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Victron people
Justin Tyers • 06 October 2023
Who is Carlos Quinones?
This is a very good time to get to know Carlos a bit better – October 2023 marks the tenth anniversary of Carlos’ employment at Victron Energy! Congratulations Carlos! Living and working in Spain – Carlos has provided us with an introduction to him and his family in both Spanish and in English. First, let’s hear from him in Spanish: Estudie Formación Profesional-II en Electrónica industrial, me gustaba mucho cuidar la instalación aislada de mi familia en la casa de campo donde teníamos hace 25 años; baterías de camión, una placa solar BP (de las primeras) y consumos DC como bombas de agua, TV etc. Estuve trabajando 9 años en Autoliv, empresa de Airbags y cinturones de seguridad sueca, aprendí la importancia de la calidad y I+D en un producto, luego 4 años en TAB un distribuidor de Victron, allí entre en contacto con Stefan Juncker y Floor van Olphen. Decidí aceptar entrar en Victron y nos trasladamos de Valencia a Alicante, de eso hace ya 10 años. Me gusta ir al gimnasio para hacer musculación, pilates y yoga, además siempre que puedo cocinar. Mi familia y amigos dicen que mis paellas son deliciosas. Como mis hijos Lucia (13) y Víctor (10) son aún pequeños, me gusta estar con ellos y montar en bici, hacer pádel surf o simplemente intentar ser un buen padre junto con mi mujer Raquel que estamos casados hace 17 años. Mi filosofía de trabajo es hacer clientes felices en el menor tiempo posible ;porque principalmente me ocupo del proceso de garantías en España, Portugal y Italia ,reparándolas cuando es posible .Considero que Victron tiene una alta calidad ,pero también influye que el instalador y distribuidor Victron hagan bien su trabajo .Muchas veces recibimos equipos dañados por no haber leído los manuales ,o simplemente no presentan defecto (NDF), hemos desarrollado un documento Pre-RMA para que incluso el instalador o cliente final pueda probar el equipo por que un alto porcentaje de errores son por desconocimiento .Por ello gasto mucho tiempo formando a los técnicos y distribuidores que son Centros de reparación en Europa , latino América y últimamente también en USA. Con Richard y Juan Alberto hacemos un gran equipo. Vivo en Alicante a 5 minutos de la playa, somos afortunados de disfrutar un buen clima y buenas playas con agua limpia. Doy gracias a Dios diariamente por tener un buen trabajo, una familia unida. Espero que si algún compañero no me conocía ahora tenga una visión más ajustada de como soy. And now for readers in English… I studied Vocational training in industrial electronics. I really enjoyed improving the off-grid installation of a country house we, as a family, bought 25 years ago. There were 12V truck batteries , a solar panel BP (the first) and DC consumption for all installed conveniences – such as the water pump and TV. Then I worked 9 years at Autoliv, a Swedish Airbag/seat belt company. There I learned the importance of quality, and product R&D. Then I worked 4 years at a Victron distributor – TAB – where I met Stefan Juncker and Floor van Olphen. I decided to accept an offer to join Victron and we moved from Valencia to Alicante. That was 10 years ago. I like to go to the gym to do weight training, Pilates and Yoga, I also like cooking and my family and friends say that my paellas are delicious. As my children Lucia (13) and Victor (10) are still young, I like to spend time with them – bike-riding, paddle-boarding, or just trying to be a good father – together my wife Raquel with whom I have been married for 17 years. My work philosophy is to make happy customers in the shortest time possible. I deal mainly with the warranty process in Spain, Portugal and Italy, repairing units, when possible. I consider that Victron builds to a high quality, but it’s also necessary for the Victron installer and distributor to do their job well. Many times, we receive damaged equipment because the customer has not read the manuals, or we find that the equipment simply does not have a defect (NDF). Because of this we developed a Pre-RMA document so that even the installer or end customer can test the equipment as a high percentage of errors are due to lack of knowledge, so I spend a lot of time training technicians and distributors who run repair centres in Europe, Latin America, and lately also in USA. With Richard and Juan Alberto, we make a great team. I live in Alicante a short walk from the beach; we are fortunate to enjoy a good climate and good beaches with clear water. I thank God daily for having a good job and united family. I hope that if any of my colleagues did not know me now they will have a better vision of me. Carlos ================== Thanks very much to Carlos for telling us about the important work he does, and for introducing us to his family. I know I speak for everybody when I say we’re looking forward to the next ten years.
Justin Tyers • 26 May 2023
Meeting Victron Energy People
In our occasional ‘Who is Who?’ series we like to introduce you the Victron people whose names you know, and whose faces you’ve seen – but you haven’t had a chance to chat, yet. Introducing themselves today are Guy Stewart – online video training manager and Victron Community page moderator from New South Wales, Australia; and David Gutierrez – Sales Manager in Mexico. Here they are in their own words: Hi, my name is Guy Stewart. As one of Victron’s more public faces, there is a chance that you have already come into contact with me through our Victron Community, or Professional Online Training program. Working at Victron really feels like the job of a lifetime for me. It brings together so many of my previous interests and work experiences into one. My first contact with renewable energy systems was when I moved to an isolated forest in the Australian bush with my wife Kirrah. When we arrived we had no electricity, no toilet and no running water. So had to learn through necessity how to build the systems to survive. It was a fantastic time and since then I have not stopped learning. While trying to figure it out, I studied and graduated with a Diploma of Permaculture, using my real world experiences as part of my course work. I also began to teach what I had learned (earning a trade certificate in training and assessment), giving presentations and other public speaking. Terrifying, but also a great thrill. I found a strong mentor in Natalie Meyer and went to work for a community service organisation named the NNIC, as a Sustainability Project Co-ordinator. Helping start community farmers markets, a food co-operative, and …. locally owned renewable energy projects! I’d found something that I really loved to do, and pursued further professional work at one of Australia’s pioneer renewable energy companies Rainbow Power. There I found another mentor and role model in Paul O’Reilly. I had a diverse role at Rainbow, though working mainly as a stand alone power system designer, and part of a team developing tools to design the systems. Living off grid myself helped me to understand at a very deep level what it was like, and doing it with my wife also helped me to understand what it could be like for other people! Once I began working with the Victron equipment for my own customers, I was all in. I focused my time at Rainbow at becoming a Victron Specialist. Learning absolutely everything I could about the products, and how to use the range to meet the needs of my clients. At a point, I had read every Victron manual, designed and installed systems in nearly all possible applications (portable, cars, boats, caravans, homes, businesses and factories) domestically and internationally. I began helping others with Victron issues, troublesome systems are a great way to learn – and less stress when they aren’t your customer (or your wife). Margreet Leeftink, the Victron Australia sales manager at the time, later told me that each time she saw one of my emails she knew the answer wasn’t going simple, and it wasn’t going to be in the manual. I loved the products, but eventually my frustrations with Victron’s documentation and training came to a critical point. I got a phone call from Amsterdam one afternoon, it was Matthijs Vader, the CEO of Victron. He had seen me trying to help others, and had heard some of my criticisms and he had an offer. If I thought I could make things better, I was welcome to join him at Victron and try! Guy Stewart sent me a number of great images from which to illustrate his story. I’m tempted to move to Australia myself if this is his back garden. Next let’s hear from David: I am David Gutierrez, the Sales Manager for the Mexican market at Victron. I was born and raised in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico – the land of tequila. I live with my lovely wife and my beloved 3-year-old son, Leon. My professional background is in energy engineering, and before and during my university studies, I worked as a technician and installer of photovoltaic systems from 2012 until my graduation in 2017. After that, I worked in the wind energy sector and substations maintenance. I always have had an affinity for energy storage systems, which have seen an exponential increase in demand in recent years. I discovered Victron Energy in 2019 while working as an engineering manager for a local company. In a short time, I was fascinated by the solutions and became a loyal fan of the work that Vader’s father and son had developed. I am infinitely grateful for the opportunity to enjoy my work while doing what I love. When I’m not working, I spend time with my son Leon and my wife. Apart from my passion for technical subjects, I am also an avid music lover. During most of my adolescence, I played the drums for a rock band, and today it remains one of my favorite hobbies. Thank you very much David and Guy, for taking the time to introduce yourselves. Next time we find ourselves in a club in Mexico City at 4am it will be reassuring to know that – no, it isn’t the beer …we really DO recognise the drummer.
