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We're passionate about renewable energy systems including, solar, wind and hydro, and we love talking about electric vehicles the future of solar transportation and how we are transforming into a renewable economy.
The Off The Grid Shop is an online provider of alternative and renewable energy product solutions for the home and other domestic applications www.theoffgridshop.com.au/ and this channel provides info and education on the best solutions for you on your renewable energy and off grid journey.
No issues using Victron grid coupled ESS in the UK. The Sigenergy looks interesting but I'd still take the Victron. One massive element that nobody talks about is the software. VRM is exceptional and relatively open too. That and the modular nature of the hardware means there is a solution for every circumstance. The reliability is good as is the support community - they come at energy management from a different angle to all others and I trust it. The software for all of the far eastern inverters I've installed is not a patch on the VRM.
Thank you appreciate the feedback. And if your involved in any groups that you think would get value out of it. We would love it if you shared it. Thank you Mike
Hello, How would you connect this? Do they both connect separately to theload centre? Or do you put the battery inverter in the path of the Grid-tie inverter? Thanks.
Yes that is correct connecting it to the load centre. As long as your pv inverter is the same size or smaller than the Victron it will be fine. And you require to program the inveter too. What's brands are you using?
@TheOffGridShop I'm using a 60kw Solax Mega G2 Grid-Tie inverter. I have my pick of battery inverters (from 7.5 kva to 15kva) but they're all a brand called Yohako which is sold here in West Africa. Manufactured in China but surprisingly robust from my experience. My research suggests there's a way to do it where the 2 inverters actually load share as opposed to one "swallowing up" the other...?
Hi, I have a setup like this one which yoi are explaining here. It works very well untill my batteries are fully charged, then the ABB causes the multiplus 2 to restart all the time, ir it might be the other way around. It is not caused by the batteries, it does the same with a different type if batteries. If I remove the ABB and use a charge controller, then the issue goes away. All the settings on the multiplus 2 is correct. Do you have advice for me please? Tnx for your time
Hi BackOWight here, I have a 4kw solar on grid with a Solax Triple power 45Ah 4.5kw battery with its own BMS . I have a Growatt 3600MTL-S PV on grid Inverter. Due to life changes I am now in an off grid environment . I've just been diagnosed with Dementia and acute PTSD. I need some help please. I've already been ripped off for a couple of grand. Thanks Curly
Did I just hear software locked which I have to pay to unlock? Lost me there.. from then on it was hard to continue listening. Software locking hardware capability is not a future I want to live in. All in one product like this reads single point of failure and a blow to right to repair. I look for a future where we can more inoperable systems with a standard communication interface that allows multiple inverters, solar controller and battery systems to talk together.. more like what TCPIP did for computers. Still have hope for that future.
Hi I have just moved into an off grid property. I took the 4kw on grid system along with the 3.5kw solar battery. My question is can I use this system in an off grid set up . I am being quoted £1,500 to change with new inverters
Uk based here , I am going for all in one via 3 phase . Persuaded by what I’ve seen on you tube I am tempted to not have the two Tesla powerwall 2 (3 still not here yet ) and go for Sigen all in one being more modular at lower price point for a decent product . Their battery degradation is what I am uncertain of , the app looks good but not enough detail about to be sure completely. Thanks for info in vid .
Thank you. Yeah I wish this inveter had the ability to work with other battery technology. That to me would make it perfect. And have a look at the Noark range of inverters. They do a simple 3 phase option and have a much better user interface than the Dye and Sunsynk. And we are doing some fun stuff with them with wholesale energy prices form the grid in Australia. You can do the same in the UK..
Very interesting video. Would you consider something like this if you could access it? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6tjfDLb0axo.htmlsi=9i-k8VTCq6bm7BIP | We dont mean to flog our products, but we are really considering if there is a market for off-grid overseas for Australian made storage inverters.
The moment you said software unlock I heard ‘subscription revenue’. Are these devices networked and dialing home by default? If so that would be a red flag for me personally. If it’s just an unlock code that will be a one time unlock then it sounds like a smart business model. Being a Ham Radio operator, lighter typically means more use of switch mode technology which could lead to a rise in the noise floor making radio reception a challenge in some cases. Niche but still a concern. Back to victron, have ever installed a system for a Radio Ham or do you have info on the RF noise put out by these devices? As in, are they reasonably quiet? I’m currently working to put together a simple off grid 24V 2480W system and am limited by the Renogy Rover 40A MPPT charge controller that I purchased a while back, to 100V/1040W on the PV end. No inverter yet and Renogy user experiences are not too promising. Victron appears to offer what I need. MPPT/Inverter combo. Multiplus or EasySolar? Their range is overwhelming. Model # suggestions welcome for the following spec. Batteries: 24V 100Ah initial but might grow to 400Ah or reconfigure to 48V 200Ah. Inverter: 1000W min / 3KW ideal PV: most likely multiples of 260W panels aiming to charge the 2.48KW system in 5hours. I’m just discovering your content. Have your most recent video bookmarked for later.
