would like to help out. We arranged a product donation in the UK and as a result Andy was able to donate all the cash raised to the Muscular Sclerosis Foundation in Australia – at Philip’s suggestion. Victron Energy distributor Paul Collins of Energy Monkey handed over the charger in person, and demonstrated how the Blue Smart IP22 Charger’s six-stage dynamic charge algorithm can be controlled from a smartphone. Andy tells the story in his video here: Onwards into 2022! Looking forward: We have lots of exciting new products planned for next year which we know you’re going to love – so stayed tuned! It only remains for all of us at Victron Energy to wish you a very Merry Christmas – if you mark that festival – and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!
Justin Tyers • 30 November 2021
CHRISTMAS COMPETITION!
Why not celebrate the festive season by entering our Advent-Calendar competition and win yourself a really great prize. The competition starts on December 1st 2021 (Don’t wait – that’s tomorrow!) and ends on Christmas Day! So it’s your chance to win yourself a fantastic Christmas pressie! The questions are fun, and they’re not too difficult – but they are timed ! So before attempting the question-of-the-day you’ll need to get your caffeine fix to be sure you’re firing on all cylinders! Then open the question for the day – and choose the answer as quickly as you can! How it works To win one of five great prizes, answer a technical question by choosing from five possible multiple-choice answers. Sometimes you’ll know the answer off the top of your head; sometimes you might need to pay a quick visit to our website to be sure! But only one answer from the multiple choice of five is correct. Be quick, though, as your answer is timed between clicking to open the daily question, and clicking to submit your answer! Only your first answer will be accepted. There will be one quick question per day. So that’s 25 questions in all from the 1st to the 25th of December. Don’t miss a day because when it’s gone, it’s gone! – there is no ‘catch-up’ chance to answer yesterday’s questions. But don’t despair if you miss one – you might still be a winner even with fewer fast and furious correct answers! Why not set yourself a daily reminder? Coffee – then Victron Advent Calendar Competition ! Five winners will be chosen from those who correctly answered the most questions …in the least time. What are the prizes? We’ve chosen five great prizes for you! The outright winner of the competition gets first-choice from among all five prizes; the person in second place chooses from among the remaining four prizes – and so on. Here are the fantastic prizes you can choose from: JAN GUNNEWEG BOUGH BIKE. These iconic designer wooden bicycles are famous worldwide. Stunning to look at – your head-turning bicycle will be the ultimate statement in sustainability! VICTRON ENERGY SKATEBOARD. We’ve commissioned a top quality Custom Decks Europe skateboard to be liveried with the same ‘Robot’ design we use on our T Shirts. The result looks so cool we’ve used an image of it in next year’s Victron Calendar 2022 – you’ll see it when your calendar arrives one day soon. One of these amazing skateboards could be yours!! TOOL BOX STASHED WITH TOOLS. Why not choose the most practical of our selection of prizes – a Victron Toolbox filled with tools you will use everyday. State-of-the-art professionalism for any installer! MEMORABLE MEAL FOR TWO. Have you got a favourite restaurant you visit on those special occasions? Or do you know of a restaurant you’ve always wanted to go to – but didn’t want to pick up the tab! No problem – Dinner is on us! Photo by Thuyen Vu from Pexels SURPRISE BOX. How do we describe this surprise box? Hmmm – well, we can’t I guess because it’s a surprise! But we know you’ll love it!! How to enter Visit your Victron Professional account on December 1st (2021). If you don’t have a Victron Professional account you’re welcome to register one. At the top of your Victron Professional Account page on that day you will see a tab labelled: Enter our Christmas Quiz! Click on that tab to enter, and click on it everyday to discover that day’s new question. Your answers will be registered to your account. The answer to the previous day’s question will be revealed along with the new question – so you’ll know how you’re getting on. But you won’t know if you were the fastest! Get Ready – Start Now! Join in the fun and get your chance to win a great prize. Open or register your Victron Professional account – Set a daily reminder for the first twenty-five days of December – And get your fingers ready for some speedy clicking!! That’s it! GOOD LUCK! The Christmas Competition is not open to personnel in the direct employment of Victron Energy
Justin Tyers • 22 November 2021
WE are the CHAMPIONS!
A stunning performance by Netherlands duo Odile van Aanholt and Elise de Ruyter has resulted in them being crowned World Champions at the 49erFX sailing event in Oman yesterday! There are three remarkable qualities to their victory: firstly, the pair have only been sailing together for a few months secondly, they have only just taken up the baton from previous World Champion team mates – the now dissolved Netherlands partnership of Bekkering and Duetz whose top performances we have enjoyed for years and thirdly, race thirteen. 2021 World Championship Oman ©Sailing Energy / Oman Sail Let me tell you about race thirteen…! In a competition in which Odile and Elise performed consistently highly – recording two firsts, seconds, and thirds among many top ten placings in a field of 21 – came race thirteen which had the power to spoil everything for the pair. Race thirteen became their most remarkable performance of the event, you won’t often see such a remarkable race …and one which might well define the duo’s exciting racing style. Just before race thirteen began, in light-airs, Odile and Elise incurred a penalty for pumping the mainsail – like a fish uses its tail – and were forced to take a 360 degree go-around allowing everyone over the start line and leaving them in last place. That was a big price to pay when you consider that at that stage in the competition they were ‘number one’ on the score board, and so this fault had the potential to knock them out of the top three. But no – angry with themselves perhaps from the back of the pack they sailed like they were possessed by demons – clawing their way up the ranks so that even by the first leg (of four) they had already overtaken half the fleet to turn in eleventh place. Then came a moment of genius: With all the leaders setting their gennakers for the downwind leg and steering off to the right (starboard) of the course, Odile had spotted some wind off to the left (port) and became the first boat to strike out in that direction. Others followed her. The hunch proved correct, they found the wind they were looking for and on that leg gained 200 metres of much needed ground – enough to slide round the second buoy ahead of astonished Brazil – arriving from the other side! 2021 World Championship Oman ©Sailing Energy / Oman Sail All (do I really mean all?) – all they had to do now was keep ahead of the multi-trophy winning Brazillians for the final upwind, downwind legs. Odile and Elise settled straight into the sailing discipline which had delivered them consistently top results so far in the competition, keeping to their independent style – borrowing nothing from anyone else – they concentrated on harvesting maximum performance from their craft and the conditions to cross the line as winners of the race which they began in last place! 2021 World Championship Oman ©Sailing Energy / Oman Sail Over the past few years we have enjoyed following the success of sailing duo Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz – culminating in their fantastic Bronze medal at the recent Olympic Games in Tokyo. Both Annemiek and Annette have decided on taking a breather from the sport – they will remain close to the team, and Annette plans to return to competing when she completes her Masters degree in Applied Physics. We certainly didn’t have to wait too long for more thrilling sport now that Odile and Elise have teamed up! Victron Energy are proud to sponsor the Dutch National 49erFX team – greatly admiring their teamwork, training, and how they continually strive for greatness. All images in this story are by Sailing Energy apart from the one below which is a screen grab from the live video after crossing the winning line – celebrating with coach Kaj Bocker who helped them to become World Champions! We look forward to the next challenge!
Justin Tyers • 12 November 2021
Going to METSTRADE ?
We’re really looking forward to seeing you face to face at METSTRADE 2021. It’s been too long! METSTRADE is the world’s largest Marine Equipment Trade Show. It takes place annually in Amsterdam and features all the latest innovations and product releases in the leisure marine industry. This year its doors will be open on November 16th, 17th and 18th. You will find us on stand 01-541 where you will have a chance to get the answers to the questions you’ve always wanted to ask; form and renew the friendships which do much to support smooth trading partnerships, and peruse some of our latest product launches. We’re always adding new models to our formidable range of Shore-based, Marine, Mobile, Industry and Leisure Inverters and Inverter/Chargers – with the new MultiPlus II 8000VA , (pictured above) and the 10,000VA for example; together with the Multi RS and others. But with the Marine application in mind, here is a selection of new products which will be under the spotlight on our stand at METSTRADE 2021: MultiPlus 2000VA and Quattro II 48/5000 Inverter / Chargers – miserly ‘no load’ consumption and packed with advanced features True sine wave inverter, Multi stage charger – plus trickle charge to a second battery. If the Marina shore power has limited capacity you won’t know it – thanks to Power Control and Power Assist ! Come and hear about these, and many more top of the range features. Smart BMS and Smart BMS CL – Optimised LiFePO4 charging from an Alternator Precise Lithium charging with battery cell monitoring for any size 12V Alternator. Bluetooth on board -control it from your phone. Lynx Smart BMS500 – feature-rich, dedicated Victron Lithium Battery Management System 500A contact, Battery Monitor, Bluetooth allows Victron phone-app setup and monitoring, Early warning provides notice of imminent shut down, modular with all our other Lynx distribution devices for super-professional installation GX Tank 140 – Monitor up to four tanks locally or remotely Tank levels readings are generated by locally-connected Victron communication device (eg. Cerbo GX); on a Multi Function Display; or read it from anywhere in the world using the Victron Remote Management portal. GX Touch 70 – Touch Screen, whole-system control at your fingertips One-cable connection to a Victron Communication device (eg Cerbo GX) provides seven-inch, touch-screen, whole-system command and control. Stylish, slim, waterproof. GlobalLink 520 – Worldwide remote system monitoring with 5 years free data sending. Plug and Play – no setting up. Made with off-grid remote installations in mind, the GlobalLink 520 allows you to monitor your installation even when it’s thousands of miles away from anywhere! SmartShunt IP65 – the latest model of this clutter-free battery monitor Discreetly mounted out of the way, use your phone to display: Sytem Voltage, State of Charge, Current in/out, Time to go, etc …plus a wealth of historic information. Can also be connected to monitor a second battery, midpoint monitoring, or temperature sensor. We will also be demonstrating Multi Function Display (MFD) compatibilities; and Ruuvi Temperature Sensor Integration; plus a number of new wiring accessories and DC switch. Come and visit us next week to discuss these exciting products …or to get information about any product in our innovative range.
Justin Tyers • 05 November 2021
Record Skating entrants in Silver heist!
There was a lot of excitement last weekend when 23 year-old Dutch Speed Skater Sanne in ‘t Hof competing for Gewest Fryslân surprised everyone – including herself – by achieving her personal best time in the 5000m event to take Silver! She completed the distance in a time of 6m. 57.63s – a result which catapults her into the big names in skating and qualifies her for the World Cup line up! Speaking after her surprise win after years of hard training which haven’t always been a smooth ride, In ‘t Hof says: I’m someone who wants it all, and doesn’t set boundaries. I always went a bit too crazy and in hindsight I may have trained too hard. But I have a hard head. I set a goal and keep going until I reach it. I don’t care how long it takes and how it happens, I don’t give up! Sanne in ‘t Hof (in blue) takes the podium The win comes now she is in the Development Team at Fryslân under the leadership of Arjen Wolters. In her new environment she has expanded her outlook – taken time to explore her mind, and added some work experience away from the sport: in restaurants, grocery distribution, and vaccine roll-out. This new life-diversity seems to be paying dividends in more ways than one! Femke Beuling and Maud Lugters Skating club Gewest Fryslân put forward a record number of participants for the Region at NKA Thialf fielding no fewer than 26 participants. This resource of young talent firmly establishes Fryslân as a skating stronghold. Their success is no surprise to coaches Henk Hospes and Peter Kolder. “ At the moment we are very fortunate to have a large group of very talented drivers in our teams. This is the result of years of investing in facilities and our own vision of talent development. Our multi-disciplinary approach makes our athletes, but also the trainers better, and therefore leads to such results. ” says Peter Kolder, who, in addition to the national coach for the juniors, is also on the ice with the Talent team drivers every day. Tim Prins ” Thanks to our new status, we are even better able to train talents for the big work. From training to a good coaching team and having full facilities, our talents move closer to the top teams. Thanks to this development, we can also deliver them better to the top, so that the athlete and the top teams can benefit from our efforts .” says Henk Hospes. Victron Energy are proud to sponsor Gewest Fryslân. With such a great start to the season we wish all Fryslân skaters every success, and look forward to following the action! The headline image is of Kai in ‘t Veld. Even those of us who don’t speak Dutch will be swept along by Sanne’s delight at her Silver win in this video:
Justin Tyers • 22 October 2021
North America Training Trailer – Installers react
A couple of weeks back we heard from DIY visitors to the Training Trailer. This week let’s get feedback from some of the many hundreds of installers who have taken time out to attend one of the training events as it passed through their area. Installers work at the cutting edge – listening to customer needs, and then selecting and programming Victron products so that they exceed expectations! Training Trailer The Training Trailer is fitted out with seven power systems, typical of those you’ll find on RVs – large and small; Marine; Off Grid; and some which demonstrate battery management and monitoring. Experts on hand, it’s touring the North American continent attracting professional installers of Victron Energy products, and offering Open Days where enthusiastic DIYers can ask about anything they’d like to know. If you would like to attend the training you’ll find a booking link at the end of this article. This video will give you a great idea of what to expect on the Training Trailer – meet some of the professionals, and see what is waiting for you on board. Axmen – Guy Hansen Guy Hanson’s company Axmen specialise in off-grid and outdoor products. Guy has the reputation of being an innovator, for whom nothing is impossible. He says: “When the chance arose to spend some time and immerse myself in the world of Victron, I grabbed the opportunity. The trailer was incredible, with a multitude of learning modules designed to illustrate actual live installations. Guy and his son, erecting a building. “In my 48 years running retail establishments, I have endured thousands of training sessions. This training was remarkable because I heard authentic, enthused, intelligent people, who never stumbled or backtracked. They delivered valuable and detailed information tailored to their individual trainee in a language they could follow. I learned simple things that I am embarrassed to admit I didn’t already know. And I learned complex things that I was equally surprised made perfect sense. “Victron is a world apart from any other product I have used. The level of integration and the out-of-the-box level of potential complexity are unique. I said potential complexity because this product can be as simple as you wish, but the ability to go beyond is built-in and readily available. “The company culture is as unique and value-packed as the product. As you get to know these guys, you just can’t help but be impressed.” Mountain Ethos – Ryan Broussard Ryan Broussard is President and CEO of Mountain Ethos – carrying out adventure van conversions in the Denver area. He says: “We recently moved all of our primary electrical components over to the Victron system so I had a few motivations for visiting the Trailer Training – including meeting and networking with the Victron team. I didn’t realize that Nate @Explorist.Life was a Victron ambassador, but was pleasantly surprised to see him. We’ve used his website as a resource in addition to Victron’s website. “I found it was a great opportunity to learn more about potential new products and features from Victron that I previously was not aware of. We are committing to Victron products for all of the primary electrical components in our van conversions, and I’ve been impressed with what we’ve seen – being relatively new to the platform. I’ll certainly invite customers to future events. “I remember my first impression was that I was shocked at how many people showed up. I knew Victron had a big following – but this exceeded my expectations. If I remember correctly, even more people showed up than the event was originally planned for. But I was happy to see Victron and Colorado Standby were able to accommodate everyone, and I thought it was very well organized. “When I learned about the capabilities of the Cerbo GX and GX LTE 4G and the ability to remotely monitor, I really knew my visit was going to be worthwhile. We are considering expanding into adventure van rentals and the ability to remotely monitor and potentially geofence offers a lot of added value. “I found that the training day opened up new possibilities. I came away better educated on Victron products. In addition to learning more about the capabilities of the Cerbo GX, I received clarification on roughly a dozen other points about various Victron devices. I also learned more about how to use the online Victron resources – such as .STP files so that I can import Victron products into my cabinetry and vehicle design files for an exact view of how the components fit together in the spaces that I design. “All in all, I’m more connected to the Victron team and have a better understanding of their business model, product capabilities, and ways to improve our electrical system.” Ryan Broussard with a new electrical cabinet design that he specifically built based on the sizing of Victron components. Instagram: @mountainethos Pinnacle Innovations – David Flather David Flather is currently working seven days a week to fulfil customer orders but took time out to visit the Trailer Training and had a great experience. He has been involved in electronics ever since the age of 6 when his Grandfather taught him how to splice wires. He says: “I still have the wire cutters that he gave me back then and use them regularly. Over the years my fascination with electronics only grew and I learned a lot from watching others along the way – both the right and wrong way to do things. I honed my knowledge and skills mostly on my own projects including car restorations, extensive electrical customization on show vehicles as well as on powerboats. Whether my projects are marine, RV or industrial, I use the codes and best practices outlined in the very comprehensive ABYC marine code. “In recent years I have discovered that Victron Energy has been very successful in creating a suite of networkable products – demanded by many clients they offer value-added technology, plus the capability for future expansion. This is important as some of our clients’ present electrical system requirements are likely to grow in the future. So for me, scalability and adaptability of electrical system components is very important. Pinnacle’s efforts are directed at Lithium battery technology and naturally along the way we’ve learned what electronic systems work well with lithium battery technologies. This included a fairly broad spectrum of both load and charging devices – such as solar controllers, inverter-chargers, DC generators and so on. Pinnacle Innovations was founded in 1998 and we take pride in the excellence of the products that we offer, and in our customer service. As every project seems to have unique aspects, we take a ‘Total Systems Approach’ to identify all the variables, understand the needs and propose the best possible system for customer’s budgets. Pinnacle specializes not just in marine and RV energy systems (including clean energy systems) but we also frequently work on industrial and commercial/ military/ recreational electric marine propulsion projects. David Flather working on a 19′ off-road RV trailer (inset) fitted with 1100 Watts of solar, MultiPlus and SmartSolar MPPTs, SmartShunt and 400Ah of lithium batteries. Book yourself a place on the Victron Energy North America Trailer Training Have a look at the Trailer Training tour dates and destinations. When the Trailer comes to a location near you, don’t miss the opportunity to book your place. You will receive a warm welcome – and the time you invest will be well rewarded.
Justin Tyers • 15 October 2021
PAYGo Power – working with Angaza
We’re pleased to announce a new collaboration between ourselves and the software platform Angaza for our Pay-as-you-go power device the SHS 200. In continents with remote populations – notably Asia, South America and Africa – payment by instalment (PAYGo) allows communities to acquire life-changing products, power and services in a manageable way. But that business model is labour intensive for retailers and service providers who often interact with distant customers on a weekly basis. Enter the sales and customer software platform Angaza . On the Angaza platform companies can sell the SHS 200 on a pay-as-you-go basis, and access tools to manage their sales operations. Companies can easily keep in touch with their customers, including by sending automated SMS reminders about upcoming payments. They can accept mobile money, avoiding the need to physically collect cash. Businesses can also view payment collection data, enabling them to flag customers with late payments and strategize next steps. The Angaza platform provides a wealth of features that goes beyond customer management. Businesses can track and manage their product inventory and team, and view powerful data analytics to drive decisions and grow. This collaboration between Victron and Angaza helps increase consumers’ access to high-demand products that need power to operate – like mobile phones, rice cookers, TVs, solar lighting, and water pumps – to be used in locations where power is often not available. The SHS200 is a solar charge controller with DC and USB power outlets and can be used to power DC devices around the home. Connected to a 200Wp solar panel, and a 160Ah battery – which has the option to be tamper proof – the SHS 200 will provide enough PAYGo energy everyday to run home devices such as a 24″ colour television for eight hours, a fridge or fan, plus six domestic lights for eight hours. Reliable and easy to use – offline payments by mobile phone return a key code which, when entered into the keypad of the SHS 200, enables the device, providing 24 hour power for the period purchased – a week, or a month. The SHS 200 has fifteen DC power outlets – 10 USB (1.5A), 4 Barrel (3A/5A) and a 10Amp pin plug. The system is expandable, too, allowing the consumer to add more power as their needs grow. The SHS 200 is a revolutionary device for many remote communities. Grid electricity is not available for hundreds of millions of people around the world – and probably never will be. Access to power using the SHS 200 is truly life changing, often allowing them for the first time to start businesses; communicate by mobile phone; extend their children’s education after dark; and enjoy the benefits of news and entertainment from around the world. Victron Energy Sales Manager for the energy access market Yoann le Fol will broadcast a webinar for installers in which he will explain how the SHS 200 works and demonstrate how it is installed. You can join the webinar which will be held on Tuesday 23rd November at 14:00 Central European Time and ask questions. If you are unlucky enough to miss the event you will be able to find it, later, on our Past event video page (Victron Professional login required). How does it work? The Angaza sales and customer management platform is used by over 200 distributors across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Angaza’s sales and customer management solution provides distributors of all sizes with a complete set of tools to sell any product, anywhere by reaching new markets, meeting consumer demand for devices, and generating repeat business. With Angaza’s cloud-based platform and offline-compatible mobile app, distributors can make and monitor sales, offer multiple payment plans and track payments, manage their customer records, coordinate their teams, and drive decisions with powerful data analytics. With Angaza, businesses can: Collect customer data when registering a new sale Offer multiple payment methods, including mobile money and cash Generate and send tokens by SMS to activate PAYGo solar home systems Manage their teams, including sales people and technicians View sales and payment performance, including payment history Monitor and manage product inventory If you would like to become involved in the distribution of these systems, or add them to your portfolio you can contact Yoann le Fol directly. You can read more about our energy access products on our energy access page .
Justin Tyers • 01 October 2021
Training Trailer – what do visitors think?
We wanted to hear from visitors to the Victron Energy Training Trailer about their experience. The Training Trailer is fitted out with seven power systems, typical of those you’ll find on RVs – large and small; Marine; Off Grid; and some which demonstrate battery management and monitoring. Experts on hand, it’s touring the North American continent attracting professional installers of Victron Energy products, and offering Open Days where enthusiastic DIYers can ask about anything they’d like to know. There’s a booking link below. This week, let’s hear from Dag and Niki Sundman who had a whole load of questions for us about the installation they are building on their 65 foot Catamaran, and who visited the Trailer on one of its enthusiast ‘Open Days’ when it stopped in Annapolis, during August. They’re planning a four-year cruise of the Pacific Islands, and upgrading the boats domestic electrics to suit remote, silent anchorages, rather than the regular pontoon berthing the craft is currently equipped for …and its reliance on a pair of generators. Niki We were so impressed with the customer support and advice we got from people who understand what we are trying to achieve; says Dag. Swedish nationals, they spoke first to Niels Kaarill – then to Simon Ytterbom who invited them to visit the Victron Energy Training Trailer where they could ask questions and get hands-on with the example installations on board the trailer. The first decision they made was to base their new power supply around solar energy, renewing the four PV panels – which in any case were incorrectly wired resulting in only two of them harvesting energy. It was when they were choosing a Solar Charge Controller that they decided in favour of Victron Energy products. Sowilo Dag and Niki both bold Masters degrees in Mechatronics from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm – so they already knew very well what they were trying to achieve. No strangers to implementing new-design from scratch (their work lives included design and build of high-volume automation systems to take newspaper sheet from printer to truck, folding and stacking them en route. The focus for their voyage is self sufficiency and safety: out went the Propane cooker to be replaced with electrical appliances such as an induction hob and microwave. The PV panels and a pair of high output alternators will ensure that demand can be met, and the ship’s two generators will still be taking longer holidays. Dag highlights his experience of the Cerbo GX. Reducing domestic consumption is every bit as important as providing sufficient energy . You have all these electric devices and you don’t really know how much energy they actually consume until you see it on the screen [of a GX Touch 50, for example] . Having that information is so powerful! Without information you are completely in the dark, unable to make informed decisions ; he says. His new installation includes: Cerbo GX 4 x 24/200 Lithium Battery Smart 2500 W permanent solar and 600 W foldable solar 6 x SmartSolar MPPTs 2 x MultiPlus Inverters 3000W / 70A 2 x 24 V / 60 A dedicated alternators with Mastervolt regulators 2 x Generator back up. Smartshunt BMS Battery Protect . Dag It was during their visit to the Training Trailer they decided they were going to strip out the AGM batteries to install Lithium. As soon as I saw how small they are, and how much energy they hold, I knew we had to have them! Dag says. But actually the big advantage of Lithium is the high charge acceptance rate – you can charge them at full speed for longer. Being able to maximise energy storage when the alternator is spinning – or when the sun is at its brightest – is very satisfying. A lot of lead acid battery users will be familiar with the frustration of knowing that there is power available, but it cannot be fully utilised because their battery is being charged at C20; or lengthy ‘Absorb’ and ‘Float’ cycles. Why not take a look at the Victron Energy Training Trailer schedule, and book a visit yourself? We welcome Victron professionals to structured training days; and we welcome enthusiasts like Dag and Niki to our Open Days. Dag and Niki’s Pacific cruise begins next May leaving Panama for the Galapagos Islands on board their yacht Sowilo – the name of which, Dag explains, is a Rune from the early Norse alphabet, and has two meanings: one conveys the idea of Navigation, the second spiritual sense concerns the idea of finding one’s way in life. Their voyage will take them where the wind blows rather than following a premeditated route. We wish them fair winds, and fun!
Justin Tyers • 03 September 2021
Farm Estate aims for Carbon Zero
Simon Hackett is aiming to make his 170 acre Tasmanian estate energy self-sufficient. There are a number of dwellings; outbuildings; farm sheds for sheep and cattle farming; electric vehicles – and, unusually, an electric-motor powered self-launching glider, which he flies from his own runway. Simon is the architect behind the Redflow Battery Management System. Redflow manufacture modular ZBM2 zinc bromine batteries – 10kWh units which can be cycled 100% in harsh conditions. Twenty-eight of them (280kWh) provide the energy storage for Simon’s own system. System Components Three-phase grid feed via a 500kVA transformer (configured for up to 200kWp export) 266 x LG 375W panels provide 100kWp. (Additional 100kWp solar array under construction) 4 x 25kWp Fronius Symo AC Inverters 12 x Victron Quattro 48/15000 totalling 180 kVA 28 x 10kWh Redflow ZBM2 zinc-bromine energy storage modules totalling 280 kWh Cerbo GX system controller interfaced to 3 x Redflow Battery Management System units Underground sub-main distribution system servicing houses, farm buildings and an aircraft hangar Underground site-wide single-mode optical fibre network serving site-wide indoor and outdoor WiFi access points and networked access control and building management systems Provision for generator Simon Hackett The system was installed by DMS Energy of Tasmania. Simon says it looks great and works brilliantly. Here he tells us about his system and its performance: Flow Batteries Zinc Bromide Flow Batteries The system stores surplus energy in Redflow Zinc-Bromine flow batteries. These batteries have a lot of advantages compared to Lithium batteries, for stationary energy storage applications such as this one. System Performance and Future Plans Ground-mounted solar panels; outdoor-mounted Fronius 3-phase solar inverters; and grass-mounted Border Collie Rainee . We decided to deploy a relatively large solar array with the aim of obtaining adequate overall performance in the winter months. Our panels are also our renewable transport fuel station for a Tesla Model S sedan; a Polaris ‘Ranger’ electric ATV; and an electric aircraft . Our plan is to progressively eliminate the use of diesel by running electric 4WD vehicles, tractors, and excavators as they become available in Australia. The beauty of the large on-site solar array is that all of these vehicles can be charging when they are not being driven. During this winter, typically, we manage to half-fill the battery array – which lasts about half the night before grid energy is required. Doubling the solar array should allow us to supply all energy demands on most days without drawing any grid energy. In the summer we’ll be exporting plenty of energy – and being paid to do so. Here are some (summer time) screen shots from the on-site control system and from the outstanding Victron Remote Management ( VRM) data logging portal. On VRM you can see the solar array producing more than 90kW, the battery bank was mostly full with a tapered charge-rate, and plenty of solar energy was being exported to the grid. The ‘System Overview’ and ‘Consumption’ charts show the battery ending the day pretty much full, the site ran all night on ‘stored sunshine’ and started the following day half-full. We exported plenty of green energy to our neighbours and we used practically no energy from the grid. Once all our vehicles are electric our total export energy will be less, but that will be more than offset by savings on diesel – and we won’t be emitting CO2 or Diesel particulates. On-site Energy Efficiency All the houses on the farm are heated/cooled using heat pumps. This is the most efficient way to do it, by far, and it’s often poorly understood just how much more efficient a heat pump is than other cooling/heating systems. A heat pump doesn’t create heat – it moves heat energy from the outside environment into the house (or vice versa, to cool it). Typically, 3-4 kilowatts of heating or cooling are gained for each kilowatt of energy used by the heat pump. We have a Spa pool which need a fair bit of energy to keep hot, and we have done two things to minimise that energy draw. First, we have used a Spa heat pump to do the water heating, offering similar efficiency to the heat pumps. Second, we have installed a monitoring and control device so we can remotely control it – turning the heating off when we are leaving home, and turning the heating back on before returning – so it’s nice and hot when we arrive. We use a Sanden Heat Pump heat pump for domestic hot water – which performs really well. On-site Energy Monitoring and Control GX Touch 50 The key to optimising energy usage is to be able to measure it. The Cerbo GX monitors all aspects of our renewable power plant in detail. This provides us with detailed evaluation of energy generation, storage, and consumption. We have a lot of separate buildings on the farm, and the key to understanding energy draw in each is provided by a number of Carlo Gavazzi EM24 ethernet interfaced energy meters so that energy usage can be narrowed down to each of these buildings with ease. I am currently working on the design of a monitoring system to provide me with detailed analytics of where our energy is going on a per-building basis, and when. We have deployed KNX based sensor and control devices around the property and plan to install more so that we’ll be able to control and optimise our energy consumption in a variety of useful ways. KNX is an extremely good way to implement building automation using a 30+ year old standardised protocol with full backwards compatibility, with support from over 500 hardware manufacturers. With the upcoming enhancements in site monitoring and control, we expect to deepen our understanding of where energy is being used, to (in turn) allow us to further optimise that usage, using techniques as simple as moving various high energy demands to run ‘under the solar curve’ wherever possible. These are the times when on-site energy usage is essentially ‘free’ (avoiding the ‘energy round trip’ via the battery, and leaving more battery capacity for energy demands that cannot be time-shifted overnight) In summary, our system is performing extremely well, and we are extremely pleased with it. When we have added even more solar, it will do even better.
Justin Tyers • 09 August 2021
Victron North American Training Tour – right up your street?
One month down the road for The North American Training Tour – and it’s been exceeding expectations. We hoped it would! This is way better even that I thought it would be! Said one participant in the training programme – echoing the sentiment of many. What is the Victron Training Trailer and who is it for? The North American Training Tour is on a slow journey visiting destinations throughout the whole of North America. It’s a training laboratory packed full of technology to demonstrate seven different types of installation – typical set ups for big and small RV’s; the latest developments for installations on the water; and off-grid systems for remote living or working …or Home automation. The Training Trailer offers two different kinds of learning – structured days for Victron installers and distributors, and less formal ‘Open Days’ for power-crazy DIYers – where the training will be concentrated on your specific area of interest. You’ll get hands-on experience during a brilliantly choreographed training day with Professional guidance to steer you through the process, and to answer any question! Several training groups can be accommodated at the same time The variety of the installations; the quality of the training; and our thorough Root and Branch educational process is really helping Victron Professionals and DIYers alike with their understanding of how Victron electronics can be tailor-made to provide solutions to just about any application. You can learn more here. Earn as you Learn – ABYC The American Boat and Yacht Council ABYC recognise the quality of training we provide on board the Victron Training Trailer. In order to keep abreast of all the latest technological advances in Marine and related electronics it is a requirement of your ABYC accreditation that you earn 10 Continuing Education Units (CEU’s) every five years. Participation in our event will earn 7 CEU’s. Small classes allows plenty of interaction – Caza Gomis STOP PRESS: The training trailer is on site right now at the NABCEP 2021 Continuing Education Conference in Knoxville, TN – and again tomorrow, August 10. After that date, until the 12th, you will still be able to visit Victron Energy on our exhibition booth (#72) at the same event, where we will be welcoming visitors for the whole of the conference – August 9-12. Tour Dates – Update You can book yourself and your staff onto one of our professional training days by clicking on the event link. Or if you’re a keen DIYer and you want to get some top quality hands-on acquaintance with products why not come along to one of our open days? They’re especially for you. North America Sales Manager – Justin Larrabbee North America Sales Manager – Simon Ytterbom North America Sales Manager – Rich Shea Well-planned courses: hood-up, hands on, talk through. Caza Gomis.
Justin Tyers • 03 August 2021
OLYMPIC BRONZE for Dutch Sailors!
Dutch sailors Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz have notched up a fantastic victory for the Nederlands by achieving a Bronze medal in the 2020 Olympic Games 49erFX sailing event! This result builds on their earlier successes as double World Champions, and European Champions. The Duo competed in the Rio 2016 Olympics where they finished in 7th position – so they will both be absolutely thrilled to have nailed this win! For the sailors, this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo was all about the weather – it’s the only Olympic discipline which is at the mercy of nature. Enoshima Yacht Harbour – the venue for the twenty-one competitors in 49erFX boats who took part in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games – witnessed strong winds and lively seas in the early stages of the competition – conditions beloved of Bekkering and Duetz who doggedly plugged their way up the leader board. © Sailing Energy / World Sailing On this the greatest of all contests, nerves were showing among the usual top performers in the early stages of the competition. On a gusty morning a capsize by the New Zealand team, and a jam on board the Brazilian boat when they made a gybe they didn’t really need to make, cost them dearly as they dropped from second to fifteenth place. For the Dutch team a series of excellent starts helped them to some great results. The exception to their winning streak came on one beat which proved an unlucky choice and delivered a poor finish in twelth position. But it was the consistently strong performances of the Dutch duo – finishing 75% of their races in the top six (including two 1sts) – which helped them rise, like a bubble, to the top. In 17 knots of breeze, competing with the best of the best, and bouncing over a lively sea, Annette says that the key to success is not to drive the boat at 100% and risk a capsize, but to ease back on the throttle, maintain control and keep calm. It’s stressful, but it’s what they’re best at. © Sailing Energy / World Sailing The wind fell light during the the last few days of their competition having the effect of evening-out the score card so that fewer points separated the sailors – yet still our champions of strong winds and lively seas found their way past the pack. With such differing conditions of wind and waves each team had the opportunity to show what they do best in their ideal weather. Great Britain, Spain, and Germany had all achieved greatness on ideal days, putting themselves within reach of a gold medal in the final. By the penultimate race – with only the medal race left to decide the winners, Bekkering and Duetz had displaced all competitors, one by one, to emerge on top – tying first with Brazil ….the winners of their ‘home’ Olympic Games five years ago in Rio 2016. The wind was so light on the scheduled medal race day that the event had to be postponed. It finally took place this morning in just 7 knots of wind. World Sailing has previously said that winds of at least six knots would be necessary to ensure fair competition. Bekkering and Duetz fought hard to find the best strategy and tactic for this final battle but with slow moving boats all around them at the crucial moments they weren’t able to seize an advantage. Sailing performance in light airs becomes much more unpredictable, luck plays a part, your wind can be ‘stolen’ by upwind competitors – and it can take a long time to recover from mistakes. © Sailing Energy / World Sailing In the final medal race it was Argentina who devised the best plan and came out on top, breaking away to steal an early lead and keep it. Never mind – the hard work and professional performances of Bekkering and Duetz over the 12 previous races of the competition carried them to success and delivered the result that mattered! The Gold medal was won by Brazil’s Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze; and the Silver medal was won by Germany’s Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke . Congratulations to all competitors whose training over the last five years provided such an exciting contest – closely fought, it kept everyone guessing right to the end! Victron Energy sponsor Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz and we’d like to congratulate all the team behind the Dutch national 49erFX competitors. We couldn’t be more proud of their performance.
Justin Tyers • 13 July 2021
Victron’s massive North America Training Tour!