Justin Tyers • 03 March 2023
Wild camping Vietnam – RV road trip
Welcome to Robert Nguyen, our new dealer in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, who it turns out has a powerful hobby. When he and his family are not working they like nothing better than to spend a few nights under the stars, enjoying the quietude of natural locations such as Tau Cave (Hang Táu), Son La Province. Hang Táu is a remote village of twenty households on stilts and is home to the Hmong people who live a simple lifestyle of livestock farming and cultivation. The gated village lies on a grassy plateau of about one Hectare in an otherwise mountainous region. There is no electricity or cell net, and the nearest town is 18 km (11 miles) away by dirt track. To access the village you’d need a 4×4 – like the Ford Ranger Raptor Pick up Truck seen here equipped with its own accommodation in the form of a roof tent. A tidy mobile energy system provides all the power you might need for a luxury ‘glamping’ break, comprising a 230VAC 3kVA Inverter/Charger capable of running any domestic appliance. The camper truck has a dual battery system – the 12V Lead Acid vehicle battery; plus a 24V Lithium battery which supplies the Inverter to run ‘House’ loads. Battery charging – 12V and 24V – is controlled and automatically switched by the system’s three Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC Chargers 12/24/15A 360W. Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC Charger The Orion DC-DC Charger has an ‘Engine On’ detection feature which simplifies installation wiring. It is based on user-definable alternator voltage detection, and works in the case of both ‘regular’ and ‘smart’ alternators. The Orion DC-DC Charger continuously tests the charging voltage, so that when the engine is once again turned off, the voltage drop will be detected, and charging disabled. You can find more information about the Engine On detection sequence here . Orion DC-DC Chargers are available up to 400W output, and an unlimited number of units can be connected in parallel to increase output power. The Lithium Battery in this set up can be charged either by the Orion-Tr Smart, or by the MultiPlus II when it receives AC power from the electricity grid or from a generator. Live System data information – at your fingertips, nearby, or from afar A Cerbo GX communication device lies at the heart of the installation. It allows the Inverter and BMV 712 Smart Battery Monitor to communicate with each other – and with the user via a GX Touch 50 touch screen device. More than that, the Cerbo GX is a multi-port communication centre which accepts data from a range of Victron and third-party equipment – allowing power data, temperature, tank-levels …in fact a huge range of information to be communicated to the web-based platform Victron Remote Management ( VRM ) – Victron’s communication portal which enables system interrogation and management from anywhere in the world. Additionally, all smart devices can be monitored and managed locally using the VictronConnect app on a smart phone. The VictronConnect app – which allows the user to view and change settings on their system straight from a phone or tablet – was further enhanced recently by an additional feature known as Instant Readout . This feature allows at-a-glance checking of essential live data of individual devices – without the need to ‘connect’ to each device. In this system the MultiPlus-II, Orion DC-DC chargers, and Lithium Battery will all report data to the VictronConnect app. The system build is configured thus: 1 x MultiPlus-II 24/3000/70 3 x Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC Chargers 12/24/15A 360W 1 x Orion Converter 24/12-70A 1 x Lynx Distributor 1000DC Cerbo GX and GX Touch 50 Battery monitor BMV-712 Smart 24V-210Ah Lithium battery Robert has expert practical knowledge of mobile energy systems for land and sea, and in Backup power for home and industry. You can get in touch with him at MES Services,ltd which is based in HoChi Minh City. We’d like to acknowledge Mr Nguyen Huy Tuong from Hanoi – a professional photographer – whose work has been used in this story.
Justin Tyers • 06 January 2023
Wiring Diagrams map out First Class installations
Let’s meet the man who simplifies power installations by providing meticulous wiring schematics for Victron Energy products and devices. As a certified American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC) electronics installer, Peter Bakker’s wiring diagrams are densely populated with hints, tips and important information which ensure power installations conform to the highest standards of safety and reliability. How does he work? Using Autodesk’s Autocad computer aided 3D design (CAD) software Peter says he visualises an installation before setting out the relationship between component parts. Concentrating on the DC side of the installation he first establishes the size of the Inverter(s). From there he suggests a Battery Bank of sufficient capacity to serve the loads. Next comes the charging ability – where will the recharge come from: Solar, Generator, Alternator, the Electricity Grid …and how will the charge current be controlled? In the case of Lithium – which Battery Management System (BMS) is appropriate? Or if the batteries are Lead/Acid, how will they be protected against deep discharge? Of course, with our extensive product range there are many thousands of possibilities for which reason Peter always arranges his schematics in the same way (Batteries bottom Left, Distribution top Left; etc) and always at the same scale …the advantage being that it may be possible to integrate two drawings for use as a guide to building your own installation even though there is no schematic exactly matching the product combination you have in mind. Some components of an installation are deliberately left out of the wiring diagrams – there will be no guide to wiring sizes, for example, as this depends on unspecified factors such as cable length and load. To make fully-reasoned decisions with regard to everything from resistance and voltage drop to grounding and isolation we have a wiring resource . Also, there is no switchboard in Peter’s drawing as these depend on the specific application. Peter is keen to hear suggestions for new schematics or to provide new technical resources wherever they would help installers achieve the highest standards commensurate with the Victron Energy brand. Early Career Dutch national Peter Bakker began his career as an Audio Visual engineer working for companies, students and specialist recording studios. He worked both as a teacher and installer of media electronics. Peter Bakker When his 40ft sailboat was being built he ordered the suspension of work as things were not looking good at all from a wiring point of view. After he finished a complete wiring diagram for his boat under construction, work resumed under his supervision to be carried out the way he wished and envisioned it. That intervention began a new career: working mainly with adventurers Peter designed robust on-board electrical systems to provide reliable operation in all conditions during extended periods offshore. Quite a number of his old customers are still sailing the globe with no power problems whatsoever. Advertising his services in the yachting magazine Waterkampioen (Water Champion) brought him to the attention of the editor who interviewed him for an article which opened with Peter’s deliberately provocative sentence: It’s time the ship’s carpenter stopped installing the electrical system. This caused quite a stir amongst the so called desk jockey business professionals. Having the intended effect this greatly increased his workload – sometimes designing complex electronic and communication systems with a mind-numbing 25km – 40km of cabling. Peter says: When the beginning and the end of cables are not marked properly, it’s a puzzle everyone will get lost in very soon. Using CAD, Peter pioneered off-site pre-build electronic installations for Boats and undertook complete surveys of recording premises, which allowed him to cut and label all cable runs back in his own workshop. These cables were then re-spooled, matched with trunking, and taken to site for fast efficient installation causing the least disruption. Similarly, for yachts he designed and installed complete navigation areas including all equipment and switch panels at his workshop, allowing him to test they were fully working before fitting on board the intended vessel. An interest in the build quality of Spectra Watermakers led to Peter gaining a distributorship for those products. His technical knowledge, plus a large stockholding of spares, proved a successful business combination. Cheetah having killed a Spring buck Spending quite a bit of time in South Africa, Peter and his wife Zita roomed all over the western parts, off-road, towing a caravan as a house-on-wheels, where they pursued an interest in wildlife photography in their spare time. He has a consultancy relationship with Phoenix Catamarans whose luxuriously-appointed range includes the 18 metre XSC60 currently under construction; with the Knysna Yachting Company – also a builder of luxurious Catamarans; and with offshore craft builder Legacy Marine who build 25 metre Aluminium dive support Catamarans to Lloyds/Veritas approval. Peter’s rich experience in designing and specifying top of the range electronics introduced him to Victron Energy 35 years ago – so it seemed a natural progression, when talking to our European Sales Manager Johannes Boonstra a few years ago, to offer to design meticulously presented schematics which provide suggested topographies for Victron Products to suit numerous applications. The year 2023 brings new Victron products, of course, for which Peter will continue to complete new drawings, and update the older ones, bringing them in line with current specifications throughout the updated product range. Why not type a product name into the search bar of our System Schematics page where you can expect the very latest developments to be incorporated in Peter’s extensive schematics library. It’s thirsty work.
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 • 02 October 2020
Who is Henrik Nilsson?
