Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT 100V 30 amp 12/24-Volt Solar Charge Controller (Bluetooth)

I have built 3 so called Solar Generators, and have used Victron Energy charge controllers in all of them. I tried other brands, and always seemed to run into issues with configuration, ease of use and size. I have two 100/30 charge controllers and I love them both. They are small. very very efficient and they are so reliable. I love the Bluetooth connection and Victron Energys app. Configuration is a breeze, and I can even do a little logging of the chargers performance. This controller also has a very small footprint, and it fits into tight places. Installation is easy as well. These are little more expensive than other controllers, but they are worth it to me. They have never let me down, and they are very reliable. I find them to be a good value for the price and I highly recommend them. I give this controller 5 stars.

Im no electrician, so I didnt know this had to be programmed. I thought I could just connect my solar panels and battery to the controller and it would do the rest. It worked fine like that for two months, then my batteries dropped to 0% with no real reason. Its still a mystery! You have to install the app for the device and input the battery settings via bluetooth. Theres no other way to do it. But after that, its been working great with my setup.

Perfect for our RV solar setup.

These charge controllers are awesome. Im using 4 of them currently with the bmv712 shunt monitor and I love that they all connect via Bluetooth and share data. I love that the chargers synchronize to work with each other. The ability to check on your system and set your charge parameters from your phone is definitely worth it. The MPPT tracking is fast. Their efficiency is phenomenal. Being able to use the VE port as a relay controller rather than load terminals is preferred in my opinion for dump load options. However the app isnt as polished as the controllers themselves. Sometimes the Bluetooth is laggy and glitches. I wish the app showed a little more useful data that it is capable of showing, but it doesnt because if you buy all victron stuff a different product will show you. For example power being used. If the shunt monitor is showing how much power is going into the batteries and the charge controllers show your total network power, you can simply subtract the total power from battery power to show power consumption. Whats annoying is you must first select the charge controller, then it connects via Bluetooth to one single controller. You can only monitor one single device via Bluetooth at a time. It takes 10-30 seconds each time you select a device. This makes it difficult to compare data manually. Sure it shows your average discharge and deepest discharge, but if you dont check right before the sun comes up, theres no way to see what you used last night. No way to see how much power you used that day, week, etc... once again you could do it all manually. The app should just have a system overview showing all the data available and atleast a months worth of history. Or have the app store some data on your phone and synchronize every couple hours if your within range. I realize if you buy a Victron brand inverter or some other fancy expensive data logger it shows a lot of this data. I did not though. Its annoying when it is capable of showing data, but to really be able to use these devices to their potential you need to buy all Victron... I wish the programs for the relay function were a little more flexible. Great for most situations, but not the best. Maybe add some time delay options? Select sun up/down triggers along with voltage triggers. Temperature triggers would also be cool too. There stuff is good, but a some extra lines of code is all you need to make this stuff a little more friendly for the experimenters or budget conscious DIYers.

I had a 6 year old group 27 AGM battery in my truck which was starting to die. After connecting this battery and the new Victron charge controller the battery came back to life. The algorithm of bulk, absorption and float revived this battery at a point where I did not need to replace it by a new one. I had the charge controller connected to a single 100W solar panel and occasionally hoked it up. In about 3 weeks and around 15 charges the Victron device learned and applied sort of a recovery algorithm and raised the current charge rescuing the battery. Now when I turn on the truck in the morning it feels like the battery is brand new and the battery voltage stays at a constant 12.6V every morning.

