Links to the parts & pieces in the video (affiliate links) ------------------------------------ Victron 48V MultiPlus-II 5kVA 120V Inverter www.currentconnected.com/product/victron-48v-multiplus-2-5kva-120v-inverter-70a-charger/?ref=AzzpK9Fl 10kVA 120/240v Base Multiplus-2 System www.currentconnected.com/product/10kva-120-240v-multiplus-2-5kva/?ref=AzzpK9Fl Victron MPPT RS 450V/100A SmartSolar Charge Controller www.currentconnected.com/product/victron-smartsolar-mppt-rs-charger-controller/?ref=AzzpK9Fl Victron Lynx Components - Power In, Shunt and Distributor www.currentconnected.com/product-category/victron/lynx/?ref=AzzpK9Fl
It's nice to see it all starting to come together. I['m looking forward to your next video! I need to add that I really, really appreciate all the work you do in setting up and testing all of this equipment and describing your experiences with using this stuff in a real world situation. It's a huge help to those of us who are dealing with these systems ourselves.
Nice video Adam, battery startup/inverter start up is a Necessary step(trust me on this) and quiet with low useage is the best win, can't wait to hear the system at full charge rate.
Long video but it didn't actually seem that long when watching it. I reckon that's because it was interesting! Looking forward to how you handle getting your 4 arrays down to two for the SCC. Good job, Adam.
Thanks. Felt way too long to me but there was so much I wanted to share. I’ll probably end up having to do a completely separate video on just the 450/100. It’s really a nice unit!
I have a very similar setup as you and there seems to be so much confusion on battery fusing or circuit breaker or both etc.. my question is are your battery banks fused then run into your circuit breakers? Or are they simply ran from your batteries straight to your circuit breakers thanks again I really enjoy the help I get from you every time a new video is posted I learn something!
So my batteries currently just have circuit breakers on them then they run to the Lynx power in. You’ll see a lot of people put a fuse on their 4/0 coming off a server rack tower of batteries because there’s a lot of amperage potential coming across that single cable.
That is some big beautiful wire you have there, sir! Could you have mounted the units to the top of the wire way and not used a conduit between them? Use like a box-to-box coupler if one exists.
At the moment I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with them. Not sure if I wana use them for a different project or sell them. Only time will tell I guess. Thanks!
Wait... Just was watching again and heard you talking about idle consumption. Your EG4s used over 80W each at idle??? My two EG4 6500EXs run at 35 watts each at idle. I just went and double checked. I'm starting to wonder if there was some kind of design change and mine are different under the skin than yours were or were made in a different factory or something because the behavior of mine has been considerably different than the ones you had. I've heard that two different factories make the EG4s and the other clones like them, one in Taiwan and one in Shanghai and the ones from the Taiwan factory are better made with higher quality components. That would explain some of the odd experiences some users have had.
35w at idle for the 6500s makes no sense to me at all. Even the manual says 70w per inverter and even the owner of the company said they were higher than 70w after the changes made in late fall of last year. My original units were 70w a piece, but the idle consumption went up after I got a pair manufactured in 10/22.
@@AdamDeLay07 Doesn't make sense to me either. I checked them twice now with a Fluke and a Klein meter just in case. PV was disconnected, the main breaker feeding the panel was switched off so there was no load on the AC side, just powered off the batteries, both units turned on. One was drawing 32W the other was drawing 35. What can I say? I can't figure it out either. Sometimes it almost seems like there are two different models in the same packaging. One person has nothing but problems with them, the next runs megawatts through them without any problems at all. I've put about 50 kWh through them in the last week with no issues at all. Go figure...