That's never the electricity market and network is all stuffed up here. Renewables aren't renewable either. That's a lie. Things can be a lot simpler and cheaper but ideology and propaganda rules at the moment
That's because Australia is a compliance police state. Can't do anything without permission or complying with regulations pushed by industry lobby groups and vested interests to create monopolies and high prices
I'm going to decouple from the grid. Leave my grid connect system as it and then run my house off batteries. I have 20kw of rack mount batteries already and will be buying 6 more.. screw the time of day or demand metering and low feed in tariffs etc. that's fraud. I currently use an MPP inverter charger which is great and all in one but I need to upgrade to a low frequency inverter with of least 12kw. I would prefer something like an easysolar but more like a quattro with a 600v max solar charger built in. .
Thanks for posting the video. I'm researching the best option for my RV set up. I'm fairly new to the solar off-grid/hybrid systems, I'm learning as I'm going. On my motor home I will be installing 4 - 450 watt PV's ran in series so I can use a 48v controller and use a 48v battery bank. On the motor home I will use the diesel generator to charge the batteries (when needed), shore power (when its available) and the PV's. I am researching the Victron Easy Solar for my future setup; do you think it's the best option or the Multi RS Solar?
So the Quattro can act as an automatic transfer switch? I want to hook up shore power and alternator+inverter power sources to it. If so will it prioritize shore power, or be able to program it that way? Thanks.
Hi, yes definitely it will. You will want a gx device to do your programming to easily priotise your shore power. You can program the inveter that it always uses shore power until it's disconnected..
You didn't even touch on whether it's connected to grid/generator input side or load output side 1 or 2 or any recommendations of protection in the circuit just blah blah
Thanks, I really wanted to use the RS solar for my self contained solar Tesla setup last year but I could not get one in the US. I love that it could switch to 240v 60hz and only 11kg!
Trade off is they cannot handle heavy inductive loads. only the heavy inverters that use the low frequency switching technology can handle the heavy loads.
I am not shore on the regulations in your state. We used to be able to use them in Australia with this device. And that was years ago. www.victronenergy.com/search/?q=Anti+island
Thanks good to see some technical focused video on this interesting product. Can you confirm the MG currently supports bidirectional charging? If so is it just AC (3 kW V2L interface) or does it utilize DC (12 kW V2H/ V2G)?
I live fully off grid and running a panel voltage of 110 volts open circuit on one system and the other system I am using a panel voltage of around 85 volts open circuit. I use Victron 150/85 solar controllers and a Multiplus 48/5000/70 inverter charger. Am I required to be using an earth fault alarm on these panel voltages ?
That all depends when it was installed. And normally if you use an mppt with higher volts than 150 you would want one .I think the voltage is 120v and meant to have earth fault.
Nobody but solar power veterans can understand what you are saying ...the video is pointless for rookies ..and that is not even getting into that you talk to fast.
I disagree, im no solar veteran just doing my research and found this quite helpful. Its not a basic overview for sure but quite informative and ive never worked with solar systems before.
Typical US household is 240V 200A service (main breaker). The average US household consumes 29kWh per day and has a continuous power of only a few thousand watts. In other words, our average home service is 48kW, but continuous use is far lower. Very few residences here have 3-phase power because the typical service is already way more than most people need. Large homes sometimes have 400A 240V service.
load unbalanced rate is 10%, so a 15kw 3p inverter, they can support 5.5kw on one phase rather than 5kw.. well, if we are talking about 15kw inverter on 3p, Sig can support 1 phase with 5.5kw and 0kw on B and C phase. not sure if this clearly explained ?
I have been given some new information that says they do 100% unbalanced phase. I am looking forward to getting one and seeing what the real world tells us. Thank you for your input. Appreciate it.
Very informative Mike, as usual. Thanks for taking the time to do this video. It will be very interesting to see what foothold this product will gain in the off-grid market.
My biggest annoyance with victron is rating their inverters in VA when other manufacturers like cotek can list an inverter as say 2000w and guess what you get 2000w! No bs
For a simple Off-Grid system like mine, the reprogramming with Victron is easy. I use 2 Multiplus-II in a split phase system, if one inverter goes down then I just use a jumper to be able to use both sides of my breaker box(I actually started off with only one inverter.) I don't think that we use 3 phase in very many houses here in the States, of course I could be wrong. (I just looked it up, less than 1% of residential houses in the U.S. use 3 phase power.)
And you are lucky you have the skills and knowledge to do that. Most people don't. Don't underestimate your skills. And 3 phase will get bigger. Most businesses are 3 phase and charging cars fast wants 3 phase. Well done on your set up.