Hitting the road with its wheels spinning on July 15th the Victron Energy North America Training Tour is set to run and run. Following the seasons, our technology-packed Training Trailer will be pulling up at venues right across the continent, attending a rolling diary of dates already booked as far ahead as next March. Check the Schedule below to see when it will be in your area. Who is it for? The Victron Training Trailer is equipped with no fewer than seven different ‘example’ installations …so there’s something inside for everyone. We will be offering two different kinds of Event days: There will be informal ‘Open’ days – on which everyone is welcome to come along and explore our installations; and there will be ‘Structured Training’ days for Victron Professionals and their guests. So whether you’re a Victron Installer, product Distributor, or power crazy DIY installer – building your own project for travelling by Land or Sea; Remote Living; Remote Working; or innovating your home with the latest private power technology – inside the Training Trailer you’ll find answers to the questions you’ve always wanted to ask; plus loads more super ideas and solutions you didn’t even know were possible. Event Organiser Reian Werkman is dedicated to connecting people – both to each other, and to their passion. Our Schedule of event days for the next couple of months is listed below. For ongoing news of the tour as it rolls towards your area please subscribe to our Facebook page. We’ll shortly be announcing a webpage with news and reviews about the tour. What’s in the trailer? The Training Trailer has seven unique set-ups which demonstrate ideal system topography design for: Off Grid fixed installation Small Recreational Vehicle set up Large Recreational Vehicle system System Monitoring Marine Glass Bridge Integration Battery Management systems and DC to DC converters Victron Remote Management Portal – an in-depth exploration of this well-developed platform The systems are being installed right now – we know that because we sneaked inside: Victron Ambassador Marc Stevens installing the Off-Grid training installation. Wherever you attend the Victron Training Tour you are guaranteed to receive expert guidance from Victron Staff, Regional Sales Managers – and Victron Ambassadors like Nate Yarbrough whose passion for our products you will be aware of from his Social Media Channels. What happens on a training day? Your time will be maximised by our slick one-day training plan. From 08:30 to 16:45 you will receive professional training, rotating through each of our seven example installations. We don’t mean just standing and looking – you will be hands-on wiring the systems with an expert standing-by to answer questions as you work. DIY visitors will receive training specifically targeted at their area of interest. You’ll get an overview of all our products; you’ll be first to hear about products we’re launching soon; and you’ll get a feel of what drives our company. But it’s not just a one way street – our Training Tour is a great way for us to listen to your ideas, and to learn what you think will be the most interesting development areas for the future. More: Offering training to Distributors, Installers and DIYers at the same time is a great opportunity for customers and suppliers to meet each other, and to build their relationship. Who are our Ambassadors? Charlie Johnson Marc Stevens Jim Dixon Nate Yarbrough Sam Reiser Grant Wilson Caza Gomis Which locations will the Roadshow be visiting? Here is our schedule, so far: The Victron Training Tour starts with a bang at the premises of Future Sales Inc . in Elkhart, Indiana, on July 15th. Future Sales Inc. are a major parts-supplier to the best-known names in RV. Also helping us host the event will be the trans-continental and worldwide auto parts distributor Keystone Automotive . On July 16th and 17th our venue will be the Master Tech RV facility – known throughout the region for their quality RV repairs, renovations and modifications. Saturday 17th is our first ‘Open Trailer’ day – so be sure to come along and check us out! This is the “Large RV” lab. It is also the power source for the Training Trailer. There are two 24V 200Ah Lithium Smart Batteries; Two 3kVA MultiPlus Inverter/Chargers in parallel; Two 150|100 SmartSolar MPPTs; Lynx Shunt and Distribution; 100a Buck Boost for alternator charging; and a 70A Orion 24/12 converter takes care of all 12V appliances on the Trailer. SCHEDULE – TRAINING DAYS If you would like to attend a training day you can register by clicking on a location. July 2021 July 15th, 16th, 17th Elkhart, IN July, 23rd Rockland , ME July 26th Portland , ME July 29th, 30th Portsmouth , RI August 2021 August 3rd, 4th Annapolis , MD August 17th, 18th Flagstaff , AZ August 21st, 22nd Adventure Van Expo – Dillon, CO August 23rd, Colorado Springs , CO August 25th Denver, CO (open trailer day – location TBC shortly) August 31st Price , UT September 2021 During September we will be visiting: Missoula, MT; Kamiah ID; Sandpoint ID; Nanaimo/Victoria, Canada; Vancouver, BC; and Seattle, WA. The following six months… During the six months which follow we will be visiting Washington; Oregon; Nevada; California; Arizona; New Mexico; Texas; Louisiana; and Florida. We’ll be updating you with details of our locations nearer the time. SCHEDULED – OPEN DAYS July 17 – Elkhart, IN August 20 – Santa Fe, NM August 25 – Denver, CO September 17 – Seattle, WA October 13 – Portland, OR October 27 – Reno, NV November 3 – San Francisco, CA November 10 – Los Angeles, CA December 2 – San Diego, Ca December 14 – Phoenix, AZ January 27 – Houston, TX February 17 – Miami, FL February 25 – Jacksonville, FL We’re adding dates all the time and our flexibility allows us to take advantages of opportunities as they pop up. You can even request we add your location to our travel plans – so if you’ve got a venue suggestion get in touch with us on our social media pages: Facebook Instagram
Justin Tyers • 15 June 2021
EV Racing
Bucharest recently hosted the first eco Grand Prix . Conducted according to FRAS rules the race – which was open to legitimate licensed road vehicles – witnessed sixteen drivers taking part in the two-day Slalom event. Each driver completed four laps of a 1000 metre course – two test runs, and two competition runs. The coned-marked slalom course was laid out with twists and turns to be navigated by two classes of vehicle: up to 250HP; and those above 250HP. Only one vehicle was permitted to occupy the track at any time in order to achieve maximum speed grab! With just half a second separating the top three competitors the winners were: Ciprian Cherciu in a Tesla Model 3 Mihai Beldie in a modified Porsche 944 Dragoș Craiovan in a modified Mini Car modification was permitted – but all vehicles had Electric Propulsion – none were hybrids. Represented on the field were: Tesla Model 3 a modified Porsche 944 a modified Mini Tesla S85 Peugeot E208 Dacia Logan Victron Energy achieved not one but TWO two glamorous milestones at the event – not only did our sponsored vehicle win; but we showcased our prototype Mobile Electric Vehicle Charging Station …without which the event could scarcely have gone ahead! The eco Grand Prix heralds a new era of sustainable Grand Prix racing. As such, having a recharge station with a generator banging away in the background doesn’t quite fit the bill – so a prototype solar powered recharge station with Lithium battery storage was designed by Eastern European sales manager Lucian Popescu, and built by the well-known and successful distributors Darcomenergy and EcoAlternativ . It featured an hydraulically operated solar panel array allowing the 12 x 370W panel arrays to be dropped for easy transport – and opened allowing the panels to be optimally-tilted toward the sun when in use. Two SmartSolar MPPT 250/60 units harvest energy for storage in 4 Lithium 25.6V Smart batteries. Three-Phase recharge with a 22kW power capability was supplied by 3 Quattro 10000 Inverter Chargers. Also essential to the build was: Lynx smart BMS Lynx distributor Lynx power in Cerbo GX GX Touch 50 GX GSM Back at the pit between races, the recharge station was the main attraction! Let’s take a look at some of the highlights from the event in this video shot by Ciprian Cherciu from Eco Drive:
Justin Tyers • 08 June 2021
Victron Training Videos
Professional installations which meet client needs and exceed expectations are good for business. Whether your customer is price conscious or quality-driven, our Training Videos are designed to empower you to easily select the most appropriate product for your customers needs. They will help you install tidy, well-considered systems, optimally configured for the task. They will guide you to enabling the appropriate product features that achieve excellent performance – and result in a power system with which your customer will be really happy. Digital Training Manager Guy Stewart is working on new videos all the time – so why not take a look and see what’s new? Even if you’ve watched some of these easy-to-follow videos before, a refresher might offer that elusive solution you’ve been looking for! Training Video Library At the time of writing there are 19 videos in the Training Library available in seven languages. On land or sea; isolated or connected to the grid, generator back-up or remote stand-alone, large or small, three-phase, parallel, daisy chained, cross-manufacture installation – you’ll find a solution for every circumstance. The videos, and any presentation slides used in them, can be downloaded for later viewing. Each video is followed by a test. Completion certificates can be downloaded after achieving successful test results. Here’s a round-up of what to expect from each of them. You will need to be signed in to your Victron Professional account to follow these links to the desired content. The series begins with MultiPlus Inverter/Chargers as power conversion lies at the heart of everything we do. Basic Training – Introduction to MultiPlus: Guy Stewart (31 mins) Providing an overview of our range of inverters from 500VA to 15kVA, expandable to 180kVA – the largest range on the market – this video explains: sizing advice and guidance on correct product selection a breakdown of the product features a comparison of the features of our ‘apparently similar’ inverters simple schematics showing essential switching/wiring topography and their importance Grounding features for different applications Frequency shifting / Three phase / Parallel installation A few words on back up Generators and some commonly used accessories Using Generators with Victron – Webinar Margreet Leeftink (40 mins) In this video Margreet outlines the types of Generators available on the market and discusses: the automatic Generator Start/Stop feature programming options/parametres available when programming auto start/stop on a BMV; a MultiPlus; and on a GX device triggering by SOC, low voltage, and current Power Assist Reporting to VRM 3 Phase special conditions – phase matching and balancing Generator to Inverter sizing Basic Training – Introduction to MPPTs: Guy Stewart (31 mins) With PWM and MPPT stand-alone and all-in-one solar charge controllers capable of handling charge currents between 10A and 100A, with or without Bluetooth – plus an ability to daisy-chain up to 25 solar charge controllers, this video guides you through: Sizing calculations Product selection informed by PV array / battery voltage PV input connections / cable sizing / temperature and open-circuit voltage Product Configuration on VictronConnect / Smart networking VE Can devices Settings BMV / Temperature Compensation Features DVCC / Streetlight / Current limiting Basic Training for MPPT RS: Guy Stewart (15 mins) This powerful new galvanically isolated solar charge controller has its own training video, discussing: Significance of Galvanic Isolation / test for ground / application examples 450V extra cautions / 48VDC only application Two PV string input / 25 device daisy-chain capability / temperature sense Wiring examples / programming Basic Training – Color Control GX: Guy Stewart (42 mins) When used, the GX family of communication devices sit at the heart of an installation controlling and monitoring power harvest, storage and supply; harmonising third party devices, and storing and reporting system data. This hands on video takes us from unboxing, through making connections, to a full consideration of the many available features: Guide to ports / updating firmware /accessories VRM setup / remote console connection to MPPT with VE.Direct, and MultiPlus with VE.Bus Basic Training – Using Victron Remote Management (VRM): Guy Stewart (24 mins) This video explains how to get the most out of the VRM platform, using its powerful data-rich features to analyse the performance of installations as used by customers in the real world. Such analysis allows ‘fine-tuning’ decisions to be made, or additional product purchase with the absolute certainty that it will result in a perfect match between customer need and system build. The video includes: Adding/Deleting monitored installations Dashboard overview explained / Advanced data overview Drag and drop/range selection by data-type, and by historic date Export to spreadsheet Remote Console change system programme settings Multiple Alarms – setting audible or email notifications Remote firmware check and update Device Memory clear Setting Geofence for out-of-area warnings Batteries and Battery Monitoring – Webinar with Margreet Leeftink (54 mins) This video provides an insight into battery types and chemistries and, focussing on Lead Acid batteries, discusses: Discharge cycles – affect from Depth of discharge Rated capacity – affect from size of load Charge efficiency and temperature Battery idle Battery bank configuration Battery Protect, Low voltage disconnect, Mid Point monitoring, Balancing Generator Auto Start Maximising Lead Acid Battery Life – 55 page PDF instruction This presentation offers a comprehensive investigation into battery types and the jobs they were designed to do. Common errors and misconceptions. How batteries can become damaged, shortening their design life. Correct installation, management of charging, periodic maintenance, and testing. It is followed by an exam. Basic Training – Connecting MultiPlusII GX to a BYD managed Battery – Guy Stewart (26 mins) This video includes a practical demonstration, and discusses: Overview of the BYD battery unit Wiring between the Battery and Inverter Installing fuses Communication connections Pre-commissioning checks Connecting the installation to VRM Installation Example VW vehicle narrated by Jono – (4 videos – 36 mins – links below) This video follows Lucian Popescu and his team as they install a comprehensive power system in a VW van. The instruction is divided into four videos: Solar panel installation; alternator charging provision; mains charging capability; connecting a Color Control GX. 1 Solar (7 mins) Mounting the panels Wiring connections to Lithium battery Wiring diagram 2 Alternator charging (6 mins) Cabling Buck Boost DC-DC conversion for battery charging BMS Software downloads Programming the Buck Boost 3 Mains Charging (14 mins) Installing an AC inlet Consumer unit Lynx Distributor and megafuses Battery Protect Mains Detection Programming 4 Install a Color Control GX (9 mins) BMV wiring/control House/Starter battery voltage monitoring GX GSM – reporting to VRM and geofencing Full installation schematics MultiPlus Assistants – Webinar with Margreet Leeftink (47 mins) This talk-through video familiarises us with the use of programming assistants. Many of the more specialised features of the MultiPlus have been added in response to requests from customers. This video demonstrates the way in which question and answer assistants work for programming: Safety switch Charge Current Control Input Current VE.Bus BMS Generator Start Stop Energy Storage Systems Self Consumption Hub …and more MultiPlus: How it Works – Technical training with Johannes Boonstra (19 mins) In this instructional video Johannes opens the casing of a MultiPlus and takes us on a tour of the components, providing the technology behind power inversion and battery charging. Learn about: Field-Effect Transistors (FETs) and their role in AC to DC, and DC to AC power conversion Grid/Generator frequency sine-wave synchronisation The control board Parallel operation Sizing Inverter according to typical use and battery bank Stand-by power reduction options Introduction to AC PV Basic Training with Guy Stewart (33 mins) AC PV Inverters offer efficient daytime power, but are invariably part of a larger installation offering 24 hour electricity. This video discusses: Off-grid and Grid-ties installations The significance of where the AC PV is installed in the system topography AC PV or DC PV – how to choose The 1:1 ratio for PV array and Inverter sizing Frequency shifting Victron Brand compatibility Using an Energy Metre/ESS assistant/Fronius zero feed-in Advanced system schematics Introduction to ESS – Basic Training with Guy Stewart (15 mins) Energy Saving Systems maximise the economies of Solar Energy harvesting and offer some of the neatest solutions to customer needs. This video discusses: The main components of an ESS system When to use ESS Grid conditions improved by ESS Battery bank sizing – analysing performance on VRM When not to use ESS Three-Phase and Parallel System theory – Webinar with Margreet Leeftink (44 mins) In this webinar Margreet describes the observations necessary for setting up three-phase, parallel and split phase power systems. Among the topics discussed in detail – along with relevant hints, advice and cautions are: Victron Inverters capable of three-phase configuration Star configuration and Delta configuration topography Parallel configuration – maximum strings and output Single phase in – three phase out Physical arrangement of mounted devices Rules on wiring and fusing, and the importance of built-in AC resistance Three-phase rotation – mobile power supply Communication cabling – rules and wiring sequence The value of including a GX device Programming and settings Three-Phase and Parallel System Installation – Advanced Training with Guy Stewart (27 mins) Three Phase and parallel private power systems offer robust electricity for industrial use – even in the remotest locations. This video demonstrates: Victron Inverters suitable for use in three-phase systems Wiring/cabling sizing and advice Order of works during installation – Cautions Making VE.Bus connections VE.Bus System Configurator vs Quick Configure 3-phase – verifying installed unit to ‘Line out’ association Special notes about ‘Current Limit’ and unexpected cumulative results Connecting GX devices / confirming settings
Matthijs Vader • 28 May 2021
Venus OS v2.66 – Remote firmware updates, new BMS and more
Good day! Already back in early April, we launched Venus OS versions 2.65 and 2.66. In this blog I’ll detail all the highlights. A link to the full changelog can be found at the end of this post. For those not familiar with Venus OS: Venus OS is the software running on our Cerbo GX monitoring system , as well as its predecessors the Color Control GX , Venus GX and others. #1 – Remote firmware updates for our Inverters and Inverter/chargers This is a new feature which many distributors and installers have been looking forward to for a long time: being able to remotely update the firmware of our Inverter/chargers as well as Inverters:. Meaning Multis, Quattros, MultiPlusses, MultiPlusses-II, EasySolars and other similar products. The process is very similar to the already existing firmware update features for other products. On the VRM portal, go to Device List, then click “Firmware updates”, after which the portal does a scan, looking for all connected products. Here is an example of the result: (click each picture to see it enlarged) The VRM Portal has a library with all the latest firmware versions, and it will show which products are updateable. Clicking the green button will first show a series of warnings and things to look out for; and finally the update process will start. To transfer the configuration, the process needs to be done from a Windows computer, having the VE.Bus Configuration Tools installed. Full details and documentation are available, as well as a step by step video here – Remote VE.Bus firmware update manual . Now, end of May, we can say with confidence that the feature works very well and is proven to be robust. #2 – Support for the new GX Tank 140 The GX Tank 140 is a new USB accessory for our range of GX system monitoring products . It allows the GX device to take readings from four additional tank level sensors per GX Tank 140. While the Cerbo GX is able to natively receive from resistance type senders , the GX Tank allows your to connect current-type senders (4 to 20 mA) as well as voltage-type senders (0 to 10 V). An averaging filter feature has been added (adjustable 1-60 seconds) to dampen fluid movement readings. This is available for GX Tank, and also for other already existing tank inputs, such as the four built-in resistive inputs in the Cerbo GX. Please note the new tank display screen shown in the product page is still to come in a future Venus update. Another improvement for the marine market is improved scaling with the html5 display MFD integration. It now expands to use all the screen space available. #3 – Full support for MPPT RS The new MPPT RS 100A and 200A models are now fully supported, including DVCC for supported managed batteries , and seeing individual tracker data on VRM . #4 – Additional Features for supported managed batteries BSLBatt compatibility added This newly supported BSLBATT battery features full support for the Victron BMS-Can specification, showing more detailed cell level information from the battery in the GX device. A very useful feature for remote technicians. Ability to override automatic DVCC voltages when troubleshooting There is a new feature that allows technicians to reduce the target charge voltage for managed batteries. This will be a welcome new feature for remote off grid installers if there is a cell level imbalance in a managed battery bank, and can temporarily allow normal operation (with reduced capacity) until the battery is able to balance itself. This situation is most common during commissioning, since some battery makes require an initial “balancing charge”. #5 – Some nice enhancements to the menus It is now possible to manually sort the device list, and also to remove disconnected devices from the display. A new warning ‘#49 Grid meter not found’ has been added – this should help in some cases to diagnose why an ESS system is in passthru mode . How to update and conclusion Besides the items above, there are many more changes. All rather minor and related to certain specific situations or systems. To read them, find the full change log by logging into Victron Professional and selecting ‘Firmware’. Information about how to install the firmware is in the manual of your GX Device. Quick links to the relevant pages: Cerbo GX , Color Control GX and for the Venus GX . That’s it for now, all the best! Matthijs Vader
Justin Tyers • 01 April 2021
Dutch Sailors find treasure in the Canary Islands
With just four months to go before the Olympic Games in Tokyo the Dutch 49erFX racing teams have been taking part in the first major race of the season – the Lanzarote Winter Series 2021. The racing took place on a restless ocean: Offshore islands typically experience reliable daily winds of Force 4-6 producing lively waves overlaid on a pronounced ocean swell arriving from a completely different direction. When the trade wind blows contrary to the current – as happened on the second to last day of the competition – things can get really bouncy. Skipper Annemiek Bekkering describes the waves that day as being like those you get in water-park wave-pool. That was the ocean arena in which forty-six FX class boats battled it out with the fierce competition you expect amongst the world’s top athletes. Fighting tooth-and-nail for every place in these conditions produced some spectacular capsizes – either from pressing just a bit too hard on the accelerator, or being surprised by an eruption of water engulfing the bow in the confused seas. There was plenty of drama on the water! Former double World Number One duo Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz nailed yet another career polishing result taking Silver in this exciting event. Practising on location since the end of January – the boat and sails with which they produced this result will go with them to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. With so many faultless performances making up the scoreline at the Lanzarote event, one’s eye is naturally drawn to the races which went badly wrong! Let’s find out what happened: Annemiek says: “When a race is slipping away from you it’s not always easy to put your finger on what’s going wrong but it can usually be remedied by calling Reset !! mid-race and taking fifteen seconds to clear our minds – even if we let a boat past – then make a plan and click back into the action. “Frustratingly that didn’t work for us on day four when we failed to produce a good result in any of the heats. It might have been lack of strategy or lack of confidence; poor communication or allowing ourselves to be too easily distracted – or all of those things together. I remember we tacked round the top mark and lost five places at once. “But you have to let go of the frustration, bring yourself back to basics and let the training take control. After sliding down the table on day four we were really happy to finish the competition with Silver!” Fierce competition Brazilian sailors Grael and Kunze took first place; Bekkering and Duetz took Silver for Nederland; and the host nation’s Echegoyen and Barceló romped into third place for Spain. Also competing for Nederland were: WILLEMIJN OFFERMAN and ELISE DE RUIJTER who only just missed out on taking part in the medal race; ODILE VAN AANHOLT and EMMA SIEWERS; SVEA KARSENBARG and CECILE JANMAAT; together with fellow compatriots FLORINE BRAMERVAER and IBEN NIELSBY CHRISTENSEN. Back in the groove Some really great racing was enjoyed by all at this kick off event for 2021. Next up – the World Cup Series of events is slightly in the air due to health restrictions – but the Dutch fleet should be back in action in May. Bring it on! Victron Energy is very proud to sponsor the Dutch 49erFX team and we look forward to more action in this exciting Olympic year.
Justin Tyers • 02 March 2021
Victron Training in a cabinet ESS / Off Grid / 3Phase
Victron Ambassador Markus Pauritsch has come up with a neat and portable way to carry out Victron training for 3-Phase ESS and Off-Grid systems. He’s built a stylish, fully operational cabinet for training sessions in his native Austria – beginning as soon as health restrictions allow. Markus’ 3Phase cabinet and Dr. Who’s Tardis share a common feature – they both pack a lot of futuristic technology into a small space. The cabinet looks so exciting – with its imaginative lighting, fronted by a GX Touch 50 on the glass door – that delegates will be itching to find out what’s happening inside! So what is happening on the inside? Packed into the case there’s a 9000VA 3-phase ESS system including 10kW/h battery storage: 3 MultiPlus-II 48/3000/35-32 1 SmartSolar MPPT 150/45-Tr A Cerbo GX A GX Touch 50 A Fronius Symo 3.0-3- M An Energy meter EM24 – 3 phase – max. 64A/phase 2 LiFePO4 Batteries 25,6V/200Ah smart. A VE.Bus BMS An Orion-Tr 48/12-9A (110W) A Smart BatteryProtect 48V-100A A Battery Monitor BMV-712 Smart together with all necessary Fuses, cables and Busbars. The fully functioning cabinet is designed to work like this: 5.1kWp solar modules feed both the Fronius Inverter and the SmartSolar MPPT. Four AC powered fans mounted in the cabinet-roof provide ventilation and control internal temperature. Excess PV power can be used for water heating using 48V DC immersion heaters. The 48V-100A Smart BatteryProtect will turn the water heating elements on/off, so there’s no risk of melting relay contacts. The cabinet is fitted with RGB LED downlighting. A Wi-Fi enabled controller operates the LED strips – and a neat enhancement is that it is possible to change lighting colours according to system conditions (State of Charge; warnings and alarms, etc.) via Node-RED. Markus Pauritsch became a Victron Ambassador a year ago. His enthusiasm for our products was spotted through his regular contributions to our Community pages – offering advice to others and showing great technical competence. As an ambassador he visits potential customers; trains installers on the job; he has supported Leo Yntema – Victron Sales Manager for Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg – with training carried out at the Fronius HQ; and he commissions systems for distributors. His extensive IT experience allows him to take on higher-level Modbus questions; and later this year, he will work with Leo conducting advanced training courses with this purpose-built cabinet in Austria and Switzerland. This second-level training will be offered to distributors and installers who already possess some knowledge of AC- and or DC-coupled solar systems – allowing them to become more familiar with the set-up and configuration of such systems. The default setup of the 3-Phase AC and DC coupled cabinet is as an ESS, but it can easily reconfigured to an Off-Grid system. The planned training includes sessions on: Power Calculation; System configuration; Tips and tricks regarding cable calculations; and Troubleshooting, etc. When not in use for training, Markus employs the cabinet installation in his own house! This ESS system cabinet is already built and operational, and will be available for Victron training as soon as the lifting of current health restrictions allows. Markus Pauritsch shows us the GX Touch 50 which provides at-a-glance system information and access to settings of his 3-phase training cabinet. If you live or work in Austria or Switzerland and you think you can benefit from this kind of training, keep an eye on our Training page – it is here you will find details of all face-to-face and webinar training as soon as it becomes available.
Matthijs Vader • 08 February 2021
Venus OS v2.62 – Inverter & MPPT RS
UPDATE Feb 16th 2021: Venus OS v2.63 was released today; but changes are so small that it doesn’t warrant its own post nor pushing the Wind Cargo post off the front page. The new version adds the VE.Direct connected Inverters to the list of products that are supported by the NMEA2000 out feature , as well as a few fixes. Details of those are in the change log, see link at the bottom of this post. Good morning! Today is the day for releasing Venus OS v2.62. For those not familiar, Venus OS is the software running on our Cerbo GX monitoring system , as well as its predecessors the Color Control GX , Venus GX and others. Aside from various minor stability improvements, there are two changes to highlight: Inverter RS and MPPT RS The Inverter RS Smart Solar , and the SmartSolar MPPT RS are two recently launched new products; and with this new version they are much better supported. Both can now also be connected using their VE.Can port, rather than only through their other communication port. Also, the Inverter RS is fully integrated when it comes to its Battery Monitor function. There is still work to do, such as having all PV details of an Inverter RS on the VRM Portal, as well as seeing the daily history when connected on its VE.Can port. Here are two screenshots showing the history for each of the trackers. Note that these were taken on an MPPT RS 200A, having four trackers. This 200A model is not available to purchase yet but is planned for later this year. Remote VEConfigure: automatically detect a replaced unit This feature is directed towards installers and operators of large systems. In the unfortunate event that one inverter/charger module in a larger parallel-, split- or three-phase system needs replacing, this can now be done remotely. The steps involved are: Read the configuration of the whole system (or use an existing Remote VEConfigure file) Physically replace the failed unit Write the configuration. At this step the system will automatically detect that a previous device is missing, and it will discover a new device with an unknown serial number. It will assume that the new device is a replacement, and write the settings accordingly. (optionally) Read the new configuration file and store in your records. Note that before starting above, make sure to update the new unit to the same version of VE.Bus firmware, which unfortunately can’t be done remotely. How to update and conclusion Besides the two items above, there are many more changes. All rather minor and related to certain specific situations or systems. To read them, find the full change log by logging into Victron Professional and selecting ‘Firmware’. Information about how to install the firmware is in the manual of your GX Device. Quick links to the relevant pages: Cerbo GX , Color Control GX and for the Venus GX . That’s it for now, all the best! Matthijs Vader
Matthijs Vader • 02 February 2021
VictronConnect: parallel, three/split-phase setup and more
Good day! Today we are releasing a new version of VictronConnect . It has quite a list of improvements as well as updated product firmware versions. The most significant change is that you can now set-up and configure parallel, three and split-phase systems, up to three units. Which makes it a lot simpler to set-up such a system; no longer requiring the -Windows only- VE Configuration tools. The next two highlights concern the VE.Bus Smart Dongle . First of all it now (finally!) allows setting the input current limit from your phone, for systems having a VE.Bus BMS. And secondly it can be configured to be a Voltage- and Temperature-sense input for Solar Chargers; so it now no longer needs an extra Smart Battery Sense to be installed alongside it. More details about this below. The last highlight is in the main Device List page: it’s been improved by showing Bluetooth signal strength. And also the app now scans for bluetooth products continuously; making it both faster and more straightforward. Let’s get into the details! VE.Bus System Configuration: Parallel- Three- and Split-phase Until now our VE.Bus Quick Configure software was required to set up a complex VE.Bus System. This is not the case anymore as VictronConnect can now be used to configure systems of up to three units. Which is a big improvement. There is no need to switch between applications – which saves time and makes it simpler. And updating the Inverter/Charger firmware is now part of the system configuration flow, VictronConnect will suggest that automatically when configuring a new system: also better and simpler. Watch this video where we demonstrate all steps involved in configuring a three phase system in just a few clicks: (Tip: click the full-screen button on the lower right to make it fit properly on your screen) https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/02/VE.Bus_system_scaled_156117529.m4v VictronConnect now also allows you to change the settings of each individual MultiPlus/Quattro in an existing system. And to copy settings from one of the inverters to the rest; as well as saving the settings of all the units to a file. Please note that Assistants, such as the PV Inverter-, ESS- and VE.Bus BMS Assistant, are still not supported by VictronConnect. And Assistants are also not included in the ‘copy and save’ settings feature. Obviously we’re working hard on a solution for that, as that is now the next big step in making things simpler when it comes configuring our inverter/chargers. Supported features and limitations: Set up Parallel, Three phase and Split phase systems. (Limited to a max of three units) Configure existing systems of up to twelve or fifteen units – depending on the inverter/charger model. Copy settings from one unit to the rest. Save the complete system configuration to a file for future use on a similar system, and as a backup. Assistants are removed when setting up a new system. Firmware updating is proposed automatically when setting up a new VE.Bus system. Make sure to study the related VictronConnect VE.Bus Configuration guide. Bluetooth continuous scan & signal strength The next new feature in VictronConnect which deserves a special mention is Continuous Bluetooth scan . With this new functionality, VictronConnect will constantly scan for nearby products and add them to the Device list. When a product goes out of range, its unavailability is indicated by animating the product signal bars. After a certain amount of time it will be removed from the list. There are many physical reasons that can affect the Bluetooth signal strength: the quality of your phone antenna, the quality of the antenna in the product, walls and obstacles between the product and your phone and even the position in which the product is mounted. This simple but useful feature gives you real-time feedback of the quality of the Bluetooth signal received by a phone or laptop and can for example help to determine the best position in which to place a Bluetooth Victron product. VE.Bus: Why is the grid rejected? Diagnosing why the grid has been rejected is not something that can usually be done at-a-glance and requires checking a number of parameters, together with having a good knowledge of the installation. The reasons can be as simple as a grid blackout or, for example, that the inverter has been configured to ignore the AC input under certain conditions. In the latter case, the reason might go unnoticed, triggering unnecessary electrical checks. Now VictronConnect can help by providing the exact reason from the inverter/charger and showing it on the overview page. Once the grid is available again, or the cause of the problem has been solved, the inverter/charger makes some checks before connecting to the AC input. The time remaining before the AC input is reactivated is shown. In addition to the new features described above the recent VE.Bus Inverter/Charger firmware update 478 is included in VictronConnect. VE.Bus Smart Dongle improvements For this accessory dongle, this VictronConnect version has a firmware update, v1.08. Two highlights: Changing the AC input current limit is now (finally!) possible for systems which have a VE.Bus BMS. A long sought-for improvement. Note that this requires VE.Bus firmware 415 or newer to be installed on the inverter/charger. And note that the other limitation, switching between On/Off and Charger-only is unfortunately still not possible for systems that have a VE.Bus BMS. Added VE.Smart networking functionality : wirelessly sharing battery voltage and temperature sense with for example a Solar Charger. Other changes Improvements relating to the BLE connection. New firmware for all BMV models as well as the SmartShunt, containing various minor improvements. New firmware for the SmartBMS CL New firmware for the Inverter RS and MPPT RS. Added option to filter VRM installations by tag. BMS CL: Various user interface improvements. Inverter RS & MPPT RS: Configurable display backlight behaviour and selectable temperature unit. Various bug fixes and stability improvements. For the full list of changes see the VictronConnect changelog . The new version is v5.37 for Android, and v5.36 for all other platforms.
Justin Tyers • 21 December 2020
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
We wish you a very Merry Christmas if you celebrate that festival, our warmest Season’s Greetings if you don’t – and a very Happy New Year to each and every one! Here is a personal greeting from all of us:
Justin Tyers • 09 November 2020
Victron Remote Management (VRM)
In this post Victron Online Training Manager Guy Stewart tells us how additional new servers are helping VRM data fly around the world even faster: Connecting your Victron product to the internet opens up a whole world of tools and services. Connecting is very flexible, with connectivity options for 3G, 4G, wifi and ethernet. There are some exciting new product announcements coming to this range shortly too, including a possible industry first for Victron. Today’s news is the addition of new servers around the world that handle Victron Remote Console for GX devices , such as the new Cerbo GX. Remote Console allows you to access a GX device connected to a Victron system from anywhere in the world – as if you were standing in front of it. New servers have just been set up in South Africa, the U.S.A and Australia, to support those already in Europe. This will improve Remote Console access speeds for Victron users around the world. If you are outside Europe and use Remote Console, you should notice the improvements immediately, you don’t need to make any changes to the system, the system will automatically pick the best server. To use Remote Console, you will need a Victron GX device connected to the internet. You can confirm it is connected by going to Remote Console menu in the Setting menu of the GX device. There are more instructions in the Remote Console manual ( See Section 4.3 ) if you get stuck. Other recent improvements to Remote tools also include full remote access to VE.Direct devices that are connected to a GX device with VictronConnect Remote ( See section 10 of this manual ). Just like Remote Console, this allows you to access VE.Direct devices just like you were standing in front of them. Able to make changes to settings and perform firmware updates via VictronConnect. Improvements are coming to also allow the same access to VE.Can products in VictronConnect Remote. For now it is possible to do a Remote firmware update of VE.Can products using the VRM Remote Firmware update feature. This is accessible for Full Access users, as long as VRM Two Way Communication is enabled in the VRM online portal menu of the GX device. For our VE.Bus products, such as MultiPlus-II and Quattro , Remote VE.Configure allows for all the programmable options of those powerful Inverter/Chargers to be checked, and updated remotely, without requiring the purchase of the MK3-USB. I’ve recorded a thorough training video if you would like to see how. Updating the GX device to the recently released 2.60 will also increase Remote VEConfigure speeds by a factor of 2 to 3 from previous versions. Note – remote firmware updates for VE.Bus products is not supported. VRM dashboard has recently had a refresh too, more in this previous article , with Realtime data and the familiar system overview as a major new feature. With record numbers of Victron Energy systems being installed around the world, increased mobile network and internet coverage, and physical travel becoming more difficult and expensive, Victron’s range of Remote tools and services are now more useful than ever.
Justin Tyers • 26 October 2020
New Video: Off-Grid Lithium BYD
There’s a new video on our channel which follows system designers Off Grid Engineering as they install a 6kW PV ‘Glass Roof’ with 15.36 kWh Lithium storage – and explain their choices. Grid Power lines couldn’t be closer – but grid connection has not been chosen Interestingly, the overhead power cables of the local electricity grid pass directly over the building site of this new build house, yet the owner – Jim Watt – decided not to connect to the power grid, but to supply his new build house in a Shropshire village, UK, with off-grid electricity. Close proximity of a power cable doesn’t always mean that connection to the grid will be straightforward or inexpensive. Often in rural locations in the UK there is insufficient capacity to add a new connection to the existing infrastructure – or the transformer is distant and so a cable has to cross someone else’s land, requiring permission, legal agreement and ‘easement’ payments. Cost of connection can escalate to a six-figure sum. When the quotation for connecting to the national electricity grid takes your breath away it makes it easier to decide to do what you wanted to do all along – go Off-Grid! Cosmetically Stylish PV roof panels; super-reliable power inverters and chargers; and increasingly durable battery storage technology take all the worry out of that commitment. Loft installation Jim plans to use efficient electric domestic appliances – but makes no concessions to the fact he is off-grid: For cooking he uses an Induction Hob; he has an efficient fridge freezer which runs 365 days a year; and his domestic heating is from an Air Source Heat Pump – for every 1kW of electricity it consumes it provides 5kW of heat. Oh, and he has a Hot Tub. Jim’s installation comprises: 22 Veridian roof integrated Solar Panels offering 6kWp 2 SmartSolar MPPT s 250/60 maximise the solar harvest power is stored in two paralleled BYD Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries with a 48V capacity of 15.36kWh Domestic AC power is provided by a Quattro 48/8000/110 There’s an HRD Generator rated at 4.6kW The cross-manufacturer system is controlled, and can be programmed using a Color Control GX Off-Grid Engineering can manage and monitor Jim’s system remotely, from Victron’s free-to-use VRM platform Ian Hewson – Off Grid Engineering Ian Hewson from Off-Grid Engineering says that in his experience the back up generator will typically be used to provide less than 5% of domestic electricity use …and certainly less that 10%. In Jim Watt’s installation the generator has been programmed (via the Color Control GX) to start automatically if the battery state-of-charge falls to 20%. The generator will then run until the state-of-charge has reached 45%, when it will stop. A welcome refinement prohibits an automatic generator start from occurring during Jim’s user-defined ‘quiet period’ – overnight. Another automatic setting has been programmed to conserve stored energy: If ever Jim’s domestic power demand exceeds 5kW for a period of more than twenty seconds the generator will start automatically, and run until the power demand has fallen to below 3.5kW. Let’s watch the video and see how it all comes together.
Justin Tyers • 28 September 2020
New Dashboard launched for VRM
The dashboard for the Victron Remote Management portal has been completely re-imagined. Combining a diagrammatic presentation of the installation with historic information it now presents the data in real time, updated every two seconds. Familiar schematic presentation Dynamic live data for Loads; Charging; Grid Feed/Draw; Tank levels etc Detail is amplified when cursor ‘hovers over’ Battery charge cycle Bulk/Absorbtion/Float shown Cumulative Consumption/Production/Grid feed for selected period Local Temperature Time and weather The goal was to produce complete at-a-glance status information for every kind of installation, on a single page. The schematic style is familiar to us from ‘GX’ device displays. The example above is from an installation on board a boat and includes four tank levels – provided both as a percentage, and intuitively ‘shaded’ levels. More detailed datasets are presented when the cursor is hovered over graphical presentation. Real time data requires two-way communication between VRM and the Installation. The new dashboard increases the GX CPU load. Data usage is also increased. Both CPU load and extra data usage are only increased while the dashboard is being observed. To mitigate the extra loading, live data communication will automatically be suspended if the GX CPU load becomes too high; then the data will be refreshed as per the interval configured on the GX Device. When live data has been suspended a warning will appear: If the VRM portal is left open in a tab which is not in focus on your device, live reporting will be suspended after one minute. For more details, see the manual. Video Presentation More information can be found in our new VRM Dashboard introduction video.
Justin Tyers • 02 September 2020
My conversion to Lithium (and Cerbo) – by Stefanie
Sailors and recreational vehicle adventurers will remember Stefanie’s last year’s blog, entitled Sailing with Signal K . In it she described her implemention of data coms connectivity – allowing her yacht’s various electronic devices to talk to each other …and to her. During Lockdown she’s been busy again – converting her yacht to Lithium, and exploring the extensive range of communication ports on her new Cerbo GX which lies at the heart of this system. First of all she tells us – Why Lithium? Almost double the usable energy with the same capacity high energy density Up to 70% weight savings compared to lead-acid batteries almost loss-free charging of the lithium batteries (99% efficiency) high charging and discharging currents (ideal for inductive off-grid cooking) very low self-discharge significantly extended service life with up to 5000 charging cycles absolutely maintenance-free makes gas on board superfluous (induction cooking – no propane makes me feel much safer) Stefanie also cites arguments against a conversion: high investment costs that will only pay for themselves over the years significantly increased installation effort Cannot be charged at temperatures below 5°C needs an arsenal of safeguards old charging technology partly no longer usable Stefanie says : For us, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages, as I am familiar with the technology and can do the installation myself. That saves a lot of money and time. In addition, I trust no one more than myself ?. At sea, under sail Stefanie generates power from a solar array offering 510Wp – which she can augment with a portable array offering a further 200Wp, which she deploys on cloudy days. When she is motoring her power comes from a Balmar 6-series 100A alternator. We will hear about her alternator installation, and how she controls all that charging power, in a couple of weeks. This week she generously details her whole installation and the reasoning behind her choices: …At the end of January, Heike and I visited Boot in Düsseldorf to get a few missing items, but especially to look for a supplier for the retrofitting. The Victron Energy brand was obvious from the start, because I’ve only had the best experiences with Victron. I don’t have experience of the competition, for example Mastervolt, but I swear by Victron. In addition, I occasionally test new firmware for Victron on various devices and believe that there can be no better support. Which manufacturer already has such a large community and reacts to bugs with an immediate update? Most of it is now even open source. We had contact with Transwatt GmbH from Soest a few years ago when Lunatronic equipped us with Victron equipment and AGM batteries. They were always contact person # 1 for small problems. Transwatt also had a booth at the fair, so we met their managing director, Mr. Mischkowski, for a discussion. Since I had clear ideas about the new system, the rough design was created quickly. I later sketched more details in a diagram. Circuit diagram of the new installation Despite Corona, delivery was made almost on time at the beginning of May. The sheer number of components made me swallow hard. Is that all supposed to go on board? Where? Of course I’d thought about it beforehand, but it only becomes real when you have everything in front of you. The AGM battery bank including charging technology, inverter etc. was quickly removed and I was able to start the installation. First I sunk the four Victron SmartLithium 12.8 100Ah into the battery compartment. While one of the four AGM batteries weighed 33kg, the new ones were only 15kg. Even with my badly damaged back, that’s still manageable. The space savings are also enormous when you compare the two installations: Before – with AGM After – the new Lithium Each of the four lithium batteries goes to a Lynx Power In . All cables, positive and negative, are exactly the same length. This is particularly important because the internal resistance of lithium is very small. Any additional resistance – be it due to different cable lengths, badly pressed tubular cable lugs or incorrectly screwed contacts / corrosion – adds up and creates an imbalance. The positive connections are each protected with a 150A ANL fuse. Of course, a parallel connection can also be implemented more easily. But it was particularly important to me to make the system reasonably clear and to secure it. This works particularly well with the Lynx Distributor or the Lynx Power In (can easily be converted as a distributor). All battery cables of exactly the same length to the first Lynx distributor Between another Lynx Power In, the BMV-702 ‘s shunt is on the negative side and a main battery switch on the positive side. Main battery switch under the saloon bunk? Yeah right. With this switch I can close down the entire system. That would be important, for example, when servicing the MultiPlus or other system components; or when we leave the ship for a long period of time. In the latter case, absolutely nothing should be attached to the batteries. With an absolutely minimal self-discharge rate, this is the best way to protect the batteries during your absence. Otherwise, however, the system monitoring needs electricity, and nothing would be worse in the long run than if someone accidentally turned this switch on or off “just for fun”. Basically, however, the switch is always on. I also converted the second Lynx Power In into a distributor. Connected there are, among other things, all chargers ( Victron SmartSolar MPPT 150/35 and 75/15; Victron Orion Tr-smart 12 / 12-18; Victron MultiPlus 12/3000 / 120-50 ), as well as the output to the loads on the switch panel of Taku Moe . Second Lynx distributor with shunt under the black pole caps and Service disconnect switch The chargers are connected via a Victron Smart BatteryProtect 12V / 65A. The Victron VE.Bus BMS decouples the chargers in the event of a “charge disconnect” caused by an increased cell voltage and thus prevents a further increase in the cell voltage, which would otherwise cause the batteries to die quickly. If the cell voltage falls below an adjustable level, the chargers are switched on again. All 12V consumers (with the exception of the Victron VE.Bus BMS ) are run via a Victron Smart BatteryProtect 12V / 220Ah. If the cell voltage is too low – which in the worst case scenario can also end fatally for the expensive lithium batteries – the VE.Bus BMS with its “Load Disconnect” ensures that all loads are switched off and the batteries are no further discharged. Only when an adjustable cell voltage is restored are the consumers switched on again. Not a nice scenario, but absolutely necessary. If the cell voltage is too low, however, it should be an absolute exception, which 1. does not come as a surprise if you have your system under control and 2. does not really endanger the safety of the ship or the crew, even if there is no more electricity on board. Sure, the autopilot, plotter and all its relatives on board are indispensable, but in an emergency we can do without them – at least for a short time, during which either the defective battery is removed from the system or the error has been eliminated. SmartSolar MPPT solar charge controller, Smart BatteryProtect 220A + 65A and the control unit Cerbo GX The Victron MultiPlus 12/3000 / 120-50, our inverter and shore power charger at the same time, is also connected to the second Lynx Power In. With up to 120A charging current, the batteries are charged in an astonishingly short time ? The VE.Bus BMS is connected to a so-called AC Mains Detector. The latter registers an existing shore power connection and, controlled via the VE.Bus BMS, switches on the MultiPlus’s charger if the cell voltage is too low. Otherwise, the inverter reliably supplies us with up to 3kW power from the lithium batteries. Enough for inductive cooking or other power-hungry 230V devices. Our power plant – Victron MultiPlus 12/3000 / 120-50 For smaller AC loads I installed a Victron Phoenix 12/375 inverter. It works much more efficiently with small consumers (laptop chargers etc.). Phoenix 12/375 for the small AC consumers Almost all devices are connected to the Victron Cerbo GX . The Cerbo is like our control and information centre. Via the GX Touch 50 display, all relevant values can be read immediately and, in some cases, devices can be switched on and off, and their parameters changed. The Cerbo GX has a complete arsenal of different entrances and exits and is always accessible via the internet with our ship router. So we have almost full control over the processes in the ship with regard to the electrical system. The Victron Cerbo GX has various connections 3x VE.Direct – 3x USB 2.0 – HDMI – 2x VE.Bus – 4x VE.Can (RJ45) – 2x potential-free relays – 4x digital inputs – 4x temperature sensor inputs – 4x ohmic inputs e.g. for fuel sensor – 1x Ethernet – WiFi – BlueTooth Victron has continuously developed VenusOS over the past few years. There is now also a version with the so-called “large image”. In addition to the actual VenusOS operating system, this version also contains an implemented version of Node-Red and Signal K. Last year I made a lot of effort to enable the most complete control and monitoring of the ship navigation data and electronics with Raspberry Pi’s, now all of this is done by the Cerbo GX! And if a function has not yet been implemented, this usually happens in the next firmware update or you play about with Node-Red and build the feature yourself. VenusOS with the “large image” and Signal K as well as Node-Red The Cerbo GX is connected directly to the NMEA2000 network via one of the VE.CAN ports, so that all data from NMEA2000 is also available on our iPhones / MacBooks via Signal K. In addition, the Cerbo also provides the Victron system data on connected batteries, charge controllers, and the like. Ready for the chart plotter. Modern MFD’s have already integrated the Victron HTML5 app in order to receive information about the Victron system on the chart plotter. Older MFDs, on the other hand, may offer maximum battery voltage and current. In any case, the Raspberry Pi’s disappeared in the moth box. At least until I can think of something new to use ? Gone are the days of adapting signal K to the system to a large extent or of laboriously programming it. Most of the data is automatically available, for example, in the WilhelmSK APP. Plug and play. The HTML5 app from VenusOS presents itself in a similar way on a modern chart plotter, iPhone, MacBook etc. Only a small selection of display options – WilhelmSK on the iPad or via a secure VPN connection from home with the iPhone Victron GX Touch 50 – all important system data at a glance 4x Victron SmartLithium 12.8 100Ah as consumer bank and 1x Victron AGM 110Ah as starter battery and for the bow thruster The small black box at the top left is the VE.Bus BMS. It protects the batteries and their individual cells from overvoltage, undervoltage and temperature One of the SmartLithium batteries when “balancing” That was essentially it with the conversion. It all took a while, but the installation was also a lot of fun. In the next post, however, it goes a little further. Our good old alternator is to be exchanged for a high-performance alternator. I would particularly like to thank Victron Energy, Transwatt GmbH with Mr. Wischkowski and Mr. Hupfeld for the great support in realizing this project. German speakers will certainly wish to follow Stefanie’s blog.
