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

I own many Victron charge controllers. I like these the best because: 1) They actually work with most battery banks -- 12/24/36/48, Yes 36v works. 2) Unlike the bigger more expensive units, the fuse is external and replaceable 3) You can buy 6 of these for the price of a 250/100 controller 4) If you have one big charge controller and it fails. Your whole system is dead. There is strength in numbers. Unless you NEED big high voltage strings, these are a better option in my humble opinion.

I have a basic 60W setup. 2 panels, one is 50W and the other 10W hooked up in parallel to get 60W. I use it to keep a simple sealed led acid battery charged to run 12V exhaust fans in my apartment. That is all! very simple setup. I had a chaep PWM controller prior to setting this up but I have seen on YouTube that MPPT is the way to go to get the most efficiency so I decided to get this small controller from Victron. Physical hookup is very clear and simple. Connect the battery first, then the panel and then load. At least this is the way I did it. Everything is working so far but I had to custom configure my battery type because Victron did not add a simple lead acid battery preset into the app so I had to manually input my values. I had to reduce the charge amperage to 2A because that is what the small sealed lead acid battery specifies. It has several presets for Victron branded batteries though. This is a very similar way of thinking like Apple does with their products. In other words, they dont like to play well with others and that is bad. It limits the ease of use and configuration of equipment that can be used with this controller. It definitely can be done but Victron Energy is not making it easy. The main complaint is the size of the manual. The font is microscopic and basically unusable. Why include it if you need to use a microscope to use it? For the money that they charge for this and the low cost manufacturing in India they should for a few cents make a bigger manual and a bigger box for this product. I will update this review if I discover any problems in the future as I had this hooked up for 1 day so far and it has been cloudy too.

Using this to charge up a battery bank. The bluetooth connectivity range is a little on the weak side. I have had to exchange this unit several times for that fact, however, as a charge controller it performs very well. There are a lot of cool logging features and it is very customizable to your specific battery chemistry. The unit does run a little warm when panels are at peak production, but quite impressive being one of the few units that is this compact and doesnt rely on a very loud fan for cooling.

Works great! I like the app but would like a pc app better. Biggest wish is that it had a higher input voltage range. Im limited to two 72 cell panels in series for this controller. Ive got panels configured 2x2 which maxes out this controller but I of course had to use thicker wire for 20 amp from the panels.

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 upgraded from a PWM controller with a hard to read LCD status screen. The Victron is a high quality product with very good printed documentation (though the web version is much easier to read.) Works very well including the load output which handles my compressor fridge current surge just fine. The Bluetooth status monitor works with their free app. The app is not perfect, but provides the important parameters in an easy to read format at a reasonable distance. Ive only had it for 6 months, but there have been several firmware and software updates, so obviously the company is supporting the product. Tech support is provided by the seller, not the manufacturer, but Victron does have a support forum that is very helpful. There are both experienced users and factory experts answering questions.

Wish it came with an included readout giving battery state of charge etc.

Perfect for our RV solar setup.

Haven’t actually hiked solar panels you, but did hook to my battery bank a set the units (2) up. The setup and networking via the iPhone app is awesome. I set mine up with on/off switches between the solar panel lines and controllers. Also setup an on/off switch between the controllers and the shared battery leads. I think this setup will be perfect and allow me to place a quick disconnect at my battery box for a portable unit or fixed while being stored in addition to my fixed rooftop unit to the second controller. I had heard a lot of really good reviews on the Victron units and so far I’m very happy with my choice.

I use this connected to my VENUS Os on a Raspberry Pi. It was a little tricky to set up but it has been running great. With this setup I can access the MPPT controller from my phone anywhere now. I also connected by 2 JK BSM as well so it that can be read from the internet too. Much appreciate Victron making the project Open source. It is a high quality interface. As for the MPPT controller it runs 8 to 10 hrs a day at max output of 15A since I have 400W of panels connected and I rotate them during the day for optimum angle. The unit runs cool and I have had no issues.