I purchased a couple 100W Renogy panels for our travel trailer as dry camping opens up a lot of sites for us and I don’t like firing up the generator unless I have to. The panels are deployed on folding stands which is really the only way to get them in the sun in the wooded campgrounds we frequent. I used them the first weekend with the PWM controller that came with the kit. It blinked nicely at me, but even with a voltmeter added to our control panel inside the camper there wasnt really a way to see what was going on. I started looking at adding monitors with shunts, but things start getting rather involved for my particular setup. At home in the off-season the camper is covered and plugged into shore power to keep the batteries up. I realized a few things. First, I’m paying for electricity to charge the batteries when I have two solar panels in a box. Second, the on-board inverter/charger is OK for maintaining batteries, but really lacks the ability to keep them at a full charge as they hover around 13.4-13.6 volts regardless of battery condition and with no temperature compensation. Third, to charge the batteries requires the battery kill switch to be on, meaning I’m also powering gas and carbon monoxide detectors and who knows what other parasitic loads in the camper. Not a monetary issue but things without power on them can’t cause unforeseen issues. I had originally fallen prey to the argument that you’re better off buying another panel vs. paying for an MPPT controller. That works on paper but I realized that I’ll set out 2 panels, but I will never set out 3 or 4. That meant the Victron SmartSolar 75/15 would work nicely and the cost was within my threshold of pain. The need for a separate monitor was also negated. Installation was easy as I was just replacing the PWM controller. My setup is a couple of group 24 lead acid deep cycle batteries with around 160ah. Power is brought into the storage bay of my travel trailer with 4/0 wiring where it splits off to a 3000/6000 pure sine inverter. The Victron is wired into the 4/0 cables which are only about 18” away with 10 gauge cabling. The Zamp plug that came with the camper was replaced with a 10 gauge wire unit, and the 20’ of Renogy cable going to the panels is 10 gauge. The storage bay isn’t heated so it’s within a few degrees of the batteries which are on the tongue. After doing an update the unit automatically selected 12v and the default charge setting was for deep cycle gel batteries. I was initially a little worried that there wasn’t a specific setting for lead acid batteries but the parameters of this option are apparently fine from what I can gather. Equalization is off by default. After installation I zipped the camper cover back up all I have to do now is walk by and log in to see what’s going on, no need to unzip/unlock or interrupt my nap when we’re actually camping to check our state of charge. The attached screenshots were for the first few days. I’m only using one 100W panel as I felt this would be sufficient. The battery bank was at 90% charge the first day (see handy chart) and I was pleased to see that it got fully charged but concerned that my 100W panel was only putting out 35W in full sun. A 100W panel is going to max out somewhere around 70W in the northern hemisphere on the best day in the summer and this was in January, the lowest amount of available solar energy (insolation) of the year. The following days were even worse until I understood that Pmax isn’t your panel’s peak wattage, it’s the peak that the controller will draw from the panel as it manipulates current and voltage to get what it wants. You’re not going to see a Pmax that resembles the published output of your panels unless you have a big load on them (or drained batteries) and maybe not then. This is a layman’s explanation, but if it keeps you from thinking you have a bad panel or connection it’s worth the keystrokes. Of the following three January days the first was sunny, the next was cloudy and the next was rain. The Victron doesn’t care, it still pulled plenty of voltage out of the panel and quickly went into float. It’s like a honey badger. Perhaps more interesting will be what happens when a live load is applied (such as when we’re actually camping and using power). Toggling the electric tongue jack gets an immediate response from the controller as it ramps up to offset what you’re using, then it goes back to putting the battery back to the state of charge that it wants. Comparisons between PWM and MPPT controllers are made in somewhat of a vacuum, you can spend hours reading them. In the real world of RV use the MPPT probably offers more advantages than published. On cloudy and rainy days MPPT wins, but though it’s hard to quantify it also wins when you have partial sun exposure due to your location. I love wooded/private campsites. Most examples use a sunny day with no loads and the PWM can do what the MPPT does, it just takes longer. Let’s say I’m fully charged by noon and at 4pm I decide to take a shower (water pump, exhaust fan, lights). Which one will have a chance of recovering the batteries given the limited amount of remaining daylight? Exactly.

The SmartSolar MPPT 100/50 Charge Controller Bluetooth worked initially, but it suddenly will not work. My other Victron Bluetooth products have worked for a long time, several years. This did not. It was a good charge controller for a few months, but now I have no control over it. I went through all the troubleshooting guides, and performed everything they suggested, but still will not work. I am considering either getting the optional display or the Bluetooth Dongle, but it is not necessary for Smart Solar products, and if the cost for the two are 25% what a new solar MPPT charge controller from a competitor costs, I will probably just change it out for a different brand. Too bad - all my other Victron products in the system work well. The Bluetooth on other components work fine. Since I cannot connect to Blue tooth, I cannot even update the firmware to see if that works. There is really no real tech support that I can find.

I got this to upgrade older pwm controllers and most specifically for the data monitoring software. The data monitoring on this thing is great and one of the best out there for a small product like this. The fact it keeps track of energy production and battery condition is great. BUT the load controls setting for the load output terminals has been a nightmare to configure or get working properly. I got two of these and with the new software both do the same issue. Under custom settings the the load is supposed to be driven on and off by the battery voltage. How ever I have had issues where the load terminals never turn or when they do it doesnt turn the load off and completely drains the battery. I know that most people or applications dont use the load terminals and it doesnt affect there system. Mine is for a water pump so the load control was part of the buying decision. For now I have resorted to a different control.