Justin Tyers • 30 July 2020
New – Furuno Navigation / Victron compatibility
Skippers of Commercial and Leisure vessels equipped with Furuno navigation systems can now view their vessel’s energy system data alongside all other maritime information. Information regarding the vessel’s generation, storage and supply of power can be viewed at a glance on the vessel’s Multi-Function Display (MFD) – a presentation known as ‘Glass Bridge’. This compatibility applies to the following Furuno models: NavNet TZtouch3 TZT12F NavNet TZtouch3 TZT16F NavNet TZtouch3 TZT19F Navnet TZtouch2 TZT2BB Black box What kind of information can be viewed? Glass Bridge integration removes the untidy clutter of visual displays from different manufacturers all vying for the limited space on the ship’s Bridge or navigation area. Viewable data includes: Battery State of Charge (Bat 1, Bat 2); Time to Go; AC loads / DC loads; Generator output; shore power Shore power disconnect Control shore power input current limit. Inverter/Charger control: On, Off, Charger-only. MPPT Solar Charger power harvest Opening the Victron Remote Console allows even deeper access and control Connectivity The Victron installation must include a GX device . The Furuno MFD can be connected directly to the GX device using an Ethernet cable. Data from all units within the Victron power installation – Inverter/Chargers; Batteries; Battery monitors; DC/DC converters – is gathered and controlled by the GX device and made available on the MFD. NMEA 2000 Communication Integration is also possible using the NMEA 2000-out port on your GX device using a VE.Can to NMEA2000 micro-C male cable . Integration by this method requires more work than will be experienced using the software application, but results in a more customisable display. More information is available here . Which Victron Devices are compatible? All Victron Inverter/Chargers from the 500VA device through to 3-phase configured systems providing 180kVA, including both the 230VAC and 120VAC models of Multis, and Quattros. All Victron MPPT solar chargers. Battery monitors: BMV-700 / 702 / 712 and later; Lynx Shunt VE.Can; Smart Shunt. Further information An overview of the Furono integration features can be found on our product page . A full guide for integrating your Victron products into a Furuno MFD can be found here .
Justin Tyers • 21 July 2020
Your Victron Installation competition – Facebook
A competition we announced last month on Facebook invited users to post a video showing their system – what a great response we had! The competition announcement was viewed over 20,000 times and attracted more than 750 comments/entries! The prize was tempting: €1000 worth of Victron Electronics – plus an hour’s free consultation with a top-flight Victron Engineer. The winner was decided by Facebook users themselves – going to the video with the most ‘likes’. Michael Hall submitted this entry from Fatkid Automotive We’ve really enjoyed watching all the innovative and interesting ways in which Victron users make the most of their power set-ups. And don’t worry – if you, or someone you know, didn’t get a chance to enter the competition the good news is that we will be running another one soon! We’ll announce the opening of the second competition on our Facebook page. The link to our page can be found at the bottom of this article. The winning video entries – the ones which attracted most ‘likes’ – were as follows: First place went to Roberto Miguélez whose time-lapse video received 1175 likes. He was delighted to hear of his success, and said: I’m so so happy! And exhausted. I only could sleep one hour …it has been so intense! His grid-tied system comprises a Multiplus II 48 5000VA Inverter Charger; with a BMV-700 battery monitor. A 4000Wp solar array supplies a Fronius Primo 8.2 solar inverter. Initially Roberto had decided against battery back up – but later changed his mind – which meant he had to dismantle the whole of his system and install it in a larger space. He has 8 x Lithium Battery Smart and a Battery Management System. Roberto’s whole system is controlled by the Venus OS and Home Assistant (over modbus). I am really happy with it. Roberto says; The system is stable like a rock, saving costs are huge and my home is protected from blackouts, sabotages… I have chosen Victron for trust, versatility, integration (I love VenusOS!) and the limitless upgrade options. The biggest challenge was find large enough space in order to allow upgrade with the unlimited capabilities. I am planning to add a BlueSolar MPPT or another Multiplus II …and more solar panels. Roberto powers his home which is all electric (heating, AC, water, home automation system, servers) and includes a Chevy Volt Electric Vehicle. Roberto’s distributor is Enervolt Power Electronics based in Mataro, Barcelona. Kareem Magill came second with a really thorough presentation of his system aboard his catamaran Soniya which attracted 1026 likes. Kareem moved to the Philippines to begin a new life living on his boat, and makes his living by teaching kite-surfing. and Tim Vercammen’s video achieved 418 likes. Like Roberto he uses a MultiPlus 48V 5000VA inverter but configured for 3-phase supply. He has 10kWp solar, and has installed 4 MPPT solar chargers with a view to increasing the number of panels he uses. Power harvest is stored in a home-made battery bank of 70kWh – which is still expanding. The goal is to fit 100kWh in the rack seen here on the right. The battery has a Batrium BMS that communicates with Victron over CAN bus. We wanted to mention a few of the other entries – we only wish there was room to mention them all. Roli Reutimann , from LEAB , drew our attention to a 3 phase Passenger Boat installation. In order to take care of ‘Peak’ demand the vessel’s owners had found it necessary to install and run two 27kVA generators – in spite of the fact that normal demand was around 8kVA. Roli was able to demonstrate that 3 x 24V Quattros can be configured for three-phase supply; the 8kVA models chosen are each capable of 16kVA Peak. The customer has installed two systems , guaranteeing an uninterrupted supply. Simon Ljungberg has got a great setup in his 1971 Volkswagon T2. Woody Feffer owns a forty-foot Gulf Stream Tour Mater of 1996 vintage. Excellent Design allows him to pack a lot of system into a small space. Thanks to everyone for taking part and for all the effort which has created some truly great videos. Please follow our Facebook page for the next competition start date – we look forward to seeing some more great installations from all around the world. Keep them coming!
Matthijs Vader • 06 July 2020
VictronConnect v5.27 & Lithium Smart v1.19
Good day, Today we’re releasing an update for VictronConnect and our Lithium Smart batteries. The firmware update for the batteries is essential in certain use-cases. The old firmware caused an imbalance between the cells in a battery. As a result the batteries needed a full charge more often than normally required – to restore the balance. The issue affected only 12V Lithium Smart batteries – not the 24V model. How to update: Taking each battery in turn, one by one, connect it to VictronConnect – its firmware will then be automatically updated. Be sure to stay close to the battery and follow onscreen instructions. But don’t worry: it is always possible to resume or restart the update in case of an interruption or error. For systems with multiple batteries, make sure you update all of them. Preferably in one go, but if not possible, do ensure to complete the process within a couple of weeks after updating the first one. Especially for systems with multiple batteries connected in series. Do I need to re-balance my batteries? No – most likely not. Batteries will automatically re-balance at the end of every charge cycle. If you suspect your system has issues it might be necessary to restart the charger several times. Doing so will make sure the battery spends enough time balancing. See also the section below which explains how to recognise imbalance. Does imbalance affect the life time of my battery? No. Imbalance only temporarily reduces the usable capacity of a battery. Capacity is restored as soon as the cells are balanced again. How did the issue affect different systems? As a rule of thumb, one hour of full power-balancing (voltage above 13.8V) was necessary for every four weeks of use to overcome the imbalance caused by the previous firmware version. Therefore, whether a system was affected or not depends on how the batteries were used: When installed in a system that regularly recharges, or stays mostly in ‘float’ – as in a backup system – the issue explained above will not have caused any imbalance. When installed in a system that is shut down for prolonged time, such as RV’s, and yachts which are not connected to a charger during the winter, there will be a noticeable cell imbalance. After 6 or 8 months of being in ‘standby’, the imbalance will be such that recovery to a balanced state will take a long time – six to eight hours of absorption (voltage above 14V) is required. In that case, as explained above, first update the firmware of all batteries, and then fully charge the batteries – several times. When you see, in VictronConnect, the voltage drop to 13.5V per battery, that means that the charger has completed its cycle – restart it again. What improvement will I notice? With the firmware update, fewer hours of charging will be necessary to maintain balanced batteries. Also, recovering from an imbalanced state will be smoother, and therefore faster. How to recognise cell imbalance? A clear indication of imbalance is that the BMS frequently disables the charger. On a well-balanced battery the charger would not be disabled – not even when the batteries are fully charged. More detail can be seen with the VictronConnect App. Be aware that checking cell balance can be done only near the end of a charge. It’s best to wait for the battery voltage to reach 14.2V, and then check the individual cell voltages. They should all be between 3.50 and 3.60V. Over time they will all become equal at 3.55V. By that time the battery will be completely charged, and balanced. Here is a screenshot showing a balanced battery. Note the battery voltage is at 14.2V; and the cell voltages are each exactly a quarter of that value at: 3.55V. Is it OK that the charger is cycling on and off? Yes. As soon as one cell reaches 3.75V the BMS disables the charger. Whilst the charger is disabled the balancing process still continues, moving energy from the highest cell into adjacent cells. The highest cell voltage will drop, and once it has fallen below 3.65V the charger will be enabled again, automatically. This cycling typically takes between one and three minutes. The voltage of the highest cell will rise again quickly (this can be in a matter of seconds) after which it will be disabled again, and so forth. This does not indicate a problem and will continue until all cells are fully-charged and balanced. Depending on the level of imbalance this process might take several hours: up to 12 hours in the case of serious imbalance. Balancing will continue throughout the process, even when the charger is disabled. The continued enabling and disabling of the charger can appear strange – but be assured there is no problem – the BMS is protecting the cells from over-voltage whilst cell-balancing is in progress. Performing this process without a BMS, by individually charging the batteries, will not lead to a faster end-result. Other frequently asked questions Q1 – Does balancing continue while charging with 13.5V (float voltage)? Yes. Though to completely balance a battery, applying an ‘absorption’ voltage is necessary as well. Q2 – Does increasing the voltage above 14.2 speed up the balancing? No. The speed of balancing is determined by the maximum rated power of the active & passive balancing circuits inside the battery. Applying a higher voltage will not speed up the process. Q3 – How about individual charging? Individual charging of batteries is only required when commissioning a new system that consists of 2 or more batteries connected in series. This is the reason: Charging a string of batteries connected in series will correct small differences in state-of-charge from one battery to another – but large differences will not be corrected. Brand new batteries will each have a slightly different state of charge. Therefore, new batteries must be fully charged – individually – before wiring in series, or series-parallel configuration. Note that this type of imbalance is different from cell-imbalance. And note that the now solved issue in the firmware does not cause an imbalance between batteries, only within a battery. Q4 – What if Bluetooth is disabled on a battery? In case Bluetooth is disabled on a Lithium Smart battery, it can’t be re-enabled again. And therefor the firmware version cannot be checked. Please contact your distributor for a solution. Q5 – What is the maximum current to re-balance a battery? The recommended maximum current for an imbalanced battery is the same as the normal maximum current as per datasheet. The new firmware contains improvements that makes it unnecessary to use a small current, also in case of severe imbalance. Note though that a BMS must be connected and controlling the charger. In summary: no changes to charging profiles, voltages or charge current settings are required. Conclusion A lengthy post to bring a complex message. I wish to be transparent, but at the same time not cause too much worry. The vast majority of installed systems are working well, and with this new firmware they will work even better – with fewer hours of absorption required to maintain balance. In conclusion, once updated, the batteries work better than ever before. The new firmware version has been tested in our R&D facility as well as in field-trials, and has proved to work really well. As one of our customers commented, “I had not seen the voltage of the cells in my batteries this consistent before.”. Our apologies for inconvenience caused. Yours sincerely, Matthijs Vader
Matthijs Vader • 19 June 2020
VictronConnect v5.26 – Why is the charger off?
Good day! Today we are releasing VictronConnect v5.26. It adds a feature internally dubbed the “MPPT off reason”, which explains to the user why their solar charger is not charging. This is a frequently asked question and one that is not often easy to answer. To answer it properly, multiple parameters need checking, as well as detailed knowledge about the installation; requiring a lot of back-and-forth communication between the user and the technician. Not anymore! Now, VictronConnect indicates precisely why the solar charger is not charging. And where relevant assures that there is nothing to worry about – or hints at what to check when a fault is suspected. One of the most common reasons for not charging is that the PV voltage has not reached the required 5 Volts above the battery voltage, in order to start charging. This is normal in the morning, or evening, or at night – and is nothing to worry about. But it can also indicate a wiring issue, or even an incorrectly-dimensioned system: too few panels in series, for example. (By the way, this is explained in detail in this recent video !). Another common reason for Solar chargers to be off is that they have been disabled by a BMS – battery full. Again – nothing to worry about. All in all, this is a small but welcome step forward in our aim to make it easier to install & use Victron equipment – and to have fewer questions asked all around the distribution channels. This screenshot shows where to find the information – it’s at the bottom: And here are the screenshots for all defined ‘Off’ reasons: Rest of changes The other changes in this software release include stability improvements, mostly for Android. Another improvement concerns VictronConnect sometimes hanging for a while when connecting to the VRM portal – part of the recently introduced remote settings feature . This is now fixed, no more hanging. Related: make sure to check that new feature out if you are not familiar with it. It is really a must for all installers and distributors to be familiar with that feature. Besides those two, there are many other minor fixes and improvements; refer to the VictronConnect change log for the full list. Conclusion So, a nice example on the road of making things easier. Which frankly is not an easy one. Making a cool feature that works well under all circumstances, in a timely manner and without accidentally breaking existing functionality, is already a challenge. Then, making features and products such that they do what one expects them to do – also in all circumstances as well as clearly pointing in the right why in case of an installation error, raises the bar even more. It’s a great challenge and we have lots of ground to cover. Best regards – and have a good weekend, Matthijs Vader
Matthijs Vader • 18 May 2020
VictronConnect v5.22 – New Blue Smart Charger features and more
UPDATE 2020-05-28: after v5.22, we have released a few more versions within a few days. The last one to be released is v5.25. (end) A new version of the VictronConnect App has just been released and includes a number of significant new features: History log of the last 40 charge-cycles for all Blue Smart Chargers; Customizable battery settings, also for all Blue Smart Chargers; Synchronised charging for MPPT Solar Chargers; Faster connection setup – when connecting to a product; Fix a (rather painful) bug that (sometimes) hid the 48V option from the Solar Charger battery selection option in VictronConnect. If you already use VictronConnect, it will update to the latest version automatically. If you’d like to download VictronConnect you will find a list of device/OS compatibility here . Watch this video to learn both new Blue Smart Charger features, or keep reading below the video. Blue Smart Charger improvements – added charge-cycle history In-depth historical data can now be viewed for the last 40 charge cycles by clicking on the new HISTORY tab. Clicking on any of the forty columns (seen in the image at the head of this article) will provide detailed information. The top of the graph shows how much time was spent in each charge cycle, as well as how many amp-hours were charged into the battery during that phase. Below the bars there is more information on each cycle: Status: Completed, AC disconnected, or other. Elapsed – the time it took from start to finish (reaching float phase or being interrupted – if sooner). Charge – the amount of amp-hours charged into the battery Maintain – the amount of amp-hours charged into the battery after the charger switched to the float-charge phase. And three more values: Type – the charge profile used during that cycle Vstart – the battery voltage when starting the cycle (a voltage well below 12V indicates that you might have discharged your battery too deeply – try and recharge it sooner next time) Vend – the battery voltage at the end of the cycle. In case interrupted, it will show two dashes (–) Error At the bottom, the tab shows the Totals. Here you can see how many charge cycles were started, and how many charge cycles were completed: a good indication to see if the battery is regularly achieving a full recharge. Important with lead batteries as commonly known, but also important for most lithium batteries since they need a full charge in order to balance the lithium cells. Click the image to view the new history features in detail: Blue Smart Chargers – Customizable charge profile These chargers have a six or seven-step charge algorithms which is optimal for all common Lead Acid and Lithium Batteries. There is no need to tweak or update settings – in fact in many cases tweaking could result in an inferior charge performance for the batteries than with the default settings. However, in some situations more specific settings are required, and these are now available. The new settings are configurable Absorption, Float and Storage voltages. As well as the Recondition setting and configurable temperature compensation value. For even further tweaking there is the Expert mode; once enabled, the app allows changing practically all parameters and time limits used by the charge algorithm. Such as Bulk time limit, maximum absorption time and more. The picture below shows the Advanced settings with the Expert mode enabled. There are more settings when scrolling up. To see all of them, download VictronConnect and use the demo mode. Blue Smart Chargers – how to update Both above new features require a firmware update of the Blue Smart Charger. To initiate that, first connect to the charger and then click the cog-wheel at the upper left. VictronConnect will now offer to update the charger. More details about the update procedure are in the manual – chapter 9 . Synchronised charging for SmartSolar MPPTs The next new feature in VictronConnect that I want to highlight is the firmware update for our SmartSolar MPPTs. This VictronConnect version carries firmware versions v1.50 and v1.06, which have various improvements and new features. The main improvement is the updated version of Synchronised Charging. Updated, you might wonder? Yes, updated. Already a while ago we released the initial version that added Synchronised charging over Bluetooth. It worked well for the vast majority of systems, but in some it had issues. For example Error 68 showing up when chargers were connected to an ESS system and at the same time configured for synchronised charging in a Bluetooth VE.Smart network. Those have now been fixed and rigorously tested, and therefor I’m happy to -finally!- be able to announce the Synchronised charging feature. No more Error 68. Here is a screenshot showing the VE.Smart Network configuration page. The Synchronised charging icon in the “This Device” section indicates that this charger is teamed up with one or more other solar chargers. And below that it shows which other devices are in range. Once configured for synchronised charging, the output power of all chargers can be seen when logged in to any one of them, as visible in this screenshot, see “Network total power – 3072W”: For details about why, how and when to enable Synchronised charging, see the VE.Smart Networking Manual . Faster connection setup The time required for VictronConnect to connect to a Victron product and load its first page has been significantly improved. Which is a nice improvement, especially for impatient people like I am myself. It’s our aim. Full change logs and conclusion For complete details, read the full change logs: VictronConnect change log BlueSmart Chargers: change-log is embedded in the VictronConnect change log . SmartSolar Chargers: login to Victron Professional
Justin Tyers • 12 May 2020
Tesla Ambulance
Have you ever wondered what you would do if your electric vehicle ran out of fuel – in the middle of nowhere? Well, we’ve got an interesting video for you. Lucian Popescu has driven his Tesla Model S into the mountains of Romania leaving himself insufficient power to get home again. A distributor comes to his rescue with an experimental re-charge. Are you sitting comfortably? Just before we begin you might be interested in a quick roundup of the setup we’re about to see: 3 x Quattro Inverter 10kVA are configured to recharge the vehicle with 3 Phase power. It’s not always possible to charge an electric vehicle remotely because they require a Neutral Ground which is not available on many generators or alternative power supplies – but which the Quattro inverters can be switched to provide. This arrangement provides 11kWh – the standard ‘maximum’ charge acceptance rate for the Tesla AC inlet – but wait, we’re in for a surprise. 4 x 25.6V Lithium Batteries which between them store 20kWh. A VE Bus BMS protects the battery during charge/discharge cycles A Cerbo GX ties everything together; and we get a look at the neat GX Touch 50 display in action. The video saves the best for the end with a sneak preview of an early prototype of the Victron Car Charger – the EV Charging Station. Capable of providing 22kWh – electric car charging just came home. At this rate an hour of charge will provide up to 90 miles (145 km) of range; and a typical electric vehicle battery can be taken from empty to full in around 5 hours.
Justin Tyers • 12 March 2020
Ice Picks
As the 2019/2020 speed skating season comes to a close we look back on some of the latest successes achieved by skaters from Gewest Fryslân. The National Championships Short Sprints 100 metre, 300 metre and 500 metres were held at the Jaap Eden ijsbaan in Amsterdam on February 22nd – which is an outdoor track, open to the elements. Aron Romeijn gave a stunning performance establishing new track records in all events – and becoming the first skater to break the 37 second barrier in the 500 metre event with a time of 36.9 seconds. Aron Romeijn In the women’s competition the whole podium was coloured blue with Frysian speedskaters. Dione Voskamp took gold, skating three track records. Silver went to Helga Drost and bronze was clinched Isabelle van Elst – a really great tournament for the Frysian Team. Tomaszow Mazowiecki – central Poland The Junior World Championships were held between 21 – 23 February. Winning the all-rounders World Champion Juniors for a second impressive year in a row Femke Kok gained World titles in both the 500m and the 1000m as well. Marrit Fledderus gained third place in the 1000 meter in Poland – but had the misfortune to fall during the 500 metre event during which she had been expecting a place on the podium. Nothing daunted she rallied during the 1000 meter and gained a well deserved medal …a result made all the more impressive by the fact she had been competing in the USA the weekend before. Femke Kok – Myrthe de Boer – Marrit Fledderus Salt Lake City – USA At that Salt Lake City venue Femke Kok together with teammates Letitia de Jong and Jutta Leerdam won the World Champion title in the team sprint event. Melissa Wijfje gained 5th place in the 1500 metres – she made a slow start, followed by an incredible second lap, but couldn’t keep at full power for long enough to get to the front. She continues to make impressive progress, however, and was rewarded with a silver medal in the team pursuit event together with Antoinette de Jong and Ireen Wust – setting a new Dutch record. Lausanne Myrthe de Boer won the 1500 meter at the Youth (14 – 18yrs) Olympic Games which took place at the outdoor rink in Lausanne. World Cup Melissa Wijfje and Sanneke de Neeling both qualified to take part in the World cup. Melissa got 3rd place in the 1500 metre event – her first podium appearance in the 1500 at international level. A major triumph came with teammate Irene Schouten in the mass start event where the pair fought a strong and tactical race resulting in a world cup win. Melissa Wijfje Another achievement for her to look back on during the long hot summer will be her World Cup medal win in Japan where she slipped past the title holder Nao Kodaira to win the 500m event by 0.18 second. World Cup Japan – Sanneke de Neeling Sanneke won her first World Cup medal in Japan this season. After competing in many World Cup competitions she managed to get 3rd in Obihiro …keeping the World Champion 500 metre skater behind her by 0.18 second. A really strong performance. The ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2020 planned for March 13-15 in Seoul cannot be staged owing to travel restrictions. Victron are proud to sponsor Gewest Fryslân and admire the energy and enthusiasm they invest in their performances. We thought we’d leave you with a video clip which captures the power and control of these races. We could have chosen any – but what better than the Ladies 500m? We join the video as Femke Kok is in competition with Norway’s Ida Njātun. Images are by: ©foto’s Martin de Jong
Justin Tyers • 05 March 2020
SmartShunt – new product launch
SmartShunt has been launched and is available in three models: 500; 1000; and 2000 Amps. The SmartShunt is a powerful battery monitor with Bluetooth on board. It can be installed out of sight, behind the scenes – whilst live data from the device is relayed to your mobile phone or laptop via the VictronConnect App , which is free to use. All the usual features are there – such as battery state-of-charge, voltage, current load, time-to-go – and all user-programmable settings …together with extensive historical information which allows you to analyse your system’s performance. SmartShunt can be hard-wired to any ‘GX’ device The SmartShunt can also be connected to any device in the GX family including the Colour Control GX and the new Cerbo GX using an optional VE.Direct cable. This provides the GX device with battery data for system control – and there’s no need to find room for a BMV display. The SmartShunt can do more than comprehensively monitor your main battery bank – additionally you can choose to either: monitor the voltage of a second battery – the starter battery for example or you can connect a temperature sensor (optional accessory) for temperature compensated charging or you can monitor the midpoint voltage of your battery bank (cable included) to keep an eye on battery health. Note that a difference between the SmartShunt and the BMV712 is that the SmartShunt has no visual or audible alarm; neither does it have a programmable relay. All other comparisons with the BMV hold true: the SmartShunt operates in the 6.5VDC to 70VDC range; draws less than a milliamp; and monitors a battery capacity of up to 9999Ah. Included in the box are two fused-cables for +ive connection; and for second battery – or midpoint – monitoring. Prices start at €133 / £114 / $148 for the 500A model. Dimensions: H x W x D: 500A: 46 x 120 x 54 mm 1000A: 68 x 120 x 54 mm 2000A: 68 x 120 x 76 mm
John Rushworth • 06 February 2020
Cerbo GX & GX Touch 50
The new Cerbo GX, along with the optional GX Touch 50 display, were announced and demonstrated at METS, November 2019 . Personally I’m a great fan of GX devices, the Color Control GX, Venus GX and more – all being a part of the Victron GX product range . Detailed introductory blogpost by Panbo However, my 6 years personal experience is with the Color Control GX model – so I’d be doing you the reader a disservice by reviewing the Cerbo GX. Also, as I blog for Victron, I admit to a natural and faithful bias. It seems only right and proper then to let an independent reviewer give you their take on this exciting new product. What I can say though – is that going by the review on Panbo, the product will be in great demand. For a detailed introduction, I recommend reading the Panbo blog post by Ben Ellison: Victron Cerbo GX, good AC/DC power monitoring gets better . Introductory video GX Touch 50 display The GX Touch 50 is the optional display for the Cerbo GX. Its water proof, thin, and easy to mount. There is a cable coming out on the back with two plugs on it: the HDMI goes into the HDMI port on the Cerbo, and the USB (used to power the display) goes into one of the USB sockets. For all details, including dimensions and the manual, see the GX Touch 50 product page . Optional DIN rail adapter The optional DIN rail adapters are to easily mount the Cerbo GX on a DIN-Rail. Dimensions and details are available on its page on our website . Conclusion When you consider just how far GX devices have come in the last 6 years ( just take a look back to 2014 ), then the Cerbo GX is to my mind the ultimate GX turbo charged device for connectivity. Learn more at the Cerbo GX product page . John Rushworth
Justin Tyers • 30 January 2020
Pay-As-You-Go Solar Charger – New Product Launch
With the DC-powered home or business in mind, this week sees the launch of the SHS 200 MPPT. It’s a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGo) enabled solar charger which provides power to DC appliances: Fridge; Television; Radio; Hair Clippers; and Mobile phone-charging for example. This is how it works: When a customer prepays for electricity use – which he/she can do by mobile money transfer – they receive a code by text message (SMS) which is typed into the keypad of the SHS 200 MPPT. The device is then unlocked for a period of time – a few days…or a month – making power available to the customer. Electricity provision has been shown to have a huge impact on the lives of families living far from the grid. For the domestic user a system of this size will typically provide sufficient daily power to run all the DC appliances normally found in an off-grid home. For the entrepreneur, reliable electricity is often the resource needed to start a business – using light-industrial power tools, or to refrigerate goods for sale, perhaps – which will have a life-changing impact on the whole community. PAYGo For service providers, the pay-as-you-go model extends the market to customers who – lacking sufficient capital to buy the equipment upfront – are, however, able to afford to buy it over time …whilst enjoying the benefits of electricity from the outset. The SHS 200 MPPT uses OpenPAYGO Token technology – an agnostic PAYGo algorithm which allows distributors to work with their preferred PAYGo platforms (PaygOps, Paygee, Angaza, for example) – or even their own proprietary platform. Power harvest, storage, provision The SHS 200 MPPT can be combined with Solar Panels of up to 200Wp, and a 12V battery (lead or lithium) of up to 160Ah. It has 15 load output ports: 10 USB (≅5V) power outlets. (Port max 1.5A / Overall max 10A) …and five ports offering 10.5VDC to 15VDC with overcurrent protection and resettable fuse, as follows: 2 x 12VDC outlet port up to 3A (Barrel Connector 5.5mm x 2.1mm) 2 x 12VDC outlet port up to 5A (Barrel Connector 5.5mm x 2.1mm) 1 x 12VDC outlet port up to 10A (5.08mm pin space pluggable screw terminal) Installations are designed to be modular – beginning small they can be extended to meet customer’s future requirements. A larger model offering up to 800W will be available in the coming months. SHS 200 MPPT uses the very latest technology to maximise power harvest and storage – including battery temperature sensing; built in protection against reverse polarity; battery over- and under-voltage protection; and over-current protection at the power outlets. Battery terminals can be provided with anti-tamper caps to avoid the supply of un-metered power. The LCD screen provides system interface displaying information such as battery state-of-charge and power usage. For the service provider the screen offers engineering diagnostics. Three languages can be selected: English, French and Swahili. You can view the SHS 200 MPPT at Global Off-Grid Solar Forum & Expo 2020 which takes place on February 18th – 20th, in Nairobi, Kenya.
