Victron reliability

[AlBargey]

The thing I am not sure about is with heavy usage how long can I expect the Victron inverter to last? It would be emptying the battery (37kWh) most days and then cycling the batteries 2-3times a day in the depths of winter timeshifting.

It seems the average for solar inverters is 15 years but can I expect it be less for the Quattro?

I'd be more worried about my batteries than the Victron. What do you mean by cycling them 2-3 times per day!? If that's expected behaviour, you need more solar, or to change your ESS settings to use more grid power. Every battery cycle is a cycle closer to battery failure.

P.s. have you considered using two inverters in parallel? Then there is redundancy in the unlikely event of an inverter malfunction? Not sure it's necessary but might be worth looking at.

[Andy]

I'd be more worried about my batteries than the Victron. What do you mean by cycling them 2-3 times per day!? If that's expected behaviour, you need more solar, or to change your ESS settings to use more grid power. Every battery cycle is a cycle closer to battery failure.

P.s. have you considered using two inverters in parallel? Then there is redundancy in the unlikely event of an inverter malfunction? Not sure it's necessary but might be worth looking at.

In the 3-4 winter months we have used in the region of an average of 85 kWh per day. Peaking at about 120kWh on a few occasions. Actually I hadn’t redone the calculations as I was looking at us3000. It might only work out on average 1.5 cycles a day in regards to total power in/out in a day. But it would be divided 3 into three seperate periods. Generation can be minimal so time shifting 3 times a day will help reduce the bills. Having 8 x us5000
will mean they are individually not worked so hard.
So that would probably work out at about 4-500 cycles a year. The us5000 have a 15 year design life supposedly. So that will get me close. By the time the batteries die I hope there will be some long term battery that allows me to add more panels and store the summer sun for the winter. We can hope.

Thanks. I did consider paralleling two smaller Victrons but reading the manual I decided against it. I forget why now. Other brands didn’t seem to offer all the features I wanted.

[nowty]

I think Andy's proposed system sounds about right for his usage. Very similar to mine for pro-rata amount of usage and considering he's in Scotland.

We have almost eliminated gas and have 2 EVs, we use circa 20,000 kWh of leccy a year. Roughly half is Solar PV generated and half is imported with Off Peak power and now is almost all offset with ripple WT1. My large battery is only just enough to get through the toughest winter days without importing peak rate and also the 6kW battery inverter is only just enough in winter if the heatpump is on and other appliances need to be run without importing peak rate.

Maybe the numbers might work out better with a smaller battery system and an increased use of peak power import.

My Solar PV self use is about 90% and my Off Peak import is about 99.5% of total import.

[AlBargey]

We only had 2.5kWh/d average in December with 9kWp, although we do get bad morning shading, I guess your proposed 18kWp could produce 5-10kWh day average, so not sure how that is useful for time shifting 85kWh-120kWh.

Sounds like you've thought about it *Edit and Nowty agrees! but I'm a bit confused, I think either drastically reduce loads or install a sh*t load of solar to try and keep up.

[nowty]

We only had 2.5kWh/d average in December with 9kWp, although we do get bad morning shading, I guess your proposed 18kWp could produce 5-10kWh day average, so not sure how that is useful for time shifting 85kWh-120kWh.

Sounds like you've thought about it *Edit and Nowty agrees! but I'm a bit confused, I think either drastically reduce loads or install a sh*t load of solar to try and keep up.

Andy will be charging his battery bank in winter with Economy 10 off peak power. I think with E10 you get three cheap slots at different times of the day / night so will be able to cycle the batteries more than once per day so it is theoretically possible to use the amount of power in winter he is talking about without using much peak rate power import.

[Andy]

We only had 2.5kWh/d average in December with 9kWp, although we do get bad morning shading, I guess your proposed 18kWp could produce 5-10kWh day average, so not sure how that is useful for time shifting 85kWh-120kWh.

Sounds like you've thought about it *Edit and Nowty agrees! but I'm a bit confused, I think either drastically reduce loads or install a sh*t load of solar to try and keep up.

Andy will be charging his battery bank in winter with Economy 10 off peak power. I think with E10 you get three cheap slots at different times of the day / night so will be able to cycle the batteries more than once per day so it is theoretically possible to use the amount of power in winter he is talking about without using much peak rate power import.

That would be the plan. I must admit to plaguarising Nowty's setup but using Victron rather than SMA. Joeboy also had a load of useful tips. I can only charge at about 8kW so can just about manage to put 24kW in during the shorter periods. We get 2 x 3hr charging slots and 1 x 4 hr slot. The longest peak period of 6 hours follows a 3. But I can put in 80kWh in to the batteries a day during the cheap periods which should cover me over all days. Of course I won't need the full 120 as I'll be charging the car directly at that point. However the larger batteries will allow me to store a full days sunshine from Mar onwards.

https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/batt ... 51485.html. Something like this in 10-15 years time will be the next step on the road to full independence from the grid. A little more solar would be required to fully charge in the summer. The question is will I need a shipping container to house all these batteries?

I am still awaiting a quote from the installer though I have priced up the hardware myself so have a rough idea of how much it is going to cost. Hopefully I find out next week how much it will be.

[Andy]

We only had 2.5kWh/d average in December with 9kWp, although we do get bad morning shading, I guess your proposed 18kWp could produce 5-10kWh day average, so not sure how that is useful for time shifting 85kWh-120kWh.

Sounds like you've thought about it *Edit and Nowty agrees! but I'm a bit confused, I think either drastically reduce loads or install a sh*t load of solar to try and keep up.

How long have you been running your Victron AlBargey? Has it all been reliable for you?

[Joeboy]

I have had two Victron charge controllers in the last 1.5 years. Both excellent to install and use. Literally flawless yet not cheap. We spoke before about the set up and you had carried out your due diligence in reducing vampires and any lateral thinking on 'other' battery types?

Not knowing or wishing to know your finances I'd aim to put in as much pv as possible in one hit so scaffold costs are a one off. I would happily use Victron once I'd done a delve on warranty, reliability and any impact if manufacturing base has been shifted. On batteries I'd install a few now with a clear modular diy upgrade path in the future once you are in you first Winters experience and get a feel for it.

Victron are decently represented on FB, worth a look there for users. I would not dismiss other manufacturer out of hand but as Victron are pretty much top of tree I'd defo take into account the cost/ease of use-warranty comparison before dropping a load of cash.

[Joeboy]

Andy,
I have a pal, we worked together offshore for years. A very competent, neat sparky indeed. He left at the same time as me and has started up on his own so his overhead is small and he is into RE. I'll PM you his number, he is based Banchory/Torphins area. If nothing else it will give you a chance to compare quotes?

[Andy]

Andy,
I have a pal, we worked together offshore for years. A very competent, neat sparky indeed. He left at the same time as me and has started up on his own so his overhead is small and he is into RE. I'll PM you his number, he is based Banchory/Torphins area. If nothing else it will give you a chance to compare quotes?

That’d be great. I’m on his doorstep.