I'm looking at your breaker and note you connected the negatives .. shouldn't the breakers have only the positives ? On one of victrons vids they clearly mention that you you shouldn't have negative disconnected whilst the ve rj45 is connected as this will mess up the settings .. now I'm confused
Yes I do have the positive and negative broken in the circuit breaker. I’ve seen the warnings but never heard any justification as to why you cannot completely isolate your system. The note in the manual is specifically related to parallel systems (which mine is) but the only time I’m disconnecting those circuit breakers is when I’m shutting everything down. I’m almost wondering if this is a note regarding battery communication between the inverter and batteries. I cannot be sure, but I can say I haven’t had any issues with my system. I will add that I am looking at switching it around anyways to just be the positive cable so I can double the current protection. I just have to get some copper and provably a bigger breaker box.
That’s kinda difficult to say because the 6500s don’t come in a package with everything similar to the Victron 5kVAs. The closest package EG4 has is signaturesolar.com/eg4-13kw-off-grid-split-phase-inverter-bundle-2-x-6500ex-48-13000w-output-16000w-pv-input-split-phase-120-240vac-all-in-one-solar-inverter-system/ which costs $2,993.94 but does not include any bus bar system, doesn’t include a shunt for monitoring power flow and the monitoring system that comes with it is a joke. The Victron 10kVA kit www.currentconnected.com/product/10kva-120-240v-multiplus-2-5kva/?ref=AzzpK9Fl comes with just about everything you need to set up the DC side of your system but it costs $5,507. I do believe though that Current Connected lets you customize the kit to your specific needs. So if you don’t want the monitoring setup you can remove it. Same with the bus bars. Even if you compare just the two inverters, it’s still more of an apples to oranges comparison. The 6500 has a built in charge controller where the 5kVa doesn’t. It also is a 6.5kVA unit where the Victron is a 5kVA unit. The Victron inverters are low frequency where the 6500 is a high frequency. Low frequency USUALLY means more idle consumption but not in the case of the Victron. Low frequency inverters are typically better to start motors/compressors with. Another difference is the 6500 is an “off-grid” inverter where the 5kVA is a hybrid inverter. The 5kVA will give you the option/ability to sell power back to the utility company if you have everything set up properly. There really are a lot of differences. Even the warranties on the inverters are different. 3 years on the 6500 (5 if you buy the EG4 batteries). For the Victron through Current Connected you get a 10 year warranty. Pricing with just the inverters is $1299 for the 6500 and $1901.45 for the Victron 5kVA.
I like Jehus way but I only have one lab power supply that has high enough voltage and that one stays in my office at all times. The one I have that is like yours only does 30v. I have considered jerry rigging it with a booster though so I don't have to buy another one. It's nice that they are low frequency. The idle consumption is interesting since I think the LF Voltronics have higher idle than the HF ones so to have an LF Victron that is lower consumption than a HF Voltronic shows quality matters. Do you think the fans are a siginicant part of the problem? I have been thinking about doing the temp control mod to my eg4s.
The Victron setup is safer too. A lot of people don't realise, even though it is stated in the manual, that the PV inputs on a lot of these HF hybrid all-in-one inverters are not isolated from the AC output. Even a well known youtuber didn't understand that until recently when things went wrong.
Yeah, that's the only downside. You have to make sure your power supply can get high enough in voltage. It took me a while to find one that I liked. It's not the best and only has 5a output, but it works well enough for now. Would love to get one of the ones I see on Off Grid Garage with 10-20a charging. From what I've seen, typically LF have a higher idle consumption than HF. I would imagine the transformer usually uses more power, but it seems like Victron has really been able to dial in their algorithm to get the idle consumption down SUPER low. I know the fans can't be the only culprit to the high idle consumption on the Voltronics units. There has to be a lot more to it, but that's one obvious difference between the units.
@@AdamDeLay07 China (let's be honest that's where most of the poor quality stuff is coming from) designed & manufactured LF inverters usually have horrible idle draw. There's a lot of factors from poor winding of the wire, poor core materials, inappropriate core choice regarding saturation, poor transistor drive, you name it, you can probably call it poor. There are alternatives in the LF arena that do quite well such as Victron but there's also a small outfit in the USA, Genetry Solar, that is doing quite nicely in the idle draw spec too. Yes, you will get a lower price with the Chinese stuff but it's a fool's paradise. You'll get a product that will fail earlier and you'll have to spend more money on the battery side to compensate for the higher power losses in the inverter.