Henrik Nilsson, his daughter Engla (15) and son Loke (13) say ‘Hi’ from the west coast of Sweden as we continue our series introducing Victron Staff. So let’s ask: Who is Henrik Nilson? Hej from Sweden! I’m Henrik Nilsson, the Victron Sales Manager for Sweden. Born and raised on the Swedish west coast (the best coast!), I currently reside in Kungälv, a small town 20 kilometers north of Gothenburg with my daughter (Engla, 15 years old) and my son (Loke, 13 years old). My career arose from a burning interest in boats and the ocean in my teens, which inspired me to become a professional boat builder. After getting tired of series production, I started my own company where I installed all kinds of equipment in boats of all makes and sizes. This eventually led to a job as Sales Manager for Mastervolt Sweden where I began to comprehend the power-conversion solutions. After feeling for quite some time that Victron’s products were becoming more and more user-friendly and sophisticated, it was not difficult to say ‘Yes’ when the offer came to start working for the Blue team. Choosing to work for Victron was the best professional move I have made, and I feel that I have found a home with our family owned company. When I’m not working, I try to combine my children’s smouldering interest in athletics with our shared-interest in boats, and the sea – so there have been many training sessions on rocky islands on the Swedish west coast in recent summers. During the cold dark period of the year we take advantage of any nice weekends in the archipelago, but otherwise most spare time goes to athletics, and trying to brew my own beer, or messing around a little with my old mopeds.
Justin Tyers • 18 September 2020
Who is Thierry Cortassa?
We continue our ‘Who is?’ series by listening as Product Training Manager for France, Thierry Cortassa introduces himself : Hello, my name is Thierry Cortassa, and I have recently joined the Victron Energy team in France! I’m 45, married and I have one boy (Yann, 16 years old ) and a girl (Delphine, 13 years old ) My hobbies are Travel, Alpinism, Skiing and Paragliding (which I teach in my free time). I live in the capital of the Alps – Grenoble – so it’s easy to practice my hobbies ! I come from an unusual and rather self-taught background: I started as part of the Victron France team from the air (plane, glider)! After gaining an aeronautical maintenance diploma I worked for 8 years as a specialized airliner mechanic! It was very interesting work but its schedules weren’t compatible with the arrival – seventeen years ago – of my son. Following this, and the arrival of my daughter, I decided to set up my own company exclusively for solar application (thermal and photovoltaic). It was whilst carrying out some rather specific projects (at the time!) that I discovered Victron. Matthijs and Jacques helped me set up the first hub1 in France. From there I specialized in off-grid and self-consumption systems based on Victron products. As our experience grew we became known for our expertise, and with many installers coming to us for advice regarding their own installation we began distributing Victron products. It was during the Munich meetings that I really learned about the spirit of the company and from there we were able to start collaborating on experience/feedback from installers at French Victron training days. Last year, we opened a Victron technical training centre having visited Richard IJzelendoorn at his Spanish training centre in Alicante. This year the French team parted with Jacques when he retired (good retirement Jacques!) and the logical continuation for me was to join the team . I manage the French training, organise exhibitions and offer technical support for the distributors during a typical project. It is therefore with great pleasure that I learn more about the internal organization, and the efficiency of the Victron teams! Besides the spirit of Victron what I like about this area is the diversity of projects, which makes our activity very exciting. Despite my 13 years background in solar I still admire to see a system in operation with solar energy as the only power source! I am lucky to live in the Alps because it allows me occasionally to work or train in a mountain shelter – and then to descend either by skiing, or in my paraglider. There’s nothing better to enjoy my three passions (mountain, solar and paragliding) all in the same day ! Thierry Cortassa can be reached here .
Justin Tyers • 28 August 2020
Who is Simon Ytterbom?
Hey, y’all from the Sunshine State! My name is Simon Ytterbom and I am based in hot and sunny Florida. I am one of four sales managers in the USA & Canada, along with Alan, Rich and Justin. It’s said that August in Florida is God’s way of reminding us who’s in charge. While that may be true, I began my career in the cold north. Born and raised in Sweden, I grew up watching and playing soccer (football!) with my younger brother Gustaf. My passion for the sport eventually took me to New York City, where I played in college while earning my Business bachelor’s degree. In the concrete jungle is where I met Lauren. I consider it my most brilliant achievement in life to convince her to marry me. After all, it takes a very loving and considerate wife to listen to AC/DC, regardless if it is on the radio, or me. Today we have two beautiful children: a 3-year-old daughter (Tove) and Christian (9 months’ old). My career began in the energy storage field, where I worked with technical support for a battery distribution company in North East Florida. After a year in Florida, we decided it was a good time in our life to move to Sweden and introduce my wife to my homeland. This is where my power/conversion interest gained traction as I started working for Mastervolt, Sweden. My journey with Mastervolt halted a year later when we decided to move back to Florida to start our family. Upon moving back to our current hometown St. Augustine, my old company offered me the position for specialty products. Of course, my initial thought was to introduce Mastervolt to our current product portfolio but there was this other company, Victron Energy, that looked appealing as well. Upon spending late hours comparing the two companies my newly “greened” heart turned more and more blue and our company eventually turned to Victron. Working with Victron products was (and still is) an endless education and it rapidly turned into an obsession and had a drug-like impact on me. I began questioning what I could not accomplish instead of what I could. In the end of 2018, our family owned company merged with a larger corporation. It took me about 6 months to realize that I wanted to work with a family company, so when the opportunity as a sales manager for Victron Energy arose, I did not hesitate. In the end, my favorite part of my position was to work with Victron products, so why not full time. And as Covid-19 came around, so did my beginning with Victron Energy.
Justin Tyers • 14 August 2020
Who is Jonathan (Jono) Cecil?
This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who?’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ Jono My name is Jonathan Cecil (Jono) and have for the past three and a half years been living on a narrowboat on the waterways of the British Isles. Everywhere I go, my black Labrador Molly comes with me. I used to work for BBC News for some 14 years as a video journalist, trainer and programme producer. I sold my house and bought a new 60-foot narrowboat barge and called it Alice. It was classed as a ‘sail away’ and had no insides or electrics. As I had filming experience my friends encouraged me to start a YouTube channel called Journey with Jono. I filmed Molly and my journeys around the canals and rivers and detailed turning the boat from a shell into a home. After using lead-acid batteries for six months and looking after them really well they of course started to deteriorate and I was keen to find an alternative power source. Despite having companies wanting to give me huge discounts in return to film and talk about their batteries, instead, I decided to buy Victron Energy lithium batteries at full retail price as I could see how good they were. I filmed my experience and how I installed them and other electrical equipment and that’s when Victron noticed me. I was flown out to Almere in the Netherlands to meet both Matthijs and his father Reinout and started to produce videos for Victron. A year and a half later and I work full time for Victron Energy as a Video Executive Producer. I have stopped filming for the YouTube channel Journey with Jono and Molly and I no longer live afloat. It is strange getting used to living back on land in a house but I do like the endless water, more space and faster internet! My role with Victron is to film interesting projects and installs around the world as well as technical films on equipment and guides. Whenever I film in the UK on location, I take Molly with me and there is always a shot of her in my videos – just to keep the Journey with Jono viewers happy that have followed me over to the Victron channel – plus it’s great having her with me 🙂 Jono & Molly
Justin Tyers • 10 March 2020
Mobile energy Masterclass
Victron’s Technical Writer Margreet Leeftink teamed up with Sales Manager for Australia Craig Murray a few days ago to give a presentation aimed at demystifying DC-based energy storage and generation in a Mobile Home. They attended a Vanlife event on Australia’s Pacific Coast – where they demonstrated a compact installation and found the audience eager to hear practical advice on choosing, installing and managing mobile power systems. Margreet also gave away copies of her information-packed book Wiring Unlimited. If you haven’t had a chance to sit down with Margreet Leeftink’s book yet, you’re in for a treat. You can download a free digital copy here; or print versions of her book are available in five languages on E-Order, or from your Victron dealer. The 100-plus attendees at the meet-up, held at Waves Camping at Crescent Head , New South Wales, got the opportunity to talk through problems they were experiencing in their own set-ups; increase their understanding of correct system design; and get some valuable advice about planned improvements. Margreet and Craig then went from van to van troubleshooting ….multimeter-in-hand. What’s in the book? Wiring Unlimited is a book about installing power systems – of any size – which contain: Batteries, Inverters, Chargers, (or Inverter/Chargers); Solar Panels, Generators …and more. Generously provided with illustrations, tables, graphs and examples – in the clearest terms possible the book presents us with all the formulae we need to understand what is going on in our installation. Beginning with a simple analogy of how electricity behaves, she takes us through: choosing wiring guages and the correct fuses; making professional terminations; routing cabling; and designing system layout. the functions of each piece of equipment in a power installation are described, and how they behave under various conditions. It explains how to test and troubleshoot, ensuring correct operation. Data-communications cabling and its vulnerability to radio interference is explored. Three-phase grid supply is explained, and the distinctions between distribution networks topographies are drawn. Ground, Earth and safety devices such as the RCD are discussed …as are systems incorporating Electricity Generators, and for boat owners – the