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  • Victron Lynx Distributor

    Looking for everyone's thoughts and opinions on going with a Victron Lynx Distributor including the fuses vs a separate buss bars and inline fuses. I have not researched the cost difference yet but other than cost your thoughts?
    John & Beata, Waterford, WI
    2021 Reflection 337 RLS
    2017 Ford F350 Lariat, Diesel, Crew Cab, Demco 21K Recon 5th Wheel Hitch
    1200 watts solar, Multiplus II, 4 BB batteries, Orion DC/DC charger

  • #2
    Originally posted by John L View Post
    Looking for everyone's thoughts and opinions on going with a Victron Lynx Distributor including the fuses vs a separate buss bars and inline fuses. I have not researched the cost difference yet but other than cost your thoughts?
    Took a bit of searching, but I found a post from March of 2019 (different forum) where I detailed my experience with the Victron Lynx Distributor. Bottom line: if you're buying the Lynx Shunt, the Lynx Distributor is a component that may make sense. Without the Lynx Shunt the distributor is a very expensive, "dumb" fuse panel.

    My original text is below (slightly edited) from the post and pictures. Note I ended up returning the Distributor unused. If interested in what I've done this thread has a list of mods: https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...lts-f-350-mods

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    No paperwork or manuals came with the Distributor nor is anything available online.

    So after looking at pictures and then having the Distributor in my hands I assumed the device's output is to the two connections sticking out of the left side. (You would too, right?) Pictures 1, 2, 3 and 4 show the layout.

    Click image for larger version

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    In case it is not obvious how this goes together, I placed the fuses in pic 3 and "x'd" out the tabs that will get removed. The ground 2ga wire goes underneath the hot 2ga wire (not shown but hopefully you can figure it out from the picture).

    What I couldn't find was hardware to attach the 4ga wired lugs to the Distributor's output. It was then I found out that (as usual) I was wrong. Those connections on the left are for connection to a device called the Lynx Shunt (not the same thing as the shunt for the BMV-712!). A dummy panel removes from the right side and I'm supposed to use those connections on the right side as the output.

    Click image for larger version

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    One other note: if you look closely at picture 2 you'll see female black connectors on the ends of the circuit board. These power the LEDs making the board "smart". When I'd read the brochure online it said it was "powered by the shunt". At the time I thought, "Great! I'm getting the shunt with the BMV-712 so I'm all set!". Nope. The connector on the BMV-712's shunt (which is completely different from the Lynx Shunt is an RJ-45 (ethernet) while the connector on the Distributor is an RJ-11 (telephone). It is a fancy, expensive, dumb (but good looking?) integrated bus bar.

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    Forum moderators are not GD employees--we are volunteers and owners presumably just like yourself. Unless specifically mentioned otherwise, we have nothing to gain should you choose to purchase a product or engage a service we discuss on this forum.

    2017 Ford F-350 DRW, '19 315RLTSPlus

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    • #3
      Originally posted by howson View Post

      Took a bit of searching, but I found a post from March of 2019 (different forum) where I detailed my experience with the Victron Lynx Distributor. Bottom line: if you're buying the Lynx Shunt, the Lynx Distributor is a component that may make sense. Without the Lynx Shunt the distributor is a very expensive, "dumb" fuse panel.


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      Thanks for the info Howard. I have been reading a lot of post and taking a lot of notes from those of you who have gone before me. No sense of reinventing the wheel. I'm getting ready to do a complete setup this spring. The plan is 800 watts solar, 3-4 Battle Born batteries, a Victron 3000 Multi Plus, solar charge controller, the SPS transfer switch from AM Solar when they are available and a DC to DC charger to charge the batteries from the truck.
      John & Beata, Waterford, WI
      2021 Reflection 337 RLS
      2017 Ford F350 Lariat, Diesel, Crew Cab, Demco 21K Recon 5th Wheel Hitch
      1200 watts solar, Multiplus II, 4 BB batteries, Orion DC/DC charger

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by John L View Post

        Thanks for the info Howard. I have been reading a lot of post and taking a lot of notes from those of you who have gone before me. No sense of reinventing the wheel. I'm getting ready to do a complete setup this spring. The plan is 800 watts solar, 3-4 Battle Born batteries, a Victron 3000 Multi Plus, solar charge controller, the SPS transfer switch from AM Solar when they are available and a DC to DC charger to charge the batteries from the truck.
        Sounds like my setup. Hands down the best component is the DC-DC Charger so my batteries are 100% upon arrival at a Harvest Host site. The SPS is great, but has a limitation (see my thread about inadvertent inverter overloading--link in the comprehensive thread posted earlier).

        If the budget and space will allow, go with four batteries. You won't regret it when paired with the Victron 12/3000.

        Search for ncitro's posts as he has a Victron 12/3000 setup, too. Another good resource is the Facebook group Solar-powered Grand Design RV. There are a few really knowledgeable individuals in that group and there's a few guys there with incredible configurations--easily twice what I have in my setup.

        Howard
        Forum moderators are not GD employees--we are volunteers and owners presumably just like yourself. Unless specifically mentioned otherwise, we have nothing to gain should you choose to purchase a product or engage a service we discuss on this forum.

        2017 Ford F-350 DRW, '19 315RLTSPlus

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        • #5
          As Howard mentioned more batteries are better, and I will also say add more panels. Though the comment of adding more panels depends a lot upon planned usage. We are full timers and spend most of the winter in the Arizona desert with no hookups. For a place that sees so little rain it is amazing how many days there are with light cloud cover for a few hours.

          We started with four 160 watt panels for a total of 640 watts and within a few months added two more panels for 960 watts. I’m in the process of seeing how many more panels we can add. Our 397TH with three A/Cs and three roof vents makes layout tricky.
          Colan Arnold
          2016 Momentum 397TH
          Full time since 2016

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