Never fails, does it? Another person now realises just how poor pretty much all of these China sourced HF hybrid inverters actually are when it comes to self draw. Bested by a _quality_ LF inverter. Victron can go even lower if you can tolerate a distorted sine wave. Victron calls this modified sine but it's absolutely not the terrible stepped waveform that most people think about when you say modified sine.
Victron units, depending on the product, are made in India, Malaysia and, yes, China. They go wherever they can get the cheapest manufacturing rates just like the rest of them.
Links to the parts & pieces in the video (affiliate links)
------------------------------------
Victron 48V MultiPlus-II 5kVA 120V Inverter
www.currentconnected.com/product/victron-48v-multiplus-2-5kva-120v-inverter-70a-charger/?ref=AzzpK9Fl
10kVA 120/240v Base Multiplus-2 System
www.currentconnected.com/product/10kva-120-240v-multiplus-2-5kva/?ref=AzzpK9Fl
Victron MPPT RS 450V/100A SmartSolar Charge Controller
www.currentconnected.com/product/victron-smartsolar-mppt-rs-charger-controller/?ref=AzzpK9Fl
Victron Lynx Components - Power In, Shunt and Distributor
www.currentconnected.com/product-category/victron/lynx/?ref=AzzpK9Fl
Current Connected has a nice video showing how to pre-charge with a 48V bulb and simply use your battery instead of needing a separate power supply.
I had forgotten about that one. That was a very interesting video. Thanks!
Another nice one. Victron definitely has the idle consumption thing figured out. That’s crazy low. I look forward to seeing the cerbo attached.
Thanks! We're getting close!
It's nice to see it all starting to come together. I['m looking forward to your next video! I need to add that I really, really appreciate all the work you do in setting up and testing all of this equipment and describing your experiences with using this stuff in a real world situation. It's a huge help to those of us who are dealing with these systems ourselves.
Thanks! I really appreciate that. I have fun setting it all up and going through all the different settings as pieces of things.
Nice video Adam, battery startup/inverter start up is a Necessary step(trust me on this) and quiet with low useage is the best win, can't wait to hear the system at full charge rate.
Thanks! It’s still so much quieter than the 6500s!
Long video but it didn't actually seem that long when watching it. I reckon that's because it was interesting! Looking forward to how you handle getting your 4 arrays down to two for the SCC. Good job, Adam.
Thanks. Felt way too long to me but there was so much I wanted to share. I’ll probably end up having to do a completely separate video on just the 450/100. It’s really a nice unit!
Great video! I can see and hear your excitement!! Keep up the great work!
Thanks! It really is exciting!
Your a huge help BRO
Thanks so much for taking the time to make these videos Adam
By far the best most informative out there 👍🏼🎉‼️‼️‼️‼️
Thanks! Appreciate that!
i am Excited for You too as well !!!! cant wait for the next video :)
Thanks!
Oh WOW I would love to get a set up these inverters
They really are quite impressive.
Looking good Man! You sure that tape used as glad nuts are temp installed!😆
🤣🤣🤣 of course it’s just temporary….😁
Thanks! So when do we get to hear what your next big project is once your done with your power wall?
Always enjoy your videos
Thanks!
I like your banjo music.
I have a very similar setup as you and there seems to be so much confusion on battery fusing or circuit breaker or both etc.. my question is are your battery banks fused then run into your circuit breakers? Or are they simply ran from your batteries straight to your circuit breakers thanks again I really enjoy the help I get from you every time a new video is posted I learn something!
So my batteries currently just have circuit breakers on them then they run to the Lynx power in. You’ll see a lot of people put a fuse on their 4/0 coming off a server rack tower of batteries because there’s a lot of amperage potential coming across that single cable.