important topic of Galvanic Corrosion. Wiring Unlimited is a seminal work for DIY and professional systems installers alike. What we learn can’t be unlearned – lifting all our installations from ‘Workmanlike’ to ‘Advanced’. The Vanlife meeting was also a chance for Margreet and Craig to experience life on the road; hear directly from people living-the-life; and to keep up to date with the latest trends and demands. Most popular of all was a discussion of Lithium Batteries. Lithium offers great advantages to Van-lifers …they’re much lighter to transport than lead-acid; they take less room; they can withstand many more charge cycles …and additionally 80% of stored power can be routinely used per cycle whereas draining a lead acid battery below 50% state of charge will accelerate its decline. The biggest rig they found was 48/3000 MultiPlus fitted in a Mercedes Sprinter – which enjoyed the benefits of air-conditioning. But most van-lifers had chosen systems which although simpler often experienced charging problems – problems which the Cyrix battery combiner goes a long way to sorting out. The great thing about the Cyrix is that it’s automatic – not only does it ‘remember’ to combine the ‘house’ and ‘starter’ batteries when there is a charging current available (from the alternator, for example) but it remembers to isolate them again when there isn’t. That avoids a whole list of disasters, right there. Craig’s own set-up in his Isuzu 4×4 has a simple Tarpaulin for weekend trips, and includes a 115W Photovoltaic panel charging a Lithium SuperPack 60Ah controlled by an MPPT, BMV battery monitor and a Smart Battery Sense . He used it that weekend for running a 40L Engel fridge over 4 days and is happy to report that he always had cold beer. The campsite is situated in a little piece of paradise between Goolawah National Park and Limeburners Creek Nature Reserve. Forest gives way to sand dunes, and beyond the sand dunes the ocean rolls into a deserted bay. Even though the location is remote the site offers water by bore hole, hot showers, and – best of all – no phone signal. We’ve been hearing about the devastating forest fires in that part of the world. Margreet drove six hours to attend the event and says that although the fires had burned to within twenty kilometres of the camp site – the site itself was untouched. And where the fires had been ‘ the buds of new growth have already begun to appear ‘ she says. Vanlife is a popular lifestyle choice in Australia with many young and young-at-heart Australians preferring the freedom of the road to being ‘stuck at home’. Vehicles represented at the meet-up ranged from weekenders with cars and tents; ex-delivery vans with DIY accommodation fit-out, Camper Vans, Motorhomes-with-everything …and still going strong a 1970’s VW Combi. Activities at Waves Campground included awareness centred exercises and fire-side story telling – in acknowledgement of the indigenous land-ownership …an insight into how we all can benefit from having a yarn! There was music, of course, together with therapeutic breathing exercises, Yoga. Sounds like a great weekend was had by all.
Justin Tyers • 12 March 2019
Who is Chris Soumbassis?
Introduction This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who?’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ Hi all, I’m Chris Soumbassis based in Melbourne, Australia; and here I am pictured with my family: Ange – 24, Tina – 50, Chris – 49 and Peter – 20 …the Soumbassis clan. Our surname is of Greek heritage, my parents having migrated to Australia in 1966. My first full time position was way back in 1988 as an Insurance accounts clerk. Seven years later, in 1996, I started working for the largest Pay TV company in Australia, managing a team of 18 individuals – extremely testing at times. After 10 years I decided I needed a change of environment and in 2006 became a Sales Manager for a blind and awning manufacturer. My first introduction to DC and BUS systems came in 2010 working for a company which specialised in Home Automation, whose core products were gate- and screen-motors. It was there that I first became aware of Victron Energy and their wide-range of products. In 2017 I was approached by a Battery company to join them as the National Business Development Manager. I only took the job as they were a distributor for Victron Energy – I couldn’t see myself selling only batteries, day in day out. Over the next 18 months I was able to grow their business through the Blue Smart Charger range. My biggest achievement was driving out our competitors and getting Victron into the premium showrooms of automobile manufacturers such as Ferrari, Maserati, Audi and several motorbike retail stores. We managed to sell approximately 1800 chargers during my short stint and I’m happy to say that since my departure sales have continued to grow. Victron Energy offered me a position as Sales Manager covering Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. That was the easiest decision I’ve made in a very long time and began work with Victron in November of 2018. I’m looking forward to working together with Margreet Leeftink and Craig Murray to help grow the business in our region. Now a bit about my personal life. I am married to an amazing woman – Tina – who is self-employed and has worked in the beauty industry for the last 20 years. We have been together for 31 years and will be celebrating our 28th wedding anniversary this June. Tina and I are extremely proud of our boys: we have 2 amazing kids: Ange 24 and Peter 20. Ange is studying to become a teacher; Peter is an apprentice Motor Mechanic, just beginning his third year at Melbourne City Lexus . Both boys have been playing football from the age of 6 and this year will be the first time the brothers have played football together. We all love football – I played the game from a very young age and coached for over 10-years. Most of our weekends are spent either watching our boys play, or attending games at Melbourne Victory FC – a football team in the Australian National competition. We are also members of the Collingwood Football Club, this is an Australian Rules Football Team which is played with an oval ball on a very large oval pitch. It’s a strange and confusing game if you’ve never seen it played. I look forward to meeting you all in due course. Cheers Chris Soumbassis
Justin Tyers • 14 February 2019
Victron Energy people: Who is Craig Murray?
Introduction This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who?’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ Craig Murray Welcome to Australia – G’day! I’m Craig Murray based in Queensland, Australia – one of the three Victron Sales Managers in the country. I started my career as a Trade qualified Fitter & Turner/Toolmaker …and then worked my way through various Building projects; Fabrication; and in the Automotive industry, to name just a few. I grew to enjoy the challenges of manufacturing, product design and testing. High on the learning scale was the development of Australia’s very first mobile Cyclonic window testing chamber, of which I eventually built three and travelled to parts of the world, and right around Australia, changing the way homes and buildings would be constructed. A new direction came for me when I was introduced to the Home-Automation market – which included sales and support of automatic gate- and screen-motors. This is where I started to gain further knowledge of all things electronic/electrical, and particularly the programming of small automated systems. Victron is a more recent career change. Entering into the ever developing world of Battery and DC/AC conversion electronics, and working with a manufacturer is already proving to be both fun and rewarding. Why would this suit me? Perhaps it’s my love of boating and outdoor-lifestyle products that got me interested. I’ve always been a lover of the Water: Surfing, Camping, Boating and Fishing have been a major part of my personal life. Marine sports and recreational vehicles play a large part in Australian culture – and Victron fits right in here. So, it should be no surprise that I’m very much at ease working to build the Victron brand in Australia. I’m always proud to make mention of my family: My wife Ariane – well, what can I say? She must be a great woman – she’s put up with me for 31 years! Then there’s my Son Aaron (21) Australian Army Lance Corporal; and Daughter Ebony (17) pursuing her Ballet & Contemporary Dance career in Cannes/France. If you would like to hear the extended version of “Who is Craig” – you’ll have to catch me at one of the many trade shows and events Victron is involved in. Warning though – there may be some persuasive refreshments and humour involved. Cheers for now! Craig Murray .
John Rushworth • 30 August 2018
Victron Energy people: Who is Lucian Popescu?
Introduction This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who? ’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ Lucian Popescu My name is Lucian Popescu, Sales Manager for the Eastern Europe countries (Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia) which was previously the responsibility of Ruurd ten Brink and Leo Yntema . I live in Romania, near Bucharest with my wife Iulia and our son and daughter. Since graduating earlier in life, I have enjoyed working in a technical capacity in the banking & telecom sectors, however I’ve always been inclined to seek new experiences and decided to run my own business in 2005. First it was GPS tracking & monitoring solutions, then during the construction of my house, I discovered my passion for green energy – which continues to this day. Whilst constructing our home, I taught myself Arduino programming to remotely control all the systems inside the house and then developed it into a business (trading with electronics for hobbies, 3D printers, robotics and automation). All these exciting projects were powered by renewable energy. Following my passion for technology, I discovered Victron Energy products. I really liked them, to the extent that I started a new business in 2014 – and with Ruurd’s help became a Victron Energy distributor later that year. I so enjoyed the business, creating our own chain of sub-distributors and constantly increasing the turnover. Running a busy business didn’t stop me rising to even more new challenges though. I had an ambition to build my own electric car from an old Dacia – and did it ! Learning from our house build and the huge advantages of producing your own energy, plus keeping in mind the comfort it gives our children – I thought it would be nice to help poor families with children by donating and installing complete PV systems for them. After doing this (along with World Vision ) Ruurd saw the project photos and decided to involve Victron in these donation projects in Romania . In this way, I came to know a lot of Victron employees – not knowing at that time I would soon be a colleague. A new challenge came when Ruurd retired and I received a proposal to work for Victron Energy, which I was delighted to accept. My work was made all the easier by my earlier involvement, where I’d already had the opportunity to meet many interesting and committed distributors, learning a little about their countries and languages. During the times I’m not travelling, I like to spend it with my family, cooking for them but also enjoying and improving our home technology. Lucian Popescu
John Rushworth • 10 May 2018
Victron Energy people: Who is David Foret?
