Yoda's Victron MultiPlus and Solar Install - just hope I don't mess up.

[Jlawles2]

Keith, if possible, I would drop the self tapping style screws and go with standard bolts. Issue is with the drilling self tapping screws, if not careful during removal and reinstalls, they will destroy the threads. I found in wood, plastic, or metal it's best to apply a slight amount of driving pressure while hand unscrewing the fastener until i "feel" the thread drop indicating its at the starting point. This will keep the self tapping screws from trying to reform threads every time yo put them in.

[Cate&Rob]

Keith, if possible, I would drop the self tapping style screws and go with standard bolts. Issue is with the drilling self tapping screws, if not careful during removal and reinstalls, they will destroy the threads. I found in wood, plastic, or metal it's best to apply a slight amount of driving pressure while hand unscrewing the fastener until i "feel" the thread drop indicating its at the starting point. This will keep the self tapping screws from trying to reform threads every time yo put them in.

Yoda Hi Keith
x2 on Joseph's advice here.

It is difficult to get exactly the right diameter hole in 1/4" aluminum to take a self tapping screw. This is not sheet metal!
1/4" thickness is lots to drill and tap 10-24 or 1/4-20 threaded holes. Then you can put in and take out the bolts as often as you want, without any wear or damage .

Rob

[Yoda]

Yoda Hi Keith
x2 on Joseph's advice here.

It is difficult to get exactly the right diameter hole in 1/4" aluminum to take a self tapping screw. This is not sheet metal!
1/4" thickness is lots to drill and tap 10-24 or 1/4-20 threaded holes. Then you can put in and take out the bolts as often as you want, without any wear or damage .

Rob

@Jlawles2

Well it looks like I do need to use bolts and tap the holes anyway. Should not be too hard. Don't have room on the back for normal nuts, but I will look into spacing the plate off the wall to do so if needed. The available supply of self tapping (not self drilling) bolts in the town is vert limited.

Yesterday I did get the rest of my back up light wiring re-done, However I may need to change my planed route for the solar wiring. I found another bulkhead with no holes that I cant get a drill to fit to create ones.

So today I am going to do a bit of clean up, and crawl into the pass through and see whats behind all the furnace ducting.

Question for those with 5th wheels. Did you just go overhead through the pass through and run into the front compartment high on the wall, or did you go through the belly and into the front compartment above the coroplast? The answer will determine the component placement.

More pictures today. Also hope to get to the roof.

Thanks
Keith

[bertschb]

Question for those with 5th wheels. Did you just go overhead through the pass through and run into the front compartment high on the wall, or did you go through the belly and into the front compartment above the coroplast?

Keith

I ran the 6/4 wires along the ceiling of the basement and into the front compartment as shown by the red arrow below. The solar wiring from the roof was already run into the front compartment on my RV because I had the factory solar system.

[Jlawles2]

Yoda Keith, I don't know your exact situation with needing to drill, but in typical fashion with the forum, let me help you spend money.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-To...3720/203871771 and for making those around the corner holes https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-To...3721/203913339

[Yoda]

Keith

I ran the 6/4 wires along the ceiling of the basement and into the front compartment as shown by the red arrow below. The solar wiring from the roof was already run into the front compartment on my RV because I had the factory solar system.

Thanks Brian Just the picture I needed. I like your nice clean arrangement. I hope mine comes out half as nice.

[Yoda]

Yoda Keith, I don't know your exact situation with needing to drill, but in typical fashion with the forum, let me help you spend money.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-To...3720/203871771 and for making those around the corner holes https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-To...3721/203913339

LOL I have both already, but it does not work on steel.

[Yoda]

First thing I did today was make a way for me to fit my wide body in the small pass through. I had an old foam cushion.



Then the before of the heater ducting being in the way.


I disconnected everything and moved it out of the way.



This is the point that it occurred to me I was up the creek on my wiring plans. Folks - there is a much better way to do this. To get to the distribution panel (The Kraken) Leave the ducting in place. All you need is room to tie up the new wiring coming forward. BTW - notice the hidden ground Bar (center to left of pink romex. I plan to double check the connections before I button things up.

[Yoda]

The Kraken

The sleeping monster. Abandon hope all ye who enter here.

Well almost.
To get the cover off, open the front door and remove two screws (they are captive so wont come out). The you wil find 6 screws along the edges. Once thoes are out the whole unit will slide forward.

The orange wire is 10/2 and comes from the 120 plug on the wall, There appears to be enough length to juts unhook and take to the MultiPlus. I am going to try and put some loom on it for protection. The red and black PV wires on the left are from my existing solar panel. They tie into the 12V blocks. This will change with the new wiring that will go to the MPPT controllers in the front bay.

@howson
Does anyone have the color coding for the 120v Romex. It would really be helpful, especially the blue one.

Now I will give GD credit that they left enough slack to be able to work from the inside.


The converter is accessible from the front so folks know.



Now for the Puzzle. The converter connection is piggybacked with a wire from the Blue romex at the circuit breaker. When I disconnect the converter I can reconnect the blue romex, but would love to put a new label on the panel. Right now that circuit breaker is labeled converter and the one above water heater which is a white romex. I have been able to trace that white romex to the water heater.


The blue romex and the others run up the wall to the ceiling. The hole is where my current solar controller fits, but will be where the Touch 50 will go.

Well hopefully someone can get me the color coding for the 120V side.

Thanks
Keith

Now to put together the rest of the scaffolding so I can look at the roof situation.