We have the same issue with Victron's lack of certifications in North America. We can't, legally, have any grid interactivity in the USA or Canada. Our company and many other Victron distributors have been complaining about this for years. In Australia, you have access to more Victron features than we do here. That aside, YOU, as a Victron distributor yourself, have access to the same information that we do, so I would suggest you talk to your rep and request information about their feature plans for the RS line of inverters and MPPTs. I've heard that inverter redundancy is on the roadmap. Also check into the NG line of batteries and BMS's and the plans for parallel BMSs. Also ask your rep about Victron's hires in the last six months specifically to address their slowness with certifications, worldwide. They are listening. I don't speak for Victron, which is why I've been somewhat vague. And while I like Victron products, I'm not a breathless fan boy. We, too, are exploring Tier 1 alternatives so we can provide amazing products and services to solve challenging problems. I don't have 14 years of off-grid system experience, just four. But in those four years, I have never had a Victron inverter fail. Victron has some legacy architectural issues to overcome in time. Right now there can only be one system controller (i.e. GX device), one BMS in control, one inverter (or inverter group), and everything connected to one battery bank. Three phase loads are inherently self-balancing. Single phase loads on a three phase system can create unbalanced inverters, but is that really a significant problem where you are? In North America, it's extremely rare for a residence to have three phase because it's considered commercial power and will priced as such (higher than single-phase residential service). If the connection is grid-tied, the unbalance concerns practically don't exist. If it's an off-grid three-phase system, either plan the system such that it's easy enough to move the circuits around in the panel to manually balance the loads or size up the inverters. The cost of sizing up the inverters for a business (or home I suppose) is minor in the overall system costs. But your broader points about Victron being behind the market in certain features and innovations is well heard and I agree - not that my agreement is worth anything. But I also think Victron is listening and finally doing something about it. The question is, are they too late, or does their many years of experience and pioneering many of the features the market has copied over the decades mean they can retain, or regain, their technical edge? Time will tell. But, we will remain a Victron partner while filling in the gaps, and hedging our bets, by looking for other tried-and-true products in the market. Since Victron's secret sauce is their software, this shouldn't be too difficult for them to overcome. I think the microcode in their VE.Bus products will require the most work, however. Thanks for the tips on Sigen products. And thanks for excellent content on your channel.
@@cuisinartOH1 ahhh, hmmm that is interesting. But I really actually know so little! I literally had just read about auto transformers like 5 min before u posted this video.
@@dtdionne It's not my video 🙂 I just replied to your question. And, I should have been more specific and say Victron's AT isn't for three phase. There may be others on that market that do. Thanks.
Hey mate - enjoying your channel, thanks for all the detailed info. One suggestion - it might just be me, but it would help me if you slowed down, just enough to pronounce all your words fully. I lived in Australia for a long time and am used to hearing Aussie speech patterns, but when I'm a bit tired, I do find myself doubting whether I've guessed correctly a word you might have only half pronounced here and there. Thanks again!
Thank you appreciate the feedback and yes I talk fast. Let me know if the next few new videos are how I go. I am going to be putting my attention on it. I talk fast when I am excited! Lol. Thank you
I am going to build an off grid house in a tropical climate, for cool air - air-conditioning, I am going to use a geothermal air conditioner with an enclosed liquid pump system via aluminium radiators joined together, costs about $1300 AUD for the entire system at 15000 BTU, at 100watts per hour power demand for the solar pump and thermostat. The system is tried and tested and lasts 45 years with some minor parts replacement but negligible running costs. The house is made of interlocking mud bricks which I am making onsite and due to its dense thermal mass, it thereby reduces the need for heating and cooling by 60% due to thermal mass efficiency. For cooking and on demand hot water system, I am going Biogas, compressing my own gas. China sells some complete home biogas solution systems (lights, heaters, cookers, hot water systems etc). There is higher turnover of compressed gas cylinders due to excess moisture over time but still viable and great for storing excess gas produced. There are generators sold in China that are off the shelf and designed to run directly off biogas, that can in turn provide electricity to the battery bank, so perfect for overcast and rainy days in particular. I can get by with a simplified solar system but really interested in a 48 volt system which can be installed without an Electrician in the remote location and country I am moving to (more appliances are being made as the 48 volt power system becomes even more popular). For the oven, I am creating a couple of solar shelfs to place by OZ solar oven, while inside the house. For other traditional baking and roasts etc, I am building an outdoor pizza oven, plus using a Coleman Camp oven over the gas cooking appliance with a ceramic pizza base to avoid burning food at the bottom. So my electricity will mainly run my computer, pumps, fridge and freezer chest. There are no environmental permits required where I am going but for example a permit must be applied for when using Biogas in the UK as they have more stringent environmental controls. As costs come down, I will be happy to transition to full solar.
I would love to learn more about the radiators you're using? And I would look at a small induction cook top ro replace gas. You can do so much with electricity these days off grid. And you don't require a huge budget.
@@TheOffGridShop That is the cheapest part of the whole process, you can use an old used radiator x 2, from the car wreckers, that conducts the cold into the house, due to liquid pumped from the pipes coming out of the ground and the hose is embedded below the soil as a long piece of coiled hose buried to around 8 to 10. As it is below the freeze line the hose is filled with very inexpensive windshield wiper fluid that resists freezing.
I do all these steps of connection it to the wifi, but after filling in the password, it is trying to connect, After a time it says failure. Any suggestions that might help me out?
Mine does not connect. I do the steps that are shown here and it is trying to connect for a while and then says failure instead of connected. Any ideas how to solve this?
Have two on grid inverters and want to go fully off grid without buying new inverters. Am told it is possible but one needs additional hardware, can you help?