Introduction This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who? ’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ David Foret As with most of my colleagues at Victron Energy, my professional experience is quite varied. I have a degree in Power Electronics and Technical Sales, but once that education was complete I had other plans. After my military period, where I served in the mountain troops in the French Alps, I worked as a sort of one man band for a small company in the automation industry doing purchasing, inside sales and technical support. It was very rewarding in terms of experience but my head was still full of dreams to become a helicopter pilot. So, I moved to sunny California, the San Francisco Bay Area for initial training, then I passed my private pilot’s licence followed by a commercial and certified flight instructor’s licence. Subsequently that started a three year adventure as professional pilot, which took me through the Mid-West and Los Angeles areas. I must say it was a fun period of life as a young man, in part as I was flying in two of the most crowded air controlled spaces in America which is quite a challenge – my fellow pilots will know what I am talking about! After that I decided to move back to France and quit my flying career, as I wanted to settle down and start my own family. Back in France I worked for ten years in the electronic components industry as sales manager and whilst doing so came across Mastervolt products, which got me interested and into the marine and solar industry. For a period of seven years I enjoyed the challenge of a whole new world where we talked of 12 and 24V, where previously I was used to talking about 5 and 3.3V. I also enjoyed the marine industry’s more informal atmosphere, not to mention the crazy 2008 – 2010 period of grid connected solar business when my customers were placing orders 6 months to 12 months ahead – just to make sure they would get delivery of their inverters… After a short period at Webasto France, as key account manager, I was really excited to join Victron Energy and get back into a vast array of electrical equipment and energy applications. In working for Victron I have discovered they are a great company to work for and bless everyday that brings me something new to learn. Our products and applications are always evolving and what excites me is to listen to a customer tell me about their needs, to which I can reply: Victron has just the right solution for you! David Foret
John Rushworth • 10 December 2017
Weekend working…
Victron staff are finding it a little cold. This photo got me wondering, maybe you too? It seems Victron Energy staff and friends (Eske Kruis and Emma Brittmann) have been working overtime this weekend – why not give their snowman post on the Victron Energy Facebook page a ‘Like’. I think they deserve it! John Rushworth
John Rushworth • 08 December 2017
Victron Energy people: Who is Richard IJzelendoorn?
Introduction This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who? ’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ Richard IJzelendoorn My name is Richard IJzelendoorn and I live in Muchamiel (Alicante) Spain, with my wife Chantal, son Maxim and daughter Liz. As my name suggests, I’m not a native of Spain. I was born in the late sixties and raised in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Initially I worked for 17 years in the Port of Amsterdam as a heavy equipment operator, later as a bridge crane operator and instructor for these bridge cranes. Although I didn’t go to technical high school, it was my introduction to motorcycles in my late teens that got me interested in all things that have an engine and/or electricity. I’d disassemble defective motorcycles, washing machines, dish washers – anything and everything to see how they worked – then I’d try to fix them and put them back together – often successfully! My first experience with solar energy started in The Netherlands where for years we had a small chalet, in Loosdrecht, with electricity supplied by solar panels, a charge controller and an inverter. In my time there I found out that you can’t connect unlimited appliances to a solar installation and that it all has to be in balance to work well. In 2003 my wife and I decided to leave The Netherlands and move to Spain. Here I started in the building industry as a construction supervisor. When this market collapsed, around 2010, I got the opportunity to become a member of the Victron Energy family. I did not have to think long before I said yes to the chance. This was my second experience with solar energy and after studying all the products I found out that there is a significant difference between the Victron Energy units and the Chinese products I had in our chalet. Initially I started as account manager for Spain and in the first year visited many potential customers, who have become good customers now. At present, I’m the sales manager for the Mediterranean area (Southern Europe and North Africa) which includes Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. In these countries I support our distributors when necessary and possible. The countries in which I work are very different and that makes it very interesting to visit them, especially the African countries. It’s always a surprise if you visit existing or new customers in these countries and it is very varied work, never the same, which makes it such a pleasant job. I visit every customer at least once a year, which means that I travel a lot. I also run our office for Southern Europe in Muchamiel. Here we have a classroom where we deliver training to our distributors’ technicians and/or installers who are active in the Mediterranean area. The repairs for Spain and Portugal are also done at this office which are in the capable hands of Carlos Quiñones, our support engineer. In my personal life I like to watch sports such as football and Formula 1® on television, but I also like to be outside around the house or at the seaside, which is only 10 minutes from our home. I’m certainly not the type that sits down with a book and reads for hours. Alicante is surrounded by hills and has a kind of microclimate with low rainfall throughout the year, which means you can spend a lot of time outside – and because of that this area feels like the best place on earth. I hope the above gives a little insight into who I am and what I do. Richard IJzelendoorn .
John Rushworth • 26 October 2017
Victron Energy people: Who is Leo Yntema?
Introduction This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who? ’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ Leo Yntema Update May 2018: Leo now takes up Ruurd ten Brink’s position now that Ruurd has retired after many years of service. Leo is now the Sales Manager for Österreich, die Schweiz, Belgium & Luxembourg . My name is Leo Yntema, Victron Energy sales manager for Eastern and Middle Europe, since the beginning of 2014. I live in a small town called Sneek in the Northern area of the Netherlands, married and father of three children, one of which who still lives at home with us. I have an electro technical education and a follow-up study as teacher. During my studies I came to the conclusion that I didn’t want to be a teacher in front of a school class. I started working in a technical wholesale company and after 18 years I left this company as an operations manager. Because I wanted a new job with more social responsibility, I started to work for an organisation specialised in working with disabled people, physical as well intellectually limited. I was responsible for the industrial department, from very simple packaging work to a bicycle factory, from assembling LED tube lights to medical equipment, built in a cleanroom. After 6 years I missed the dynamism of the commercial world and looked around for a new opportunity. That was the time when I started working for Victron Energy. For almost 4 years now and every day I enjoy my job. Victron is a company with a lot of freedom and self responsibility, innovative and successful – that’s what appeals to me about this work. In addition to my work, I’m also committed to Dorcas Aid International on a voluntarily basis. Dorcas is a Christian charity organisation with projects in Eastern Europe and Africa. They collect money through subsidies, donations and the sales of new and used products in their 30 shops all over the Netherlands. For the shop in Sneek I’m the chairman of the board and together with 80 volunteers we run the business. All goods sold in the shop are come from individuals and companies who carry a warm hart for Dorcas. To stay in shape, I try to take a ride on my road bicycle or MTB once or twice a week. During such rides I love to use all my energy – after that though I always find a little more for a glass of cold beer. Cheers! Leo Yntema
John Rushworth • 06 September 2017
Raspberry Pi running Victron’s Venus firmware
Ever wanted to run the Color Control GX/Venus GX firmware on a Raspberry Pi? Now you can thanks to Izak Burger whose guest blog below describes how this came to pass. For the geeks amongst you, please note that the port works on the Raspberry Pi revisions 2 and 3, but not on the original Pi 1, as it has a different CPU and floating point unit. John Rushworth Porting the CCGX firmware to new hardware This is the story of how I came to port the Color Control GX (CCGX) firmware — codenamed Venus — to the Raspberry Pi, but it is also part of a larger story that starts when I was but a young boy growing up on a Namibian farm. My interest in all things technical was inspired by my father – a remarkable man, one who is not afraid to try his hand at new technology. In 1987 he bought the first solar modules I had ever seen, and a year later the first locally-manufactured inverter showed up. Solar panels installed in 1987 Some years on, after I grew interested in hobby electronics in high school, a lightning-bolt destroyed most of the equipment and I got my first practical shot at creating something useful: A simple switching charge controller. Though I subsequently became a computer programmer, that passion for solar power remained, so that when our local power generation company in South Africa had supply problems in 2013, I ended up purchasing a Victron Multiplus to power my home office instead of doing what everyone else was doing, namely to buy a cheap petrol generator. The MultiPlus turned out to be a geek’s dream, with a well-documented communication protocol. It wasn’t long before I had my own python code for monitoring the inverter output. As always, one thing led to another and soon I was subscribed to the mailing list and involved in other activities. So when Matthijs asked in July 2016 if there was anyone who could do a port of Venus to the Raspberry Pi, I thought that it couldn’t be that hard. I had some prior experience with the build system anyway, and despite being down with the flu at the time, the first proof of concept version was booting by the end of the week. Here I am with my Raspberry Pi / Victron test rig It took another year of working weekends and nights to get it in sufficient shape to include in the official code base. During this time I learned to appreciate the care with which the team works in order to ensure that things remain stable, to review each other’s code, and to find the best solution to a problem. Some of the more interesting problems I faced were to make the bootloader work properly across the Pi 2 and the Pi 3, to pass options from the proprietary loader to the kernel, to fix screen blanking issues, and to make the mk3-usb work properly out of the box. In conclusion please see the links below which I hope will serve to inspire – in order that you too can integrate Victron equipment into your own projects. Izak Burger Links Installing Venus on a Raspberry Pi Open Source with Victron Energy Venus firmware The ‘Raspberry Pi Logo’ headline image used in this blog is courtesy of: http://www.raspberrypi.org/ Raspberry Pi is a trademark of the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
John Rushworth • 21 August 2017
Victron Energy people: Who is Juan Alberto Félix?