Justin Tyers • 05 December 2019
METSTRADE 2019 – roundup
The annual METSTRADE show which is a state-of-the-art business-to-business exhibition of leisure marine equipment held in Amsterdam is one of the highlights of the Victron year, and an opportunity to show off our latest product releases and innovations. Cerbo GX Taking the spotlight was our launch of the new Cerbo GX – offering visitors their first chance to get their hands on what will certainly prove to be a successful addition to our GX range of communication and control devices. Public appreciation for the Cerbo GX shows the value of listening to feedback from installers and customers alike, and using that information to develop a product which everybody wants! GX Touch 50 The GX Touch 50 – the optional display accessory for the Cerbo GX – was also exhibited. As the name suggests it is a 5″ touchscreen waterproof display which puts full control of your on board electronics at your fingertips. We’ll have to wait just a little bit longer for this product which is expected to be publicly available in February 2020. Multi-function Display There was a great deal of interest in our multi-functional display integration. Announced last year – and now supported by even more top navigation equipment manufacturers – this integration allows a vessel’s battery status and power consumption data to be displayed alongside navigational and operational information right there on the Glass Bridge. Victron’s plug-in compatibility with the best known names in marine navigation electronics is seamless and straightforward. MultiPlus-II 24/3000/70 With the marine market in mind we recently launched a 24V version of the well-proven MultiPlus-II range of inverter/chargers. In addition to a host of features including two AC outputs; and PowerAssist – which boosts shore supply – the MultiPlus-II has an ultra slim design, and miserly stand-by power draw. The MultiPlus-II unit can provide a battery-charging current of 70 amps, and is available for shipping now. For a full list of our METSTRADE product launches take a look at the show-preview blog . Thank you! Thank you! We’re grateful to everyone who was able to come to visit us on our stand and hope you enjoyed getting ‘hands-on’ with all our Marine related products. No METSTRADE show would be complete without one of our famous parties – here’s a selection of faces captured at the event by our roving photographer:
John Rushworth • 12 November 2019
METS 2019 – Show preview
As ever Victron Energy will be at METS, and as in previous years the show is the launchpad for many new Victron products. In brief this year’s key product launches are: SmartShunt series (500A, 1000A and 2000A). MultiPlus-II 24/3000/70-35: first 24 volt model of the new generation MultiPlus-II range. Cerbo GX, plus the associated GX Touch 50 display. Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC charger range. There’s more, but first you need to get to METS… METSTRADE is a one-stop-shop for marine industry professionals, with over 1,600 exhibitors and thousands of visitors. Where: RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre , Victron Energy B.V. Stand no. 01.541 When: 19 to 21 of November, 2019. Visit: Free Tickets for marine professionals. Now let’s look in more detail at the key new products. SmartShunt series The new Smart series of Shunts consists of three models – 500A, 1000A and 2000A. SmartShunt 500A/50mv MultiPlus-II 24V inverter/charger The new MultiPlus-II 24/3000/70-32 230V is the first 24 volt model of the new generation MultiPlus-II inverter/charger range and it is now in stock, as are the MultiPlus-II 48V versions and the MultiPlus-II 48/3000/35-32 GX . MultiPlus-II 24/3000/70-32 230V Cerbo GX The Cerbo GX product is a new addition to the current Victron GX product range which currently consists of the Color Control GX, Venus GX, CANvu GX, Octo GX, Maxi GX and MultiPlus-II GX, EasySolar-II GX. Cerbo GX and the optional DIN rail adapters Cerbo GX Connections GX Touch 50 display Optional GX Touch 50 display (5″ inch touchscreen) for the Cerbo GX Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC charger range More details of this new DC to DC charger range, which are perfect for dual battery systems in vehicles and boats are in this recent blog . Example of the Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC charger range – shown is the 12/12-30 (360W) model. Other new products on display MultiPlus 1600VA This new style MultiPlus 1600VA (which is set to replace the earlier MultiPlus Compact range) will be on display. Phoenix Inverter Smart 3000VA The Phoenix Inverter Smart is an efficient and reliable inverter. Built on our proven and field tested Phoenix inverter platform, it now comes with a new slimmer design and full metal casing. VE.Bus Smart Dongle The VE.Bus Smart Dongle adds Bluetooth connectivity to our range of inverter/chargers, the Multis and Quattros. It’s perfect for an entry level system in for example a vehicle or boat: it lets the user monitor their system as well as set the input current limit according to the shore connection; all from a phone or tablet with the VictronConnect app. VE.Bus Smart Dongle Product updates MFD GX device integration Well, here’s something many have been waiting for – GX NMEA-2000 out functionality, along with new MFD integration improvements. You’ll need to be at METS to learn more… Keep an eye on the Victron Modifications Space in the Victron Community in the meantime. MFD GX device integration Conclusion As ever there are too many new products (a good thing!) to go into in depth in this short preview blog for METS. However we hope this blog gives our end users an insight into what to expect in the coming months. In the meantime if you are in the B2B category we look forward to welcoming you to METS 2019 in Amsterdam, between Tuesday 19th to Thursday 21st November, to get the full Victron Energised experience! And for our end users, keep an eye on the Victron blog and the Victron Community for pending individual, in depth reviews on the METS featured products and chat, respectively. If you haven’t done so already why not subscribe to the blog and be notified of new blogs – hit the subscribe button in this page . John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 15 October 2019
Cape Town International Boat Show & the Great Optimist Race
This weekend (Friday 18th to Sunday 20th October) is the 2019 Cape Town International Boat show . Taking place annually the show is South Africa’s premier boating and luxury lifestyle event, held at the V&A Waterfront. At the show Victron Energy will of course be exhibiting, based at stand no. M42. Also Victron Energy dealer PowerSol will be at stand no. M42. Tickets for the event are available here . In addition to a great range of Victron products on display, with professionals to answer your questions, the Great Optimist Race will be taking place again after a successful inaugural event in 2018. What is The Great Optimist Race? This charitable race is a result of Greg Bertish’s passion for sailing, his Optimist dinghy and his escape from reality. Infected by a rare tropical bacterium in 2001 at the age of 30, Greg spent over 200 days in hospital and underwent two open heart surgeries. The power of positive thought and the strength of the human spirit have helped him piece back his life and his lifestyle. In April 2016 Greg Bertish sailed an 8 foot children’s Optimist dinghy around the Cape of Storms. He crossed False Bay, rounded Cape Point and headed for Langebaan Lagoon on the wild west coast. His 200-kilometre journey matched the 200 days he had spent in hospital, whilst fighting life-threatening heart infections. He raised R300 000 towards a new Intensive Care Unit at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. He then went on to raise R1 million for a renovation of the entire exterior of the hospital. Greg Bertish is a big wave surfer and a South African Champion Lifesaver and Stand Up Paddle Boarder. He is an ambassador for the Children’s Hospital Trust and the National Sea Rescue Institute, and founder of the Shark Spotter Program. He has helped raise over R2 million for these charities to date. Greg Bertish is the founder and Ambassador of The Little Optimist Trust . The Great Optimist Race 2019 Around 45 Optimist dinghies are scheduled to compete in this year’s event on Saturday 19th October, starting at 12pm sharp. The fundraising is to benefit multiple charities in Cape Town – spreading the optimism and the good work across so many sectors. The funds raised by each boat will be split between The Little Optimist Trust and the charity supported by that boat. The format is as follows: Many of the Optimists are sponsored by a company. Most Optimists sail to raise money for a charity of their choice. A Minimum of 30 Optimists will be sailed by either a Survivor, a Champion of Industry or Celebrity as skipper. A number of celebrities will be involved again this year. They include: Scarra Ntubeni (Ace rugby player) Pippa Hudson (Cape Talk presenter) Craig Lucas (Musician) Majozi (Musician) Josie Borain (Supermodel and photographer) Riaan Manser (Explorer) Not to be outdone by the celebrities above Victron have their own colourful skipper for the race. His name is Chad Smith. Affectionately he is known as ‘The Chad’ or ‘Deep Chiller’. About Deep Chiller Chad is a surf and fitness coach, social enterprise manager, action man, and DIY guru – going from donor, to volunteer, to 9Miles Project boat skipper and staff member in the last 3 years. Chad’s love for the ocean and kids stem from his experiences in lifesaving, sea rescue, yacht building and youth leadership; which makes him the perfect mentor and role model for the children at the 9Miles Project He doesn’t have much sailing experience but has always loved swimming and being near the ocean, so it was a natural progression for him to get his Lifesaving training and accreditation at the age of 17. He also worked with Strandfontein NSRI and spent time on their boats on various training initiatives. After studying yacht and boat building he really developed a passion for sailing and yachting. Washing boats at the marina, working as a deckhand, and sailing vessels in commercials, just further strengthened that passion. “I developed a real love for these luxurious and masterfully crafted vessels, and marvelled at the things that they could do and the way that they harness the ocean. One of my biggest dreams is to build my own yacht someday which will allow me to sail the corners of the earth” – Chad Smith Chad’s love for the ocean, surfing, and children led him to volunteering, and then working full-time at the 9Miles Project, a non-profit organisation based in Cape Town which uses surfing as a catalyst to engage and empower vulnerable and at risk youth in coastal informal settlements. His background, coupled with his second job as a stuntman, actor and adventurer made him the logical choice for skipper of the 9Miles/Victron boat. Back the 9Miles/Victron boat in the 2019 Great Optimist Race Victron Energy and PowerSol are sponsoring Chad and the 9Miles Project race boat. The race takes place on Saturday 19th of October, during the Cape Town Boat show. This is one of the biggest charity events in Cape Town and we are proud to be associated with the 9 Miles Project . Our Skipper Chad has been practicing and getting use to his boat. Why not support them – Victron Energy/9Miles Project – https://www.backabuddy.co.za/ve-9miles-optimist Chad is totally dedicated to the 9Miles Project and spends all his free time helping the kids. Conclusion What a great event, history and range of charitable causes. Go on, why not Back Chad and our Boat if you can, and your donation will go towards the most worthwhile 9Miles Project. 9Miles Project is a registered non-profit organisation that was founded in Cape Town in 2013. The project works with youth in coastal informal settlements and provides mentoring and support to the at-risk youth in the areas of Cape Town, Elands Bay, and St Francis Bay. 9Miles Project website – https://9milesproject.org/ 9Miles Project on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/9MilesProject/ Back the Victron Energy/9Miles Project – https://www.backabuddy.co.za/ve-9miles-optimist John Rushworth Race day details & map
John Rushworth • 10 October 2019
New Product: Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC charger
The new Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC charger is designed for use in dual battery systems in vehicles or boats, where the (smart) alternator and the start battery are used to charge the service battery. The model range is suitable for 12V or 24V systems, and both lead acid and lithium batteries. Why do we need Smart DC-DC chargers? The reasons are best explained by this recently published blog: Careful – Alternator Charging Lithium (or how to not blow up your alternator) . Learn about ‘Smart’ Alternators and Auxiliary Battery Charging with Victron Energy retailer 12 Volt Planet . Typical (smart) alternator system Here’s an outline schematic of a typical (smart) alternator vehicle or boat charging system, using the Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC charger, with a lead acid starter battery and a lithium auxiliary battery – along with control and monitoring via VictronConnect. Orion-Tr Smart Chargers Isolated model range 220 – 280 Watt 12/12-18 (220W) 12/24-10 (240W) 24/12-20 (240W) 24/24-12 (280W) 360 – 400 Watt 12/12-30 (360W) 12/24-15 (360W) 24/12-30 (360W) 24/24-17 (400W) Unlimited multiple units can be connected in parallel to increase output power and they are suited for high temperature operation up to 55°C, with a full rated output up to 40°C. The Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC charger range can be monitored and programmed via Bluetooth, using the free VictronConnect app. Whilst you might expect it to report current – the Orion-Tr Smart is not currently designed to measure it, although that is something to be worked on for future versions. In this instance it was a higher priority to get this important new product to market without delay. These chargers can also be remotely controlled via a remote on/off switch and they have an engine running detection mechanism. Orion-Tr Smart showing its mounting, connections and remote on/off switch socket. Conclusion The Orion-Tr Smart range is a welcome addition to Victron Energy’s products, making for simplified charging of lithium and lead acid batteries in dual battery vehicle or boat systems. Here’s the product page , including datasheet, dimensions, manual and high quality images. Models currently in stock (with more to follow) are: Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30A (360W) Isolated DC-DC charger Orion-Tr Smart 12/24-15A (360W) Isolated DC-DC charger Orion-Tr Smart 24/24-17A (400W) Isolated DC-DC charger John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 18 September 2019
Automechanika Johannesburg starts today – free entry
Commencing today, until Saturday 21st September, is Automechanika Johannesburg – and the entry is free. It is being held at the Johannesburg Expo Centre, Corner Nasrec & Randshow Roads, Johannesburg, 2091. ( Map for the event ). Of course Victron Energy, Southern Africa, are exhibiting. If you are in the area why not drop in to Hall 5, Stand F05 and have a chat with Andre du Rand and Gerrit Tromp , who will be joined by Victron Automotive Distributors and authorised installers on the stand. I’m also told there will be a brand new Victron product on display for the first time in the world and this product range is a ‘Big One’, that all Automotive customers have been asking about. I don’t know what it is yet – but if you visit the show do let me know! About Automechanika Johannesburg South Africa’s Leading International Trade Fair for the Automotive Industry targeting Trade Visitors from the Sub-Saharan Region. As part of the global Automechanika network of automotive trade fairs worldwide, Automechanika Johannesburg is the largest automotive trade fair and business platform on the African continent. Featuring manufacturers from across the automotive sector, including: parts & components, repair & maintenance, electronics, accessories, car wash, care & reconditioning, management & digital solutions as well as tyres & wheels, safari and off-road vehicles, Automechanika is the ultimate platform to source new products, view the latest technologies and meet new suppliers. Links Victron Energy, Southern Africa on Facebook Automechanika Johannesburg on Facebook Automechanika Johannesburg Website Automechanika on Twitter We hope you can make the show… John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 10 September 2019
Shackleton reaches Arctic Circle
On August 28th just over three months and 4,000km since their departure, Shackleton and her crew aboard the converted lifeboat Stødig have now crossed the line of latitude that marks the Arctic Circle. Their voyage so far has taken them via 7 countries, since leaving Newhaven in the UK – which we reported on in a previous blog . Having overcome engine troubles in the Baltic, Stødig and crew made steady progress north. Now they are only a month away from their destination Tromsø, which will be used as a base to explore Arctic Norway. Shackleton, a Duck Tolling Retriever, guards the converted lifeboat Stødig. Stødig is owned by two architects – Guylee Simmonds and David Schnabel, both aged 28. Theirs is an adventure of a lifetime. Accompanying them is Shackleton, Guylee’s Duck Tolling Retriever. Passing through Lysefjord One of many super photos of Shackleton and crew adventures, as Stødig passes through Lysefjord in southwestern Norway. More photos on Stødig’s Facebook page . One of the reasons Guylee and David have been able to take this extended adventure is they are both self employed. The speed (or lack of!) and sea conditions has often meant that whilst one is at the helm, the other can sit below and get stuck into some work. Stodig’s adventure is also a way to help raise funds for Hope Health Action , who provide life saving health and disability care to the world’s most vulnerable without discrimination. Guylee has been involved in their work in Haiti since 2009, most recently spending 18 months working there. Stodig at anchor, showing off her solar panels and curved windows. Stødig is equipped with solar and wind power, a composting toilet and generous space for both equipment and guests. Victron Energy equipment fitted: 1 x Color Control GX 1 x Battery Monitor BMV-700 3 x 1 x 12V/230Ah AGM Super Cycle Battery (Domestics) 1 x 12V/165Ah AGM Deep Cycle Battery (Starter) 1 x EasyPlus Compact 12/1600/70-16 1 x SmartSolar MPPT 150/60-Tr 1 x 25A Buck-Boost Conclusion Victron Energy and Barden UK are pleased to help with sponsorship of Victron equipment, for this unusual yet worthwhile and fascinating adventure. Here’s what Stødig’s crew had to say about the Victron products they use: “Now that we’ve reached the Arctic with more changeable weather and remote places to visit, our ability to live, work and explore from Stødig is all the more important. Our electrical systems enable us to stay off-grid for extended periods of time, whilst living comfortably and working remotely aboard our floating home. Our batteries and inverter are very reliable, maintenance free and coupled with the easy monitoring through the Color Control GX, – we are able to spend more time enjoying our surroundings and less time worrying about electrical systems.” John Rushworth Here’s what a few well known adventurers also have to say: MARK BEAUMONT adventurer & broadcaster – Stødig exemplifies a lot of things I am passionate about: adventure, self sufficiency, sustainability and a dogged determination to explore remote places in new ways. With Guylee and David’s design skills I am looking forward to seeing how they overcome the challenges facing them during the lifeboat’s conversion and how they can capture and share this entire odyssey. SIR ROBIN KNOX-JOHNSTON sailing maverick – Everyone should do something like this when they are young, this voyage should inspire others to take on their own challenges. Links Stødig Website – https://www.arctic-lifeboat.com Stødig on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/arcticlifeboat Stødig on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/arcticlifeboat Hope Health Action – https://hopehealthaction.org Barden UK – http://barden-uk.com
John Rushworth • 03 September 2019
Wiring Unlimited
Wiring Unlimited is now available! Download it for free here: Wiring-Unlimited-EN.pdf What is Wiring Unlimited? A Victron Energy book by Margreet Leeftink , Information Developer for Victron Energy B.V. Wiring Unlimited is all about electrical wiring of systems containing batteries, inverters, chargers and inverter/chargers – and going by the testaments on the Victron Community, an invaluable resource. Wiring Unlimited’s primary purpose is to aid in the understanding of the basic principles behind certain electrical concepts and how they apply to Victron Energy products and the installation of such products. Victron Community reaction to Wiring Unlimited Here’s some Victron Community comments to give you a taste of the reaction to Margreet’s book. Topics covered in the book are below these comments. Michael R · Very good all round intro and guidance. Well done. Glenn M – Thank you for this excellent resource. An essential reference for anyone planning a renewable energy system. Stephen O – I had been searching around for something like this book for quite some time. Finally found it. Thank you….game-changer! Alan -Excellent work on this, with the section on earthing, off grid, grid connected etc. Pat D – Just got around to reading the book, it’s great. Not sure what Victron is paying you, but it’s not enough. 😉 dazey77 – Nice book. I am not really the target audience being electronic trained but its nicely done. JohnC – Stunning stuff, thank you Margreet. And of all the things that caught my fancy, the treatment of the Victron logo on the opening page is a masterstroke of art. A_V – Great work, Margaret! Thank you, especially for the numbers and examples! Good to have everything in one doc. Lots of useful information and also tricks that I have not read elsewhere. Markus – This is super helpful.Thank you very much! paulo3233 – Very good book. Full of information! Thank you. Topics covered Ohm’s Law Power Conductivity and resistance Current, cable resistance and voltage drop Negative effects of cable voltage drop Ripple Battery bank wiring Battery bank Large battery banks Parallel battery bank wiring Battery bank balancing Battery bank midpoint DC wiring Select the right cable Busbars Cable connections Fuses and circuit breakers DC isolation switches Shunt Parallel and/or 3 phase system DC wiring Example Schematic – Parallel and/or 3 phase system DC wiring (Parallel – Measuring DC imbalance) Large system busbars Example Schematic – Large system busbars Voltage sensing and compensation Solar panels Communication wiring Data signals Interference Communication cables and connector types Interfaces AC wiring Power generation Distribution networks System current VA and Watt AC wiring Fuses and circuit breakers AC bypass switch Special considerations for AC wiring of parallel and/or 3 phase inverter/chargers Ground, earth and electrical safety Electrical safety Earth wiring RCD Neutral to earth link in inverters and in inverter/chargers Mobile installations Isolation and grounding of Victron Equipment System grounding Galvanic corrosion Preventing galvanic corrosion The galvanic isolator The isolation transformer Conclusion Here’s my own reaction to Wiring Unlimited – It’s the kind of booklet us old steam engineers could have done with years ago. Although I did know the basics from Royal Navy college days, it’s great to have such a comprehensive Victron flavoured document. Amazing work by Margreet. Feel free to add your own comments/compliments in Disqus below. For technical queries please post on the Victron Community . Download Wiring Unlimited: Wiring-Unlimited-EN.pdf Other technical information downloads such as Recommended Battery Cables and much more are here . John Rushworth
Justin Tyers • 15 August 2019
Student’s sustainable design awarded second place
An international team of students from TU Delft – a Dutch university – has gained second place in a European competition to design and build sustainable housing. The competition Solar Decathlon began in 2000 as the brainchild of a scientist working for the U.S. Department of Energy – such was the success of his idea to get student Architects and Engineers working together to imagine the housing of the future that the competition spawned regional events all over the world – Solar Decathlon Europe is now a fixture, running every two years. Decathlon As the ‘Decathlon’ name suggests, competition entries have to propose viable, buildable housing solutions in ten areas of interest: Architecture, Engineering and Construction, Energy Efficiency, Communication and Social Awareness, Neighbourhood Integration and Impact, Innovation and Viability, Circularity and Sustainability, Comfort Conditions, House Functioning, and Energy Balance. The rules of the competition are simple: design and build a smart home powered by solar energy and construct it within 14 days. Fourteen days! Achieving that result requires a lot of planning – the teams normally take two years to prepare their entry. The whole project becomes a proposal for future living where design and construction methods can help accelerate the built environment toward a more sustainable model. TU Delft – MOR The Dutch team – who called themselves MOR (Modular Office Renovation – for reasons which will become apparent) started with around 10 people, but grew during the following two years to a team of 52 students from 20 countries, studying 8 disciplines. The 2019 competition focused on the re-purposing of existing buildings . In response to the challenge the MOR team decided they would transform Marconi Towers, in Rotterdam – which had been built around the 1970s, and was typical of commercial building styles in the Netherlands in that era – into a sustainable home. Team member Lawrence Liu – an Electrical Engineering student – says: I think the biggest motivation that everyone on this team shares is the fact that the goal of this competition is to create a more sustainable future …all types of innovative ideas could be applied and I think each of us are motivated to contribute to the overarching goal in our own way and means. Lawrence’s job on the team was initially to design and build a working solar system which complemented the team’s building concept. It was a small project (5 kWp of panels + 6 kWh battery system powering a typical residential installation). He was particularly driven because solar technology is his major area of interest at TU Delft and he welcomed the opportunity to gain some practical experience. Victron seems ideal… He noticed fellow students elsewhere in the university using a 48V Victron Energy System together with a separate 350VDC system to test different charging voltage levels for e-bikes …and elsewhere a lighting project was also using Victron equipment …after investigation Lawrence was very interested in the Victron capability of integrating DC circuits at different voltage levels through a single DC distribution system. He contacted Victron’s Johannes Boonstra to discuss Solar Decathlon Europe in the hope of gaining ideas. Lawrence explained: We have three different types of PV arrays and had planned for two different DC circuits (ISB-C and LED Lighting). Victron’s modular MPPT chargers and Lynx Ion BMS allowed us to integrate all the different generators and loads into a single DC bus, connected to a single inverter. This was something special that other brands that I encountered could not have done without more inverters and converters. In the end, Victron helped us install a functional DC distribution system that is expandable and perhaps a bit over-engineered for a traditional residential home. Wiring diagram. Click to expand. The system comprised: a Multiplus II 48/5000 inverter , three SmartSolar MPPT solar chargers , two 2.5kWh Lithium Ion batteries and a Lynx ion BMS 48V DC bus running on the ESS Assistant. We are super grateful for all the support Johannes has provided us, even during emergency situations such two weeks ago when the inverter started behaving erratically in Hungary, he took the time to trouble shoot it successfully from the Netherlands using the system’s remote management facility. There were very few engineers on the other teams, so in terms of technical execution of the project, our team has been very successful. Our design concept of modularity and flexibility extends even to our engineered systems. On HVAC installations we showcase several passive and active systems working together, optimized by our building automation system from PRIVA. Compared to other teams, we demonstrated many more systems working in harmony, but also each individual system has an integral role within our prototype and overall concept of our proposal. I think the results speak for themselves as out of the 10 sub-contests, we gained a top-three place in 8 of them. In the end, we achieved 2nd place overall and this success can be attributed to the inter-disciplinary team that we have. In October, the prototype – currently in Hungary – will be brought back to the Netherlands and assembled for all to see at The Green Village. Justin Tyers
John Rushworth • 06 August 2019
New product range: VE.Can SmartSolar MPPTs
Adding to Victron’s comprehensive range of Solar Charge Controllers , we can now announce new models with VE.Can connectivity. These currently include the SmartSolar MPPT 150/70 & 150/100 VE.Can with auto-select voltage for systems of 12, 24, 36 and 48 Volts. These new models are replacements for the BlueSolar MPPT 150/70 & 150/85 CAN-bus generation. The new VE.Can 150/70 and 150/100 models are now in stock and available for delivery. Further models will follow and are detailed later in this blog. Dealers can check availability and stock levels via E-Order. Why VE.Can? With the VE.Can interface up to 25 Charge Controllers can be daisy-chained and connected to a Color Control GX or other GX device . Each controller can be monitored individually, for example on a Color Control GX and on the VRM website . VE.Direct and Bluetooth data communication are also features of these controllers. To learn more about data communication such as VE.Can – see the PDF ‘Data communication with Victron Energy products’, in our Whitepapers section of the main website. Comparison to the previous BlueSolar MPPT CAN-bus generation Improved: each charger is displayed individually on a GX Device and on the VRM Portal; whereas with the previous models all units were operating synchronously and were seen as one; which made it impossible to see individual PV string performance. Improved: supports ESS and control by Intelligent (canbus) batteries, just like today’s VE.Direct models; which was not possible with the previous generation. Note that this will require Venus OS v2.40, which is not yet released yet but is expected in October. Synchronisation: the mechanism to operate synchronously is the same as before: equal device instances enables synchronised charging. Since they are all configured with Device instance 0 out of the box; they’ll automatically start synchronising as soon as you connect them together with the network cable. Note: These new models cannot synchronise with the previous generation. They can of course still be used together in the same system; but will then operate autonomously. Future developments & firmware In addition to these new 150V, 70 & 100A models, there will also be a 150V, 85A plus 250V, 70A & 100A models. They are expected by the end of this year. Furthermore some special and not commonly used features have not yet been released, but will come later as a firmware update. These are the virtual load output, street light, alternate TX/RX pin functions and the PAYG features. Key product features & similarities Key features are listed below, yet these new VE.Can SmartSolar MPPTs are also very similar to the existing range of SmartSolar Chargers with a VE.Direct port; in that the hardware design is based on that reliable and proven range, they can be configured with the VictronConnect app and they support all the exact same charger settings and options. Ultra-fast Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) Advanced Maximum Power Point Detection in case of partial shading condition Outstanding conversion efficiency Flexible charge algorithm Extensive electronic protection Bluetooth Smart built-in Internal temperature sensor and optional Smart Battery Sense VE.Can: the multiple controller solution VE.Direct or VE.Can Remote on-off Programmable relay Optional: SmartSolar pluggable LCD display To read more about the features listed above, see the product page and PDF datasheet. The downloads section in that page includes all the usual certificates, product dimensions, photos, manuals and system schematics too. John Rushworth
Justin Tyers • 11 July 2019
New VEConfigure manual, new detailed Marine schematics, and DVCC explained…
A number of major changes to our documentation have been completed. We highly recommend checking out the new versions: VEConfigure Documentation The VEConfigure documentation has been redrafted. It contains additional detail, and a new section about how to use the “Ignoring AC Input with Virtual Switch” feature. Video examples are now embedded within the manual to help with some of the more complex procedures; and you can copy a link to Sections of the manual – making it easier to share specific parts of the document. Please remember that VE.Configure is a powerful software programming package which can be used to program all our Chargers and Inverter/Chargers which have a VE.Bus port, but it should only be used by Victron Professionals – Engineers, Installers and Dealers – as we offer no support to individuals using this software. Clearer Marine integration schematics More detailed schematics are now available showing Lynx Ion BMS; VE.Bus BMS; MultiPlus and Quattro integrations into marine installations. The schematics were drawn by Peter Bakker who has thirty years experience of leisure boat and van installations and likes to work from the ground up – covering everything from wiring gauges and fuse ratings – to an installation which keeps one eye on the future. His schematics have been added to the relevant product pages, and can be found under: Downloads > System Schematics. Lynx Ion BMS VE.Bus BMS DVCC – Distributed Voltage and Current Control Also, we’ve updated the CCGX manual. Take a look at the section on Distributed Voltage and Current Control – DVCC . The new section has a better description of this feature and provides advice about whether DVCC should be enabled in relation to Battery type and System configuration. A list of the minimum firmware versions required for DVCC to operate satisfactorily has been included for all relevant Victron hardware. The new text explains what effects enabling DVCC will have on the battery charge algorithm, and how the system is modified by DVCC in a variety of configurations – including ESS. Many thanks to Guy Stewart and to Peter Bakker for their very useful input to the VEConfigure document and to the Marine diagrams respectively. Justin Tyers
John Rushworth • 18 June 2019
The Victron Van install
In case you missed these great videos and wiring schematics, we thought they deserved a blog post in their own right. Victron Van – Video build episodes Episode 1 – Solar: https://youtu.be/YW_xDerTycQ Episode 2 – Alternator: https://youtu.be/vCOJ3nBFpIM Episode 3 – Mains Electricity: https://youtu.be/TDSzfmHHjsA Episode 4 – Color Control & Battery Monitor: https://youtu.be/2PyMIndbz6w Outline Diagrams & Wiring Schematics for the Victron Van Outline layout diagram – Click to enlarge image or see the Full Wiring Schematic PDF below. Outline Diagrams of the install Solar Alternator Full layout Wiring Schematics of the install Solar Alternator Grid Full Wiring Schematic Who needs a mains plug 😉 Total Control with Victron’s CCGX Conclusion I think these videos by Jono (our video guy) do a great job of showing what can be achieved in a compact and mobile automotive application. Inspiration and system design for the VW Victron Van goes to Victron Energy Sales Manager, Lucian Popescu . For more Victron videos check out the video section in Victron Professional or go direct to the Victron YouTube Channel . John Rushworth
Justin Tyers • 11 June 2019
MY-PV Water and space heating
Austrian based MY-PV have developed a range of AC and DC products to store surplus PV energy which would otherwise go to waste. Last December Lucian Popescu – Victron sales manager for Eastern Europe – suggested MY-PV make their product compatible with ours for incorporation into off-grid and energy storage systems (ESS). That’s now fully-functioning and the compatibility was recently announced in Munich, at Intersolar Europe. A common off-grid/ESS experience during summer months is that by eleven o’ clock in the morning your batteries are fully recharged and from then on little of the energy falling onto your panels will be self-consumed, or stored. MY-PV have a solution for that circumstance, which can store the surplus energy outside a battery bank – for example it can use surplus energy for water heating. AC.THOR The AC.THOR is a 0 – 3 kW linearly controlled photovoltaic power manager for heating water, electric underfloor heating, or space heating. In combination with the Victron system, the AC•THOR uses the surplus energy from your photovoltaic system to supply electrical heat sources such as immersion heaters, electric heating mats or infrared panels linearly with power. This ensures optimal energy utilisation. AC.THOR is connected via ethernet to the Victron GX device – such as the Color Control GX . Metering takes place every second, so any change in circumstance – a load being turned on elsewhere in the house, for example – is quickly detected and the power provision to the immersion heater is either reduced or terminated. The following schematic shows how AC.Thor might be integrated with a Victron Energy Storage System: In houses with solid floors it’s interesting to note that 25kWh energy stored in concrete will raise the temperature of 120m² of screed through 4°C. Similarly, 17kWh of energy can be stored in a 300 litre tank – raising the temperature of the water from 10°C to 60°C. Even solar space-heating begins to make sense in a modern reasonably airtight, well-insulated house. Manuals Instructions for incorporating the AC.THOR unit into a Victron ‘Energy Storage System’ or ‘Off-Grid’ installation can be found found in these manuals: ESS installation Manual Off Grid Installation Manual For those of you who can get to the Off-Grid Experts workshop in Germany in September, the MY-PV product integration will be demonstrated at that event. MY-PV Webinar for Victron Energy Distributors in Romania Conclusion The MY-PV AC.Thor is a great solution to further optimise the use of PV Energy. Justin Tyers
John Rushworth • 09 May 2019
Preview: New Products for Intersolar Europe 2019
Intersolar Europe 2019 is almost upon us and will be held at Neue Messe München from May 15-17, 2019. As ever Victron Energy will be exhibiting. Our stand this year is number B2.480, where many new and updated products will be on display. Four key new products and one new product range are: EasySolar-II 48/3000/35-32 MPPT 250/70 GX MultiPlus-II 48/3000/35-32 230V GX MultiPlus-II 48/5000/70-50 230V Inverter RS 48/6000 230V Smart Solar SmartSolar MPPT VE.Can range These new products will be launched at Intersolar, however in this preview blog we can delve into a little more detail and compare the new models above with previous models where appropriate. EasySolar-II 48/3000/35-32 MPPT 250/70 GX Building on the existing EasySolar (which contains a MultiPlus Inverter/Charger and BlueSolar MPPT Solar Charge controller) this new model has a number of improved features and brings other welcome changes. The EasySolar-II 3000VA GX (when compared to the earlier EasySolar) is based upon the Multiplus-II , giving the whole unit a more compact and modern design, along with improved standby power efficiency, reduced weight and volume. The GX suffix indicates that there is a GX device for control and monitoring built-in. A GX device is usually a standalone device such as a Color Control GX, Venus GX, Octo GX or a CANvu GX – but in this instance it is a new integrated GX device, which is already connected to the internal Multiplus-II and MPPT charge controller. In addition there is a small two line display showing what the unit is doing, and if relevant it can also show a detailed error code – no more counting blinking LEDs! The EasySolar-II 3000VA GX allows connection to CAN-bus battery management systems, the VRM remote data monitoring portal via Ethernet or built-in WiFi , enables ESS functionality, and much more. Another update is the AC and DC rated circuit breaker protection is no longer supplied. This change is based on feedback from our customers who are now able to connect the EasySolar-II GX to their own AC and DC fuses or circuit protection – in other words that which is best suited to a particular application and any regional requirements. The integral MPPT has had the input voltage increased from 150V to 250V, giving greater flexibility when choosing solar panel configurations. In addition, because the MPPT is Victron Smart, there’s all the usual VictronConnect App functionality people have come to expect from Smart enabled products. If paralleling and using three phase with the EasySolar-II 3000VA GX, there can only be one GX device in such a system. Indeed one GX device is enough and therefore it does not make sense to buy three of the EasySolar-II 3000VA GXs and put them in a three phase installation. Instead what you do is buy one and then buy two normal MultiPlus-IIs with the same rating. MultiPlus-II 48/3000/35-32 230V GX This model is the existing MultiPlus-II 3000 , with the addition of built-in GX features. It has all the advantages that you’ve come to expect from GX devices . We’ll keep both products in stock. Like the EasySolar-II 3000VA GX there is a small two line display showing what the unit is doing, and if relevant it can also show a detailed error code – no more counting blinking LEDs! Building a split- or three-phase system, or parallel system, with the MultiPlus-II GX models can be done. But there can only be one GX device in such a system. Indeed one GX device is enough and therefore it does not make sense to buy three of the MultiPlus-II 3000VA GXs and put them in a three phase installation. Instead what you do is buy one and then buy two normal MultiPlus-IIs with the same rating. Another option is of course to use multiple normal MultiPlus-IIs, and then choose a GX device to your liking. Below you can see the plethora of available connection options available on the GX version. Click the image to enlarge it. MultiPlus-II 48/5000/70-50 230V This new MultiPlus-II is simply a larger version of the existing 3000 version. See the product page and choose the datasheet to compare the new MultiPlus-II 48/5000/70-50 to the MultiPlus-II 48/3000/35-32. Inverter RS 48/6000 230V Smart Solar Yet another exciting new product, Victron Smart too. Here are some key features of the RS 6000 : Built-in solar charge controller with 450V max PV input. Previously the highest max PV voltage of Victron Energy products was 250V. PV specification limits are 450V, 18A in, 4000Wp Victron’s first all in one inverter+solar charge controller HF inverter – a first for Victron Energy Excellent voltage stability Handy 4 x 20 character display display The image below shows the bottom cover removed, to reveal various connections which include 1 x VE.Direct and 2 x VE.Can connections. Click the image to enlarge it. Note: The Inverter RS 6000 cannot be configured for parallel operation nor three phase at present. SmartSolar MPPT VE.Can Last in the list of new products presented today is the SmartSolar MPPT VE.Can series. There will be a series of 150V models available, as well as 250V. More detailed news will be shared in a future blog post. More information, pricing and availability More technical information will be made available in the coming days and weeks: product pages, datasheets, and other documentation is being finished and made available on our website. For availability and pricing, check the pricelist on our website. Or, if you are a direct customer, use E-Order. Conclusion As is often the case Intersolar serves as a launchpad for many new Victron Energy products. That doesn’t mean other new products aren’t released throughout the year – it’s simply that Intersolar is one of the best places to see, learn and try the latest Victron products. Oh! – And of course there’s Victron’s infamous Intersolar Stand Party to attend… John Rushworth Links Intersolar Europe Website – https://www.intersolar.de/en/home.html Intersolar Europe Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Intersolar
Justin Tyers • 26 March 2019
The Solar Show Africa 2019
The Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, plays host to The Solar Show Africa on March 26th and 27th. Africa is one of the most dynamic markets for solar energy in the world and the show will feature products and seminars for information hungry visitors. Victron Energy will be showcasing the new 48/5000/70 MultiPlus-II – the ideal inverter/charger for both grid-tied and stand alone energy systems. Find us on stand B51, which is on the second floor of the ‘Clean Energy Hall’. Africa’s climate, and its spread-out communities which are hard-to-reach with infrastructure combine to create a huge demand for private mini grids, and ultra reliable energy storage systems. With its Anti-islanding software the new MultiPlus-II is already in high demand. We’re delighted that show organisers Terrapin have chosen to highlight the MultiPlus-II in their show guides. The full range of Victron’s Solar Power generation, control and monitoring hardware will also be on show. Andre du Rand, Area Manager for Southern Africa says: In addition to Victron products we will be displaying unique Hybrid Generators with the Elum Energy Management software solution along with a Pay-As-You-Go solution from Bboxx. Part of the Power and Electricity Africa Conference – Solar Show Africa brings together information, solutions, and service providers all under one roof. Justin Tyers
John Rushworth • 26 February 2019
Lithium SuperPack batteries – an all in one solution