That is some big beautiful wire you have there, sir! Could you have mounted the units to the top of the wire way and not used a conduit between them? Use like a box-to-box coupler if one exists.
Thanks! I believe spec requires 4” of clearance all the way around.
I will flip the Lynx upside down to shorten the cable length. Victron includes stick-on upside down labels so that they are easier to read.
Yeah I hadn’t thought about that till after the fact. It’ll take cutting some big openings in the bottom of the wire way, but it’s doable. Thanks!
What are your plans for the old inverters? Looking forward to videos of you testing out the new setup.
At the moment I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with them. Not sure if I wana use them for a different project or sell them. Only time will tell I guess.
Thanks!
👍
Also 36 Watts! 🤯
Yeah, just crazy!
Did you look at the Schneider 6848?
I've seen some videos about them but I haven't done any direct research regarding them, no.
Progress
Wait... Just was watching again and heard you talking about idle consumption. Your EG4s used over 80W each at idle??? My two EG4 6500EXs run at 35 watts each at idle. I just went and double checked. I'm starting to wonder if there was some kind of design change and mine are different under the skin than yours were or were made in a different factory or something because the behavior of mine has been considerably different than the ones you had.
I've heard that two different factories make the EG4s and the other clones like them, one in Taiwan and one in Shanghai and the ones from the Taiwan factory are better made with higher quality components. That would explain some of the odd experiences some users have had.
35w at idle for the 6500s makes no sense to me at all. Even the manual says 70w per inverter and even the owner of the company said they were higher than 70w after the changes made in late fall of last year.
My original units were 70w a piece, but the idle consumption went up after I got a pair manufactured in 10/22.
@@AdamDeLay07 Doesn't make sense to me either. I checked them twice now with a Fluke and a Klein meter just in case. PV was disconnected, the main breaker feeding the panel was switched off so there was no load on the AC side, just powered off the batteries, both units turned on. One was drawing 32W the other was drawing 35. What can I say? I can't figure it out either.
Sometimes it almost seems like there are two different models in the same packaging. One person has nothing but problems with them, the next runs megawatts through them without any problems at all. I've put about 50 kWh through them in the last week with no issues at all. Go figure...
I'm looking at your breaker and note you connected the negatives .. shouldn't the breakers have only the positives ? On one of victrons vids they clearly mention that you you shouldn't have negative disconnected whilst the ve rj45 is connected as this will mess up the settings .. now I'm confused
Yes I do have the positive and negative broken in the circuit breaker. I’ve seen the warnings but never heard any justification as to why you cannot completely isolate your system. The note in the manual is specifically related to parallel systems (which mine is) but the only time I’m disconnecting those circuit breakers is when I’m shutting everything down. I’m almost wondering if this is a note regarding battery communication between the inverter and batteries. I cannot be sure, but I can say I haven’t had any issues with my system.
I will add that I am looking at switching it around anyways to just be the positive cable so I can double the current protection. I just have to get some copper and provably a bigger breaker box.
Is your system grid tie or on a transfer switch.
@@pete4778 grid connected with a transfer switch.
Did you make the two inverter battery wires the same length?
Good catch. In this video they were different lengths, but I have updated them to be the same length.
I use a stand alone charger t charge capisitors
What is the price difference between the two complete systems
That’s kinda difficult to say because the 6500s don’t come in a package with everything similar to the Victron 5kVAs.
The closest package EG4 has is signaturesolar.com/eg4-13kw-off-grid-split-phase-inverter-bundle-2-x-6500ex-48-13000w-output-16000w-pv-input-split-phase-120-240vac-all-in-one-solar-inverter-system/ which costs $2,993.94 but does not include any bus bar system, doesn’t include a shunt for monitoring power flow and the monitoring system that comes with it is a joke.
The Victron 10kVA kit www.currentconnected.com/product/10kva-120-240v-multiplus-2-5kva/?ref=AzzpK9Fl comes with just about everything you need to set up the DC side of your system but it costs $5,507. I do believe though that Current Connected lets you customize the kit to your specific needs. So if you don’t want the monitoring setup you can remove it. Same with the bus bars.