I recently installed two 100 watt Renogy solar panels on top of my RV trailer, along with a Renogy 30 amp PWM controller with a bluetooth dongle. The panels work fine, the Renogy SCC (Solar Charge Controller) not so fine. The bluetooth app is broken, crashes frequently, and is mostly a waste of money. While the Renogy SCC did its job, the performance on cloudy/shaded days was inadequate. With a PWM SCC, you must run your panels in parallel. You cannot fully charge a battery with 13 volts available (cloudy day in trees) from the PWM SCC, no matter what the amps is. With the panels in series, that 13 volts would now be 26 volts. So I ordered the Victron SmartSolar 75/15 MPPT controller with built in Bluetooth. With an MPPT controller, you have the option to run your panels in series or parallel. Running my panels in series doubles available voltage (up to around 40 volts, which the SCC converts excess voltage to the appropriate voltage (12 or 24 volts) and current (amps) to charge your batteries. This SCC handles this nicely. The unit was delivered in brand new condition. I was surprised how small it is. There are three LED indicator lights on the front. You cannot flush mount this device. I installed this inside a wall with a vent pipe, and ran my wires out the top of the RV via the vent exit. Where I mounted inside the wall, I used a tin lid against the wood. The instructions say to mount the unit on a non-combustible surface. I stacked two washers between the wall and tin, offering a better way to dissipate heat from the back of the device. If you look closely at the picture, you can see what I did. Then I made a facade cover with a small peep hole to quick view the LEDs. These LEDs are quite bright, some people tape over them. I would try a black felt tip marker to try and dim things first. There is no way to flush mount this unit. You cannot use wire bigger than 10 AWG. Some claim 10 AWG is too big, but that just isnt so. Just dont mangle the wire ends and theyll fit. But there is a better way, read below. What I do is to tin the wire ends. Strip off 1/2 inch of wire, give a slight twist to keep the strands tight. With a good soldering iron, solder the wire end, making sure the solder flows evenly. Not too much or youll end up with a fat end that wont fit in the lugs. You might practice this with a piece of wire, but once done correctly you have a superior connection. Then after inserting the end into the lug, tighten snuggly, then loosen, the re-tighten. Each time the lug will screw down a little tighter as the lug worms into the wire end. Ill do this at least 10-15 times, until the lug is snug and secure. Be careful to not over tighten and strip the lug. Use cable restraints. Once the battery is connected, hook up the PV array. I cover my solar panels with some plywood (or some cardboard) to turn down the open voltages while I connected those, which for two 100 watt panels in series is over 40 volts in bright sun and could shock you. I also installed a disconnect switch for the PV panels, next to that is the inverter remote switch. Your battery must be connected first, then connect the PV array. The one weak area of this device is the manual. It comes with a tiny booklet that is difficult to read. You can download the PDF version from Victrons website. Some of the info is sketchy and in not so plain English. For some info you need to install another app called Victron Toolkit. This offers explanations of the various blinking LED functions. The built in Bluetooth requires an app called Victron Connect(I have an Android Nokia smartphone) for reading power outputs, managing battery charging profiles, etc. The app was downloaded and installed without issue. With the app installed and paired to my phone, the app quickly upgraded the firmware for the SCC. Once this was done, the app works very well. I can walk about 40 feet away and can still stay connected, which is about normal for Bluetooth devices. Again, the app is well done and works well. The manual has some odd English to explain some of the functions. Ill try to explain in plain English as I see it. When you first hook up the SCC, the manual says 5+ volts from the PV panels over the Battery volts is needed to be operational (According to the manual). I would expect the unit to be operational when I bought it brand new out of the box. What this really means is this; When the controller sees 5 or more volts from the PV (solar panels) above the battery volts, it turns on the charger. When the PV volts drops to 1 volt or less then the battery volts, it turns off the charger. You can tell if the SCC is on and charging with a steady blue(or yellow or green, depending on SOC(State Of Charge)) LED, or off with a blinking blue LED every 2-3 seconds. When not charging, you can still use the Bluetooth. As the day progresses the LEDs will turn to yellow (absorption mode) to green (float mode) depending on clouds and trees, and of course electrical use. With my panels hooked up in series, mine starts up right about the crack of dawn and is charging in bulk mode with a steady blue LED. With the ability to turn off charging, I have notice right off my battery is still > 80% SOC (state of charge) when it restarts in the morning, even with the propane sensor on (my only parasitic load when parked). I like the Bluetooth app. It gives you complete control over battery settings and you can use just about any type of battery including lithium. The app also has a handy history function that is very useful. Some people complain about the range of communication with the Bluetooth. Mine functions like any Bluetooth, about 40 feet of range and that is that. Even with the SCC inside a tin covered RV and me outside, it works fine. I hope someone reads this before going with a PWM charger. For a few more bucks you can have a superior solar system. But for the somewhat lacking manual, I have no cons for this device. I have also ordered the Bluetooth battery temperature and voltage monitoring device for better charging. My batteries are outside the RV while the SCC is inside, this can skew charging parameters. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RTYGMBD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I use two Duracell 78 ah AGM Ultra group 24 batteries along with a 1200/2400 watt inverter, so far this is working out well. This device has load outputs. For the average RV person setting up a simple solar system, this can be ignored. Run your 12 volts supply from the battery as it was originally wired. UPDATE July 1st, 2021: I have recently added two more Renogy 100 watt compact solar panes to the other two, making a total of four. To get these to work on the Victron 75/15 Smartsolar charger, I created two groups of two panels in series, then connected the two groups in parallel. Any other way would be over the rated amps or volts (depending on how the panels are connected. This setup delivers to the battery 15 amps @ 13.6 volts (float), which is as high as it can go. Volts remain the same as the original setup with two panels in series, about 43 volts. I just get double the amps. If I want to get the maximum amps I need to buy the next size up, the MPPT 100/20 controller. As it is now with four 100 watt panels, the charge controller works very well. With 4 panels connected, it turns on quite a bit before sunrise. The extra panels are very helpful in shade or cloudy days(or both). And when the sun shines, the output is strong.

Not much to say. It works as advertised is is very high quality. Well worth the money. I will be buying more Victron products.