These new Lithium-Ion, LiFePO4 chemistry batteries are often an ideal replacement for many 12V and 24V marine, automotive, caravan, motorhome, work vans and similar battery applications. It might even be for an overland motorcycle if using the smallest 20Ah version; to recharge a camera, phone or laptop for instance. Other examples – take a typical small boat or van which may have a 110Ah to 220Ah lead-acid leisure battery for light continuous loads such as lighting, laptops, phones, instruments, powering a diesel heater, a fridge etc. And for shorter term loads maybe add a small inverter to charge power tools, run a small microwave or travel kettle for example. Using one SuperPack battery it matches well with the Phoenix Inverter VE.Direct 250VA – 1200VA range. Maybe you’ll add in around 100 to 200Wp of solar panels too using a small MPPT . Regardless of the use, whichever SuperPack you choose it’ll be lighter than lead, can be smaller if you wish or give you more Wh in the same space – plus give you around 5 times the cycle life. The main difference to Victron’s other lithium offerings are the SuperPacks keep everything in one package, by having an integrated BMS and safety switch built-in. No additional components are needed as the internal switch will disconnect the battery in case of over discharge, over charge or high temperature. Simple, compact and safe. If you are considering a new battery don’t immediately discount Lithium as being too costly. Whilst it is true that the capital cost of Li-ion is greater than that of quality AGM or Gel batteries – it is also true that the cost of ownership can be less than lead acid types. Much depends on your application, but rest assured – life with Li-ion is far less hassle than lead. Over the last 8 years on my sailing yacht I’ve run AGM lead leisure batteries and Lithium-Ion propulsion batteries. Initially it was AGM for propulsion before discovering the effectiveness of Lithium. That journey taught me a lot about loads, capacity, cost and battery life – it’s one of the reasons why I think we’ve reached a tipping point and why these new SuperPack batteries may just be the ticket for your next project or battery replacement. If in the first instance you are unfamiliar with AGM vs Lithium, then here’s a blog that explains that. When to use a SuperPack? Every battery size and type has it’s own particular use. For instance you may use the Lithium battery 12,8V & 25,6V Smart in quite different applications to the new SuperPack range. So, where to use the SuperPacks? When it comes to replacing lead acid type batteries such as AGM and Gel in many applications, the SuperPack range can be considered the next generation after lead – making it far easier to replace lead with lithium. The only caveats being replacement is down to certain parameters being met, namely – Capacity (Ah), Voltages (12.8V & 25.6V), Discharge and Charge currents (C rates). Do in that case be sure that your chosen replacement fits your criteria by checking the datasheet and be aware the SuperPacks can be connected in parallel, but not in series. Hence in that case you would consider the other Victron lithium products named above. The Lithium SuperPack Victron Energy’s recently introduced Lithium SuperPack range comes in the following capacities and voltages: 12.8V & 25.6V Lithium SuperPack batteries: 12.8V – 20Ah 12.8V – 60Ah 12.8V – 100Ah 12.8V – 200Ah 25.6V – 50Ah These SuperPacks will give you 2,500 cycles to 80% depth of discharge at 25°C, much more than lead. Comparison: SuperPack 60Ah LiFePO4 vs 90Ah AGM Let’s compare the 60Ah Li-ion to say a typical 90Ah AGM battery discharged to the commonly accepted economic cycle life of 50% discharge for lead. That would give us 600 cycles at that DOD for the AGM compared to 2,500 at the even deeper discharge of 80% for the LiFePO4. Already you can see you may need to replace your lead-acid type battery 2 to 4 times as often as the Lithium. Of course loads, operating conditions and calendar life have to be factored in too. Regardless you get the idea – Lithium does more and lasts longer. The benefits of Lithium don’t stop there though. Whilst LiFePO4 chemistry is considered the safest of them all, it’s worth considering other factors too to decide whether the reduced weight and volume of say NMC is of more importance for your application than LiFePO4 for example. Victron Energy do both types. 60Ah SuperPack 90Ah AGM Weight 9.5kg 27kg Size (mm) 229 x 138 x 213 350 x 167 x 183 Useable energy @ 25°C 614Wh 540Wh Cycle life 2,500 cycles 600 cycles Cost x 2.5 (approx) x 1 Notes for the table above: Useable energy and cycle life are based on 80% depth of discharge for Li-ion and 50% for AGM, these being considered the most economic use of those battery types. Higher loads with lead will further reduce available Wh ( Peukert’s Law ) when compared to Li-ion. Capacity is also reduced for both types by temperatures below their 25°C temperature rating ( see their respective datasheets ) Make what you will of the above and whilst you are pondering the pros and cons don’t forget to take these additional factors into account for the comparison above. Shipping: If you are replacing your lead from 2 to 4 times as often as Li-on and the fact that the lead weighs around 3 to 4 times as much (depends on Li-ion chemistry used) – then do consider the extra shipping costs. Voltage stability: The voltage profile is far flatter for Li-ion compared to lead. Voltage sag: Subject to the load, voltage sag with lead is significant compared to Li-ion. Li-ion has much faster charge times and if charging from a generator it saves on generator runtime. Other factors to consider Is the above enough to convince you of why Lithium might be a better alternative than AGM or indeed Gel? Personally I’m sold on Lithium, but if you are not here’s a few things further to consider: A lead-acid battery will fail prematurely due to sulfation if it operates in deficit mode for long periods of time (i.e. if the battery is rarely, or never at all, fully charged). It will also fail early if left partially charged or worse, fully discharged. By comparison a Lithium-Ion battery does not need to be fully charged. This is a major advantage of Li-ion compared to lead-acid which needs to be fully charged often to prevent sulfation. Efficiency. In several applications (especially off-grid solar), energy efficiency can be of crucial importance. The round-trip energy efficiency (discharge from 100% to 0% and back to 100% charged) of the average lead-acid battery is 80%. The round-trip energy efficiency of a Li-ion battery is 92%. The charge process of lead-acid batteries becomes particularly inefficient when the 80% state of charge has been reached, resulting in efficiencies of 50% or even less in solar systems where several days of reserve energy are required (battery operating in 70% to 100% charged state). In contrast, a Li-ion battery will still achieve 90% efficiency even under shallow discharge conditions. Make the switch? Are you ready to make the switch from Lead to LiFe? If you’ve considered all the above I suspect you might be. And if you need more useable Ah why not run the sums on say a 100Ah Lithium SuperPack vs 220Ah AGM using the process I have above. Or indeed a 200Ah Li-ion SuperPack vs your choice of lead. Don’t forget too that Lithium has little or no Peukert effect when compared to Lead types. This is especially important when considering loads with lead-acid higher than 0.05C (Battery Ah divided by 20 or Ah multiplied by 0.05). In other words for a 100Ah AGM with a Peukert of 1.24 and discharging at 0.25C (25 Amps in this case – which is 5 times the 20 hour rate) there will be significant reduction in capacity – as there will be at colder temperatures too. Li-ion has a Peukert of 1.05 when compared to lead’s 1.24 factor. So – if you were discharging that 100Ah lead at 5 Amps (the 20 hour discharge rate at a temperature of 25 degrees centigrade) then the full capacity of 100Ah is still availaable and it’s not shrunk due to Peukert. But now if it were 0.25C, it’ll be around 80% of that original 100Ah capacity – or less, subject to load type and duration. The bottom line is you no longer have the Ah you purchased, whereas with Lithium there is little to no effect, helped by a lower Peukert and good voltage stability. That is especially important with constant inverter loads – a place where lithium shines. If you want to learn more about Peukert and run a spreadsheet to see such effects, then I have found this link most helpful. Finally and one I’m always grateful of is vastly reduced charge times, no more waiting for hours of lead absorption charging to get from 80% to 100% SOC. Conversely Li-ion flies up to around 98% SOC in bulk with those last few percent in absorption to fully balance the cells – and unlike lead you don’t always have to fully charge to 100% as often. Note that your 12V charging system needs to accommodate 14.2V – 14.4V ‘absorption’ and ‘13.5V’ float. If charging from an alternator also note the maximum continuous charge currents for the 12.8V range, by checking the datasheet. Downsides Not wanting to sound too evangelical, we also need to consider the few downsides of Li-ion. Higher upfront cost and to some extent higher capital risk. Charging is restricted to the +5°C to +45° range, subject to an internal means of blocking the charge source when the temperature is below +5°C. Note this is currently automatically possible with Victron MPPTs when used in conjunction with the Smart Battery Sense for instance. Other products are being worked on to achieve this too and documentation to that effect will be updated in due course. The SuperPack (unlike other Victron Lithiums) is not designed for series connections. The peak and maximum continuous discharge current of the SuperPack range is not as much as some of our Lithium batteries as its related to the BMS and the disconnect being internal to the battery – so do check the datasheet to make sure the current peak and discharge ratings suit your needs – or choose from the Lithium battery 12.8V & 25.6V Smart range, or build a parallel SuperPack bank. Conclusion Whatever your decision when purchasing new batteries, maybe it is time to give the Lithium SuperPack batteries a chance. There’s LiFe after Lead you know – but as I’ve shown that all depends on what you want to achieve. Is it less weight, less volume, maybe it’s capacity or voltage or any of the multitude of factors that go into choosing a battery system. Whatever you choose Victron have plenty of choice – with a large range of battery types and sizes: https://www.victronenergy.com/batteries John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 31 January 2019
Official opening: VICTRON-Competence Centre, Klagenfurt
A little over a year ago Victron Energy in association with Austrian Victron Energy dealer E-BOX Off-Grid Power Systems, together with HTL1 Lastenstraße and their headmaster Dr. Michael Archer forged a partnership to utilise Victron Energy products for their varied educational program – to build a ‘Competence Centre’. As a result on Thursday, 5th December 2018, the new VICTRON-Kompetenzzentrum (VICTRON-Competence Centre) for ‘Renewable Energy and Storage Technology’ was opened at the school. HTL1 Lastenstraße is a Higher Technical Institute in Klagenfurt , southern Austria, with around 1100 students and 120 teachers. The school trains engineers in the fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and mechatronics. It has around 34 workshops and laboratories as well as several competence centres. Another focus is ‘Land und Umwelttechnik’ (agricultural engineering and environmental technology). This all makes HTL1 a unique training centre, not only for students from Carinthia but southern, eastern and western Austria. With the new VICTRON-Competence Centre training courses will specialise in the fields of energy storage technology, photovoltaics and energy management. Besides these courses Victron Energy have also been welcomed to run their own special courses at the school. In addition, interested companies will also have the opportunity to use this modern infrastructure for their own education and training events. HTL1 Lastenstraße – The school is equipped with many different, modern photovoltaic-systems. The school were particularly pleased to receive a visit from Victron Energy sales manager Leo Yntema for the opening. Here’s a brief video (in German) of that visit and a few photos from the opening event. From left to right: Manfred Hartner – Managing Director of E-BOX Off-Grid Power Systems, Dr. Michael Archer – Principal of HTL1 Lastenstraße and Leo Yntema of Victron Energy. A student explains one of the 5 Workstations and its components at the opening. From left to right: Andreas Albel, the teacher who is responsible for the VICTRON-Kompetenzzentrum and Leo Yntema of Victron Energy. Equipment utilised There are 5 workstations utilising Victron Energy equipment. Each workstation is equipped with its own separate 3kWp photovoltaic-system, plus each of the panels can be switched on and off separately. Workstation 1: components / power storage / 3-phase 3 x MultiPlus 48/3000/35-16 1 x Color Control GX 1 x Battery Monitor BMV-700 4 x LiFePO4 battery 12.8V/90Ah – BMS 1 x Battery Management System VE.Bus Workstation 2: components / power storage / 1-phase 1 x MultiPlus 48/3000/35-16 1 x Color Control GX 1 x Wall mount enclosure for Color Control GX 1 x Battery Monitor BMV-700 Workstation 3: components / power storage / 1-phase 1 x ECOmulti 24/3000/70-50 2,3 kWh LiFePO4 2 x LiFePO4 battery 12.8V/90Ah – BMS Workstation 4: Components / power storage / DC coupled 1 x BlueSolar MPPT 150/85 CAN-bus 1 x Wall mount enclosure for Color Control GX 1 x Battery Monitor BMV-700 1 x Venus GX 24 x OPzV 200 Batteries Workstation 5: Components / power storage / DC coupled 1 x EasySolar 48/3000/35 MPPT 150/70 with Color Control GX built-in 24 x OPzV 200 Batteries Conclusion It’s great to see the new VICTRON-Competence Centre now open and we trust it will serve as a valuable resource for the school and the young engineers of tomorrow. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 19 December 2018
New forum: Victron Community
Over the years there have been many technical questions here on the Victron blog, using Disqus comments. However we’ve found that somewhat unwieldy – so a new forum has been launched – it’s called Victron Community. Initially of course Victron Energy direct end user customers to their company support policy. Naturally as Victron spend a great deal of time, funds and energy training their distributors from all over the world – the support policy is the first port of call. Allied to that though – we think the new Victron Community site will be complimentary and an improvement on Disqus comments. Here it is: https://community.victronenergy.com Please use the new system for your questions, as well as for helping other people. We hope this community will grow with a good mix of Victron Energy enthusiasts and customers, be they dealers or end users. Victron Energy staff will frequent the forum from time to time as required. Feel free though to use Disqus on the Victron blog for feedback comments about the blog, such as what topics you’d like to see covered or maybe you’d even like to write a guest blog? Keep us posted… John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 27 November 2018
New product: Octo GX – a member of the GX Product Family
Recently announced at METS the Octo GX is a Venus-device and a member of the GX Product Family, which consists of the Color Control GX, Venus GX, Octo GX and the CANvu GX. The new Octo GX is the best fit for installations that have many MPPT Solar Charge Controllers, as it has 10 VE.Direct ports. The GX Product Family At a glance details can be seen in the image below. For further information see the GX Product Family page. Octo GX The Octo GX is DIN-rail mountable, so it’s compatible with existing industry standard control boards. It has many interfaces, allowing control and monitoring of over a dozen Victron components simultaneously. Also and very handy for ESS systems – it has a built-in RS485 port. Octo GX applications include large integrated commercial or industrial electrical systems where you may have a control room with many VE.Direct MPPT’, Multiplus Inverter/Chargers and CANBus devices. Further information can be found on the Octo GX product page. Conclusion There’s a Venus-device to suit your needs – we trust the new Octo GX adds to and expands the growing GX Product Family range. The first stock of the Octo GX is expected in early January. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 21 November 2018
METS 2018: Marine success
Last week was the annual METS (Marine Equipment Trade Show). As ever Victron Energy had a stand and their products were featured on many other stands too. Here’s a reflection on the 2018 show. There were a range of new Victron products as detailed in the pre-METS blog . From a personal perspective though it’s always interesting to see which products aroused most interest. This year Victron Energy’s ‘Glass Bridge’ integration came out ahead. This integration ensures a vessel’s MFD (Multi-Functional Display) can display Venus-device information, at the ‘Glass Bridge’ helm and other screens, with a simple plug and play UTP cable connection. MFDs by Raymarine, Garmin, B&G, Simrad, Lowrance are examples of some of the OEMs that can integrate Venus-device information. Venus-devices are members of the GX Product Family . Glass Bridge integration for Garmin & Navico brands is expected end of Q1; and for Raymarine it’s expected Q2 2019. A full list of compatible chart plotters will be published in early 2019. This silent video demonstrates the ease of integration. No need for sound commentary, as it’s that easy to integrate! Key features of Victron Energy’s Glass Bridge integration Monitor shore power and generator status. Monitor battery status. Monitor chargers, inverters, inverter/chargers. Monitor AC and DC loads. Control shore current limit. Control the inverter/charger. Open the Victron Remote Console panel; allowing access to further parameters. Other show feedback Smart BatteryProtect Key feedback centered not just around Glass Bridge integration. In fact it was at the other extreme – being one of the most basic products of all – one that is shipped in the many thousands and likely even more now the new version has Victron ‘Smart’ tech. No fiddling with wires to program, just use VictronConnect over Bluetooth to program the new Smart BatteryProtect. Phoenix Smart IP43 battery charger This was particularly well received for the marine market, being available with an IP43 rating in 12 & 24V versions – 12/30, 12/50, 24/16, 24/25. Adaptive 5-stage charge algorithm Potential free alarm contacts Remote on-off (also for Li-ion BMS) Configure and monitor with your Smartphone Ideal for use with Smart Battery Sense accessory Works with VictronConnect app More Smart tech Users and particularly installers were also delighted to hear that soon they will be able to use VictronConnect to configure their Multis and Quattros too. New Product recap In addition to the key products above here’s other new products that were on show. 24V Smart Lithium battery. Lynx Ion BMS + HE battery. Updated VE.Direct Inverter range. Previously 250VA, 375VA, 500VA, 800VA, 1200VA and now 1600VA and 2000VA models, with Smart tech of course using VictronConnect. CANvu 500 , now with IO Extender. Octo GX (See this link for the differences between the Octo GX, Color Control GX and Venus GX). VE.Bus Smart Dongle. GX GSM. Inline Blue Power Charger IP65 state of charge battery indicator. Photos Too many photos to choose from, so here’s a sample. Socialising Conclusion It’s great to see the continuing progress of Victron products, especially more and more Smart enabled products. All in all the show was a Glass Bridge and maritime product success – and going by the photos a fun time was had too, by exhibitor and visitor alike. Keep your eye on the Victron blog for more in-depth info on new products and on the Victron Pricelist for price and availability – or just check with your Victron dealer. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 13 November 2018
Losing Sight of Shore – The film
It’s that time of year in the northern hemisphere maritime climate areas, where many sailors put their boats to bed for winter and dream of next year’s adventures. Or maybe your sailing days are just youthful dreams or conversely all but over and you simply delight in the exploits of others, safely from your armchair! I fall into the latter category these days and thanks to Johannes Boonstra he reminded me of the blog series I did about Doris and her adventures – plus the fact there’s also a film about her and the Coxless Crew available on Amazon and iTunes . Got an armchair or just need to be awed – do watch LOSING SIGHT OF SHORE! Synopsis “LOSING SIGHT OF SHORE follows the extraordinary journey of four brave women known as the Coxless Crew that set out to row the Pacific Ocean from America to Australia unsupported. As they row over 8,000 miles during their nine months at sea, they face extreme mental and physical challenges they must overcome in order to go down in history. This is a story of perseverance, friendship, and the power of the human spirit. Everyone has a Pacific to cross.” Trailer Here’s the trailer to give you a taste, in case you don’t have immediate access to the streams above. Statistics Apart from the incredible tenacity of the Coxless Crew, here’s a few stats to put the challenge in perspective. First attempt aborted Doris is a 29ft, 1 ton rowboat 257 days at sea 8,579 miles rowed Conclusion Whilst the film has been around for some time, it seems worthwhile to remind folk of its existence and (now I know the details) to say why the initial attempt had to be aborted. As you may recall from the blog series , Victron sponsored part of the solar system onboard and that system failed. It’s not that there was anything wrong with the components (Solbian & Victron), it was the installation itself that caused the system to stop working due to water ingress. That meant the Coxless Crew had to turn around to get it fixed in Santa Barbara, resulting in 16 days lost. It’s heart breaking stuff to watch, but thanks to teamwork everything was sorted and the girls set out once more across the Pacific. This just goes to show how solar and battery power has become essential for sailors, especially in challenges and emergencies such as those experienced by the Coxless Crew and respectively the ongoing Golden Globe reenactment race . The moral of this blog has to be – use the sailing off-season as yet another opportunity to check and double check your safety gear and systems – or maybe it’s time to upgrade old systems. If you do, all the latest kit in the world won’t help if it’s not installed perfectly in the first place! John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 02 November 2018
METS 2018 Preview: Glass Bridge & Smart everywhere
METSTRADE show is the world’s largest and most visited B2B leisure marine equipment show, yet where Victron are concerned it’s also of interest to our end users too – as it is a launchpad and bellwether for new products. This year between Nov 13th – Nov 15th Victron Energy will be launching a range of products at the show, a key one being ‘glass bridge’ integration of Venus connected devices for yachts. As Matthijs Vader, MD of Victron Energy says: “I’m really excited about this product launch as it has been my wish for many years to show our equipment on the chartplotters of Raymarine, Garmin, B&G, Simrad, Lowrance and similar MFD suppliers. It’s a winner, especially as it is so simple to implement.” Bridging the gap If you are already familiar with the Venus OS which runs on Victron’s Color Control GX, Venus GX and the new Octo GX, then you will be aware of the level and type of information that can be accessed. Until now it hasn’t been easily displayed on a glass bridge – that has now changed. If you don’t already know, a ‘Glass Bridge’ is a MFD (Multi-Functional Display) that integrates a boat’s systems and navigation status into a large screen or screens at the helm of the vessel, so doing away with multiple gauges, brackets and wiring complications. An example of Victron’s integration of their Venus data into a MFD is shown in the image below. It is a clean and crisp look, plus it is so easy to implement. Simply connect the MFD and the Venus-device with a network cable, and that’s it. A Victron icon shows up on the MFD, click it to open the monitoring page. 3 steps and the data is integrated and available – as easy as 1-2-3! Glass Bridge – Victron’s Venus MFD integration Features: Simple & fast to setup. Crisp & clean interface. Will work with most MFDs: Garmin, Raymarine, Simrad, B&G, Lowrance. Straightforward to support. Display: Monitor shore power and generator status. Monitor battery status (state of charge, voltage, current and power). Monitor the power conversion equipment: chargers, inverters, inverter/chargers. Monitor AC loads, and DC loads. Control shore power input current limit. Control the inverter/charger: switch it off, on, or set it to charger-only. Optionally open the Victron Remote Console panel; allowing access to further parameters. Power equipment compatibility: All Victron inverter/chargers: From a 500VA single phase device up to a large 180kVA three phase-system, including Multis, Quattros, 230VAC and 120VAC models. Battery Monitors: BMV-700, BMV-702, BMV-712 and newer, Lynx Shunt VE.Can, Lynx Ion BMS. Requirements: Battery system. Victron inverter/charger. Victron Battery monitor. Network cable connection between MFD and a Venus-device such as a Color Control GX, Venus GX or an Octo GX. UTP network cable. Other products at METS GX GSM An accessory for Venus-devices . The GX GSM is a cellular modem; providing mobile internet for the system and connection to the Victron Remote Management (VRM) web portal. It requires a full sized SIM card; and connects to the Venus-device with a (supplied) 1m USB cable. VE.Bus Smart Dongle The VE.Bus Smart Dongle is a Bluetooth device which allows you to connect your smart phone (or other Bluetooth device) to a Victron Product which has a VE.Bus communications port – such as all of the Multi range, all the Quattro range, Phoenix Inverters (1200/5000VA), Easy Solar and the ECOmulti. This product is a great improvement in ease of configuration for installers. By using the free VictronConnect app you can monitor live data, and change settings smartly. Phoenix Smart IP43 battery charger Available in 12 & 24V models – 12/30, 12/50, 24/16, 24/25. Adaptive 5-stage charge algorithm Potential free alarm contacts Remote on-off (also for Li-ion BMS) Configure and monitor with your Smartphone Ideal for use with Smart Battery Sense accessory Works with VictronConnect app And so the list of new products continues, including more Smart tech: Octo GX (See this link for the differences between the Octo GX, Color Control GX and Venus GX). 24V Smart Lithium battery Lynx Ion BMS + HE battery. Smart Battery Protect (A Smart enabled version of the pre-existing Battery Protect). Updated VE.Direct Inverter range. Previously 250VA, 375VA, 500VA, 800VA, 1200VA and now 1600VA and 2000VA models, with Smart tech of course using VictronConnect. CANvu 500 , now with IO Extender. Accessories Not only is there Smart tech everywhere but we also continue to do simple hardware devices, such as the new inline Blue Power Charger IP65 state of charge battery indicator for example. Why not take a look at the range of other accessories for Victron products – maybe there’s something you’ve missed. Conclusion As ever there are too many new products (a good thing!) to go into in depth in this short preview blog for METS. However we hope this blog gives our end users an insight into what to expect in the coming months. In the meantime if you are in the B2B category we look forward to welcoming you to METS 2018 in Amsterdam, between Nov 13th – Nov 15th. Victron Energy will be at Stand number 01.541. For show registration follow this link . Note: • Online registration for METS is free of charge up to and including 5 November. • As of 6 November an online registration fee of € 70.00 per person is applicable. • Onsite registration during the show period (13-15 November 2018) is € 200.00 per person. • Invitations extended by exhibitors such as Victron Energy enable free registration at all times. And for our end users, keep an eye on this blog for pending individual and in depth reviews on the METS featured products . John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 17 October 2018
West Africa: Victron Energy off-grid solar power conferences & training
Victron Energy is not all about the manufacture of power electronics products. For instance Victron also organise conferences in West Africa (and many other locations) on a regular basis. These half-day events are designed for decision-makers from both the public and private organisations involved in renewable energy. Typical audiences includes members from ministries, rural electrification agencies, energy regulators, private companies, international corporations, investment funds, research centres, NGOs, etc. Since 2017 conferences have been hold in Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Senegal. More than 200 participants in total have attended these series of conferences. During these events different questions are addressed such as : • How an off-grid solar system works? • What are the applications of these plants? • What are the good practices in design and operation for a viable project? • What are the technical and economic trends in the market? The scope includes systems and application from solar home systems to PV mini grids. References in multiple sectors from Victron Energy distributors in West Africa are shown throughout the presentation such as health, education, rural electrification, commercial, industrial and residential etc. The general objectives of the conferences are: • To communicate about Victron Energy (history, products, value, activities, footprint in Africa). • To share Victron Energy extensive experience in African solar market. • To provide decision makers with concrete know-how to help design and operate systems. • To discuss new technologies and business models coming to market. A short video to give you a flavour of these conferences. A 3-day technical training is always organised in parallel with a conference. More than 250 technicians from SMEs and larger businesses have participated in these training events over the last 2 years, focusing on sizing, configuration and monitoring of Victron Energy systems. Theoretical knowledge is shared in the morning whilst a hands-on workshop for Victron products is completed in the afternoon. Training in Mali 2017 There are more events to come in many locations througout the world. If that is of interest, why not sign up to Victron Professional and see what is available in your area: https://professional.victronenergy.com In the meantime thanks to all our previous participants in West Africa and we look forward to welcoming you and new participants at future events. Yoann Le Fol Victron Energy Sales Manager West & Central Africa, Madagascar, Comoros
John Rushworth • 10 October 2018
Victron options: MAN trucking comfort
Every MAN deserves comfort – and no that’s not being sexist, it’s MAN trucks for men and women lorry drivers we’re talking about. Gone are the days of a blanket and stretching out over the truck seats. These days drivers need home comforts in their cabs. And that’s in part where Victron Energy comes in. Automechanika and IAA Commercial Vehicles exhibitions This year’s recent Automechanika and IAA Commercial Vehicles exhibitions where Victron Energy had a strong presence, demonstrated the demand for comfort providing electrical systems. To accommodate that demand, the Victron stand included Blue Smart Chargers , the BMV-712 Smart battery monitor with Bluetooth built in – which communicates via the free VictronConnect app. The new MultiPlus inverter/charger product range was also a great success. It’s apparent from these shows that the requirement for additional power electronics is increasing rapidly for products such as inverters in lorries and small commercial vehicles, which can provide AC power to a microwave for example – or even a hairdrier! MAN Comfort – At the IAA show MAN displayed their TGX 18.640 truck. The cab has a ‘kitchen’ extension where 230V equipment is powered by a Phoenix 24/1200 VE.Direct inverter. Many others companies exhibited too – among them MCV from Egypt, Bott, Scania, Neoplan and Bofrost. Victron products fitted to commercial vehicles by VW Bofrost (left) and Bott (right). A message from Bob & Uwe Victron Sales Managers for Germany , Uwe Dräger and Bob Hopman would like to thank everybody that visited our booth at one or both of the exhibitions. Here’s what Bob had to say about this year’s shows: “Starting with the smaller Victron products, the demand for our high quality IP65 chargers has increased as more and more vehicles fit a secondary battery, in addition to the starter battery to run various ancillaries. Previously vehicle owners have progressively been loading starter batteries with ancillaries and when these can’t cope it has become common to fit an additional battery. That’s all well and good but if these ancillaries are used when stopped they can drain that additional battery – hence plugging into the mains with our IP65 chargers to charge that battery ensures plenty of extra DC power for ancillaries. Also as more Lithium batteries are being used for ancillaries due to their lighter weight, energy density and ability to handle higher loads – that has presented charging difficulties as Euro 6 vehicle standards block simple charging by an alternator. In such cases people are turning to our battery to battery charger solution ( Buck-Boost DC-DC Converter ) ensuring charging from the alternator. Next time Automechanika and IAA will be in 2020. See you there!” John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 18 September 2018
Big, Bad & American: New 120V 10kVA Quattro
The newest 120V model (48/10000/140-100/100 120V) Quattro for 48V battery systems gives 10kVA continuous output inverter power at 25°C, with 140A of battery charging power and two 120V AC inputs, having a maximum feed through current of 100A each. A serious piece of kit designed for the American market. Not familiar with the Quattro? A Quattro is similar to a MultiPlus, which also has a combined inverter and charger. Additionally though the Quattro can accept two AC inputs (instead of one) and automatically connect to the active source – generator or shore power for example. Its many features include a true sine wave inverter, adaptive charging, hybrid PowerAssist technology plus multiple system integration features such as three or split phase operation and stacking (parallel) operation. Remote monitoring and control is also an option. Other models in the 120V range, besides the latest 48/10000/140-100/100 are: 48/5000/70-100/100 120V 24/5000/120-100/100 120V 12/5000/220-100/100 120V 48/3000/35-50/50 120V Check out our newly designed Quattro page to learn more, which includes a range of related products such as the Venus GX for monitoring and control, AC Current sensor, Wireless AC sensor, an Energy Meter and more. John Rushworth
Justin Tyers • 10 July 2018
Intersolar 2018 – what a show we had!
We wanted to take this opportunity to thank those of you who were able to make it along to meet us at Intersolar 2018 …and if you weren’t able to make it – we’d like to tell you a little bit about this major event. Intersolar is a very important exhibition for Victron Energy. It’s the world-leading exhibition for the solar industry …and this year – even more than previous years – we had a really great show! Drawing visitors from 150 countries …and exhibitors from nearly 50 countries, Intersolar has become a magnet for everyone who needs to remain at the cutting-edge of the fast-developing Sustainable Energy Industry. That is why we at Victron see the annual Intersolar event – now in its 27th year – as an unmissable showcase for all of our latest products! Visitors to our stand this year showed particular interest in a number of products – including the MultiPlus-II which is our new 3kVA inverter/charger suitable for Off-grid, Backup, and Energy Storage Systems; and our recently introduced Smart Battery Sense – the wireless voltage and temperature sensor for our Solar Chargers. Also on display were the Octo GX, which is similar to the Venus GX but includes 10 on-board VE. Direct ports and a built-in RS485 port for Energy Meters – the perfect monitoring hub for larger installations! And also the GX GSM – which is our new cellular modem for the Venus GX; CCGX; and the Octo GX …it takes a simcard and connects the system to the internet. Intersolar stage a number of events around the globe – the largest of which is held at the Messe exhibition centre in Munich, Germany. It attracts influential visitors who often have considerable purchasing power – among them are Installers, Project Developers, Manufacturers and Suppliers, Distributors, Energy Consultants, Utilities, Architects, and Government Officials. Over the years we’ve noticed that these visitors have become increasingly well-informed …and often ask interesting questions. We find that they are frequently already quite well aware of Victron, and knowledgeable about our products. For that reason we see the show as the perfect opportunity to meet face-to-face with individuals who seek tailored information – having already carried out a great deal of background research into our existing products, and our on-going product development. And we take it as a good sign that our after-show stand party is so well attended! We at Victron Energy are proud of the contribution our products make to solar energy development – both for small scale projects, and projects which are of national significance. We see our role as innovators and leaders, and would like to take this opportunity of thanking you for you support! Justin Tyers
John Rushworth • 14 June 2018
Intersolar Europe 2018 – new products
Next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday it’s Intersolar Europe 2018. As ever Victron Energy are exhibiting and besides their comprehensive product range there will also be the launch of a number of new products. Hopefully you can make it along to booth B2.480 to discover more. This world leading exhibition for the solar industry and its partners is at the Messe München exhibition centre in Munich, Germany from June 20-22, 2018. Since being founded 27 years ago, Intersolar has become the most important industry platform for manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, service providers and partners of the solar industry. Further information is available at the Intersolar website: https://www.intersolar.de/en/home.html New Victron Energy products at Intersolar MultiPlus-II : our new 3kVA inverter/charger . GX GSM : a GSM modem accessory for the Color Control GX and the Venus GX . Smart Battery Sense : the wireless battery voltage and temperature sensor for our MPPT Solar Charge Controllers. For an explanation and video about Smart Battery Sense see this blog . Range addition: a new member has been added to the current 500 & 800VA MultiPlus family – the 1200VA MultiPlus . More information on the MultiPlus 500VA – 1200VA product page . There’s more And then there’s yet another new product, but we’ll leave that announcement for the exhibition… Enjoy Intersolar Europe 2018. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 28 May 2018
Signal K: Embracing connectivity with Victron Energy
As a mariner you’ll know communication is key to a safe, well run vessel. Communication though can be difficult at sea, particularly when it comes to the marine electronics version with its multiple, different data standards. International Code of Signals (ICS), K for Kilo: ‘I wish to communicate with you’. What if there was the electronic equivalent of the K for Kilo code flag whose premise is that of the ICS – an international system of signals and codes for use by vessels to communicate important messages, regardless of the native language? There is such a beast – and not unsurprisingly it’s called Signal K. Introduction What exactly is Signal K? It’s a free, modern, Open Source, universal marine data exchange format. A more comprehensive description is the one on their website: “Signal K is the next generation solution for marine data exchange. It not only allows for communication between instruments and sensors on board a single vessel, but also allows sharing of data between multiple boats, aids to navigation, bridges, marinas and other land-based resources. It is designed to be easily used by Web and Mobile applications and to connect modern boats to the Internet of Things”. Announcement Digital Yacht were the first commercial manufacturer to embrace Signal K with their iKommunicate gateway and like them, we at Victron Energy are Open Source fans. Hence, Victron Energy MD, Matthijs Vader is pleased to announce his wholehearted company support for Signal K – the first by a business at Victron’s level in the marine industry to do so. But why do this? It’s about vision and doing – I asked Matthijs what that means for him. In principal he would like to help Signal K to grow beyond its small beginnings and the current community stage, to a point where the sailor doesn’t need to understand the inner workings of Signal K – to one where they have a solution without having to concern themselves with how it works. In fact I think an old English proverb captures the spirit of Victron Energy’s announcement well: ‘Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.’ Key Victron reasons to support Signal K It aligns well with Victron connectivity and gels well with Victron Energy’s Venus OS – used in the Color Control GX & Venus GX and in home brewed projects such as Izak Burger and Alan Major’s Raspberry Pi running Venus. It fits well with the Venus OS Beta program . No other major manufacturer is supporting Signal K at this level. Signal K is Open Source, so development, progress and usefulness in the field is fast. Plenty of scope for home brewed projects – in fact I have already installed a Signal K server integrated with a Color Control GX on my own boat using a simple Raspeberry Pi, with I may add fantastic support from the Signal K community to achieve that. Example installation using a Raspberry Pi My own Signal K node server (demo link in blog footer) uses a Raspberry Pi and is integrated with a Victron Color Control GX. A simple Raspberry Pi (top removed) running Signal K & the popular WilhemSK app running on my iPhone. Per the image above which shows the Pi being powered by USB and with a USB GPS & AIS attached. There are a number of apps and ways to show Signal K data – the one I’m using here is the popular and eminently configurable WilhelmSK. The app layout I’ve chosen shows a combination of my boat navigation instruments and Victron Energy monitors, which can be viewed locally on the LAN or via the Cloud. Raspberry Pi laid out on my chart table with USB GPS and AIS plugged in. Normally it lives out of the way behind the plotter but is just laid out here to show you how simple and small it all is. USB GPS is top left of photo with blue LED on. AIS USB goes from Pi via a BNC plug to a VHF aerial, in this case my emergency VHF antenna. Memory Map charts on an iPad showing GPS and AIS over Wi-Fi using NMEA via TCP/IP. Another view of Wilhelm SK showing Victron battery monitors, boat instruments, GPS position and AIS targets over Wi-Fi via TCP/IP using Signal K, viewed on an iPad. Victron battery monitors, boat instruments and AIS details with Wilhelm SK on an iPad. Many other layouts and screens can be configured. An easy way to try Signal K Need a quick and relatively easy way to get a feel for SK? Then one way is to try OpenPlotter on your Pi using their SD card image, which includes Signal K. OpenPlotter is a suite of open source nav software. I’ve tried it myself and whilst it lags a little behind the main SK development, it is easier than the way a layman like me did my install – but more of that in another blog. For now I’ll just leave you a link to OpenPlotter – http://www.sailoog.com/openplotter Signal K history – a Universal Data Model Around 2009 Robert Huitema was cruising the south pacific, experimenting and using an Arduino and Raspberry Pi with web browsers. However, things didn’t start in earnest until 2014 when Teppo Kurki began to solve the problems he encountered on his own yacht by bringing a number of different data standards and protocols from various sensors and instruments into one common format. Something neither Robert or Teppo could do with NMEA – as it wasn’t suitable for the internet and was also bound by licensing issues. Whilst Teppo’s vision was somewhat different to Rob’s they both realised they needed a common open communications protocol to make it possible for various open source efforts to interact well. As a result a core development team gravitated together and Signal K was born – culminating in a system able to display information on any device over Wi-Fi or the internet. In effect a universal data model freely available as Open Source software to anyone. Or to put it more simply – Recognise you can do something better than earlier industry standards, do cool stuff, make nice things happen, make it free and have fun with pleasant surprises along the way! Many software developers seem to be of the more shy, retiring type and so it is with Teppo. A software manager by day and a passionate developer by night. As Teppo told me – the Signal K vision may well have been his initial concept, yet he feels he simply stands on the shoulders of giants. Modest as well then it seems! Coming up to date – Signal K has evolved from a core team of 5 developers and 1 installer/writer to a community of around 350 actively involved people – which means Signal K can now best be described as a relatively small yet vibrant community. I’m no programmer so I won’t attempt to explain the software or how the SK development cycle works, suffice to say the current core group can review and accept development ideas and changes from a large number of small contributions by the community – which makes it easier to leverage standards and solutions. Conclusion It’s no wonder Victron MD Matthijs is sympathetic and supportive of the Signal K project and community – he’s a bit of a night owl programmer himself! That aside it also seems clear (at least to me) that there is great potential in this type of open source, common data standard for boats. Time will tell. Until then and my next blog about the more technical aspects, I’ll leave you with some key links for your own research and evaluation. John Rushworth Links & Resources Signal K Website – http://signalk.org An independent view & a range of blogs from Panbo – https://www.panbo.com/?s=Signal+K Signal K on GitHub – https://github.com/SignalK Signal K on Google Groups – https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/signalk Signal K demo node server – http://signalk.org/demo.html Signal K on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/signalk.org Applications & Solutions with Signal K support – http://signalk.org/solutions.html
John Rushworth • 17 May 2018
Windermere Boat Show – Steaming along with Chris Dobson Marine
It’s a big weekend coming up in the UK with the Royal Wedding, where no doubt bridal tradition will be maintained – something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. In fact Chris Dobson Marine is it seems also taking a leaf out of the royal couple’s book having just completed the Lake Windemere steam museum fit out (the old) and in being appointed as Victron Energy’s latest Marine & Off grid systems dealer in the UK (the new) – although I’m not sure what the borrowed is (ask Chris!). The blue as we all know is Victron, which will certainly be in evidence when he exhibits at the 2018 Windermere Boat Show . If you are in the area why not pop along between Friday 18th to Sunday 20th May. You’ll have to wait to see the newly renovated 1902, SL Osprey , pictured above before her renovation. Here though is a preview below, just as she was being relaunched the other day. She’ll be open to the public when the Windermere Jetty Museum of Boats, Steam and Stories reopens. 1902, SL Osprey. Steaming along The Windemere steamboat museum fell into disrepair a number of years ago, but in recent years there has been a multi-million pound redevelopment with a fantastic new set of buildings , although the Windermere Jetty Museum of Boats, Steam and Stories renovation is still ongoing. A fortune having been spent on the boat collection in the meantime, with vessels being expertly restored under the guidance of Stephen Beresford. Chris Dobson Marine were chosen to carry out all the wiring on the collection and so far they have rewired the steam launch Osprey, a passenger carrying boat which uses Victron batteries and battery monitoring. The vessel whilst having the appearance of the original steamboat has modern electrics for bilge pumps, navigation lights and VHF radio to ensure it complies with regulations for passenger carrying vessels. The classic Chris Craft, Jane will also be a museum feature, which uses Victron batteries and a Victron Cyrix unit. The rest of her wiring has been carried out using cloth covered wire so that it has the appearance of the original wiring, all done by Chris Dobson Marine. Classic Chris Craft, Jane. Whilst Chris’s work is ongoing, when completed Victron Batteries chargers will also be installed in the museum to keep the onboard and working exhibit’s batteries charged. Conclusion Congratulations to Chris Dobson Marine from Victron Energy on their new dealer appointment. If you want to visit the show and see some of their work and expertise – here’s the details. John Rushworth Links & Credits Chris Dobson Marine – https://www.cdmarine.co.uk The blog headline image of SL Osprey is courtesy of and copyright Diana Matthews.