Even if you compare just the two inverters, it’s still more of an apples to oranges comparison. The 6500 has a built in charge controller where the 5kVa doesn’t. It also is a 6.5kVA unit where the Victron is a 5kVA unit. The Victron inverters are low frequency where the 6500 is a high frequency. Low frequency USUALLY means more idle consumption but not in the case of the Victron. Low frequency inverters are typically better to start motors/compressors with. Another difference is the 6500 is an “off-grid” inverter where the 5kVA is a hybrid inverter. The 5kVA will give you the option/ability to sell power back to the utility company if you have everything set up properly. There really are a lot of differences.
Even the warranties on the inverters are different. 3 years on the 6500 (5 if you buy the EG4 batteries). For the Victron through Current Connected you get a 10 year warranty.
Pricing with just the inverters is $1299 for the 6500 and $1901.45 for the Victron 5kVA.
I like Jehus way but I only have one lab power supply that has high enough voltage and that one stays in my office at all times. The one I have that is like yours only does 30v. I have considered jerry rigging it with a booster though so I don't have to buy another one.
It's nice that they are low frequency. The idle consumption is interesting since I think the LF Voltronics have higher idle than the HF ones so to have an LF Victron that is lower consumption than a HF Voltronic shows quality matters. Do you think the fans are a siginicant part of the problem? I have been thinking about doing the temp control mod to my eg4s.
The Victron setup is safer too. A lot of people don't realise, even though it is stated in the manual, that the PV inputs on a lot of these HF hybrid all-in-one inverters are not isolated from the AC output. Even a well known youtuber didn't understand that until recently when things went wrong.
Yeah, that's the only downside. You have to make sure your power supply can get high enough in voltage. It took me a while to find one that I liked. It's not the best and only has 5a output, but it works well enough for now. Would love to get one of the ones I see on Off Grid Garage with 10-20a charging.
From what I've seen, typically LF have a higher idle consumption than HF. I would imagine the transformer usually uses more power, but it seems like Victron has really been able to dial in their algorithm to get the idle consumption down SUPER low.
I know the fans can't be the only culprit to the high idle consumption on the Voltronics units. There has to be a lot more to it, but that's one obvious difference between the units.
@@AdamDeLay07 China (let's be honest that's where most of the poor quality stuff is coming from) designed & manufactured LF inverters usually have horrible idle draw. There's a lot of factors from poor winding of the wire, poor core materials, inappropriate core choice regarding saturation, poor transistor drive, you name it, you can probably call it poor. There are alternatives in the LF arena that do quite well such as Victron but there's also a small outfit in the USA, Genetry Solar, that is doing quite nicely in the idle draw spec too.
Yes, you will get a lower price with the Chinese stuff but it's a fool's paradise. You'll get a product that will fail earlier and you'll have to spend more money on the battery side to compensate for the higher power losses in the inverter.
@@retrozmachine1189 I've been hearing the name GentrySolar a little bit. I wana see some more of their stuff.
what product is the battery disconnect
I have some DC circuit breakers as the battery disconnects. going-off-grid.com/cables-conenctions/#breakers
What happened to your EG4s?!
Current connected sent me these to review. Right now they’re sitting back in their boxes.
Never fails, does it? Another person now realises just how poor pretty much all of these China sourced HF hybrid inverters actually are when it comes to self draw. Bested by a _quality_ LF inverter. Victron can go even lower if you can tolerate a distorted sine wave. Victron calls this modified sine but it's absolutely not the terrible stepped waveform that most people think about when you say modified sine.
Victron units, depending on the product, are made in India, Malaysia and, yes, China. They go wherever they can get the cheapest manufacturing rates just like the rest of them.
@@feetachemail Indeed, but perhaps next time you could try to actually understand what you are replying to before replying.