The VICTRON SETUP and a CONNECTED BOAT

Hi guys,

In this weeks episode we look at some wiring considerations for a solar charge controller setup with the Cerbo GX and how to get the most out of the Victron devices. I also touch briefly on the Wifi and the Raspberry Pi configurations.

Hope you get something out if it.

Cheers, Chris

[mikenelson]

Wonderful presentation. My first viewing for your channel. Can’t wait to see your other videos. Thank you very much.

[jonc]

Wow! Very impressive. The new Auroa is going to be very special. Hope you have a great season.

[joshleigh]

rewiring a mini cruiser, great job on the panel layout, watch your wire crimp connections and use ferrules for the solar charge controller connections. well done!

[svgabrielle]

Hi Chris, all really interesting and thanks for sharing. We are on very similar road with our Hanse. Installed Cerbo this year after messing with Raspberry Pi for a long time; Pi worked well but does not give all input/output functionality. Almost everything here is Victron too!
We took bilge pump connection from back of manual 'pump on' switch to a DI; this works perfect except manually using the pump sets off the alarm which is a very rare event. Also have a smoke detector intended for connection to intruder alarms that runs off 12V and has relay alarm output connected to another DI. Our B&G plotter external alarm is connected to another DI so we can monitor the anchor alarm when ashore (providing we have GSM of course!). Both Hanse tank senders work perfect if disconnected from Hanse display (Phillipi on our boat). It's nice to sit at home when the weather is terribel or we've not been able to visit for a few weeks and be able to check all looks (appears) well :-) Great job, Chris!

PS: One piece of advice with the Cerbo, beware of stray currents in the negative lines to Cerbo digital inputs. All four DI negatives are parallelled on the Cerbo circuit board. If through a fault or other mishap, you end up with current in the negative leads, there is risk of frying the board. We have only one connection to the negative input side which is fuses at 1A.

[IIIIIIPETEIIIIII]

Im from an electronics and Mainframe computer support background and can see a lot of thought and planning has gone into this - well done! I can’t wait to see how you get on with connecting it up, configuring it and the end results, particularly as I will soon be taking delivery of the same model boat.

[garrykennedy]

I like what you are doing I’m looking to put lithium batteries in with in a couple of years also, so happy to learn lots more. Well done on this video

[milesbuckhurst]

A beautiful job Chris. Wish I was as ‘OCD’ as you 😊. My set up is fairly scrappy but it works. I just boat a portable Induction top from Xiaomi. I used it last weekend on my 1600 watt inverter and it worked beautifully when taking care not to raise the power too much. I did blow the thermal breaker on my inverter, but simply needed to reset ( it is set bellow the power rating so very safe ). Looking forward to seeing the final install.

[Lulastyle]

hello great video, can you explain how you made the temperature sensor with potentiometer? Thank you

[Cptnbond]

An amazing well done job. Clearly, your experience from your work profession serve you very well. It can be hard to balance between the DIY route and when it make more sense to buy a ready made well made unit (i.e Victron Cerbo unit). I guess, either you stay home and build stuff or you more often go out and enjoy sailing. I'm looking forward to know more about the Grafana and dashboard RPI setup, although a bit "nerdy" for some. You will be very satisfied with your system when you finished the installation, for sure very cool. Cheers.

[LifeOnTheHulls]

Thanks Chris top effort and great explanation of the system. Cheers Ross

[Kgonothi]

Nice design! I recently got a smartsolar 75/15 and phoenix inverter but i'm going to use it in my home as backup power during blackouts. Do i have to ground (with grounding rod) them?

[petertoftager-larsen]

Loving it Chris. I’m in it as well and have been playing with the open source pi version from Victron as I don’t have the need for all the inputs. Will need to look into the grafana docker as well. Som many thing an so little time 🙂
Keep the videos coming 🙂

[karllewis]

And all I could think as I watched this was: I'm old... I remember sailing back before the internet. Anyway, this is very cool. I'm looking forward to hearing about your adventures with this, and the boat itself, this sailing season.

[offpro]

Very nice setup! This is very similar to the layout I am putting together. As several others point out, it may be smart to run multiple MPPTs and you should consider connecting your panels in series.

[sailingokasolo]

hi there awesome content all around did you end up making a video about the grafana display?

[davidw]

You are right - AC breakers are tested, rated and safe for AC.

[FredricLindberg]

Would like to see the followup video on this. I recently bought a Albin Nova and are going to rebuild the electrical system so it would be nice to so how you did it ;)

[MyBoatandMylife]

Always fun to see what you're doing. I can miss the desire to install new things on a new boat. On my old boat it feels a bit like: if I have managed so far, I do not want to spend money on it now😁

by the way, how many subscribers you got 👍 People like what you do.

[grumpyR]

I’m looking to build a small system to feed a few led lights, a camper water pump, a home box fan. I would incorporate a generator for feeding a toaster and a window air conditioner.

[BingBaddaBoom]

Did you do a follow up on the install, test, and review?