John Rushworth • 27 March 2018
Power & Electricity World – Africa 2018
Today and tomorrow (Wednesday 28th March) heralds two days of networking, exhibits and seminars at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg for Power & Electricity World 2018. This event, at which Victron Energy are exhibiting, brings together leading companies to showcase a wide range of technologies aimed at helping transform and innovate the African energy sector. If you are in the area do come and visit, where Andre du Rand and his team will be delighted to advise and demonstrate the latest offerings from Victron Energy. Details of the event are here . A quick word from Andre about today and what’s on tomorrow: “Victron are showcasing several new products including Smart Battery Sense , more 250V MPPTs and the MultiGrid, which has recently has been certified for the South African NRS 097-2-1:2017 anti islanding regulation for embedded generation systems. Andre du Rand discusses products with customers Today the booth was busy with lots of inquiries for off-grid systems incorporating LiFePO 4 battery systems and the popular ESS systems. We were also visited by OEMs requiring back up power systems for remote locations and other mobile applications. Running in parallel with the exhibition there were product and solution training sessions, hosted in French by Yoann le Fol . Tomorrow the training is in English. We look forward to Wednesday’s visitors and their questions.” John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 22 March 2018
Voltage & Temperature Sense for Solar Chargers
Our range of solar chargers fitted with a VE.Direct port were lacking battery voltage and temperature charge compensation. Not now ! Also, today we announce the launch of Victron Energy’s Smart Battery Sense – a product to complement the new feature. New, simple, smart …and wireless. Why do we need voltage and temperature sensing? Improves solar yield Maximises battery capacity Increases battery life AGM & Gel (lead acid) batteries use charging algorithms based on a standardised temperature of 25°C. However – when they’re cold these batteries need a higher charge-voltage …and a lower charge-voltage when they’re hot. So, optimally, we should modify the charge-voltage by, typically, -16.2mV/°C. Also there can be a difference between the voltage measured at an MPPT solar charger’s terminals, and that measured at the battery terminals. For optimum charging that discrepancy needs to be taken into account, too. The Victron Toolkit app demonstrates how this voltage drop is brought about as a consequence of cable length and gauge; together with voltage and current variations. Good news though: Our MPPT Solar Chargers and accessories can figure all this out – so you don’t have to! Voltage and Temperature data – transmitted wirelessly to your MPPT The Smart Battery Sense is a wireless battery voltage and temperature sensor for Victron MPPT Solar Chargers. Perfect partners. Simple installation – attach the unit to any battery by its self-adhesive tape. Protected by an inline fuse. Voltage and temperature data is transmitted wirelessly to the Solar Charger. Monitor & configure the unit from your smart phone – via our free-to-use VictronConnect app . Transmitted data can be networked to one, two – or more solar chargers connected to the same battery bank. Works for 12, 24 and 48 volt battery banks Works for both Lithium and Lead battery banks Compatible with most BlueSolar and SmartSolar MPPT charger models: see VE.Smart Networking for compatible-models list. Learn more from the Smart Battery Sense product page or from the Smart Battery Sense Manual – together with the VE.Smart Networking manual . Or watch the Smart Battery Sense introductory video: More options for Voltage- and Temperature- compensated charging Besides the Smart Battery Sense there are other options too. We’ve listed all of them in price order: Do nothing with no voltage-compensated charging. The MPPT already has ambient temperature sensing – though that method has its limitations. Installing Smart Battery Sense offers the best value for money. Connection to your solar charger(s) is wireless. Installing a BMV-712 Smart together with its temperature accessory , will provide full-blown battery monitoring, too. Connection to your solar charger(s) is wireless. Installing a Color Control GX or Venus GX , wired with a VE.Direct cable, and having DVCC enabled. This is for more complex systems – one’s which include inverter/chargers for example. Note: you may still need a BMV – subject to the battery-monitoring method for your system. Conclusion I’m pleased to see the launch of charge-compensated MPPTs; and of Smart Battery Sense . I’ll be happier knowing that my batteries are getting exactly the right charge with optimal temperature and voltage compensation. No matter how you choose to instigate voltage- and temperature- compensated charging, make sure you do – it brings only benefits! I always say: There are many ways to skin a cat – and the choice is yours. But Smart Battery Sense certainly does make sense when it comes to simplicity and economics! John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 26 February 2018
MultiGrid now also certified for France, Belgium & Spain
MultiGrid smooths out the risk of grid instability and energy costs by utilising energy storage and self-consumption. With Anti-Islanding built in, this makes MultiGrid approved for countries such as Germany, Austria and others – which now includes France, Belgium & Spain, along with their related certification. New approved countries The new MultiGrid certificates for France, Belgium & Spain relate to the following models: MultiGrid 12/3000/120-50 MultiGrid 24/3000/70-50 MultiGrid 48/3000/35-50 The new country specific certificates for the models above can be downloaded from the MultiGrid product detail page on our website. Click downloads, and then select certificates. Below is a complete listing of all MultiGrid Certificates. 1 VDE-AR-N 4105:2011-08 Germany 2 IEC 62040-1:2008 + corrigendum September 2008 + A1:2013 + Australia & New Zealand-Differences to IEC 60950-1:2005 (Reference Document to IEC 62040-1), second edition (2011-06-06) IEC+Australia 3 IEC 62109-1:2010 IEC+Australia 4 IEC 62109-2:2011 IEC+Australia 5 AS/NZS 4777.2:2015 Australia (1) 6 NRS 097-2-1:2017 South Africa 7 UTE C 15-712-1:2013-07 France 8 RD1699/2011 (modification according to RD 413/2014) Spain 9 C10/11 – 06.2012 Belgium 10 G83/2 August 2012 UK 11 G59/3-2 September 2015 UK Note (1): Only for MultiGrid 24/3000/70-50 and MultiGrid 48/3000/35-50. The 12V model is not approved for Australia. Firmware The new and necessary firmware for the MultiGrid can be downloaded from Victron Professional: https://professional.victronenergy.com/downloads/firmware If you don’t currently have an account for Victron Professional please create one here: https://professional.victronenergy.com/accounts/login/?next=/ VEConfigure The latest version of VEConfigure is here: https://www.victronenergy.com/support-and-downloads/software#ve-configuration-tools-for-ve-bus-products John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 09 February 2018
New Products: USA Blue Smart IP65 12/7 120V charger and more…
Now included in the Victron Energy charger range is the new Blue Smart IP65 12/7 120V for the US market. It’s in stock and available now, which includes local stock in America. This new US charger also uses the latest VictronConnect . Blue Smart IP65 chargers with VictronConnect are ideal for your workshop, motor vehicles such as (classic) cars – along with motorcycles, boats and RVs. Here’s the European plug version charging an Italian Ducati. Maybe one of our US customers can send us a Harley Davidson and US wall socket version of this photo!? Other new products announced and in stock include: Orion-Tr 24/12-30A (360W) Isolated DC-DC converter , its key features being: Remote on-off Adjustable output voltage Can be paralleled to increase output current IP43 protection Simple screw terminals Phoenix Inverter Control VE.Direct – A new control panel for all Phoenix VE.Direct inverters. VE.Can to CAN-bus BMS cables , comprising: VE.Can to CAN-bus BMS type A Cable 1.8 m VE.Can to CAN-bus BMS type B Cable 1.8 m Please see the VE.Can to CAN-bus BMS cables manual and the battery compatibility pages for further information. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 16 January 2018
Collaboration to deliver PAYG solar solutions to the Congo
Victron Energy offers many beneficial products for pay-as-you-go ( PAYG ), enabling customers to take advantage of high quality systems at an affordable cost. Collaborations are being forged with various partners to offer turnkey solutions in this domain. BBOXX, a next generation utility, has recently launched PAYG solar systems in towns and cities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This has been enabled through a technical collaboration with Victron Energy and will deliver reliable, clean and affordable power to businesses, enhancing productivity and powering growth. My thanks to Yoann le Fol (Victron PAYG sales engineer) and BBOXX for the information used in this blog. John Rushworth What is PAYG? Over the last several years new business models have emerged that could considerably accelerate the progress of access to reliable electricity, especially in low income countries. These models take advantage of improvements in information and communications technologies (ICT) and the declining cost of renewables. The implementation of the PAYG model in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia is one of the most significant examples. In short, PAYG means that a company rents solar energy systems to consumers – households, shops, SMEs, etc. Consumers then use mobile money to transfer payments on a regular basis and pay back their system over a contract period (in general 1 to 3 years). Once paid, ownership is transferred to the consumer. It is a prepaid scheme and solar systems are automatically blocked if customer payments are overdue. This allows PAYG providers to minimise costs and mitigate risk – whilst consumers overcome the high upfront cost of the technology. Project in the DRC In the DRC less than 14 per cent of citizens have access to any form of reliable electricity, which is a significant barrier to economic development. The combination of BBOXX and Victron Energy technologies will serve the energy needs in various areas of the DRC, providing SMEs such as grocery stores, restaurants and micro-processors, with productive power solutions of up to 5.0kW. BBOXX has launched initial operations in Eastern DRC ( Goma ). This region of around 1.5 million inhabitants experiences regular blackouts which exceed 5 hours daily. Solar systems eliminate the time wasted in solving disruption to an energy supply due to these frequent power cuts. Businesses for example can improve productivity with this reliable power and scale up their operations as required. Such systems increase access to affordable and clean power, reducing reliance on diesel generators too. Operations in the field are conducted in collaboration with GoShop, a Victron Energy authorised distributor in Congo. GoShop supplies and installs solar systems whist BBOXX runs the PAYG activities – project development, payment collection, customer relationship, etc. Technical Collaboration The technical collaboration with BBOXX forms part of a Victron Energy strategy to provide outstanding solutions to the PAYG market. Quality of the system components is a key requirement to ensure consumer satisfaction as well as project sustainability and profitability over the years. Victron Energy inverters and charge controllers have for many years proven their robustness which makes the brand a preferred choice for PAYG. Moreover Victron has developed technical features particularly beneficial for systems durability and software integration – remote monitoring, battery life algorithm, overload protections, serial communication ports, etc. The collaboration with BBOXX will see large solar solutions deployed based on the PAYG model , utilising Phoenix inverters and MPPT solar charge controllers . The systems are seamlessly linked up with BBOXX software which includes customer and payment management as well as smart monitoring and control. This technology proactively troubleshoots battery depletion issues for example, before they become an issue for the customer. Conclusion Victron Energy Managing Director, Matthijs Vader said: “We believe this collaboration will provide opportunities for both urban and rural populations to move up the energy ladder with quality solar systems. Victron Energy welcomes this new venture and wishes all involved every success.” Credits The images used in this blog are courtesy of BBOXX Further information Victron Energy : Yoann Le Fol – Sales Engineer PAYG ( ylefol@victronenergy.com ) BBOXX Media Enquiries : Amy Boekstein, Instinctif Partners, bboxx@instinctif.com / 0207 457 2064 Rolf Merchant, Instinctif Partners, bboxx@instinctif.com / 0207 457 2049 BBOXX website – http://www.bboxx.co.uk GoShop : Agence de Kinshasa: +243 971287252 / kin@goshop.cd Agence de Goma: +243 999 249 007 / goma@goshop.cd Agence de Bukavu : +243 001272727 / bukavu@goshop.cd GoShop website – http://www.goshop.cd
John Rushworth • 11 December 2017
Victron Energy Calendar 2018 – available now
Here’s a teaser photo from the 2018 calendar, in the headline image above. Flipping to the last photo in this year’s calendar (showing Victron’s electromagnetic compatibility [EMC] test facility) I ponder what 2018 will bring. Luckily I’ve seen a preview of it, so it’s only fair to share the 2018 theme – refreshingly different, yet again. 2018 The theme for the coming year is retro/vintage, featuring a retrospective with Victron products, a charming classic motorcycle, a vintage motorboat, a Marilyn Monroe lookalike and many more fun photos! Obviously you’ll have to wait to see the photos, but in the meantime let’s take a quick look at what goes into making the calendar – plus the additional 2018 calendar options for the more culturally sensitive areas of the world. Calendar options You can’t please everyone, so to accommodate the international nature and cultures (with the featured photographs) it has been decided to do an additional print run using six photographs covering two months each. The photographs are currently being organised – and rest assured they are suitable for all countries. The standard calendar version is already available. Credits It’s no mean feat producing the Victron Energy Calendar, the original idea and continuing production of which is all down to Marianka Pranger . Yet it takes more than just one person to make it all happen. In the 2018 calendar credits I count around 30 individuals and companies! Conclusion We hope you enjoyed the 2017 calendar and trust that the two option 2018 version takes account of all tastes. In the meantime we leave you with the December closing image from 2017, of Victron’s electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) test facility . Now it’s time to think about the 2019 Victron Energy Calendar – the organisation of which has already been started by Marianka and her formidable team. If you have a nice Victron installation for that, please send an e-mail to mpranger@victronenergy.com In the meantime do enjoy your 2018 Victron Energy Calendar. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 23 November 2017
Innovation never stops: METSTRADE Show 2017
Last week in Amsterdam saw the 30th anniversary METSTRADE Show, billed as the world’s largest and most visited B2B leisure marine equipment show. As ever Victron Energy had a strong presence, with many new products on display – Innovation never stops. It proved to be an exciting week with Victron staff from all around the world in attendance, who were able to discuss and demonstrate the plethora of products on display. Added to that was the well attended Victron Energy distributors’ meeting, lunches, dinners, dancing and fun. Here then is a photographic round up from the show last week. At the show The Victron Energy stand. Socialising at the busy Victron stand. Nobody knows how Johannes managed to end up with the cake! Still it was a nice gesture from the organisers for 30 years of loyal Victron attendance. If you don’t recognise that display screen next to the cake, that’s the CAN vu 500 which along with the Color Control GX, Venus GX, Raspberry Pi and others, utilise Victron’s Venus software. System monitoring is one of Victron’s great strengths as is integration and connectivity with other brands. Examples of these are: Capi2 (more on this joint venture here ) Fischer Panda (see this Victron blog E-PLEX EmpirBus (more on this in a Victron blog soon) Yacht Defined discuss system integration as a guest of Victron Energy on their stand. SmartSolar MPPT controllers on show. See this blog for the latest 250 Volt SmartSolar MPPT controllers . Batteries & Chargers galore – including the new Phoenix Smart Charger show below, which will be available early next year. You may notice a small device sitting on top of the grey AGM telecom battery – that’s a neat new accessory called the Smart Battery Sense, shown below, which measures voltage and temperature using Victron’s Smart technology. New accessory – Smart Battery Sense. The new Phoenix Smart IP43 battery charger. The new Phoenix Smart IP43 battery charger, available early 2018. Adaptive 5-stage charge algorithm Potential free alarm contacts Remote on-off (also for Li-ion BMS) Configure and monitor with your Smartphone Ideal for use with Smart Battery Sense accessory The new VE.Direct LoRaWAN module. We’ve written about the new VE.Direct LoRaWAN module previously, but what’s next and works well with it – let’s just say there’s some great Fleet monitoring implementations planned – Innovation never stops. Time to socialise… Every stand should have a DJ or two… Seems like a good idea… Diligent staff… Those hats need explaining… Conclusion Now I understand the hats – and like the photo-booth images say – thanks for joining us at METS 2017. Until next year… Credits Thanks to Marianka Pranger of Victron Energy and Sanne van Maarten of Maarten Schuth Photography for the photographs and information. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 13 November 2017
Back to school with Victron Energy
It’s that autumnal time of year in Europe, as many students return to ‘school’ – some to a higher education with a Victron Energy focus. HTL1 Lastenstraße is a Higher Technical Institute in Klagenfurt , southern Austria . The school trains engineers in the fields of mechanical engineering , electrical engineering and mechatronics . It has around 34 workshops and laboratories as well as several competence centres. The focus is on e-mobility and eco-energy. In association with Austrian Victron Energy dealer E-BOX Off-Grid Power Systems, the school and headmaster Dr. Michael Archer have forged a partnership to utilise Victron Energy products for their varied educational program. Furthermore and thanks to Bianca Hartner of E-BOX, Dr. Archer kindly agreed to be interviewed – detailing the how and why they chose Victron Energy products. Here’s what he had to say. The text is translated verbatim from German. Can you tell us a little about the history of the school? The HTL 1 Klagenfurt can look back on a history of over 150 years. The school has been situated in the Lastenstraße since 1888. The building has been extended and adapted to new technologies over the years. Also the education and training has been adapted and enhanced to the changing times. In the three departments, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and mechatronics, students acquire technical core competences as well as specialised knowledge in the forward-looking areas such as automotive engineering (in particular electric mobility), storage systems, environmental technologies, automation engineering and industry 4.0. Why did you decide to bring Victron Energy products into your school program? The HTL 1 Lastenstraße offers its students the best education possible. The school management decided to cooperate with Victron Energy because the company offers products of highest quality competences, especially in renewable energies. A further crucial aspect has been my own personal and positive experiences with Victron products since 2013. In addition, this innovative company convinced us with a great choice of devices of high quality, all available on an international level. The HTL 1 Klagenfurt Lastenstraße is looking forward with great pleasure to this school partnership with Victron Energy. What does this mean for the school program? At the moment, the school is implementing the following key areas of training in the education of the students: e-mobility (electric mobility), storage technology, environmental technology and renewable energies. The cooperation with Victron is very helpful for this implementation. With the establishment of the energy management laboratory with the modern devices of Victron Energy, students can be trained with these up-to-date and innovative devices. In the year 2018 the energy management laboratory will start, which will also be the “Victron-Training-Cenre Austria South” for the whole Alpe-Adria area in the South of Austria. In the future, technicians of the private sector will be trained with devices of Victron in the HTL 1 Klagenfurt Lastenstraße, too. How many students follow the program, and for how long? Currently more than 1,100 students are taught and trained in the areas of electrical engineering, mechatronics and mechanical engineering at the HTL 1 Lastenstraße. The education and training lasts five years and our graduates receive with their school leaving examination (Reifeprüfung) and three years of practice the professional title “Ingenieur” (Ing.) which is equal to a bachelor’s degree. What about projects where you’ve already used Victron Energy products? Projects at the school, which have been realised in cooperation with Victron Energy are: Construction of a ‘Smartflower’ – Victron blog detailing what a Smartflower is. Installation of a number of photovoltaic systems and storage systems. A carport with photovoltaic-glass-modules which is used for e-car-sharing and equipped with e-charging-stations for e-bikes. Construction of a wind power station storage battery system which will help to optimise the energy efficiency of the school. #Ends interview with Dr. Michael Archer. Conclusion It’s well known that Victron Energy have a passion to support the young engineers of tomorrow, as you may have seen in our various blogs about Robot Challenges and Solar Boat Racing – but that’s sponsorship and even though it involves a level of education and learning, it’s not degree engineering. It is then and with great pleasure that Victron Energy are delighted to see their products being used in higher education at HTL1 Lastenstraße. John Rushworth Credits Thanks to Bianca Hartner of E-BOX for the information used in this blog, Manfred Hartner for the time spent with Dr.Archer in helping specify equipment, Dr. Archer for the images used in this blog and Ruurd ten Brink of Victron Energy for making me aware of this project. You can read more about E-BOX in this blog .
John Rushworth • 06 November 2017
More SmartSolar 250 Volt MPPT models announced
From time to time we let you know what’s new, in stock and available now – just in case you’ve missed anything in the pricelist or on e-order . In March we announced the MPPT 250/100 and MPPT 250/85 (shown in the blog headline image with optional plug-in LCD display) – now we can add more 250V SmartSolar models. New models The latest in the ultra-fast Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) Smart Solar Charge Controller range are the following, available with MC4 or Tr cable connections. SmartSolar MPPT 250/60-MC4 Solar chargers (SCC125060310) SmartSolar MPPT 250/70-Tr Solar chargers (SCC125070210) SmartSolar MPPT 250/70-MC4 Solar chargers (SCC125070310) SmartSolar MPPT 250/60-Tr Solar chargers (SCC125060210) These all cater for a maximum PV open circuit voltage of 250V (under maximum coldest conditions) with a 245V start up and maximum operating voltage. If you are not familiar with calculating voltages for differing temperatures please read the Bob Hopman blog on ‘ Matching solar modules to MPPT charge controllers ‘ which includes a link to the VE-MPPT-Calc.xlsx spreadsheet. Key features Bluetooth Smart built-in: enables set-up and monitoring with a smart phone or other Bluetooth enabled device. Ultra-fast Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT). Advanced Maximum Power Point Detection in case of partial shading conditions. Battery Life: intelligent battery management by load shedding. Automatic battery voltage recognition. Flexible charge algorithm. Over-temperature protection and power de-rating when temperature is high. Related software Victron Toolkit app Victron VRM app MPPT Calculator Excel sheet VictronConnect app Additional information Further information is available on the product webpage . John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 28 September 2017
Gauteng Getaway Show – Victron goes off-road
In South Africa they are clearly very serious about off-road adventure, this being patently obvious with the vehicles on display at last weekend’s Gauteng Getaway Show – many Victron Energy equipped of course. Courtesy of Safari Centre, their stand included a 4×4 demo vehicle showing how Victron products can enhance any off-road adventure. Visitors found their setup particularly interesting, due to their association with Victron Energy and the fact that they are able to offer a single supplier, total power solution. Safari Centre With over 6,000 people visiting the show from 23 to 25 September, the Safari Centre vehicle ably demonstrated this one stop ‘total power solution’. Phoenix Inverter VE.Direct 12/375 Cyrix CT 120A Battery combiner BlueSolar MPPT 75/10 BMV-702 Battery monitor Blue Smart IP65 Charger with DC connector 12/10 AGM Battery 12/110 VE.Direct Bluetooth Smart dongle ABBA Campers Victron OEM customer ABBA Campers were also at the show with two vehicles on their stand, fully equipped with our products – in fact by default they roll out all their vehicles with Victron Energy products. Of these display vehicles, the first was a Toyota Land Cruiser VX V8 equipped with: Color Control GX MultiPlus C 12/1600/70 BlueSolar MPPT 100/15 Cyrix CT 120A Battery combiner VE.Can resistive tank sender adapter VE.Direct Bluetooth Smart dongle The second vehicle was a Toyota Hilux 2.4 GD6 Revo equipped with: Blue Smart IP65 Charger with DC connector 12/10 BlueSolar MPPT 100/15 Cyrix CT 120A Battery combiner VE.Direct Bluetooth Smart dongle Conclusion If you’d like another opportunity to see what Victron can do to enhance your own off-road adventure – why not visit one these upcoming shows? Auto Mechanika South Africa at Nasrec expo centre 2017 From 27 to 30 September 2017 Hall 6 Booth J20. Safari Centre will be at the MBIZI Bela Bela Outdoor Show from 29 September to 1 October 2017. Their 4×4 Ranger, equipped with a Victron Energy power system, will be on display. ABBA Campers will be at The Rapport Cape Holiday Show in Cape town from 29 September to 1 October 2017. Their Land Cruiser VX, equipped with a Victron Energy power system, will be on display. My thanks to Gerrit Tromp for the information and images used in this blog. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 27 September 2017
Victron Energy ready for Automechanika Johannesburg
Today marks the start of Automechanika Johannesburg, which is South Africa’s leading international trade fair for the automotive service industry targeting trade visitors from the Sub-Saharan Region. The show runs until this Saturday 30 September 2017, at the JHB Expo Centre, Nasrec. The Victron stand is in Hall 6 at Booth J20. If this is your locale and area of interest why not pop along to the stand and have a chat with Andre du Rand , or indeed Gerrit Tromp or Peter Bakker who are all there to help with any questions you may have. Worth a visit? – Victron customer Roberto Soares, owner and director of Trailersol said about the stand: “Thrilling display of Victron products and solutions in one place.” Trailersol A bit about Victron Energy customer Trailersol , as an example of Victron product integration. Trailersol are the first company to provide solar powered solutions to commercial truck fleets with solar powering their tail lifts – with over 700 systems deployed in the last 16 months. Their latest solution is the E-Fridge cooling solution which is powered by a LiFePO4 battery system. Trailersol Director Roberto Soares remarks that the fleets are enjoying big savings on fuel and maintenance costs, which he links directly to the solar power solutions. The unique onboard Trailersol telemetry systems enables full visibility for fleet managers – plus with Victron’s Bluetooth Smart technology that all assists them in offering a country wide 24/7 back up service. Roberto adds that Victron’s Bluetooth Smart technology enables for a quick turn around on maintenance calls, as Bluetooth Smart immediately assists with diagnostics and fault finding. Victron products used in each vehicle are: BlueSolar MPPT 100/30 with VE.Direct Bluetooth Smart dongle BatteryProtect 220A BluePower IP67 Charger 24/5 Buck-Boost DC-DC Converter 25A John Rushworth Update 30th September – Trailersol wins award Links Trailersol website: https://trailersol.com Trailersol on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Trailersol
John Rushworth • 18 September 2017
BMV-712 Smart: Battery Monitor with Bluetooth built-in
The BMV-712 Smart battery monitor has to be one of the most eagerly awaited of Victron’s new products – and it is now in stock! Here’s what Victron Energy Distributor Energy Solutions (UK) Ltd., have to say about the BMV-712 Smart. A Distributor’s viewpoint “We have been lucky enough to receive our first unit of the new Victron Energy BMV-712 Smart Battery Monitor . The BMV-712 Smart is the same battery monitor as the BMV-702 but with the addition of Bluetooth connectivity built into the unit. No longer will you need the Victron Bluetooth Dongle to access the Victron Connect app – it is already integrated so you can easily view the device from your smart phone or tablet. Victron has started to integrate Bluetooth connectivity into a large number of their current products, including the new Smart Solar MPPT charge controllers . Once you have download the VictronConnect app you will be able to customise the settings on the BMV-712 Smart as well as completing it’s setup – all of which we found very quick and easy. All data monitoring can be completed on one screen including the state of charge, battery voltage & amps, temperature, and time remaining. All of this data is then collected and stored historically for later use – which is great for seeing how your battery bank performed over time. This will also allow you to connect to the internet for software updates and to update with new features as and when they become available. The biggest bonus we have found with having Bluetooth built into the unit is that there is now a VE.direct port free which allows you to use the Victron connect app for monitoring and also allows you to connect the unit into a Color Control GX or Venus GX for full system monitoring – you no longer have to choose between one or the other.” Time to upgrade I have two BMV-702 monitors on my electric propulsion sailing yacht below decks, both with battery temperature readouts. Whilst the domestic battery bank only needs checked for SOC occasionally, I do need to have a real-time readout of the propulsion bank in the cockpit whilst sailing, to monitor power usage of the motor. Presently I need to use my smartphone via 4G or the local LAN to do this – but now we have the BMV-712 Smart it’ll be much quicker and easier to use the VictronConnect app instead. Both battery monitors though will still be connected to my Color Control GX and logging data to the VRM too. Time then for an upgrade to get the best of both worlds – and with no need to plug in a Bluetooth dongle separately to check for firmware updates. All in all, good reasons to upgrade. You too may have similar reasons to upgrade? Conclusion What a terrific product – I’m ordering one! Thanks to Energy Solutions (UK) Ltd., for the video and info in this blog. Why not check them out and give them a ‘Like’ on Facebook … John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 31 August 2017
Free internet connection using LoRaWAN to VRM
It’s a little unfair of me to grab your attention with the ‘free internet’ connection and the new VE.Direct LoRaWAN module to the VRM , but it’s true – no data charge. However as with everything there’s always two sides to the coin – benefits to connecting products this way and some limitations. Regardless this new product might just be what you need to connect Victron products to monitor data remotely, such as battery monitors, solar charge controllers and inverters. Typical examples Before explaining LoRaWAN (in case you are not aware of it) it makes more sense to give you an idea of how you might connect and use the new Victron Energy module. Small electric hire boats such as those used on lakes or canals. The idea being that there only needs to be LoRaWAN coverage in the harbour – doing it this way keeps it simple with no data running costs when monitoring that all boats are plugged in and charging correctly overnight. Forklifts. Utilising the same idea but as it is typically a smaller area then one can monitor the total area of where the forklifts drive. Robot carts or other autonomous devices that have a battery and move around. For example feeding robots on a farm, pods at an airport, etc. Mobile road-side information displays around a construction area: just one GSM enabled LoRaWAN router in the area would be enough as all the information displays can send their data out via the one gateway. Fish farm feeding pens or anything else you can imagine based on the above suggestions. What is LoRaWAN? The VE.Direct LoRaWAN (Long Range wide area network) module is essentially a radio transmitter which broadcasts data (in this instance information about the status of your Victron installation) to a nearby Internet of Things (IoT) gateway. The gateway should be within about 2km of your location if you live in a town, but could be as far away as 30km if you live in a rural location. This device uses infrastructure provided by ‘The Things Network’. Their network of gateways is constantly expanding and you can check coverage in your area here: https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/map No gateway in your area? If there’s no coverage in your area it’s simple to add a gateway yourself be that to improve the coverage of the Things Network, either for your personal use or to benefit others. You can purchase your own gateway, or start building one yourself. Why not check out the From zero to LoRaWAN in a weekend guide. Ordering Now the first batch of modules have arrived in stock with more following immediately – check e-order or with your dealer for current stock levels and delivery. Product page & manual For further information see: VE.Direct LoRaWAN module – prouct page VE.Direct LoRaWAN module – user manual Conclusion If you have an application that requires a no data cost monitoring solution where hourly data notifications are suffice – then the VE.Direct LoRaWAN module may well be the answer. Free data connections can only be a good thing! John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 26 August 2017
Dethleffs electric drive motorhome with Victron onboard
Electric drive cars, lorries, motorcycles, aeroplanes, bicycles and boats – and now motorhomes – the world of transportation and leisure is changing with Victron Energy being a natural part of this revolution. Exhibiting at Caravan Salon Düsseldorf 2017 until Sunday September 3rd is the new concept motorhome by Dethleffs (called the e.home) which utilises Victron Energy products inside for the e.home domestic services. Besides being able to see the Victron products used in the Dethleffs e.home on their stand, Victron also have their own stand (Hall 13, Stand D82), as does Victron dealer TransWatt (Hall 13, Stand E64). Tickets for the show can be requested by dropping a mail to sales@victronenergy.com Setting up the Victron Energy stand in readiness for the show. The Dethleffs e.home concept Dethleffs are the first well-known motorhome manufacturer to present a concept study of a fully-electrically driven motorhome. Their developers are convinced, stating that: “Electric drive for motorhomes will play a great role in the future even if the implementation won’t be as quick as in the car sector”. This is why they are actively facing up to the concept of ‘Electric Mobility’ by creating the e.home study vehicle. For this reason it is important to be a pioneer in this sector, as Dethleffs Managing Director Alexander Leopold explains. “Dethleffs know this means a lot more then just putting bodywork on an electrically driven chassis. By implementing a fully-electric powertrain there are many challenges and equally opportunities for the entire vehicle. One significant opportunity is to do without any additional type of energy sources for the vehicle. This means that a motorhome with electric drive will also supply all the onboard services with electricity for the living area instead of gas, for example – and that is why solar power production becomes very important. At the same time there are also a number of new technologies which will change the comfort, quality of life, plus the safety of future generations of motorhomes. Through this evolving process, systems will be further developed – and we expect rapid progress over the coming years for our e.home concept.” Electric powertrain The e.home is based on the Iveco Daily Electric chassis with a liquid-cooled three-phase AC motor with a power of 80kW, utilising modern FIAMM Sodium Nickel Chloride batteries with a capacity of 3 x 76 Ah at 400 V. These can be recharged up to 1,500 times equating to a mileage of circa 250,000 km. Of particular interest are the special installed ‘Supercaps’. These high-power capacitors allow a faster recharge and delivery of the electrical energy in comparison to the usual batteries – and so increase the performance of the vehicle as well as the lifecycle of the batteries apparently. Solar power When operating the vehicle using electricity (for driving and living) the harvesting of solar energy becomes ever more important. For usage in a motorhome that requires high specification photovoltaics. The Dethleffs e.home is equipped with 31 square metres of modern and optimised thin layer solar cells, giving around 3,000 Watts of peak power. Victron inside Victron Energy system components for the Dethleffs e.home are shown and detailed below. Key components are: Solar charge controllers to harvest all that solar energy. A combined inverter/charger for onboard AC electricity and the charging of the Lithium domestic power storage batteries. Required ancillaries which include battery safety protection, system monitoring and the e.home heating power supply. Not forgetting a DC-DC converter to ensure all those 12V, USB accessories, tablets, smartphones etc., can be supplied and charged! Products and part numbers 1 x Quattro 24/8000/200-100/100, Part No: QUA248020010 2 x LiFePO4 Battery 12.8V/300Ah – Part No: Smart BAT512130410 1 x Skylla-TG 48/50 (1+1) – Part No: SDTG4800501 (Power supply for heating system) 1 x Battery Management System VE.Bus – Part No: BMS BMS300200000 Left to right – Quattro, Lithium batteries with BMS above them, Skylla-TG. (note grills shown are for show display purposes – presumably to keep errant fingers out!) 1 x Color Control GX – Part No: BPP000300100R (Acts as a Modbus-TCP gateway) 1 x Battery Monitor BMV-702 – Part No: BAM010702000 Color Control GX & BMV-702 Battery Monitor (note grills shown are for show display purposes – presumably to keep errant fingers out!) 3 x SmartSolar MPPT 150/85-Tr – Part No: SCC010085210 SmartSolar MPPTs with Bluetooth built-in (note grills shown are for show display purposes – presumably to keep errant fingers out!) Other installed system components are: 1 x Orion DC-DC Converter 24/12-70 – Part No: ORI241270020 1 x BatteryProtect 12/24V-220A Heating, cooking & refrigeration Heating is often the most energy intensive use of energy in a motorhome. When changing to an electric heating system it was mandatory that the Dethleffs developers find a new, even unconventional solution to generate a pleasant warm feeling with as little energy use as possible. To achieve this a number of latent heat accumulator plates made of PMC (phase change material) were installed in several places. The heat accumulators absorb energy at temperatures over 26 degrees and deliver it when the temperature goes down in the evening hours. Additionally heating elements are also mounted in the floor, sidewalls and furniture which then heat the interior via infrared warmth sources, but only the objects they reach – not the air. This is efficient yet still creates a cosy warm feeling, although the general room temperature is at 2-3 degrees lower than with traditional heating systems. Infrared warmth though is available without any pre-heating time. A ceramic stove with three cooking hobs as well as an energy efficient compressor fridge are installed in the e.home. Comfort and privacy In looking to the future of motorhomes Dethleffs installed some technologies to increase comfort and the quality of life. Amongst these is a special foil technology which can be used as a mirror and when switched on it spreads a bright, planar light. Another interesting feature is the electric window blind. This is a foil, that is set between the window panes of the insulated windows, which can be electrically dimmed as a protection from the sun and intense heat, as well as being able to be used as privacy screen too. Connectivity Dethleffs place great importance when it comes to connectivity. Smart homes and the internet of things (loT) are fast evolving trends of the present, which are having more and more impact, offering new possibilities for comfort and safety. The basic prerequisite for the ‘Smart Motorhome’ therefore is the digitisation and connection of the installed components in the vehicle. CampConnect The Dethleffs e.home has an integrated system installed called CampConnect, which enables connectivity of general components and is able to digitalise almost all components in the motorhome. This connectivity can be operated by an installed app on your tablet. The operation and display possibilities are there for heating, light and power as well as central locking. Safety Dethleffs have installed an innovative safety system in the e.home. This so called ‘Mobileye’ supports the driver in the form of a ‘Third Eye’ in order to keep track of situations in front of the vehicle. It identifies potential dangers on the road and forewarns the driver by acoustic and optical signals. Conclusion It’s great to see pioneering projects choosing and using Victron Energy products. We wish Dethleffs every success for their e.home project and look forward to hearing more as the system evolves. We hope readers get a chance to visit Caravan Salon Düsseldorf 2017 ; if not I trust this blog gives you an insight into Victron Energy’s products and how they can be integrated into exciting projects such as the e.home. Thanks to Dethleffs staff and Uwe Dräger of Victron Energy for the information and images used in this blog. John Rushworth About Dethleffs With the invention of the first caravan in Germany – called ‘Wohnauto’ – the company founder Arist Dethleffs laid the foundation of caravanning in Germany. Today the Dethleffs GmbH & Co. KG with its site in Isny in the Allgäu is the largest manufacturer of motorhomes in Europe. In one of the most modern production facilities about 1,000 employees manufacture up to 10.500 motorhomes and caravans per year. With annual sales in the amount of about 314 million EURO Dethleffs is one of the major manufacturers of motorhomes and caravans worldwide. Dethleffs is a company of the Erwin Hymer Group. Erwin Hymer Group The Erwin Hymer Group unites leading motorhome and caravan manufacturers as well as motorhome and caravan accessory specialists, hire and financing services under one roof. The Group had a turnover of 2.1 billion euros in the 2016/17 financial year. It sold around 55,000 recreational vehicles and employs more than 6,000 people worldwide. The motorhome and caravan brands Buccaneer, Bürstner, Carado, Compass, Dethleffs, Elddis, Eriba, Etrusco, Hymer, Niesmann+Bischoff, Laika, LMC, Road-trek, Sunlight and Xplore, as well as Europe’s largest motorhome hire firm McRent and the motorhome hire companies Best Time RV und rent easy, and also the chassis specialist Goldschmitt, the accessories specialist Movera, the trailer tent manufacturer 3DOG camping and the touring portal freeontour all belong to the Erwin Hymer Group.
John Rushworth • 04 August 2017
SmartSolar MPPTs with Bluetooth Smart built-in
Previously we’ve reported on the SmartSolar MPPT 250/100 & 250/85 . Now we can add the following models, also with Bluetooth Smart built-in: SmartSolar MPPT 100/30 – 12 / 24 Volt (awaiting stock) SmartSolar MPPT 100/50 – 12 / 24 Volt (currently in stock) SmartSolar MPPT 150/35 – 12 / 24 / 36 / 48 Volt (currently in stock) As Bluetooth Smart is built-in there’s no need for a VE.Direct to USB interface or VE.Direct Bluetooth Smart dongle to use the free VictronConnect software or app, as you would need to do with the standard MPPTs. VictronConnect Cables and dongles aside now is certainly the time to go Bluetooth Smart built-in – especially with the release this week of VictronConnect v3.1 which has a demo mode, can save, share & load files and more. See what VictronConnect v3.1 can do here . Pending additional certification Whilst the standard BlueSolar MPPTs have recently been awarded UL 1741 and CSA C22.2 compliance the SmartSolar models are expected to be certified before the year end also. SmartSolar If you are not familiar with Victron Energy’s range of SmartSolar MPPTs this is what they do. These are ultra-fast, Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT), solar charge controllers with built-in Bluetooth and by utilising the free VictronConnect app many parameters can be viewed and set, such as battery voltage, solar history, load output, flexible battery charge algorithms plus day/night timing and light dimming options. These advanced MPPTs also include Advanced Maximum Power Point Detection in case of partial shading conditions. If you are not familiar with choosing the correct MPPT charge controller/s and matching to your solar panel/s then do read Bob Hopman’s informative blog , which includes a handy spreadsheet to help you get it all spot on. Get smart with SmartSolar! John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 24 July 2017
BlueSolar MPPTs awarded UL 1741 and CSA C22.2 certification
Good news – All BlueSolar MPPTs have been awarded UL 1741 and CSA C22.2 compliance. For those familiar with this certification the applicable standards are: Applicable Standards UL 1741, Standard for Safety Inverters, Converters, Controllers and Interconnection System Equipment for Use With Distributed Energy Resources – Second Edition; Reprint with revisions through and including September 7, 2016 CSA C22.2 NO. 107.1-16 Power conversion equipment, Fourth Edition Certificate download A PDF copy of this certificate of compliance is available. All distributors and dealers are encouraged to share this information with their clients, be they current or potential. Important stock note It is important to note that the current stock of BlueSolar MPPTs do not yet have the required text screened onto the products, nor the required modifications to the manuals. Therefore, although the electronics and the assembly plant have been approved ‘as is’, products currently in stock do not comply in their present format – it will take 2-3 months before fully compliant products (with the required text on them and updated manuals) are in stock. This certainly doesn’t stop you making your clients aware of the certification and pending stock though! Future developments Continuing with further product certification the following products are expected to be certified before the end of this year. All SmartSolar models. All 120V Multis and Quattros. Spread the word… John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 17 July 2017
New style MultiPlus set to replace earlier Compacts
A sleeker, more modern looking MultiPlus in the 500VA – 800VA range with voltages of 12, 24 and 48V is set to replace the earlier MultiPlus Compact range. If you are familiar with Victron Energy products you might just have noticed that 48V is now included in the new range, which wasn’t the case with the Compacts. The new range is gradually being introduced. Here are the ones planned for stock at the end of July. Stock arriving end of July MultiPlus 12/800/35-16 230V VE.Bus MultiPlus 24/800/16-16 230V VE.Bus MultiPlus 48/800/9-16 230V VE.Bus What’s the difference? Very little is the answer as the new design has all the exceptional features from before, plus the new sleeker and more modern look. The new design, when comparing the new models above with comparable earlier Compacts has slightly differing dimensions – a little wider and a bit smaller in depth – as h x w x d in mm for the new 800VA range is 375 x 240 x 100, compared to 375 x 214 x 110 previously. And let’s not forget the price – it’s now less than the original Compact. Connections Here’s a view of the base and connections of the MultiPlus 12/800/35-16 230V VE.Bus. DIP switches are behind the small ‘Settings’ panel. Note there is now one VE.BUS connection due to space constraints, whereas there were two previously (which were paralleled anyhow). MultiPlus Magic If you are an end user you might not be aware of all that can be done with a MultiPlus. Here’s a précis of this multifunctional product. The MultiPlus, as the name suggests, is a combined inverter and charger in one elegant package. Its many features include a true sine wave inverter, adaptive charging, hybrid PowerAssist technology, plus multiple system integration features. To learn more please see the blog ‘MultiPlus magic: Small generator, big power ‘, where I do my best to explain much that a MultiPlus can do. Conclusion Important note: The 500VA is a Multi at present, as it lacks PowerAssist, paralleling and three-phase capabilities. That however is set to change with a firmware and hardware update, so it too will be a new model and fully featured MultiPlus, just as the 800VA currently is. For now if you require those capabilities in the 500VA Multi format, we recommend you purchase the 800VA MultiPlus version, rather than wait for the new updated MultiPlus 500VA version. Further information and datasheets for the models above can be found here . To learn when a new product is in stock or planned, if a distributor or dealer, there is of course e-order . For end users simply contact your dealer and you could be one of the first with a new style MultiPlus. First come, first served… John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 07 June 2017
Intersolar Europe 2017: Victron Energy products everywhere…
Once again Victron Energy had an impressive stand (and party!) at this year’s Intersolar Europe , which took place last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in Munich, Germany. This annual event held at the Messe München exhibition centre attracts around 1,200 exhibitors and 40,000 plus visitors, which includes those exhibiting/visiting ees Europe (the electrical energy storage exhibition) It wasn’t just Victron Energy exhibiting and demonstrating their own products at booth B3.440, as Victron products were also in evidence on a number of other stands, plus they could also be seen integrated into other companies’ products and innovations. New products introduced What better place to introduce new products than the world’s leading exhibition for the solar industry and its partners? And so it was with the new 250V MPPT Solar Charge Controllers , the BMV-712 with built-in Bluetooth, Smart Lithium batteries , the Venus GX and even more variants in the growing Phoenix Inverter VE.Direct family . Please note that information about the latest new products on the main Victron website is an ongoing process and for these new products mentioned, dealers/distributors should first check stock levels on E-Order or through the P&A app . New products (when stock is available) are also announced on the blog from time to time and on Victron Professional , which end users are encouraged to sign up to too, besides dealers/distributors and installers. Products everywhere Besides the classic range of Inverter/Chargers on the Victron stand… ….other companies were also displaying Victron products. A few examples are shown below. Enerflex home storage system by Elektro-Mechanik Meisl GmbH at booth B1.197 Krannich Solar at booth A3.480 Featured company at the Victron Energy booth On the right of the photo below you can see one of the ESaver range, by Bredenoord, which featured on the Victron stand. These hybrid generation and storage systems (with Victron inside) are part of the ESavers range which supplies required power from various sources. Intelligent switching between the sources, plus using the diesel generator only in its optimum operating range, enables the ESaver to supply power with significantly reduced emissions. Victron inside ESaver description. You can download this image as a PDF file here or visit the Bredenoord website for further information. Party time! After all that hard work customers and staff deserve some fun. Who can you spot in the collage below? Click the image to get a larger version… Conclusion Whilst I personally didn’t make the show, it’s clear there was much to see and lots of fun to be had too – so why not make Intersolar Europe part of your agenda for next year. Thanks to Marianka Pranger for the information and images used in this blog. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 02 June 2017
Newsflash: Victron Energy receives award
2017 European Battery Management Systems Product Leadership Award This Tuesday Victron Energy received the 2017 European Battery Management Systems Product Leadership Award. After reviewing suppliers of Energy Storage and Battery Management Systems, Ross Bruton from the global consultant research and analytical company Frost & Sullivan handed Matthijs and Reinout Vader this award. Congratulations from all the Victron staff and our valued distributors. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 10 May 2017
New Victron Energy products & introductory offer
Yesterday was boat launch day here on the West Coast of Scotland, so it was time to fully recharge my Lithium electric (auxiliary) propulsion batteries from their winter storage phase, in readiness for the sailing season. That’s all I had to do, bringing the cells up to 3.4V each to ensure cell balancing started and my string charge setting of 28.4V was reached quickly, using 1.1kW of charge – all checked and controlled using the VictronConnect app via the VRM console to my Color Control, whilst drinking coffee sitting in my armchair at home. You get the idea… Indeed I was feeling quite smug at that, along with so little to do when I rolled up at the boatyard – compounded by watching the ‘dinosaur diesel’ boats faffing around with fuel, coolant, and oils. It didn’t take me long though to come down to earth as the latest Victron Energy product updates had just hit my mailbox. Time and tide wait for no man. I thought I was bang up to date with my 2 x 200Ah, 12.8V LiFePO4 electric drive batteries and my 2 x 130Ah, 12V AGM house batteries. Not any more it seems – now there are 300Ah LiFePO4 ones in stock which even have Bluetooth Smart built in! Whilst there are many thousands of charge cycles left in my Lithiums, I’m not so sure about the AGMs as they regularly run higher loads for longer, with quite deep discharge using my MultiPlus inverter/charger for a kettle and electric grill. No need to worry on that score either it seems, as now there are AGM Super Cycle batteries in stock – perfect for deeper discharging when compared to conventional AGMs. I know what I’ll be using for house batteries when the time comes! Upgrading your batteries? In fact if you’re planning an AGM house battery upgrade now’s the time to take a look at these Super Cycle AGMs, as for a limited time there is an introductory offer. See E-Order and you will receive a 10% additional discount with respect to the Q2/2017 pricelist, or for end users talk to your Victron dealer for pricing. Yesterday evening saw Elektra safely tucked up in her berth, so today as I blog aboard her (after the obligatory celebratory beer last night) I thought I’d list some more of the new Victron products on offer. Elektra in the setting sun New products It’s now 7 weeks since my last update of new Victron products, so in case you missed that you can check out the blog – Hot Stuff: New Victron Energy products . In the intervening weeks here are the latest new products that have now come into stock. There are more in the pipeline but we don’t announce these until they are stocked. LiFePO4 Battery 12,8V/300Ah Smart LiFePO4 Battery 12,8V/200Ah Smart LiFePO4 Battery 12,8V/160Ah Smart LiFePO4 Battery 12,8V/90Ah Smart 12V/230Ah AGM Super Cycle Batt. (M8) 12V/100Ah AGM Super Cycle Batt. (M6) 12V/170Ah AGM Super Cycle Batt. (M8) 12V/165Ah AGM Deep Cycle Batt 12V/90Ah AGM Deep Cycle Batt. (M6) 6V/240Ah AGM Deep Cycle Batt 12V/165Ah Gel Deep Cycle Batt 12V/90Ah Gel Deep Cycle Batt Lynx Ion BMS 1000A Lynx Ion BMS 400A Blue Smart IP67 Charger 24/8(1) 230V CEE 7/7 Blue Smart IP67 Charger 24/12(1) 230V CEE 7/7 Blue Smart IP65 Charger 24/5(1) 230V AU/NZ Retail Blue Smart IP67 Charger 12/25(1) 230V CEE 7/7 Blue Smart IP67 Charger 12/17(1) 230V CEE 7/7 Phoenix Inverter 48/800 230V VE.Direct SCHUKO Phoenix Inverter 24/800 230V VE.Direct IEC Phoenix Inverter 24/800 120V VE.Direct NEMA 5-15R Phoenix Inverter 12/800 120V VE.Direct NEMA 5-15R Phoenix Inverter 12/800 230V VE.Direct IEC Energy Meter ET340 – 3 phase – max 65A/phase Conclusion As if all the above were not enough I also discovered the new more economic version of the Color Control GX – the Venus GX is soon to be available too. For now though I’m just delighted to be aboard Elektra after the winter – even if I’m back to old fashioned local CCGX button pushing! Elektra’s salon and blogging station… More on the the Venus GX can be discovered in the ‘panels and system monitoring’ section of the website. For the differing battery options and datasheets see the ‘ Batteries ‘ section. More new products as the information becomes available – and as long as I have a 4G signal… John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 01 May 2017
Most Innovative Company award for Victron Energy
Last week the 22nd China International Boat Show (CIBS 2017） was held in Shanghai, from the 26th to 29th April. This year it was at a new venue – the Shanghai New International Expo Centre . It was at this impressive venue that Victron Energy received the Most Innovative Company award. The category was open to any company in the marine industry. With an industry first, such as the 15kVA Quattro inverter/charger for example and multiple new product releases in recent months – the voting by the judges was unanimous. Most Innovative Company award At the Asian Marine and Boating Awards ceremony, the Most Innovative Company award was accepted on behalf of Victron Energy by Victron Energy’s China distributors – Yale Lam from Storm Force Marine Ltd and Alan Peng from Shenzhen Royal Technology Co. Ltd. China market & show report Simon Boyde of Storm Force Marine Ltd., is one of Victron’s China distributors. This is what he had to say about the China market and show. “Whilst the commercial maritime industry in China is massive, the leisure marine industry by comparison is really quite small. In terms of ‘significant’ leisure boats, there are maybe only 2,500 in the mainland part of China, with around another 8,000 in Hong Kong. Boat building in this sector amounts to around 75-100 ‘significant’ boats completed in the last year. What and why do we class and focus only on significant boats for this market? This is primarily because they have equipment fittings or as a colleague put it, they are large enough to have a fridge. Such boats are likely over 10m and too large for a trailer. Anything less doesn’t have much in the way of equipment fitment and is therefore not of so much interest to us! Despite this small market size and even smaller leisure boat building industry, China still puts on a big show – in fact arguably the largest show in Asia outside the Middle East and Japan in terms of the numbers of exhibitors and visitors. This year that amounted to 550 exhibitors and 40,000 visitors, with 550 boats on display. Of those 40,000 visitors many were retail visitors and this is where the leisure sector growth is coming from – all very encouraging for the future of leisure boating in China. The show this year was held in conjunction with a couple of other lifestyle shows and this has helped push up visitors numbers too. Moving from the old Expo site to the new location has definitely helped also, as has much better public transport links. Missing were the big luxury boats. In previous years these have been much in evidence but not this year. The continuing ‘anti-corruption’ campaign in China has suppressed a lot of luxury yacht interest, which explains their absence. What was at the show was a rack of small boats which are more suitable to a restricted budget – and I am pleased to say these have been crawling with people throughout the show. We exhibit at the show not to sell boats, but to sell to boat builders. Overall this part of the show is what makes it one of the most important trade shows out here, with several hundred exhibitors. Multiple Chinese manufacturers exhibit with products intended for the domestic and overseas markets and buyers from chandlery chains and distributors from around the world visit, looking to source from these component makers. Foreign brands are exhibited at the show – to not only potential local boat builders, but also visitors from around the globe – for example next week Storm Force Marine will be quoting customers from the Maldives to Venezuela, as well as our more normal markets in China and Taiwan. This sector seemed quite a lot smaller this year, evidence perhaps of the world noticing the slowdown in China (it’s seen three years now of contraction) with some notable names missing. All in all though we continue to be surprised and encouraged by both the show and market out here – as Victron Energy have ably demonstrated in winning the Most Innovative Company award!” Conclusion My thanks to Victron Energy distributor personnel Simon Boyde and Alan Peng for the information and images used in this blog. If you have any equipment requirements in the region do give their respective companies a shout. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 20 April 2017
Africa: Distributor meeting, solar show, training and dancing!