[Yoda]

Well thanks to Brian bertschb I made a final decision on my wire routing and set about drilling holes in my backing plate, and then using the backing plate for guide for the wall. I use my Ridged (Home Depot) hole saws. Did OK on the aluminum, but I had to keep cleaning the teeth and made quick work on the wall.



I then wedged myself into the pass through and reconnected the heating ducts. What a pain holding them on and tightening the clamp. One of the flanges came loose so I had to figure out the twist lock system to get it back in place. I plan to seal it up better with foil tape later.

Now that I know the cable runs, time to work on equipment layout. It got too windy to get on the roof, and tomorrow rain, so I will work on programing the MultiPlus and the MPPT solar controllers. I rigged up a power cable to use one of the 12V batterys to provide power to the units.

More later
Keith

[Jlawles2]

Yoda Next time you drill AL, lots of WD40 or the AL tap magic.

If you look they make a drill bit extender that takes a normal drill bit.

[Yoda]

Yoda Next time you drill AL, lots of WD40 or the AL tap magic.

If you look they make a drill bit extender that takes a normal drill bit.

Thanks Joseph

It only gummed up on the 4th hole and I was going quickly, so the heat probably was a factor. Ill keep that trick in mind as I drill and tap the rest of the mounting holes, I finished one mounting plate tonight - the one for the MultiPlus. Taping the holes went very quickly. Good thing I oversized the plate as they want 4" of clearance all around the unit (converted from metric) I still wonder when will the rest of the world get with the US measurement program. Long story hear - I learned both measurement systems in College. And here 40 years later still haft to convert back to understand. Good thing I remembered the 25.4 MM to the inch conversion. I spent probably an hour adding notes in US measurements to the instructions.

And YES I am reading the instruction first, and watching a few programing videos. Note to future folks doing this - take the clearance needed in mind before placing your equipment, I somewhat did this and it really helped laying things out. Takes up a bit more room, but it is the right way to go.

I want to program and mount the MultiPlus so I can the measure and cut the 120V cables, etc My next project,

BTW http://www.tapmagic.com/ Learned about a new product line too - Thanks

Keith

[Cate&Rob]

Yoda

For “no mess” tapping of holes in aluminum, use candle wax. Just rub the tap on an old candle before threading the hole. ( From a long time owner of a large aluminum boat).

Good luck on getting the ROW (rest of world) to convert to the measurement system still used by only one country LOL . Although . . . I have to admit that I am still more comfortable working in inches and feet. A 2x4 is still 8 ft long . . . even in Canada.

Rob

[Yoda]

bertschb howson TucsonJim Cate&Rob ncitro Jlawles2

Well it was an exciting day. No sparks and I was able to get the MPPT solar controllers programed for my batterys. I discovered the Windows program for Victron Connect does not support Bluetooth, so I fumbled through getting the app on my smart phone. I had a few A-S moments trying to download the app (finding it was the first fun) followed by a Eureka moment after I gave up and went (forced it) back to the main screen ( I had to turn the phone off, then on) and I found the app was there. I was thrilled to see it find the controller I had powered up.

I then used a 12V battery and powered up the MPPT controller one a time. It did 2 updates of the firmware and some other required program needed for each. I got an error on a update failure, but after going back the second time it said I had the latest. I was then able to fumble through changing the battery charging parameters. I did the twice to make sure the settings held. Not too bad once I figured out how to use my fat fingers to select the correct tabs and then learn you can hold down the Buttons to rapidly change voltages vers step through them one tenth at a time.

Now for the Multiplus - I am a bit intimidated.

I just went through several videos on how to connect up the MultiPlus using my MK3 - USB doh-icky and cabling. An read the instructions on the various settings.

I searched for this, but is there a print out or a list of the basic settings I need to change or links to this information. I know I need to reset the battery charge profile, but there are a lot of other tabs I am not sure off.

It is the basic MultiPlus 12 / 3000 / 120. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
Keith

[ncitro]

bertschb howson TucsonJim Cate&Rob ncitro Jlawles2

Well it was an exciting day. No sparks and I was able to get the MPPT solar controllers programed for my batterys. I discovered the Windows program for Victron Connect does not support Bluetooth, so I fumbled through getting the app on my smart phone. I had a few A-S moments trying to download the app (finding it was the first fun) followed by a Eureka moment after I gave up and went (forced it) back to the main screen ( I had to turn the phone off, then on) and I found the app was there. I was thrilled to see it find the controller I had powered up.

I then used a 12V battery and powered up the MPPT controller one a time. It did 2 updates of the firmware and some other required program needed for each. I got an error on a update failure, but after going back the second time it said I had the latest. I was then able to fumble through changing the battery charging parameters. I did the twice to make sure the settings held. Not too bad once I figured out how to use my fat fingers to select the correct tabs and then learn you can hold down the Buttons to rapidly change voltages vers step through them one tenth at a time.

Now for the Multiplus - I am a bit intimidated.

I just went through several videos on how to connect up the MultiPlus using my MK3 - USB doh-icky and cabling. An read the instructions on the various settings.

I searched for this, but is there a print out or a list of the basic settings I need to change or links to this information. I know I need to reset the battery charge profile, but there are a lot of other tabs I am not sure off.

It is the basic MultiPlus 12 / 3000 / 120. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
Keith

Sounds like it’s going great. All you should need to get going is the battery and charge parameters. There’s a ton more in there, and you’ll probably want to tweak that later but I think all you need to set is the charger to get going.