Introduction This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who? ’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ Juan Alberto Félix I was born and raised in Madrid , in the early 70s, and still live in this wonderful city with my wife, Liviana, along with Raul and Lara my two pre-teen children – all of whom I completely adore. I’ve been Victron’s Sales Manager for Italy for the last 3 years and involved with the photovoltaic solar energy market since 1992, having worked for various Spanish companies in this segment. Victron Energy though comes top of my list as it is only they that said “welcome to the family”. That is how it feels, a big family that take care of you – even if I am a little distant from the Netherlands. For me it is a pleasure to be a part of this family and I am proud to introduce and offer our products to Italian professionals. They appreciate the high quality and our clear and straightforward way of working together. My job with Victron Energy has taken me all over Italy, a spectacular country with wonderful people – just like my wife – as it’s thanks to her that I can speak Italian and I’m therefore able to work in Italy! Although I have always had some fear of flying this has not prevented me from travelling around the world and through my work I’ve been able to lose that fear. I now class myself as a ‘professional flyer!’ Next I just need to learn how to ‘drive’ the planes… In my free time I like to enjoy that mostly with my family and friends, but when the opportunity allows I take my tent and I go to the mountains to walk and enjoy the beauty, calm and tranquillity of nature. Another thing I really enjoy is cooking: I’m a great cook even if I say so myself! Previously I only made Spanish food but because of my travels throughout Italy I have got to know a greater culinary variety. In addition to the typical pasta and pizza, for which Italians are authentic masters, Italian cuisine has many other delights – especially at a regional level where there is an impressive variety of dishes. You can also say the same about Spanish cuisine: in addition to the typical paella and tortilla de patata (and great chefs like Ferrán Adriá ), there is a huge variety of typical dishes at a regional level that can take you to heaven. My next personal project is to improve my guitar playing. Right now, my standard is very poor, although I am part of a group that plays traditional Spanish songs. My goal is to get to the ‘front row’ but for that I have to practice a lot more… Anyhow that’s a little about me and my work at Victron Energy. Thanks for reading. Juan Alberto Félix
John Rushworth • 28 July 2017
Victron Energy people: Who is Gerrit Tromp?
Introduction This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who? ’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ Gerrit Tromp I’m 33 years old and live in Centurion Gauteng , the busiest province in South Africa, together with my wife (Michelle), daughter (Keara) and sons (Tjaden and Dejan). Whilst we enjoy city life, we love the outdoors and spend our weekends together going fishing, cycling, having picnics and camping in the Bushveld , when we can. I grew up in a small town called Sabie , which has a population of less than 10,000 people and is located in Mpumalanga province. Mentored from a young age by my father, who is an electronics and electrical boffin, we always designed small electronic projects together. This is how my knowledge in the areas of electronics and renewable energy grew, along with being educated at a technical high school where I learned even more about electricity and mechanics. After high school I went to college to study business management, economics and project management. My career has been in electronics and renewable energy for the last 12 years, but 7 years ago I discovered Victron Energy – I will never forget the day we received our first demo Multiplus 48/3000/35-50 from my now colleague Andre du Rand . I tested the unit and found it to be virtually indestructible, my eyes popped out when I saw how it could be programmed – I was amazed! Quickly I became the Victron guru at the previous company I worked for. In late 2016 I saw the opportunity to apply for a position with Victron Energy as a Sales Manager in South Africa. I applied for the position and struck lucky! Now I am proud to say that I am a member of the Victron Energy family. I have an insatiable passion for wings. Having always dreamed of flying I’m proud to say I recently became a pilot. My instructor mentioned to me one day “a pilot lives by perfection or not at all”. These words are important to a pilot for safety, to always ensure his or her aircraft is fit to fly. These words I feel also ring true for our products – Victron Energy’s products are designed to perfection with continuous research and development ensuring they remain state of the art – fit for purpose and perfect for use by their proud owners. Gerrit Tromp
John Rushworth • 29 June 2017
Victron Energy people: Who is Nigel Vincent?
Introduction This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who? ’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ Nigel Vincent Hi, does anyone fancy a toasted sandwich? I’ve often been seen serving up these mouth watering delights at motor racing events such as the 2016 OMC Boanerges Autosolo event – featured in the headline image above along with my Ford Escort Mexico MkI. I drive at some events and marshal at others, but cooking with electricity in a field often starts more of a conversation than my driving! Toasted sandwich by Nigel & energy by Victron… Besides motor racing events I like to repair and make things, at home mainly with varying degrees of success which in-turn are greeted by varying degrees of enthusiasm from my family. If it can be re-used then don’t buy a new one is my motto. I’ve made BBQs from washing machines complete with slow turn mechanism; my last project was building 64 m 2 of garden decking from rosewood timber flooring I reclaimed near to the old Victoria Docks in London. Now both my daughters are independent I get more time to work on and sometimes race my old Escort. I am a safety marshal at the Silverstone Circuit and my wife and I enjoy competing in Autotest events a few times a year which basically involves driving an old car as fast as you can around a track in a field – it’s the most fun you can have in 2nd gear! I also enjoy singing in a small band called “Summer Breeze” and try to play a few rounds of golf each year. Although I have been fortunate to travel to many countries with work I have always lived in England, North of London, it’s a fascinating city. I originally qualified as a Metallurgist & Production Engineer, then 20 years ago I had my first professional encounter with batteries and power supplies. Various sales and technical jobs in the battery industry since have come and gone until in March 2014 when I was delighted to join Victron Energy as Sales Manager for the United Kingdom & Ireland. Thanks for reading a bit about me – and I hope to meet you soon for a Toastie! Nigel Vincent
John Rushworth • 16 June 2017
Victron Energy people: Who is Andre du Rand?
