Advice needed; Charge Controller

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Oakleyrossi

Advanced Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2017
Messages
57
Location
Lake Tahoe
Looking for suggestions or ideas about where to mount my Victron 110/30 charge controller in hawk side dinette. Not really any room in the battery compartment and also not sure how good the airflow is there. Ideally right outside the battery compartment, near the floor but we store bags on the floor there while in transit and I am nervous about something or someones foot knocking things loose once in camp.

Did a test hookup with the new renogy portable panel and the controller and so happy with the options that exist between this controller and the BMV 712. Feel like I will really be able to tell what is happening with the system.

Any ideas or thoughts much appreciated.
 
Also my Victron app is showing 98% charged but reading only 11.99v. Seems awful low. Not sure I have the right set up through the battery monitor
 
Oakleyrossi said:
Also my Victron app is showing 98% charged but reading only 11.99v. Seems awful low. Not sure I have the right set up through the battery monitor
Click to expand...
Oakley, Vic Harder on this forum has a Victron controller, as do a few others. If you can send him a message I'm sure he'll help you out, or respond here on this thread. He's helped me quite a bit with my controller issues.
 
I would try and tuck the controller away in some cabinet, even if not the battery cabinet, to keep the wiring protected and the controller out of sight (no need to see it).

If you just installed the BMV-712, it will take a full charge cycle for it to sync up as it defaults to 100% SOC when it powers up.
 
Thanks Rando. After some time looking around I am thinking the same thing. Won’t be directly near the battery but pretty close.
Vic. Yeah I thought I had it dialed as I have had the monitor for a couple trips now. Went back through the set up and seems to be better. Reading 100% at 13.37V.

Should I mount the dongle right next to it inside a cabinet?
 
Is the battery compartment on a side dinette the same as the front dinette? If so, it fits perfectly in there.

I can find a pic if needed
 
Not 100% sure if there are the same or not. It’s pretty tight in there but I am going to play around a bit with again this evening and see if I can get a bit creative with a location.
 
Ok install complete. I ended up mounting it in a cabinet under the sink. Seems to have plenty of airflow in there and made working with the wires easy. All the solar wiring was tucked up under the sink as well. It was obvious which was which as the shorter red and black cables were from the battery compartment. The actual solar port cables were almost 2 feet longer. Now the next question. After upgrading my portable unit if needed can I plug my old portable unit into the roof plug and use both portables if needed? One coming out of the rear and one coming out of the top? I know a roof mount makes sense but between a Yakima box and SUP not sure that would be effective.
 
Oakley, with your Victron 110/30 you should be good to go with multiple solar "arrays" feeding your batteries.

Since I am not sure what your portable panels are like, but I am assuming they are designed to output 12v nominal, vs 24v (parallel vs serial) Confirm that with a voltmeter.

Also assuming that neither portable system has its own controller, but are really just raw panels feeding into your Victron.

Also, check where the wires from the rear connector go. Are they also hanging loose under the sink? If so, that makes this easy.

If all that is true, then the two portable arrays can indeed be plugged into the roof and rear connectors, and both would then feed into the Victron, which would then feed your batteries and help keep your beer cold!
 
Oakleyrossi said:
Ok install complete. I ended up mounting it in a cabinet under the sink.
Click to expand...
Pictures? And how about the BVM-712, where did you mount that?
 
Thanks Vic. Yes both panels are 12V output and I will double check with a voltmeter. I removed the controller from the older panel so both panels can be run through the one controller. We are getting ready to head out on a 7 day trip so I ran the refrigerator and fan last night so I can play around and test everything out today.

GD. I will get a few pics to day and post them up for you.
 
GD. Here you go

Battery monitor IMG_1918.JPG
 
Oakleyrossi said:
GD. Here you go

Battery monitor
attachicon.gif
IMG_1918.JPG
Click to expand...
Nice, thanks. The cabinetry is a fair bit different on my front dinette. I'm mounting my BVM-712 this weekend, but still looking for a good place that is out of the way for a MPPT.
 
Yeah I understand. I played around with different configurations in the battery area but just felt everything was to tight. We only stack food in that cabinet so figured we can just be a bit more careful
 
Anyone out there have a Hawk Front Dinette with an aftermarket MPPT controller (Victron)? Looking for a good place to mount one.

Thanks.
 
So Cal Adventurer said:
Is the battery compartment on a side dinette the same as the front dinette? If so, it fits perfectly in there.

I can find a pic if needed
Click to expand...
Picture would be appreciated.
 
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