Cram it all in. At least that’s what Victron Energy staff, distributors and customers seemed to do recently. I’m not so sure about some of the dance moves though… On 27th March it was the Victron Energy African distributor meeting in Sandton at The Venue Green Park , the 28th-29th saw the Power & Electricity World Africa Exhibition (The Solar Show) at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, with an impressive Victron stand demonstrating many new products. Last but not least on the 30th it was a Victron Energy Training day at the Protea Hotel by Marriott® Johannesburg Balalaika Sandton. And then there were meals, socialising, awards and dancing too – all in all a very packed four days. Socialising – African distributor meeting Part of any good sequence of events is the socialising and this year the fun part of the African distributor meeting was held at The Venue Green Park, which describes itself as – ‘An upscale conference and events establishment nestled at the top of Johannesburg’s exclusive World Trade Centre. The unique location of The Venue Green Park offers breathtaking views over Johannesburg, which can be observed through the floor-to-ceiling windows as well as from the balcony, allowing you to have the Johannesburg skyline as the backdrop to your function’. Display at The Venue Green Park Dodgy Dance Moves – Was it the band? Dubious Dance Moves – Maybe it was these gentlemen? Getting warmer? This Victron Professional looks familiar! Work – The Solar Show Now that you’ve seen how much fun ‘work’ can be, let’s focus on the Solar Show aspect or to give it its full title – Power & Electricity World Africa , which celebrated its 20th anniversary at this year’s event. The event is the largest of its kind in Africa and with 640 delegates from 40 countries and 200 speakers in conference plus 6,714 attendees at the exhibition – it was a great success. Victron Energy exhibited in the Clean Energy Hall again this year for the 6th year running. Besides showcasing its product range for solar applications, Victron were also able to showcase some of their latest products for 2017. The exhibition stand at a glance There were products such as the Easysolar range, the Bluesolar MPPTs and the new VE.Direct Phoenix Inverters. The mention of Bluetooth configuration for such products brought great interest from visitors, as it is the first product range of its kind in the world with such features – including various levels of configuration – all demonstrating Victron Energy’s ongoing drive toward ever increasing flexibility and ease of operation. Different solar systems from DC coupled and AC coupled to larger 3 phase systems were also on display. Here third party battery brands were part of the display too, with Victron staff on hand to explain the added benefits of being able to configure Victron Energy products to work in a variety of systems. This was very well received. Systems Display – Much interest was shown in integrating 3rd party batteries with Victron Products Here are some of the new and innovative products that were on display: Venus GX Quattro 48/15000/200-100/100 MultiGrid SmartSolar MPPT 250/85 & 250/100 Multi(Plus) 500VA – 800VA New Products – Lots of questions about the latest products and their features Learning – Training Day Following this exhibition there was a technical training day held for customers and also visitors from the exhibition. The training was held in English and French in two sessions. Some of the topics covered were: The latest products from Victron Energy. System control panels. Victron Remote Management (VRM) website with a focus on remote control. Integrating with CanBus enabled 3rd party batteries. Hands on sessions. Training in English – Energy Storage Systems Hands on session – Easysolar Training in French – Firmware updates for a MultiPlus Coffee break discussions Awards – Distributor Meeting Kicking off this whole sequence of events was the Victron Energy African distributor meeting in Sandton and I started this blog with a headline image of one of the awards at that event – now I’d like to leave you with a few more smiles and awards. Conclusion Thanks to Andre du Rand , Victron’s area manager, Southern Africa, for the information and photos used in this blog – that’s all 642 one of them! It’s always difficult to choose from such a vast and welcome array of photographs from such events, but I hope at least the ones chosen have conveyed how valuable, rewarding and fun work can be. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 10 April 2017
Fully Charged
I don’t know about you but I’m a great fan of Fully Charged, on YouTube, hosted by Robert Llewellyn . Last Wednesday’s show featured Redflow’s ZCell batteries at Simon Hackett’s home. The day following the show publication and at the time of writing this blog – the show was already showing over 11,000 views. And now, 4 days later, it’s at 59,000 views on the date of publication of this blog. We’ve blogged about theZCell batteries before and the fact that Redflow are great fans of Victron Energy products such as the MultiGrid – and so it was all very pleasing to see Robert getting to grips with Victron’s Color Control GX , being shown around Simon’s house, and the Redflow lab which showed a number of Victron Energy Quattro units. In the Lab Fully Charged show Robert describes his show thus: “Fully Charged is a weekly series produced and hosted by Robert Llewellyn ( Red Dwarf , Scrapheap Challenge , Carpool ). It’s not only about electric cars, bikes, boats and planes but how we generate and even own the electricity to power these machines. From looking behind the myths of renewable energy, to seeking the truth about conventional generation Robert Llewellyn demonstrates what the future could have in store for us all.” Redflow ZCell batteries on Fully Charged Here then is this week’s ‘fully charged’ Victron episode. It’s worth noting that Simon’s house, in south Australia, also features on VRM world as Hackett-ZCell . Conclusion If any of you know Robert personally do encourage him to feature more Victron Energy products – as with over 150,000 subscribers to his show this can only be good for all concerned. In fact and to ensure the show continues to grow you might like to consider a patreon pledge . John Rushworth Links If you wish to learn more about Fully Charged and Redflow please see the following links: https://www.youtube.com/user/fullychargedshow https://www.facebook.com/FullyChargedShow http://redflow.com https://www.facebook.com/redflowenergystorage https://www.zcell.com https://www.facebook.com/ZcellAU
John Rushworth • 20 March 2017
Hot Stuff: New Victron Energy products
New and ever improving products are a feature of the Victron Energy brand. Personally speaking it’s often hard to keep up with this continually evolving product range, so I thought it would be handy to let you know what’s hot, what’s new, in stock and available now – just in case you’ve missed anything on the pricelist or e-order . High Voltage The latest in the u ltra-fast Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) Smart Solar Charge Controller range are the following two models, available with MC4 or Tr cable connections: MPPT 250/100 MPPT 250/85 ( shown in the blog headline image with optional plug-in LCD display ) Both the 100 Amp and the 85 Amp cater for a maximum PV open circuit voltage of 250V (under maximum coldest conditions) with a 245V start up and maximum operating voltage. If you are not familiar with calculating voltages for differing temperatures please read the Bob Hopman blog on ‘ Matching solar modules to MPPT charge controllers ‘ which includes a link to the VE-MPPT-Calc.xlsx spreadsheet. That’s a lot of kVA 15kVA is now available in the uprated inverter/charger Quattro range . This can save paralleling smaller units, as you may have done previously to get a larger power output. This new 2 x 230V input, 48/15000/200-100/100 Quattro model (if we break down the model notation ) is 15kVA continuous output power at 25°C , 200 Amps battery charge current at 25°C ambient, with a maximum feed through current of 2 x 100 Amps. New marine charger – IP67 rated The new IP65 Skylla marine charger (dust and water jet resistant) accepts 120 and 230 volts input in the 90-265 volt range and is available in the following configurations – ( 12/60 (1+1), 12/60 (3), 24/30 (1+1), 24/30 (3). The (1+1) features 2 isolated outputs. The second output, limited to approximately 3A and with a slightly lower output voltage, is intended to top up a starter battery. The Skylla-IP44 (3) features 3 isolated outputs. All outputs can supply the full rated output current. Besides its IP44 rating, the charger is further able to withstand the rigours of the marine environment such as heat, humidity and salt air. The circuit boards are also protected by an acrylic coating for maximum corrosion resistance. Additionally temperature sensors ensure that power components will always operate within specified limits – if needed by automatic reduction of output current in extreme environmental conditions. Other new products now in stock Although the new 15kVA Quattro is already awaiting restock, the IP44 Skylla marine charger is currently in stock – as are these other new products listed below: Solar Panel 150W-12V Mono 1480×673×35mm series 3a 12V/220Ah AGM Deep Cycle Battery 12V/60Ah Gel Deep Cycle Battery 12V/66Ah AGM Deep Cycle Battery 12V/110Ah AGM Deep Cycle Battery (M8) 12V/130Ah AGM Deep Cycle Batt. (M8) Blue Smart IP65 Charger 12/7(1) 230V Blue Smart IP65 Charger 12/10(1) 230V Blue Smart IP65 Charger 12/15(1) 230V Blue Smart IP65 Charger 12/4(1) 230V 12V/265Ah GEL Deep Cycle Batt. (M8) 12V/230Ah AGM Super Cycle Batt. (M8) Blue Power IP22 Charger 24/12(1) 230V CEE 7/7 Conclusion As if all the above were not enough I also learned, as we were going to press, there are some new Smart Lithium batteries too. These include improved balancing, second generation BMS with Bluetooth Smart built-in – which means the information you get is that which you see in the screenshots in the VictronConnect manual. More on the above and other new products as the information becomes available… John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 13 March 2017
The Victron Energy calendar
Hopefully many of you will have received Victron Energy’s calendar at the beginning of this year. If you didn’t I thought it would be nice to catch up on the photos of the months to date and to learn something of the background to the calendar and who created it. That person is in fact Marianka Pranger . Here, in her own words, is a little about the process of making the calendar. “It is a pleasure to make the Victron Energy calendar every year and each year it is a real challenge to make it different to previous years. For the 2017 version we thought it would be nice to use ‘real’ people instead of models (unlike previous calendars) and to do that I shot the photos with the Victron product applications along with the people who own those products. This year’s calendar is a desktop version, whereas earlier ones were wall hanging versions. I’m already busy with preparations for the 2018 calendar – all I can say about that is it’ll be different yet again, when compared to preceding years!” No 2017 Calendar? If you didn’t receive this year’s calendar, here’s a sample of the months to date. I’ve left out the circuit diagrams, secondary photos and the full Victron system specifications – this is simply so you can see the principal photos and get a flavour of Marianka’s work. January Tiny House, The Netherlands: this is Marjolein Jonker’s Tiny House . She has been living here since 2016 and, with her Victron Energy solar system, is completely self-sufficient. Photo: Marianka Pranger. February Deventer, The Netherlands: Toedus is a musical duet comprising Ernst van der Sloot (vocals/lead guitar) and Joke van der Sloot-Huisman (bass guitar). Thanks to the Victron system they can play at any venue. Photo: Marianka Pranger. March Tilburg, The Netherlands: This is Theo Smeele in his bicycle taxi which uses electric assistance for pedal power. Theo is showing his passenger Lieke Paijmans around the city of Tilburg. The taxi’s batteries are charged by a Blue Power IP65 charger. Photo: Marianka Pranger. Conclusion I know Victron Energy MD Matthijs Vader really appreciates his calendar. Here’s what he had to say when the first one came out in 2014: "Guess what I found on my desk this morning? The result of a secret calendar project! The whole project has been managed by Marianka Pranger, plus she even took all but one of the photos herself. Marianka has multiple work roles within Victron and now we know, that besides her normal 'day job', she also has a fantastic creative and photographic talent. It is really remarkable." If you didn’t get a calendar you can check stock in the P&A App. Distribution is taken care of by Victron area managers, dealers and distributors. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 03 March 2017
MultiGrid 3000 VA accolade & availablity
How’s your inbox? I’m sure many of us have difficulty keeping track of email, especially if you are subscribed to lists and press releases for work. Some catch your eye, others not. Of course when Victron is mentioned I’m always curious and pay attention! Below are the salient parts of a press release from Redflow that lauds Victron Energy’s MultiGrid 48/3000 – now approved for connection to the Australian electricity grid. We’ve blogged about Redflow previously as energy storage disruptors . In principal, as far as Victron are concerned, their Redflow ZBM (zinc-bromine flow battery) is well integrated into the Color Control GX and therefore a perfect partner for our range of Bi-directional Battery Inverters (MultiPlus etc.) What is MultiGrid? A step back first; some of you might not know about the new MultiGrid. In fact on checking stock levels using the Victron P&A App I see the 24V version is already sold out and there is diminishing – but in the process of being replenished stock for the 48V. The new MultiGrid is important because some countries require certification for home grid connections – and this is what home grid connected customers have been waiting for. At present for example there is approval for Germany under VDE-AR-N 4105. Others countries (per this blog) have been certified too, plus additional countries will follow that. To sum up the MultiGrid, when compared to the MultiPlus: Several hardware and firmware modifications were needed to qualify for VDE-AR-N 4105, which is a Germany specific energy storage related standard. The resulting product is a country specific MultiGrid. Whilst we wait for other country specific certification, here’s the important bits concerning certification for the Australian market taken from the Redflow press release. Victron plans Victron’s Area Manager for Oceania Margreet Leeftink said Victron had sought AS4777.2 certification for the MultiGrid 48/3000 to meet customer demand. “We have an increasing number of customers, in Australia and overseas, who want to use Victron inverters with grid-connected systems,” she said. “This is just our first grid-ready model. We are planning to progressively release AS4777-compliant models throughout our battery inverter range during the rest of this year.” Redflow applause Australian energy storage specialist Redflow Limited has welcomed news that Victron Energy’s MultiGrid 48/3000 battery inverter is now approved for connection to the Australian electricity grid. The MultiGrid 48/3000 is a version of Victron’s popular MultiPlus 48/3000 inverter enhanced to meet the AS/NZS 4777.2:2015 standard for grid connection of energy systems via battery inverters. The Victron MultiGrid 48/3000 inverter is now listed on the Clean Energy Council website . Redflow CEO Simon Hackett said the availability of the Victron MultiGrid 48/3000 inverter for grid-connected battery systems was good news for consumers. “Victron inverters are easy to configure, they work beautifully with ZCell and they are competitively priced,” he said. Simon Hackett with his home battery system. “Victron inverters have proved popular with ZCell customers who install off-grid energy storage systems, so AS4777.2 approval makes these inverters available to a much larger market. Victron inverters integrate easily with one-battery ZCell systems and are fully compatible with all major brands of AC solar inverters. This certification builds on the strength of the Victron product line in off-grid scenarios where it has a long pedigree in Australia.” Conclusion Thanks to John Harris, Managing Director of Impress Media Australia , for the press information used in this blog. John Rushworth Links If you want to learn more about Redflow please see the following links: http://redflow.com https://www.facebook.com/redflowenergystorage https://www.zcell.com https://www.facebook.com/ZcellAU
John Rushworth • 03 February 2017
Marine Alliance with Fischer Panda announced
At the recent Düsseldorf boat show Matthijs Vader (Victron Energy CEO) and Stephan Backes (Fischer Panda CEO) were delighted to announce a mutual marine alliance at their ‘Freedom of Yachting’ press conference. What though does this announcement mean for the customer? Marine Alliance Take two expert companies in the marine industry with a combined experience of over 80 years, coupled together with a long standing relationship and you have the perfect recipe for taking business cooperation to the next level. This cooperation has resulted in a new ‘Alliance’ between Victron Energy & Fischer Panda; what this means in practice is: 5 tailor-made marine base systems designed and announced Joint R&D effort on systems management & control Joint pre-sales support Joint after-sales & technical support An example of one of the 5 base systems The 5 complete base systems can be seen in the German and English brochures. Tailor-made In creating these 5 tailor-made base systems, Victron Energy and Fischer Panda are able to provide integrated turnkey systems combining the best of their respective product ranges. Namely: Victron Energy 12 / 24 / 48V battery systems Inverter/chargers from 500VA to 15000 VA European 230V AC and USA 120V AC modules Solar Chargers System monitoring Fischer Panda 27 different Marine Generators Variable & fixed speed This alliance means it is no longer solely a case of Victron’s slogan of ‘Energy. Anywhere. Anytime.’; we can now jointly and confidently say – Power wherever you are! Base Systems Within the 5 base systems, each system has the following features: Full automatic seamless switching between shore and genset power. Single system monitoring: Color Control GX with full automatic generator start/stop (including silent run times). Remote system monitoring via the VRM Portal Monitoring & Control Color Control GX with Victron Energy & Fischer Panda branding: Options for all 5 base systems Isolation transformer Solar Lithium batteries Electric drive propulsion Integration with navigation systems (Raymarine and others) Helm showing Raymarine integration example: Generator example: The new Panda 5000i.Neo As mentioned above a system option is electric propulsion and one such generator that would be ideal in a small serial hybrid solution would be the new Panda 5000i.Neo . For my own boat Elektra this would easily have pushed her along at 5 knots without depleting my Victron Lithium ion batteries and it could have been ‘silently’ integrated into the old diesel engine space, instead of having the ‘get me home solution’ that I currently have. I do that by using an external but excellent Honda 1 kVA fixed mounting suitcase generator , which I may add is an ideal partner for a small Victron MultiPlus. Having said that I wish this Panda 5000i.Neo had been available at the time I converted my sailing yacht to electric propulsion. 4kW of power would have been enough, as I say, to power Elektra in real time at 5 knots and leave charge over for the house batteries. Far more efficient and with better fuel economy than the 10hp Volvo Penta engine it would have replaced. If you are wondering how a 4 kW serial hybrid can replace a 7.5kW diesel engine, it’s all down to efficiency and the actual thrust available at the prop. Conclusion You can learn more about these ‘Alliance’ systems in the German and English brochures. For any other questions please contact the combined Victron/Fischer support department: fischerpanda@victron.zendesk.com As ever we also welcome your feedback in the Disqus comments section below. Victron Energy look forward to making life even easier and more comfortable onboard for our marine customers – by providing tailor-made base systems in alliance with Fischer Panda . Power wherever you are! John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 29 December 2016
ERM Energies: Solar powered containerised system
Recently, Matthijs wrote a blog that serves as a primer as to what makes for the best practices when building an unattended battery based energy system . As pointed out in that blog some of these systems are large scale containerised systems. In that blog we also asked for your own examples and suggestions when building such systems, so we can add to the knowledge base of what makes a good system. One such example has been submitted by Jacques Noël ( Victron Energy Sales Manager, France ) on behalf of ERM Energies for a solar powered containerised system, which is due to be utilised by the Red Cross in Burkina Faso. Here are the details of that system. Bright idea The Monaco utility company SMEG had the great idea of recycling the Milan 2015 Universal Exposition containerised energy system into a complete training facility for the Red Cross in Loumbila . Victron Energy customer ERM Energies were appointed as the project leaders for this, as a subcontractor to Ineo Green. Energy sources 50 kWp of solar is to be installed on carports on site to improve the power supply, as the local grid is weak and not particularly robust. A diesel generator is also planned. Victron & Fronius inside ERM Energies, under Olivier Krug’s supervision, designed and built this containerised 50kW mini-grid system based on 6 x Victron Energy 48/10000 Quattro inverter/chargers (wired for 3 phase operation) and 4 x Fronius SYMO 12.5 3 phase grid inverters. The system includes a 48V 4000Ah OPzS battery bank in a separately vented area within the container. DC high power distribution is via copper bus bars. A number of features were also added to ease the use of the system, including the ubiquitous and internet connected Color Control GX for remote monitoring and control . System challenges Lucas Barrau, the engineer in charge, greatly enjoyed the challenge of this project. For instance the energy management policy was not an easy one and a lot of testing had to be done to be sure that the inverters’ settings were appropriate. Here’s what Lucas had to say about some of the other system challenges he faced: “I mainly faced difficulties for testing. We could not use the OPzS batteries as they would only be filled with acid once on site, so we had to have a temporary spare bank (shown in the photograph above) with a much lower capacity and therefore not the same behaviour at all. I also underestimated the overall power of the system when we connected it to our premises’ mains and quickly had to find a solution, which I did !” Setting system standards Here is what project supervisor Olivier Krug had to say about the project: “We had a chance to design smart integration structures for all the equipment that needed to fit inside the container. In fact we have also made these our standards for other similar projects, such as three desalination units for Mauritania which are due to be completed shortly. Setting quality and system standards is not simply down to the quality of personnel involved with the project, it also due to the great versatility of Victron Energy’s products, which have allowed us to find a fully operational solution within an appropriate budget.” Conclusion The system has now been delivered to Loumbila and is planned to be operational in January 2017. My thanks to Olivier Krug of ERM Energies for the information and images used in this blog. ERM certainly seem to have given their technical best to the project and the fact that the project carries so much social impact is laudable. If you have a similar project that can add to and enhance the knowledge base of what it takes to build a quality unattended battery based energy system , do let us know in the Disqus comments section below. John Rushworth Find ERM Energies at www.erm-energies.com ERM Energies team can be reached at contact@erm-energies.com or by phone on +33 4 90 60 80 37
John Rushworth • 08 December 2016
New blogger Justin Tyers: Burning, building & blogging…
It’s three years since I started writing and maintaining this blog, together with Matthijs. Now it’s time to spice things up a little with the addition of a new blogger. Justin Tyers is a published author and a fascinating off-beat character. I first came across Justin after having read his books; due also to a mutual passion for sailing and the fact that he and his wife Linda lived on the Scottish island of Islay that my Grandparents had adored and resided on. Any small island with five whisky distilleries has to be interesting; back in my Grandparents days there were even more! I had planned to meet up there with Justin and Linda but life got in the way – and then I heard they were going off-grid and building a house made of straw… Fascinated, I got back in touch and we discussed a series of blogs about this off-grid journey. But before Justin’s introductory blog, here’s a little historical background. Uninsured house fire Born in 1960 in Surrey, working in London selling telecoms and eating take-aways, Justin’s life was conventional until he set off on an ill-planned voyage by sailing boat, and returned a year later, broke and without the yacht. An uninsured house fire some years after that, in which he and his wife lost everything, seemed to put an end to any hope of further wanderlust – yet it turned out their adventures were only just beginning. Everybody’s greatest fear must be losing everything they’ve got – but Justin says: ‘Having nothing left to lose is strangely liberating – suddenly anything is possible.’ Build your own boat After the fire destroyed their house, Justin and his wife Linda irrationally decided to build a 15-ton classic yacht, as complete amateurs – starting with the trees. Working under the watchful eye of local sheep farmers who gave freely of their advice, how could they possibly fail? Once built, they set off for seven years aboard the prettiest boat you’ve ever seen to search out the hidden paradises and wildernesses in Scotland, France, Cornwall and Ireland, meeting the quirky, sometimes odd, but always entertaining characters who inhabit the shoreline. A five minute interview The house made of straw Here’s what Justin has to say about their latest adventure. “We are self-building an eco-friendly house, using sustainable materials – timber frame – straw bale walls – natural slate roof. The house is an affordable, ‘housing need’ dwelling within the boundaries of the Exmoor National Park. It is designed to be affordable both to build, and to run – hence it will be provided with off-grid electricity, private water, and private sewage treatment to reduce utility bills. Space heating, cooking, and hot water will be provided by a wood burning ‘Esse’ range. It is expected to be complete by Spring 2017.” Conclusion Well, I don’t know about you, but based on the above, I’m very much looking forward to Justin’s blog series. In the meantime if you want to check out his books and read a little more, here are some useful links. John Rushworth Books : Phoenix from the Ashes: The Boat that Rebuilt Our Lives and Canvas Flying, Seagulls Crying: From Scottish Lochs to Celtic Shores. Facebook : Justin Tyers: Writer, Maritime Artist
John Rushworth • 05 December 2016
Access to Energy: A Shell Foundation, Victron Energy microgrid
Palawan island has been chosen several times as the most beautiful island in the world. Not surprising really as the Province of Palawan is an archipelago in the Philippines which includes two UNESCO World Heritage Sites plus breathtaking endless white beaches, wild forests and rugged mountains – all of a pure and untouched nature. But, even beauty can have a downside. Powerless Thousands of people still live in such areas where there is no access to electricity and the likelihood of any utility grid connection is aeons away. The Shell Foundation however set about changing that with the advent of a microgrid in Palawan , ably supported by products from Victron Energy. Whilst the Shell Foundation Access to Energy project has been involved with microgrids for some time, this is the first microgrid with Victron Energy in the Philippines – ensuring power for the powerless became a reality. The inauguration of this initial project, in the North of Palawan, took place on October 2nd 2016. Here’s the story of how that came about. Village Microgrid Ligad is a small beach village miles away from any mains electricity grid in Barangay Tineguiban, part of the beautiful El Nido area. The Shell Foundation chose to electrify this village by building a microgrid to ensure every home would have basic access to electricity. For the microgrid design and installation Shell contracted JK Solar Power House, who are based in Puerto Princesa . For the supply of the off-grid system Josie and Koos Mulder (the J&K in the design and installation company name) chose PhilSolar Equipment and Trading Corporation, who are the the official distributors and importers for Victron Energy products in the Philippines. Logistical challenges The logistical challenges were enormous as many tons of materials had to be transported from Manila to Puerto Princesa, then it was an 8 to 10 hour truck drive, partially over dirt roads. After that it was from Teneguiban to Ligad village on small bangka outrigger boats. No mean feat! When you start to see what was transported it puts the challenges into perspective. 70 electricity posts with street lights were placed around the village. The Naier 5kW wind turbine was installed on a hill above the village. A special powerhouse for the Victron Energy equipment was constructed, along with the adjacent standby diesel generator plant room. The 7.8kWp solar array was mounted on the Ligad elementary school building. Each home has their own kWh electricity meter and power outlets. The meters are intentional as many people will add extra appliances over time; hence the Ligad Electricity Association (LEA) has been formed to control and manage this. Plus of course the electricity needs to be paid for by the inhabitants, in order to have the funds to maintain this marvellous microgrid system. Victron Pay As You Go Whilst the Ligad community now have their own microgrid and their own arrangements to ensure ongoing funding through PAYG energy usage, Victron Energy also have a range of similar systems available to distributors and system integrators that are suitable for solar home systems and mini-grids – which can be used in a similar PAYG affordable manner. You can learn more about these systems here: https://www.victronenergy.com/markets/payg Victron Powerhouse A the heart of the Ligad system is a powerful 10kVA Victron Energy Quattro inverter/charger and two 150V/85A MPPT Solar Charge Controllers . These, along with the 48V/1,110 Ah battery bank, are all monitored and controlled by a BMV-700 Battery monitor and a Color Control GX (CCGX). The CCGX logs all the data to its Micro SD card which can (if needed) be taken away and used for analysis once the data has been uploaded to the VRM portal . This method is because in this remote area there is no internet or mobile phone access. Usually of course the CCGX would be connected in real time via an appropriate internet router to the VRM portal, where information monitoring and even remote control of the system could be done in real time. Smiles all round If the inauguration event smiles are anything to go by, this project is already a major success! Hitting the ceremonial power button, with Danny Maesen (PhilSolar) on the left and Koos Mulder (JK Solar) on the right. Marvi Trudeau, a principal from the Shell Foundation, unveils the commemorative plaque. Celebrating Access to Energy. The Access to Energy smile. The future It seems that the project has been a great hit as a second one (larger 15.6kWp solar array) is already underway with the contract having been awarded to JK Solar Power House. We have also heard that Victron products will once again be supplied by Victron distributor PhilSolar Equipment and Trading Corporation. More on this next project as the news rolls in… Conclusion What a delight to see power being brought to such communities and who better to sum up than Danny Maesen of PhilSolar, who said: “We are very proud to have helped in bringing this project to fruition and have so enjoyed seeing the happiness this has brought to the Ligad community, both young and old. As a result we trust education will improve, as we hope will the quality of life. Hopefully this all means more children will get better access to study and find better jobs in the future. A big thank you must go to Koos and Josie Mulder of JK Solar Power House for their immense efforts in bringing this project to a successful conclusion.” My own thanks to all the parties mentioned above for the information and images used in this blog. John Rushworth For further information see: Shell Foundation http://www.shellfoundation.org/Our-Focus/Access-To-Energy JK Solar Power House https://www.facebook.com/JKSolarPowerHouse Contact Koos Mulder: koossolarpowerhouse@gmail.com PhilSolar Equipment and Trading Corporation http://philsolar.ph Contact Danny Maesen: info@philsolar.ph
John Rushworth • 21 November 2016
METS 2016: MultiPlus anniversary and NMEA 2000
METS is billed as the world’s largest Marine Equipment Trade Show and is one of the most eagerly anticipated shows on Victron Energy’s events calendar . This year proved no exception with the show being held last week in Amsterdam from Tuesday through to Thursday. According to the METS website: “The 2016 edition of the METSTRADE Show has once again broken all previous records for exhibitor and visitor attendance while setting a new benchmark for how a B2B exhibition becomes a memorable event for all involved”. Were you there? Here’s a few photos from the event, including the well attended ‘booth party’ where music and merriment were the order of the day! Still not using one? The MultiPlus & Quattro family is 20 years young and being expanded! The new smallest member is the Multi 500VA , and also on the high power end there is now the 48V 15000VA Quattro . This picture shows the reasons for using one being explained: MultiPlus & Quattro family NMEA 2000 Marine Protocol & MFD integration During the exhibition, there was great interest in all the integration options offered by Victron products. The NMEA 2000 protocol, is a plug-and-play communications standard used for connecting marine sensors and display units within ships and boats. During the show, there was lots of interest in our compatible products: All Multis , MultiPlusses and Quattros . All members of the BMV Battery Monitor family . The new Skylla IP65 battery chargers. All 24V Skylla-i battery chargers . The Lynx Ion + Shunt lithium BMS And more products Using the NMEA 2000 protocol, Victron equipment can be integrated in many multi function displays. Such as the ones from Maretron, Raymarine, Garmin and many other brands. For more information see our NMEA 2000 & MFD integration guide . Music & Merriment The well attended Victron booth party overflows into the aisles. Conclusion Once again a fun and clearly worthwhile show – if you didn’t make it this year, and even if you did there is now a useful METSTRADE Online Community website; a unique year-round virtual meeting point for the leisure marine industry to create, share and comment on useful content related to the latest developments in the industry: https://community.metstrade.com John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 31 October 2016
Dragonfly trimarans: Victron equipped by Coromatic A/S
Quorning Boats of Denmark is the company that produces the world-renowned Dragonfly trimarans. To complement that pedigree they have selected Coromatic A/S to configure and deliver a range of Dragonfly trimarans with Victron Energy systems. Quorning Boats success Quorning Boats was founded in 1967 by Børge Quorning with the aim of building, safe, quality, performance trimarans to set new standards in sailing. Over the years they have certainly achieved that as some of the nominations and awards testify: 2017 – Dragonfly 28 Performance; nominated Best Boat by the US SAIL Magazine in the Mulithull Performance category. 2015 – Dragonfly 25; Best Boat by SAIL Magazine in the Small Cruiser category and European Boat of the Year in the multihull category. 2014 – Dragonfly 32; Best Multihull by SAIL Magazine in the 31′-40′ category. 2013 – Dragonfly 32; was nominated as European Yacht of the Year and awarded Performance Boat over 30 ft by Yachts & Yachting magazine. To learn more about Dragonfly trimarans and their unique Swing Wing System do take a look at the Dragonfly website . For now, our focus though is on how Victron Energy products compliment the Dragonfly pedigree combined with the able expertise of Coromatic, who configure and deliver the energy systems. Dragonfly 32 The electrical energy system in several customised Dragonfly 32s are fitted with: 2 x Lithium batteries (12.8V/200Ah) 1 x VE.Bus BMS 1 x MultiPlus Inverter/Charger (C 12/800/35 ) 1 x BMV-700 series battery monitor (BMV-702) 1 x BlueSolar MPPT solar charge controller (MPPT 100/30) Dragonfly 25 and 28 These smaller boats are fitted with a conventional lead acid battery system and whilst they don’t benefit from the enhanced qualities of Lithium batteries, they still benefit from the new Blue Smart IP65 Charger professional battery charger with Bluetooth built in. This enables you to see the information from your charger on your smartphone, tablet or computer, using the VictronConnect app . The model used in the Dragonfly 25 & 28 is: Blue Smart IP65 Charger with DC connector (12V/15A) Conclusion As you can see these boats are fitted with differing battery technology. To learn more about battery choices see the blog: Batteries: Lithium-ion vs AGM Victron Energy are delighted Quorning Boats have chosen Coromatic A/S to configure and deliver the Victron systems. As Coromatic’s core business is safeguarding power and data communication 24/7 – we are sure that expertise will be pay off in delivering these systems for the Dragonfly trimarans shown above. Thanks to Quorning boats and Peter R. Christiansen of Coromatic A/S for the images and information used in this blog and Niels Kaarill , who is the Victron area sales manager for Scandinavia , for making me aware of this project. John Rushworth Project links: Coromatic A/S – https://coromatic.dk/ Quorning Boats ApS – http://dragonfly.dk/
John Rushworth • 27 October 2016
PYLONTECH batteries: MultiPlus and Quattro compatibility
Lithium batteries come in all shapes and sizes, but for some applications such as the larger residential and commercial energy storage market it can make sense to have a modular, stackable 19″ format battery system. This often makes putting together and working on a system much easier. Such a format is available from Pylon Technologies, and these modular battery systems are now deemed to be compatible with all Victron Energy’s 48V MultiPlus and Quattro range of inverter/chargers, including the new MultiGrid . Victron’s local and remote (via the VRM Portal ) battery monitoring & management system – the Color Control GX is a requirement for the system. Here is what Victron Energy’s MD, Matthijs Vader had to say after a visit by Pylon Technologies to Victron’s R&D centre in Groningen. The key points he noted were: I was impressed with the PylonTech batteries; nice looking 19″ models with a neat bracket system that allows installation of a few of them without having to use an (expensive) 19″ cabinet. Within two days of testing, we could already conclude that our systems can cooperate. With PylonTech, it’s easy to configure different capacities. Multiples of their modules can be combined together and in doing so they automatically recognise each other; forming one clean operating battery bank. From the Victron viewpoint, their 48V batteries can work with all our 48V MultiPlus and Quattro range, meaning our full range from 500VA to 15000VA applies. A unique feature in the energy storage market. From Color Control GX firmware version 1.72 , PylonTech systems are now supported. PYLONTECH models Two models are compatible with the Victron products detailed above. Internally these PylonTech models are the same, with only the exterior design differing to accommodate differing design tastes. The images below show these models. Each module is 48V and 50Ah. In the instances below two modules are stacked and connected together using a neat bracket system, which negates the need for an expensive 19″ rack system. PHANTOM-S For further information, technical specifications and availability of the PHANTOM-S click here . US2000B For further information, technical specifications and availability of the US2000B click here . Bracket mounting system Victron & Pylontech technical information For Victron information concerning Victron product compatibility, communication cable wiring, VEConfigure settings, Hub-4 Assistant and Color Control GX Configuration and more see: https://www.victronenergy.com/live/battery_compatibility:pylontech_phantom Conclusion To my mind this type of modular system makes a lot of sense, and of course the fact that these batteries are Victron compatible, along with the required Color Control GX, can only be a good thing. John Rushworth Contact & Links: Pylon Technologies Co., Ltd. Rita Ping: Sales E rita.ping@pylontech.com.cn W www.pylontech.com.cn T +86-21-51317697 | F +86-21-51317698 | M +86 15821573299
John Rushworth • 04 October 2016
Inter-Action: Superyachts, Champagne, Lights & Sound
Victron Energy customer Inter-Action is a French company based in La Crau between Toulon and Hyères. With over 20 years electrical engineering expertise, one of their specialist areas is LED lighting for Superyachts. Examples of their LED lighting solutions were on display at last week’s Monaco Yacht Show , all powered by Victron Energy systems. Victron on display As you can see a number of Victron products were on display at the Inter-Action stand. Not only that but you can’t have a Superyacht show in France without Champagne, or it seems sound and light. Using Victron products Inter-Action have created a cabinet with integrated LED lighting, a cooler for that essential Champagne, together with a built-in sound system. Champagne, Lights, Sound This Superyacht, LED lit sound and Champagne bar utilises the following products: 2 x Victron AGM 100 Ah batteries 1 x Victron 50A charger 1 x BMV-700 series battery monitor 1 x VE.Direct Bluetooth Smart dongle The music and lights are all controlled by a smartphone, with this self-contained unit putting out an impressive 15,000 Watts of sound! Conclusion The variety of places Victron products occurs never ceases to amaze me. If Inter-Action wishes anyone to test this particular product, I’m sure there will be no shortage of applicants! Thanks to Mr Christophe Boutinaud of Inter-Action for the images and information used in this blog and Jacques Noël, who is one of Victron’s Sales Managers in France , for giving me the heads up in the first place. John Rushworth. Links http://www.inter-action.fr/ https://www.facebook.com/interaction.var
John Rushworth • 16 September 2016
Automechanika 2016 in Frankfurt
If your business is the automotive service industry and you are near Frankfurt tomorrow (Saturday 17th Sept), why not drop into the Automechanika 2016 show. Victron Energy will be at stand F10 in hall 4.1 from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m at: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage 1 60327 Frankfurt am Main Victron Energy products on display Bluesmart Charger with Bluetooth connectivity. High power Peak Power Pack with Bluetooth connectivity. Lithium batteries from 60-300Ah. System monitoring via Bluetooth using VictronConnect and the Color Control GX with Remote Console for maintenance applications. Phoenix inverters with VE.Direct. DC/DC converters for automotive applications. Market sector example Aluca uses and integrates Victron products by offering flexible and lightweight system solutions for vehicles with ready to use built-in modules. Conclusion One of the key products of interest for this business sector has to be the Blue Smart IP65 Charger series shown below. This is Victron’s new professional battery charger range, with Bluetooth built in! John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 02 September 2016
Caravan Salon Düsseldorf 2016: 26 August – 04 September 2016
Are you planning an energy system installation in a campervan, motorhome or caravan, do you live near Düsseldorf? If so, you could certainly save yourself some time and money by visiting Caravan Salon Düsseldorf 2016 this weekend. Experts from Victron Energy (Booth no. Hall 13/D82) and TransWatt (Booth no. Hall 13/E64) will be on hand to guide you through a range of hybrid energy systems and choices. The show is open from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. If you can’t make it there are always plenty of other events that Victron Energy exhibit at. As I’m currently in the process of selling my sailing yacht Elektra and looking to get a Victron equipped motorhome, I was particularly interested to hear from Uwe Dräger at the show. Uwe is Victron’s sales manager for Germany. Here’s a few photos from the show and what is hot. Victron equipped campervan The Victron equipped campervan has certainly created a lot of interest. Electric induction cooking and making that essential cup of fresh coffee is not a problem, as the van is lithium ion equipped with a Multiplus inverter/charger and Color Control GX . As you may recall with the recent release of the Color Control GX v1.70 firmware this now includes tank sensors for fresh water, black water and fuel, plus adjustment of the current limit for a Mutiplus or Quattro as shown below in the additional overview screen. If visiting the show this is all displayed live on a screen, so you can experiment with all the options and choices. You’ll also notice on the windows of the van a schematic of the system. There is also a list of the products used. Apologies for the hasty photos from the show, but if you need further information please contact Uwe Dräger and I’m sure he’ll be happy to provide you with clearer details than those shown below. Products used in the campervan. Conclusion Whilst the Victron equipped campervan has clearly been a hit, there are of course many other products on display. A few that have been of particular interest are: Peak Power Packs , which are proving a hot product for motor caravan electric wheel movers. The BlueSolar MPPT range up to 100Amps for motorhomes and expedition vehicles. A good example of expedition vehicles are those from the Australian Land Rover Experience tour last year, that Victron dealer Transwatt were involved with. Complimenting the above are the 1200 Watt Victron Energy solar panels at 12V, which have also proved popular. Well, that has certainly given me some ideas for my forthcoming motorhome. I hope its helped you too. Contact your Vicron dealer if you’d like more information. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 03 July 2016
Victron Energy: New EMC test facility
You can be forgiven for thinking that Victron Energy have moved into the aviation business, however there is a connection. This is an anechoic chamber – similar to that which Victron Energy have now built. Where is it and what does it do? The new facility is at Victron’s Groningen premises. It is a fully enclosed Faraday cage with absorbing tiles all around. A Victron Energy Quattro inverter/charger and Victron Lithium batteries are shown in the new facility below. N.B. The Quattro shown is the new 15kVA version, more about that and the latest 300Ah Lithium batteries as the information becomes available… The new facility allows Victron to carry out their own EMC tests, both radiated and immunity. The EMC chamber is calibrated and certified so that tests performed there can be used for Victron product development – and it is now almost fully commissioned and ready for use. This facility is a specific type of anechoic chamber, referred to as semi-anechoic. You can read more detail about these types of chambers and how they relate to radio frequency (RF) and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing here . EMC chamber construction The images below show the Groningen building being extended to house the new EMC facility. Pile driving begins. Piles for the foundations in place. The new EMC facility integrated into the rear of the Groningen building. An engineer calibrating the EMC chamber. Inside the EMC chamber during calibration. Conclusion Victron’s new EMC chamber represents a significant and worthwhile development for the company and whilst they might not build fighter aircraft – it is reassuring to note that similar values to product testing and quality apply. John Rushworth Credit: The Wikimedia Commons image shown in the headline is a F-16 Fighting Falcon .