Introduction This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who? ’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ Andre du Rand My name is Andre du Rand. I live in Cape Town, South Africa with my family. We, Ilze, Kris and I like to drive around the Cape Town Winelands and surrounding areas over weekends. We also love wine and frequently go wine tasting. I travel quite a bit so I like to get away with my family and relax whenever we have a chance. We also like to spend time at home with friends and family having a good old traditional braai (barbeque). I enjoy Mountain biking very much and enter into MTB races every now and then. I also like to play a round of golf with friends when the opportunity presents itself. I like everything outdoors including camping, hiking and anything adventurous. I attended a technical high school where I had a keen interest in electricity and electric motors; one of my other favourite subjects was technical drawing. After leaving school I completed compulsory national service in the national Army corps. I enjoyed the military and on completion joined the navy to study and see the world. I completed an apprenticeship as marine electrician and was fortunate to be posted to a seagoing vessel soon afterwards. At sea I made many friends with whom I travelled and worked. Often working on ships was challenging as planning and maintenance was the key to a successful journey. When repairing or fault-finding on-board systems your practical and theoretical knowledge are tested thoroughly. I learned to be independent and gained valuable experience working on my own and with my seniors on board the vessels on which I served. I’ve worked on a few Victron battery chargers in my time at sea and that is how I first got to know Victron as a company. I have seen Victron Energy grow from where it was 17 years ago to where it is today. I started my journey with Victron Energy 7 years ago when I was appointed as an Area Manager for the Southern African region. Today my area stretches from Angola, Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe to Mozambique and also includes Mauritius and Seychelles. It’s an interesting area with diverse cultures and people. Fellow sales manager Gerrit Tromp is also responsible for South Africa. I spend a lot of time training Victron dealers and installers. This year we are focussing on Authorized solar system installers and other markets like the 4×4 and commercial automotive applications. The off-grid market here is growing as our product range changes with our customer’s needs. With such a diverse product range it’s always exciting to find new applications for them. The Victron Energy team is truly dynamic from leadership to service and support. In my opinion there is no other company that can deliver products like ours in so many different markets. And with our very latest products we are again providing unique and more versatile solutions to our customers across various markets. Thank you for reading. Andre du Rand
John Rushworth • 07 April 2017
Victron Energy people: Who is David Alsina?
Introduction This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who? ’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ David Alsina My name is David Alsina; yet another happy member of the Victron Energy blue team. My early life started in Barcelona next to the Mediterranean Sea. Even from those early days travel has been a passion, using any opportunity to get out and explore – near or far – first for pleasure and then later on for work. Work-related travel is like playing Russian roulette, a barrel loaded with unexpected destinations. That is how you end up in places you wouldn’t necessarily decide upon yourself, such as Cleveland, South-East London, Moravia, Chihuahua City or Lagos. Once there it’s then that you learn – the magic of a place depends primarily upon the people you discover there. Maps are very attractive to me – at home, you may stare at a location on a map and wonder how that place might be, the name of a town may sound exotic – or funny – and once visited, after you return home, that same map location doesn’t look the same anymore and now conveys experiences, adventures, people and a certain feeling of ownership, which grows inside you. Before I was involved with photovoltaics, I worked in automation. A crankshaft-deburring machine took me to rusty Detroit, where I lived for 3 years. I can’t say it was pretty, but the experience of living there was really worthwhile; yet I was missing the salty air of the sea, so I crossed the border to settle near the Canadian Atlantic coast on Cape Breton Island, a magic, beautiful and rural place, which I still call home. So rural in fact, some people live completely off-grid and it was that fact which led me to ponder how do you get power where there is no power? By helping an off-grid neighbour with his PV and hooking up a wind turbine I could see the results, so I taught myself more about renewables online. Subsequently a call from a friend, back in Barcelona, gave me the opportunity to join the industry for real. It was time to move back home. But soon enough I was enjoying being back on the road for work. This time the unexpected destination was Africa. I was sent to Nigeria and Uganda in the first instance. That was 11 years ago, arriving full of prejudice and ignorance, to the extent I was even scared to step out of the hotel, afraid of eating, afraid of mosquito bites giving malaria – but very quickly Africa grew on me and the fear turned to fun. Shortly before I turned 40 I discovered the reason for my pleasure; a key piece of information. Africa Day is May 25th and that day is also my birthday – it was destiny! I am very passionate about this diverse, contrasting, continent that keeps people smiling, no matter the tough lives many of them live. If you need a hand, people are just there – Africans jump over any language barrier as if it never even existed in the first place. Walking along the street, people greet you, even if it is just a barely noticeable nod of the head, or glancing eye contact – people acknowledge people; even ‘rules’ can be negotiated: do you feel like smoking in the taxi, the driver says no problem as he stops the aircon and lowers your window for you! Even now as I approach my 50s, travel keeps me feeling the same young guy I’ve always been. Travel is living, no matter if it is for work or pleasure, and in keeping moving on, one never seems to grow old. It’s the same with Victron – this forever-young company that doesn’t like to stand still, always with some new product or feature to add on – it’s no wonder others seem green-eyed for those of us that are part of ‘The Blue Team’. David Alsina
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 • 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 • 19 May 2016
Victron Energy people: Who is Islam Varol?
Introduction This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who?’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ Islam Varol My name is Islam Varol and I‘ve been the Sales Manager for Turkey & the Caspian area since 2010. I live in Istanbul, but I was born and raised in The Netherlands ( Hilversum ). Although I studied Social Sciences, I was always fascinated by technology in relation to nature. It didn’t take long for me to understand that with solar power these two interests could be combined, so I started working for a solar company in The Netherlands. Later when an opportunity arose to work for Victron Energy I jumped at the chance, as Victron’s innovative products had a far greater range of uses in all sorts of different applications and places – plus Victron is a really fun and cool company to work for! Finding new opportunities is my principal activity, plus as we place a lot of emphasis on quality and professionalism I also support our distributors and customers with technical know-how, sales strategies, service and all manner of marketing activities. Initially when I moved to Istanbul, we were mainly active in the marine market. These days that has expanded to include, solar, automotive and many industrial applications. From the photo above you might imagine I look Turkish, and as I also speak the Turkish language, it all makes living here quite seamless. The only exception is the incredible amount of traffic in Istanbul – which we, by the way, help relieving somewhat by placing uninterruptible power supply units at crucial traffic crossroads. That aside and as much as I enjoy Turkey, I do need to get back to The Netherlands a few times a year to ‘freshen up’! In my personal life I enjoy sightseeing around Istanbul – there’s been so much to see and so much more to come. I also like to play tennis and enjoy a good cardio workout in the Belgrade Forest. Music is a passion too, so in the summertime I enjoy attending festivals. My latest hobby is astronomy as you can see in the photo above. If I take my telescope to an off-grid situation, a Victron Peak Power Pack would be ideal to power my telescope. As you can tell, I’m passionate about Victron Energy and our products. I hope you feel the same way too! Thanks for reading. Islam Varol
John Rushworth • 08 January 2016
Victron Energy people: Who is Margreet Leeftink?
Introduction This blog is an insight into Margreet Leeftink, which is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who? ’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ Margreet Leeftink I have been living in Australia for 18 years now. I live near Parramatta together with my husband and our dog. I thoroughly enjoy Australia, its nature, the climate and the wide open spaces, however I do miss cold Christmases, ice skating and eating Dutch kroketten – so it is always nice to be in The Netherlands every now and then. I originally started my career at Victron in the early 1990s working as a service engineer for the service department together with Jan and Jaggat. After a few years I changed roles and moved into purchasing, product administration and manual writing. In the late 1990s I quit my job at Victron to emigrate to Australia, however in the mid 2000s my colleague Jan contacted me and convinced me to work for Victron once again, but this time as a Sales Manager. I still remember telling him: “I am technical; I am not a sales person!”. But over time I have found that being technical has greatly helped me in my role as Sales Manager. This year will be my 10 th anniversary. I am an active person and rarely sit still. I play competitive hockey; I am goalkeeper for a masters team. I like nature, gardening and camping. I have many hobbies like spinning wool, weaving and quilting. But my main passion is making miniature furniture and accessories for my self-build dollhouse. And yes, my dollhouse does have electric lighting – it’s only the mini solar panels and home battery storage system that are missing! Margreet Leeftink Information Developer Victron Energy B.V.
Bob Hopman • 14 September 2015
Victron Energy people: Who is Bob Hopman?
Introduction This blog is an insight into Bob Hopman, which is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who? ’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ Bob Hopman My name is Bob Hopman and I became an employee of Victron Energy at the beginning of 2014. My experience with Victron though dates back more than 15 years, selling Victron products to Africa. These were classic no-break systems for regions where the AC-power was and continues to be unreliable, when compared to the stable supplies of Europe. I started working in the PV market in the late ’90s, as this was a growth market. I’ve lived in Germany since 2004 when my work activity started to concentrate on grid-tied PV systems, due the high demand for these systems. In 2011 this changed for me as the market was moving toward PV systems with batteries. My work at Victron includes technical sales responsibility for the DACH region. In these countries I’m not alone and work together with several colleagues. My work also includes sales and technical training to inform potential new customers about our product range. I’m also active on this Blog and Victron Live, which are great channels to get the latest information on our products. Due to my technical background in the solar industry I created the MPPT Calculator excel sheet , which helps customers match solar panels to our MPPT Solar Charge Controller product range . Besides my work I enjoy spending time with my family, with whom I live in the south-west corner of Germany (Black Forest) close to France and Switzerland. In summer you can find me in the gravel bike or out in the local hills and mountains with my RC sailplanes (see headline image) and in the winter I love to go snowboarding and hiking. I also enjoy informing youth about solar energy and there is no better way for that than in competition, so I’m active in competitions such as the Dong Energy Solar Challenge and the Ettenheimer Solar Challenge. I hope the above gives a little insight into who I am and what I do. Bob Hopman
John Rushworth • 30 July 2015
Victron Energy people: Who is Marianka Pranger?