John Rushworth • 22 June 2016
Intersolar Europe 2016: Smart solutions from Victron Energy
Intersolar Europe is billed as the world’s leading exhibition for the solar industry and it’s partners. With over a 1,000 exhibitors this year, that does seems to be the case – and Victron Energy are naturally a part of it, having a large stand of their own with many of Victron’s partners featuring Victron Energy products on their stands too. Today is the first day of what we trust will be a very successful and busy show; with visitors from Europe, Africa and Latin America. If you are near the Munich area why not take the opportunity to have a look around. Victron Energy display Booth B2.570 is where you can find out about the latest and indeed upcoming products and solutions from Victron Energy, plus expert Victron staff are on hand to answer your questions. One of this year’s themes for Intersolar is ‘smart renewable energy’, an area which Victron have focussed on in recent years and are well placed to advise on and supply products for. This perfectly compliments a stated theme of Intersolar 2016: “In 2016, Intersolar Europe’s latest pioneering development sees it combine the themes of energy management, storage, grid integration and energy management under the key topic of smart renewable energy. Smart technologies that analyse and optimize power generation and consumption as well as interconnect various pieces of technical equipment all help to create smart concepts for managing and storing renewable energy. Visitors to Intersolar Europe can immerse themselves in this world over the next three days in hall B2”. New products Here’s a sample of some of the new and innovative products on display: SmartSolar charge controller MPPT 150/85 & 150/100 Phoenix Inverter 12/500-230V, Phoenix Inverter 24/500-230V Phoenix Inverter 48/500-230V Multi 12/500/20-16 230V, Multi 24/500/10-16 230V and Multi 48/500/6-16 230V For stock availability of such in demand products do check delivery dates with your Victron distributor. Conclusion Intersolar 2016 Germany Neue Messe, München Jun 22nd – Jun 24th Clearly this is one show not to miss, but if you can’t make it don’t worry as Victron Energy are active in many countries around the world; besides their distributors and dealers Victron also attend many other events. To see if one is coming to a city near you check out: https://www.victronenergy.com/information/events John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 08 February 2016
In focus: Audio Technik achieve one million euro milestone
Audio Technik GmbH are based in Bad Salzuflen, Germany, and have been a Victron Energy customer for many years. Back in 1981 Mr. Kirchhoff, who is the CEO of Audio Technik GmbH, started selling Victron Energy inverters – which has resulted in 35 years of experience and partnership with Victron Energy. We’d like to celebrate that and their most recent milestone. In focus Distribution As a distributor for Victron Energy products in Germany; Audio Technik GmbH deliver many products direct from stock to their reseller customers who are located throughout the country. Growth Traditionally the marine market has always been key to Audio Technik, but as noted by Mr. Kirchhoff, “last year in fact the largest growth could be seen in the automotive and stationary battery storage market”. Turnover Due to the hard work of Mr. Kirchhoff and his colleagues Audio Technik’s 2015 sales volume surpassed the one million euro mark . A milestone indeed and one that Victron Energy sales manager Uwe Dräger was delighted to congratulate the company on, as shown in the headline image above. Customer support One of the keys to this success, as Uwe Dräger confirmed, is the way Audio Technik support their customers through personal consultation allied with solid technical knowledge. Such personal support not only ‘moves blue boxes’ but also ensures a robust customer network of committed long term business partners. Reduced technical queries Speaking to Mr. Kirchhoff it is clear their support strategy works as the level of technical queries has reduced over the years. In part he also attributes this to the more recent Victron Energy website and documentation in multiple languages, the Victron Energy Blog and the Victron Live site too. Off to a good start In concluding my conversation with Mr. Kirchoff he noted that 2016 sales have also started well, so naturally we wish him and the Audio Technik team all the very best for this year as they continue to build on their success and longevity as Victron Energy distributors. You can visit Audio Technik’s website here . Bob Hopman
John Rushworth • 29 December 2015
Victron Energy on show 2015/2016: Nautic 2015, Paris event
As 2015 draws to a close we reflect on one of the most recent (in fact one of the many) shows Victron Energy exhibited at in 2015 – and of course there are many more events scheduled for 2016 including Nautic 2016. Nautic 2015 Nautic 2015 was held at Salon Nautique International de Paris, Porte de Versailles from 4th to 13th December. The French are amongst the most passionate sailors on the planet and even though visitor numbers were down a little, likely due to the terrorist attack and the United Nations Climate Change Conference – the show still attracted over 200,000 visitors. The Victron Energy stand was designed by Margriet Franckena, owner of www.ef-belettering.nl , supervised by Jaap van Hasselt who is Victron Energy’s sales manager in France. The Victron team for the show consisted of Jaap and Alix Van Hasselt, Bob Hopman , Jacques Noel and the much appreciated support of two of the main French Victron Energy distributors: Peter Kroonenberg from PK Fluvial and Jean Christophe Clerc from SPN Société de Prestations Nautiques. The Victron Energy stand Here in Jacques’s words is his experience of Nautic 2015. “The Victron Energy stand was well located and very well constructed. We had a big schematic of a typical boat installation, such as we find in the Marine Brochure . This attracted many of the show visitors’ attention – drawing them to our stand, asking lots of questions. This proved to be a very efficient way of engaging present and potential customers.” “On display also were some of our many different types of batteries including VLRA and Lithium technologies. As is typical with the marine world many visitors requested more battery information and our help in understanding the challenges of marine batteries. Interestingly the split in interest between VRLA & Lithium questions was about 50/50, showing just how much interest has grown in Lithium-ion use for the boating world.” On display Displayed products included: VLRA AGM, AGM telecom batteries and Lithium batteries 12V and 24V Chargers – IP65 with accessories, IP67 and IP 22 MultiPlus Inverter/Charger Cyrix products Argo Diode and Argo FET battery isolators Battery Protect VE Direct MPPTs and MPPT Solar Charge Controllers Conclusion As Jacques said: “Congratulations to Margriet and Jaap for a great stand and show. It was successful and we had a very busy stand, where the Victron Energy team met and made many new contacts. Hopefully we’ll get the same stand position next year for Nautic 2016 and build on the success of 2015.” Build on the success of 2015? That sounds like a great way to go forward. Victron Energy wish all our readers a Happy New Year and every success for 2016! Reinout & Matthijs Vader
John Rushworth • 12 June 2015
Intersolar Europe 2015
Intersolar Europe is billed as the world’s leading exhibition for the solar industry and its partners. With over a 1,000 exhibitors this year, that does seems to be the case. As you can see Victron Energy have a large stand, plus their products feature on many of their partner’s stands. Today is the last day of what has been a very successful and busy show with visitors from Europe, Africa and Latin America. If you are near the Munich area why not grab this last opportunity to take a look around. For those of you that can’t or haven’t been able to make the show, here are some photographs and information from and about the event. Victron Energy stand The busy Victron Energy stand at Booth B3.430 Victron Energy staff and customers deep in conversation Victron specialist TOP Systems B.V. , showing their Hybrid Lithium Generator Topbox mobile power BlueSolar Charge Controllers on display The recently released VE.Direct Bluetooth LE Dongle and other products Victron Energy on other stands For the very first time Fronius are publicly demonstrating their cooperation with Victron Energy, for backup and off-grid systems. This has been very well received by both Fronius and Victron Energy customers. Battery Megastore displaying Victron Energy products Victron Energy products are everywhere! Here are Victron distributors Battery Megastore with Victron products on display. New products The EasySolar 1600 now has a bigger brother – EasySolar 3000 New BlueSolar Solar charge controllers Quite often new products are launched at shows but these solar charge controllers, shown below, are so new they didn’t quite make it onto the stand. As you can see one has the traditional terminal connectors and the other has PV MC-4 connectors. There are three ratings and they all share the same size enclosure: 150/45, 150/60 and 150/70. Blue Solar MPPT 150 | 70 – Tr charge controller Blue Solar MPPT 150 | 40 – MC4 charge controller Celebrations Victron Energy 40 Years: 1975 -2015 Credits Many thanks to Matthijs Vader, Marianka Pranger and Johanes Boonstra of Victron Energy for the photographs and information. John Rushworth.
John Rushworth • 03 April 2015
Victron Energy in Africa: March 2015 news roundup
March was a busy month in Africa for Victron Energy staff and distributors alike. Not only was there the 18th Annual Solar Show Africa, from 24 March to 25 March, but there was also a great opportunity for Victron Energy Distributors to meet up with Victron staff and their peers, as you can see in the group photo above. SOLAR AFRICA 2015 This annual trade show, fair and exhibition was hosted in the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, attracting around 5,000 participants. Focusing on Solar Energy, Renewable Energies and Energy Storage this was an ideal platform for Victron Energy to display their energy and power solutions, particularly as load shedding continues to be experienced in South Africa . Here’s Andre du Rand (Sales Manager for South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana and Namibia) explaining the benefits and solutions to joburgtoday.tv To see the interview go to around 6 minutes 12 seconds at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q4UE_Uq5Nc Energy solutions on display at Solar Africa Distributors meeting and awards The happy faces from left to right are: Matthijs Vader (MD Victron Energy), Jan Klumpenaar (Sales Manager Africa, Asia, Brazil and Argentina) and Andre du Rand once more – looking a little less serious this time! Distributor awards Ettienne van der Westhuizen – Managing Director of Current Automation , South Africa – Award for Excellent Sales. Andre Friend – Managing Director of Telecom Techniques , South Africa – Award for Excellent Sales. Gerd Roessler – Managing Director of Radio Electronic CC, Namibia – Award for Excellent Sales and Long Standing Achievement, as the oldest Distributor in Africa for over 20 years. We wish all Distriubtors in Africa every success for the coming year and congratulate those above on their awards. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 12 February 2015
Victron partner Oceanvolt award: Helsinki International Boat Show 2015
This news is literally hot off the press. Victron partner Oceanvolt’s boat, the Arcona 380Z (Zero emissions) has won ‘Boat of the year 2015’, at the Helsinki International Boat Show. The show is still in progress until Sunday and Oceanvolt staff are naturally very busy, so further details will follow in a more comprehensive post. For now we’d like just like to congratulate Christian Hallberg, Commercial Director of Oceanvolt Ltd, on the award. Well done to Christian, all Oceanvolt and Arcona staff. We look forward to hearing more and to how you’ve integrated Victron Energy products into the award winning Arcona 380Z. Update 16th March 2015 Here’s a good photo of the boat’s engine room in partial build. More information on the completed boat, with photos will follow as soon as we have them. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 30 January 2015
Victron Energy: Warranty on products upgraded
Ever since my father Reinout Vader founded Victron Energy in 1975, our product lines have continued to grow along with ever improving quality and reliability. As a consequence of this and due to the confidence we have in our products, we have decided to upgrade our warranty to end users. Per the Victron price list , as of January 2015 all products now come with a 5 year limited warranty, with the exception of batteries which are 2 years limited warranty. With this upgrade and as our slogan says, we hope you continue to enjoy “Energy. Anytime. Anywhere.” – for many years to come. Matthijs Vader
John Rushworth • 22 January 2015
Victron MPPT Shines: Fitting solar panels to boats
Stumbling across the January 2015 issue of Practical Boat Owner, my eye was drawn to an article by Dave Berry. Fitting solar panels: There are many types of solar panels and regulators, but which might constitute the most effective set-up for your boat? As I hope to install some more solar this season I was intrigued, as it was clear Dave had gone through the same thought processes in fitting solar to his own boat, as I have been with mine. Also it was great to see the Victron BlueSolar MPPT 75/15 showing benefits over a Morningstar SunSaver 20 PWM Solar Controller, as you can see in the headline image above. To some extent the fact that the Victron MPPT came out better than the Morningstar PWM solar charge controller, was no surprise. However it’s good to see confirmation of your own research verified in a magazine. PBO installs Victron MPPT 75/15 to test For a summary of the benefits of MPPT v PWM, which I culled from Reinout Vader’s excellent whitepaper on the subject, see the blog post: Which solar charge controller: PWM or MPPT? The complete white paper puts matters in an even fuller perspective. Back to Dave’s article as it’s not just about controllers, as we need to consider the type of panel too. Once again I found myself agreeing with Dave’s thought process. “The chances are that if you have solar panels on your boat – or, for that matter, perched on the roof of your house – they are going to be first-generation silicon-based technology, either mono- or polycrystalline.” In fact I spent quite sometime agonizing over mono-crystalline vs poly-crystalline. Having said that I soon realized space and module efficiency was the key to maximizing the solar harvest on a small boat. In fact Dave goes on to say, “if, like me, every sensible part of your boat has the optimum panel on it, and you’ve taken the time to eliminate shading, and provided a tilting arrangement to allow you to track the sun as it arcs across the sky, then your options are limited. In fact, about the only thing you can do is buy an MPPT controller.” For my own boat I used a BlueSolar MPPT 75/15 and 2 x 30 Watt mono-crystalline panels in series so I have the correct minimum panel voltage to charge my AGM 24V battery string. As you can see below my boat is a double-ender, so there is little space for more or indeed a tilting arrangement. Ignore the generator for now as that is a blog for another day, about the magic of a MultiPlus. That’s not much solar I hear you say. Indeed it is not, yet the most I can sensibly add to my 8m yacht is another 100 Watts. In that case it would be very nice to have some flexible high efficiency cells at around 22.5% . More efficiency equals less area when comparing cells of equal output. Note I said cells not panels. Once I got over the price (around 4 times more than a good rigid glass fronted panel of the same rating) I started looking at actual module sizes, ratings and output for the available footprint. Whilst there is no doubt that an efficient panel is a good panel, I’m in the price sensitive league of boating, so I decided to calculate a range of panels v cost v output per square metre. It yielded some surprising results. I wanted to see if the high efficiency boat specific flexible panels represented good value for money, by reducing the installed area and maximizing the output. Comparing one of the 50W high efficiency flexible panels with a Victron SPM51-12 50 watt rigid panel, I was shocked to discover the rating was 155.42 watts per square metre vs 143.55 watts for the Victron panel. Quite frankly a 12 watt gain per square metre, is no excuse to spend 4 times the money! The only caveat to that is that panels, subject to their cell or module efficiency, cell area, glass area and module area, can vary per square metre of module output from 120 watts to 180 watts. It is worth comparing these factors (along with module shape) and weighing them against the cost per watt to see what is best for a given module or modules footprint, that will fit your boat. This way you choose the optimum for your particular boat, especially if you mount them in the least shaded area. If, like me you are a seasonal, non live-aboard sailor who sails in the months of May, June, July, August, then it is often not worth the extra weight, windage and complication of tilting panels. I live at 55 degrees latitude so the optimum for those months, with panels facing south would be a 40 degree elevation/50 degree tilt. As the boat changes direction a lot sailing around the islands off the west coast of Scotland (rather than being on a long tack for hours on end) it is simply easier to install flat panels and live with the 10% loss in solar harvest for my location. If you are fitting solar panels to your own boat, I hope that helps cover some of the considerations, that others have found too. Dave’s complete article, which prompted this blog is here . Further supporting guidance by him to his article ‘Fitting solar panels’ is here . John Rushworth Credits: Thanks to Dave Berry and Practical Boat Owner for permission to publish the results from their January 2015 magazine article and to Johannes Boonstra for supporting technical information.
Matthijs Vader • 02 January 2015
Goodbye December 2014, welcome January 2015
First of all: we wish everyone a very happy New Year! We hope 2015 will be powerful and innovating. And what is the first thing you should do to start 2015? Indeed: change your Calendar! We say goodbye to our 2014 Calendar and welcome our brand new Calendar for 2015, full of different examples using Victron Energy products. The new calendar is going like hot cakes. We have already printed and dispatched 5,000, and have now had to place a back order for even more! If you want one you better let us know quickly! In comparison to the 2014 version the new one is a bit smaller and handier, especially when you want to change the month. And for the ladies among us: it also has male models. We hope you enjoy it! Marianka Pranger
John Rushworth • 20 December 2014
Happy holidays from the Victron Energy Team
Wishing all our distributors, dealers and customers a Merry Christmas and a sparkling New Year. The Victron Energy Team.
John Rushworth • 18 December 2014
New Victron Website: Built at Victron’s solar powered head office
As we move toward wrapping up (sic) 2014, it seems 2015 will commence in style, as earlier today Matthijs Vader emailed me from their solar powered head office and said: “I’m not sure if you were aware that there has been a new website in the works for a long time . We plan to go live today, and then afterwards continue with further improvements.” I thought Marianka (she of Victron Calendar fame) had been quiet recently. Now I know why! It turns out it is she who has been doing some of the hard work behind the scenes, making changes to text and documents, as well as telling the web-companies (ytec & TriMM ) what needed doing. And I thought she’d gone on holiday early 😉 Having been lucky enough to get a glimpse of the site just prior to launch, I have to say it is far more 21st century, with a clear, crisp and more modern feel to it. It is also good to see a Sitemap now at the bottom of the pages. Give it a try and let us know what you think. We hope you enjoy all the hard work that has gone into the making of the new Victron Energy website, from Victron’s solar powered head office . John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 28 August 2014
Solar Cloth: Emerging technologies
Here at Victron we always need to keep our eye on emerging technologies and how they may relate to our products, both now and in the future. Solar cloth is one such technology that has certainly got me excited. You can see the solar cloth panels embedded in the mainsail of the yacht above, which is ideal as deck area for conventional modules is limited on sailing yachts. Solar cloth is not just for boats though. Yesterday I spoke to Alain Janet from solarclothsystem.com and learned that it can also be integrated into canopies, to provide power for outdoor events for example or indeed to recharge electric vehicles. Even an awning for an RV or overland 4 x 4 could probably use such a system too. However, Alain is a sailmaker to trade and naturally it is in that field that his first system is to be deployed, with UK Sailmakers (France). The UK Sailmakers group has over 50 lofts and service centers around the world, so to my mind they are well placed to bring this technology to market. Below is a press release, concerning these new PowerSails. SOLAR SAILS TO POWER TRANSATLANTIC RACER Frenchman Daniel Ecalard has entered his Open 50 DEFI MARTINIQUE in the 3,500-mile Route du Rhum from St. Malo, France to Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. His goal: to complete the race with zero carbon emissions. Ecalard plans to carry no diesel for generating electricity in a boat that bristles with electronics that do everything from communicating and navigating to making water and moving the boat’s canting keel. He will use the boat as a test bed for clean energy solutions. His primary source of power will be solar panels laminated into his Titanium® mainsail to cover all the boat’s electrical needs. The sails are being made by UK Sailmakers France, which has developed the technology for solar cells that can be either laminated to new sails or affixed to existing sails. This exclusive technology is called PowerSails and is being developed by Alain Janet, owner of UK Sailmakers France. These cutting-edge, light-weight films can generate electricity in low light and indirect sunlight. They are supple enough to handle the sail being luffed as well as folded. The panels will be put in the upper part of the main, above the third reef. Janet says that the mainsail for DEFI MARTINIQUE is expected to produce on average 500 Watts per hour, budget allowing. Ecalard’s boat was built in 1998 for that year’s BOC race. In 2002-2003, Brad Van Liew won the 50-footer division of the 30,000-mile Alone Around Race by winning all four legs with this boat. She still holds the 24-hour distance record for a singlehanded 50-footer when she went 345 miles in a day. In 2008, she won her class in the Newport Bermuda race. In 2010 the boat starred in the Hollywood movie “Charlie St. Cloud.” Ecalard’s ultimate goal is to build a sailing freighter for working the inter-island trade in the Caribbean. Credits Our thanks to Adam Loory of UK Sailmakers International for the interview and text above, with RDR (Route du Rhum) skipper Daniel Ecalard. As a footnote, we also wish Alain all the best for his PowerSails project. And if there is a place for Victron to assist, then I’m sure we will as emerging markets and technologies are surely a key to business growth for all. So, if on your Victron travels you too come across something new, that is noteworthy of a post here on the Victron blog, do let us know. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 20 August 2014
Charged: Byte sized web based news in differing languages
Update 3rd April 2017: The news referred to in the blog below has been superseded by the weekly newsletter in Victron Professional: https://professional.victronenergy.com/news Some news is also available at: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/news/ Archives of the web based news are now here: https://www.victronenergy.com/information/newsletter Need to catch up with Victron news, but don’t have much time? Need some training on Victron Energy products? Why not get charged up with byte sized Victron Energy news, in a clear and concise web page format. Available in the following languages: English Dutch French Spanish German If you have a few more minutes, why not subscribe to the Victron Newsletter. It’s quick and easy. If there something you particularly want to see in the newsletter, then do let us know by leaving a comment for Marianka and Carola below. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 25 June 2014
Victron Energy Photo Contest
Hopefully we now have the attention of some of you! Whilst the headline image is a fun and tongue in cheek quality photograph, from the Victron Energy 2014 Calendar , it is also a serious way to announce the ‘Victron Energy Photo Contest’. Over the last months many surprising applications using Victron products have come to light, ranging from cold remote mountain installations, to desert medical facilities, to fast solar boats, to vegetarian robots. It is in this spirit we’d like to invite you to share your best photograph, with Victron equipment at the heart of your submission. The 2014 calendar was Marianka’s theme. What will yours be? Invitation Join Victron Energy’s photo contest and have your photo illustrated on one of the pages of our exclusive calendar. Everyone is free to join the contest, as long as the guidelines are respected. Send your photo as a JPG and as a RAW-file via www.wetransfer.com using the email address events@victronenergy.com Submissions before the 12th of September 2014 will be accepted. Please include your name, the location of the photo and a small description. Besides being in this prestigious calendar, all winners will also receive their very own photo printed on glass! Note. If you have an interesting installation, but don’t have the time or knowledge to create a good photo, then please still let us know, as we are always looking for installation examples. Guidelines & Tips All photos to be in the horizontal orientation The photo is to be taken with a camera that can shoot in RAW format Tip: to make the photo more attractive, it is an idea to add a model/models. This can be a male, a female or both. The outfit of the model/models should be decent and of course fit with the application The photo has to show the function of the Victron Energy products used Victron Energy should be seen somewhere in the picture (use of a mock up Victron Energy flag for example) Tip: to show in the photo where it has been taken, it is an idea to add something that is typical for the country. For example a typical object/animal or costume of that country Please note that by submitting the photos for this contest, you transfer the rights for usage to Victron Energy. This means photos can be used by Victron Energy in the calendar and other media All photos received will be checked for their quality and content and be judged by the Victron Energy team Have fun! We look forward to receiving your submissions. If you have any questions please email events@victronenergy.com or ask here on the blog, so others may benefit from any answer too. John Rushworth PS. This information is also available as a PDF: Photo Contest 2014 – flyer
John Rushworth • 06 June 2014
One for the weekend…
It occurs to me, it has been a busy week for Victron staff. But what of you out there; our distributors, dealers and customers? If you’ve been stuck in the office all week whilst colleagues have been out gallivanting and having too much fun, here is a reminder that it is Summer in Northern Europe – and maybe this is what you should be doing this weekend. The image is from the surprise calendar , by Marianka and her team, that was available earlier this year in limited quantities. For those of you that were not fortunate enough to receive one, enjoy the photo and don’t forget to have a great weekend, whatever you choose to do… John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 06 June 2014
Intersolar: New MPPT Solar Charge Controllers on show
It has been a busy week at Intersolar Europe . In fact word from Matthijs, at the show in Munich, tells me there have been more customers visiting the stand than the the expanded sales team at the show could handle! In Matthijs’s words: ‘a super success’. The headline image shows the new stand, which has also gone down very well. Clearly a great success for all concerned. Part of that is no doubt down to the new MPPTs on show. These will shortly be detailed in an official press release, but for now here is the heads up for our dealers and distributors. There are four new models of the ultra-fast BlueSolar charge controller (MPPT) range. The series now comprises eight models, ranging from the BlueSolar MPPT 75/15 up to the new BlueSolar MPPT 150/85. The new models are the BlueSolar MPPT 100/30, BlueSolar MPPT 100/50, BlueSolar MPPT 150/35 and BlueSolar MPPT 150/85. I think it is also worth pointing out why the MPPT range stands out from the competition. BlueSolar MPPTs (like other major manufacturers) allow solar modules to be placed in series as well as parallel to increase input power; Victron MPPTs are unique in having solar power limiting built in, which ensures the output power of a system will never exceed the maximum rating of the controller. This special feature of the Victron BlueSolar MPPT range allows customers to connect a surplus of nameplate solar power. Most of the details of the new models in the expanded range, are now on the Victron website . Don’t forget Victron also supply an essential spreadsheet tool to ensure the best possible choice of controller. This is available and explained in the blog post ‘ Matching solar modules to MPPT charge controllers ’. This tool assists in purchasing the best fit controller for the customer, whether that is to save on cost or to use a larger controller from the outset, if planning for the future expansion of an installation. Bob Hopman , who made this sheet for PV sizing calculations, continually updates it and has now included the latest models. We hope Victron distributors and dealers have as much success with the enhanced range, as Matthijs and team have had at the show. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 15 May 2014
Victron comes out on top!
You may recall in the recent blog ‘Nominations for: The fifth annual Dutch Interactive Awards’ that the Victron VRM Portal was a nominee in the B2B class. The fantastic news is that we won! That puts Victron right on top, beating other nominees such as Bosch, Audi and Kluwer. Victron chose TriMM to deliver the project, lead by former Victron employee Lasse Licht who project managed the VRM portal implementation. The key reason in winning the award was the delivery of a complete and integrated concept; one that embraces The Internet of Things (IoT), together with an API for third party developers and truly remote management. Read the (Dutch) Emerce news item for more information about who won and why. Congratulations to all involved. John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 29 April 2014
Nominations for: The fifth annual Dutch Interactive Awards
When you invest a six figure sum in a project, things start to happen. Money is one thing, but that certain ‘ je ne sais quoi ‘ is another. That special something, it turns out, is the VRM portal built by TriMM with investment from Victron; who selected them as their web developers for the project. Now all that hard work has been recognized! If the VRM promotional video (for the Dutch Interactive Awards) is anything to go by, it’s a solid portent. Do take a look. It is only a minute long, and to my mind very well done. Here is a little more about the awards themselves. Announced on March 26, 2014 the nominees for the fifth annual Dutch Interactive Awards were selected from the best online work, from Holland, which earned their developers the highest scores for concept, design, construction, delivery, interactivity and optimization in their nominated field. They may all seem a mouthful; however as a result of the VRM work, Victron are in celebrious company along with Audi, Bosch and other blue chips. The award winners will be announced on May 15th, at an exclusive dinner in Amsterdam. Here’s hoping for an award in the B2B class. We wish TriMM all the best on the day. More about the awards (in Dutch) are here . John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 25 March 2014
Pacific Powerboat magazine: Quattro packs a punch
It’s good to see Victron’s products appearing in magazines, and making a difference to boat owners. This time it is the southern hemisphere’s turn. When SeaChange, a 15m powercat luxury catamaran from Darwin in Australia, needed an upgrade, Ynovex Pty Ltd ., put together a package that gave the boat a whole new lease of life. Part of the upgrades were a 24V 8kVA Victron Energy Quattro inverter/charger and an isolation transformer, which were chosen to cater for the operating load of the boat whilst seamlessly managing the charging from shore power or the existing on-board generator as required. To read the full article see the March/April issue of Pacific Powerboat magazine . It makes interesting reading. For now though, here’s a quote from the article. “An added bonus is inverter capacity, Seachange is now capable of running air conditioning whilst underway and at rest, making for exceptionally comfortable cruising in the often stifling conditions. This of course increases generator usage but results in a much happier crew, which is priceless.” I guess that says it all. As a skipper myself, happy crews are good crews and I’m glad Victron could help make that difference. Thanks to Pacific Powerboat magazine and Ynovex for permission to reprint the above quote and photos. John Rushworth
Matthijs Vader • 14 March 2014
Sailing Today test: Victron MultiPlus comes out top
The April issue of the renowned Sailing Today magazine includes an extensive comparison of inverter/chargers, and we came out TOP . Here is what they had to say: “A heavy piece of kit built to withstand anything. Dutch manufacturer, Victron, is well known in the marine market for its steadfastly-built electrical kit and the MultiPlus combi is no exception. This baby needs serious bolting to a bulkhead and at 19kg all-in you don’t want to drop it on your foot! This combi has all the features you could possibly want from an inverter-charger, including the ability to link two more in parallel for increased power output. Connections are solid and cable distribution excellent. The front panel has all possible alarm indicators as well as others showing mode and status. A remote control panel is simply plugged into the V-net bus socket, which not only repeats the alarms and on/off controls, but also has a variable incoming AC adjuster knob for setting the maximum AC input power available. The reason we chose the 3000 is that it actually has a peak rating of around 2.6kW, whereas the 2000 model comes out at around 1.6kW max. We ran a 3kW load, which gave an overload alarm, but continued running for 30 minutes before switching off. We also connected up the remote 4½in colour monitor (￡65), which allows you to set nearly all the parameters remotely, plus it has a neat graphic display showing exactly what is going where and why. If you want all the gizmos and money is no object, this is the one for you!” Credits Many thanks to Sailing Today for giving us permission to use the above extracts. For the full article see their April 2014 issue and – Do give them a like on Facebook to show your appreciation . Matthijs Vader
Matthijs Vader • 24 January 2014
New enerday 500 watt fuel cell
An interesting image which I took on the Dusseldorf boatshow today. This 500 watt fuel cell is from a German company called New enerday . The fuel cell is running on propane. The dream of many sailers: silently charging batteries. No noise and no smell. It can also run on natural gas, which makes it very interesting for powering homes in countries such as the Netherlands, where many homes are connected to the gas network. In above picture, the fuel cell is actually running on the exhibition. The core is at 900 degrees Celsius. It is charging two of our batteries, and a Phoenix Inverter is running of those batteries. It is presented at the booth of genset manufacturer and also Victron distributor Fischer Panda . Fischer Panda is distributing this fuel cell in the marine market. Larger models include using the generated heat for heating and warm water, making it a Micro combined heat and power system, explained on Wikipedia . Below picture shows one of the 20 running installations. More information on the houseboat is on the New enerday website
Matthijs Vader • 08 January 2014
On my desk this morning: Victron Calendar
Guess what I found on my desk this morning? The result of our secret calendar project! The whole project has been managed by Marianka Pranger. She even took all but one of the photos herself. Marianka is our web editor, taking care of documentation translations, layouts, brochures and many other tasks. And now we know, that besides doing all that, she has a fantastic creative and photographic talent. It is really remarkable. Photos have been taken at many cool locations, such as Schiphol Airport, the highest building in Rotterdam, the Amsterdam Hospital AMC and our warehouse DSV in Rotterdam. All powered by Victron. The calendar is available in limited quantities. Distribution will be taken care of by our area managers, dealers and distributors. Matthijs Vader / Victron Energy.
John Rushworth • 11 December 2013
Oceanvolt teams up with Victron Energy
The Finnish electric propulsion specialist Oceanvolt enters to a two-way relationship with Victron Energy. Oceanvolt and Victron Energy will integrate their products to work as a unified system, which will form the base of Oceanvolts SEA® (Silent Electric Autonomy) concept. Oceanvolt SEA® system enables among other things running your A/C and other appliances without using your generator by converting the electricity from the propulsion system battery into 230VAC. Technically this means that Oceanvolt makes their products work with Victron Energy LIFEPO4 batteries, Multi’s and chargers. And the Oceanvolt propulsion data, such as shaft rpm, motor Watts, to the Color Control GX and the VRM website. The Victron Energy Color Control GX also gives Oceanvolt a very powerfull remote diagnostics tool. Oceanvolt will offer it’s customers systems which use Victron Energy’s charger/inverters, solar charger controllers and other electric components together with it’s propulsion system. Oceanvolts electric propulsion systems have already been installed in over 50 customer boats. Both parties of the agreement seem pleased. “Victron Energy’s products perfectly compliments our propulsion system and together they offer our customers the comforts of home while at sea,” says CEO of Oceanvolt, Timo Jaakkola. “The Oceanvolt system impressed us. It is a mature and finished system. With this partnership our customers can offer an electric propulsion system which works as a part of a boats existing electrical network”, says Victron Energy’s Managing Director, Matthijs Vader.