This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who? ’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ You may have seen my name on the Victron Energy Calendar and wondered who that person is – well, that person is me! My name is Marianka Pranger and I started working for Victron Energy in December 2009, immediately after graduating with my Bachelor’s degree in Communication Systems, Multimedia and Design. I remember entering the Victron office in Groningen for the first time and thinking I was in a Smurfs palace. Everything was blue. The walls, doors and of course all the products that people were working on were blue. Thankfully though at least the people inside the building were not Smurf blue! Initially it was a temporary job but I enjoyed it so much that I decided to stick around. I started mainly with the website, documentation and writing news articles for Victron. Since I like to do a variety of things, my daily work has grown to include Marketing & Photography. Basically I am responsible for all Marketing related tasks such as brochures, flyers, documentation, the website, social media, events and my favorite of all: photography. In 2014 we started with the Victron Energy Calendar, which shows the variety of Victron Energy’s products and the applications they are used in – from all over the world. It is great to see how and where Victron equipment is being used and I’m constantly surprised by the variety of new applications. Even though I’m not particularly technical, I still manage to learn and understand as much as possible about our products. In fact in the early days Matthijs once asked me if it was AC or DC that came out of the wall socket. I was pretty well convinced it was DC – another lesson learned! In my personal life I love driving my Mazda MX-5. Sometimes my dog Baako comes along and sits next to me with his head sticking above the car windscreen. I also practice Urbex Photography , which is basically climbing over a fence and taking pictures inside an old factory or building. Some examples can be seen on my personal website at www.mariankapranger.com Together with my boyfriend I live in the North of The Netherlands in a city called Groningen – the place to be! I hope the above gives a little insight into who I am and what I do. Marianka Pranger.
John Rushworth • 10 April 2015
Victron Energy people: Who is Niels Kaarill?
This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who?’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ My name is Niels Kaarill and I joined Victron seven years ago after working for one of our distributors in Denmark called Gertsen & Olufsen , where I was responsible for Kohler Gensets, Kabola heaters, Yanmar Marine (sales) and of course Victron Energy products. Prior to that I worked as marine engineer and then as an assistant engineering inspector both at sea and ashore. I also worked for a manufacturing company making high pressure cleaners. My initial education was in the Danish Navy and at an engineering college in Copenhagen. What do I do at Victron? My work is on the sales and technical advice side in Scandinavia. This means I cover Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland. Greenland and the Faroe Islands also come under my Danish territory. Additionally I provide local technical training for our products. On the personal side I’m married and have a daughter of twenty three, who is an auditor for Ernst and Young. We spend a lot of time together with our Icelandic horses. In fact they have become a lifestyle, with competitions plus trips to the forests and beaches. Over the years I have been an avid motorcyclist riding over 1 million km on holidays throughout Europe on a range of motorcycles. These days however I simply enjoy cruising along the North coast of Zealand , near where I live. My home is a city called Helsinge, which is forty km north of Copenhagen. This coastline is considered to be Denmark’s Rivera, where there is a lot of life during the summertime. I hope the above gives a little insight into who I am and what I do. Niels Kaarill
John Rushworth • 18 February 2015
Victron Energy people: Who is Johannes Boonstra?
This insight is part of the ‘ Victron Energy people: Who is who?’ series of blogs. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ My name is Johannes Boonstra and I joined Victron some 12 years ago after working for one of their distributors in the Netherlands, called Lasaulec . Prior to that I worked in a shipyard and for a media company. These jobs were primarily sales and always with technical products. Because I have always had a strong interest in electronics and energy, I decided to focus my attention and education in that direction. Whilst doing that (and completing the exams) I decided to follow this up by studying software and programming. That ‘world’ was completely the opposite of what I had hoped and for me was pretty boring compared to making machines work, which is what I really enjoy. I have promised myself to stay away from such things ever since! What do I do at Victron? My work is very varied but primarily sales focused. Besides being jointly responsible for the Netherlands area along with Ruurd ten Brink, I also take care of the UK and US. As these are areas where the sales team hasn’t been established for that long, my work includes a supportive role to the teams there. I also support Victron sales training and courses when required, primarily in making drawings and slides. Additionally I help out with larger systems and projects too. Beside all this I also provide input for marketing and sometimes to the R&D department during the development of new products and software features. You’ll also note I’m active here on the blog and on Victron Live , where I help answer questions about our products. On the personal side I have two children, a daughter of 19 who lives in London as she is studying at university there and a son at home who is 13 and still at school. Together with my girlfriend we live in the north of the Netherlands in a city called Sneek , which I believe is the most beautiful part of the Netherlands, due to all the lakes and canals. For me this is ideal, as I like sailing and being on the water in general. I hope the above gives a little insight into who I am and what I do. Johannes Boonstra
John Rushworth • 17 February 2015
Victron Energy people: Who is who?
As the Victron Blog and Victron Live expand, it’s good to see more and more folk engaging in dialogue with the use of DISQUS comments. Thanks to you all. It occurred to us though, that out here on the net, people are just names in the ether and it might be nice to have some insight into who you are speaking to. For instance the headline image above, taken in November 2014, shows the Victron Energy sales team – but who is who and what do they do? Besides their sales functions which cover regions throughout the world, the team also have diverse roles and product specialities. Because of this we thought it would be good to introduce you to some of them. But first we need someone to start the ball rolling and volunteer a bit about themselves! In fact moving forward we’d also like some of the Victron dealers to do the same. Below is a photo taken from a recent dealer training event. I wonder who will be first there to volunteer and tell us about their business, and their relationship with Victron? Over time it is hoped this newly created blog category ‘People’ will become a valuable resource for staff, dealers and customers alike. A place where you can learn more about who is who and what they do. Calling all volunteers then – Please leave your comment in DISQUS below and we’ll get back to you with an idea of the kind of information we think will be helpful. Feel free also to suggest what information you would like to see, in the new ‘People’ category. For a complete list of Victron Energy people in this series please see: https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/victron-people/ John Rushworth DISQUS Tips To receive updates about conversations and comments on particular Victron posts, click the ‘Subscribe’ button at the bottom left of the page, in the respective blog post.
John Rushworth • 12 January 2014
New Blogger – John Rushworth
Hi, My name is John Rushworth. As a satisfied user of Victron products, Matthijs has asked me to write a few words about my experiences for this blog. My interest is primarily in the electric propulsion of small sailing yachts. I converted my own 26′ sailing yacht Elektra to direct drive electric propulsion. In doing so I wanted a supplier that could provide all the ancillary products I needed under one roof, together with good technical documentation. I found one and that is why I’m here. My system is a 2.5 kW direct drive which gives me a top speed of 5 knots and a cruise speed of 4. At 4 knots I use 750 Watts. I use a Phoenix 24/25 600 Watt charger together with a Phoenix Charger Control. An Orion 24/12-40 DC/DC Converter provides my 12 Volt DC House Loads. My battery monitor is a BMV-602S, but I found I wanted more information than was available in that model. Recently I’ve fitted the new BMV-702. I particularly like the instant Watts read-out, so I can easily compare power used with actual boat speed. It saves doing sums in my head! I’ll post some more about the BMV-700 Series as I get to grips with the new features. Future plans are to fit solar to my boat. A 140 Watt panel should harvest around 350 Watts/day in summer, at my location. I plan to use a BlueSolar MPPT 75/15 to achieve that. Also of particular interest to me is the Color Control GX and integrating that with the VRM portal. It will be fun and interesting to see how an electric boat is actually used, in a web based format. Personally I think we’ll see more boats going electric as the market grows and I believe Victron are well placed to take advantage of that, particularly now they have partnered with Oceanvolt . Here is a small article I wrote recently, about my vision for the future, in Electric & Hybrid Marine Technology International . It’s called ‘Sailing Silence’ . So, that is a bit about me and why I use Victron Energy products. I’ll post more on the BMV-700 Series soon. John Rushworth . January 2014
