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

[Jlawles2]

Yoda Keith, some of the switches have different materials on the contacts which react better to the flash of power when broken under load. I'm assuming that you are conscious of minimizing opening the contacts at anything other than minimal draw (essentially everything off) unless in an emergency situation. With the contacts being under no load, it should not be an issue.

[howson]

I assumed people were using this lower rated switch because their 400A fuse would have blown before the 5 mins had passed.

Excellent point and probably why AMSolar supplies the "lesser" switch with their kits. (I bought all of my components from them as a kit.)

[Yoda]

Another good day - would have been better with no wind to spray paint. De-mounted everything and packaged the screw up in marked bags. Sanded and painted the panel (high temperature paint just in case)


Everything lined up for once, but I used a few drift pins to hold it in place while getting the corner screws set. The shiny spots are wet touch up paint spots. The ceiling above and forward of the holes in front of the cross bar will be where the PV panel circuit breakers will be mounted.

Here is an overall view, Sorry about the glare on the MultiPlus.

Notice the space below the panel and Multiplus. This is where the shunt and negative buss bar will go.


A better shot of the MultiPlus centered in the front bay. Where it sits it has all of the clear space requirements for proper cooling, etc.. When done there will be a short section of shelving about mid line in front to protect the switches. I might look around for a thin plastic stick on cover for them. Something like I did for the reverse lights I hooked up

Tomorrow plan is to set up my cable making table and to start mounting components. Tonight I might take a stab at a wiring plan drawing.

Have a safe week folks.
Keith

[Yoda]

I screwed up!

I did not leave enough room for the 4/0 lugs and wire to fit between the Lynx power in, the main switch to MultiPlus, and to the fuse. So if you doing a layout I strongly suggest attaching the lugs and than spacing the components taking into account any vertical or horizontal offsets.
In the picture above I did not leave enough space between the Main power switch and the power in bar or the fuse. So for others watch out for this. Everything else should be OK

Thankfully there is an easy solution, 1" by 1/4" copper flat bar. I have seen others use it. I just need to find It locally tomorrow, or I need to order online (any suggestions?). Going to be fun getting the slight offset I think I will need. However I have a big vice and a big hammer.

And to make my day better fittings at my irrigation pump failed too. I should have expected it as they were leaking last year.

I had to take it easy for a few days as I put my back out - need to loose weight.

Well tomorrow is another day.

[bertschb]

Thankfully there is an easy solution, 1" by 1/4" copper flat bar. I have seen others use it. I just need to find It locally tomorrow, or I need to order online (any suggestions?).

I bought my copper flat bar from Nate at Explorist.Life:
https://www.explorist.life/shop/all-...-lynx-adapter/

Not cheap but it worked great.

[Yoda]

I bought my copper flat bar from Nate at Explorist.Life:
https://www.explorist.life/shop/all-...-lynx-adapter/

Not cheap but it worked great.

Thanks Brian
Unfortunately I need custom lengths with a few kinks to even out elevation, so I need to start with plain bar stock. I am getting good at drilling holes and breaking drill bits.

BTW
Are you saying you have been in my shoes, or did you plan better?
Keith

[gbkims]

Keith,
This doesn't help with your offsets, BEP Pro Installer stuff sits on same elevation.
http://www.delzer.com/oneasg/BEP_CAT_003/34/
https://baymarinesupply.com/bep-mari...link-bars.html

[bertschb]

BTW
Are you saying you have been in my shoes, or did you plan better?
Keith

I may have copied other people's work better but it's unlikely I planned better :-)

I chose the flat copper bar over wires/lugs because it's fewer points of failure and it was cleaner and more compact for my install.

[Yoda]

Keith,
This doesn't help with your offsets, BEP Pro Installer stuff sits on same elevation.
http://www.delzer.com/oneasg/BEP_CAT_003/34/
https://baymarinesupply.com/bep-mari...link-bars.html

Thanks Gene

[Yoda]

I ordered a 2' long 1" by 1/4" bar from onlinemetals.com Not cheap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They had the best prices and I found a 20% off coupon - saved a whopping 4 bucks, Shipping was close to $14

Looked all over town - found some in Farmington NM, but diesel would run me more the the above shipping, not to mention 3 hours overall driving time.

Should be here in 3 or 4 days. Meanwhile plenty of other things to install and fix.
Keith

[bertschb]

Should be here in 3 or 4 days. Meanwhile plenty of other things to install and fix.

I think one thing that actually helped with my install were the delays I ran into by ordering a couple of newly released products with limited availability. This gave me time to refine my design, remove the factory components and install as much as I could while waiting for the final pieces to arrive.

I suspect you will keep busy with other things while waiting for the copper bars.

[Yoda]

One more tip I ran into today. Grounding wires. Most connections are on the side of the MPPT's and other things. You cant get to the screws once you mount the device, so it best to make up and connect the grounding wire before installation. or have one of those short 90 degree screw drivers that I don't have. I am also using blue Loctite (removable) on the mounting bolts. Don't want things vibrating loose.
Keith

[Yoda]

Made a little progress today. Got the shunt mounted in it enclosure and installed along with the ground bus bar.

First a photo of my circuit breakers for the panel side of the solar

I placed it so I can feed wires in and out without issue. Behind it about 6" is a steel channel that I can add grommets to keep the wires organized. Its an optical illusion but it is located well behind the cross bar for the front jacks.

Shunt is installed in a box with cover to protect it and ground bar is in place with easy access for all ground and negative wires to run beside the MultiPlus

Question. I plan to use a stainless steel 3/8 bolt as a grounding lug for the 4/0. Is that large enough? I was going to drill and tap the backing plate the ground bar is attached to, or should I run over and down to the main frame on the left?

Tomorrow if it warms up I start some wiring and additional component install.

Thanks again for the help everyone.
Keith

[howson]

I plan to use a stainless steel 3/8 bolt as a grounding lug for the 4/0. Is that large enough?

???

The 4/0 in my setup only goes to the battery connections, negative and positive. I don't think each cable (red and black) are more than 30" in length.

I'd sure like to see a schematic, Keith, of how you intend to wire this all together.

My 4/0 is highlighted with arrows to show you what I'm trying to convey.

[Yoda]

howson
Interesting. In your diagram (is it from AM solar?) your primary positive and negative power loop to the MultiPlus is 4/0. I see battery positive through switch and fuse to multiplus, and battery negative to battery side of shunt and then 4/0 to MultiPlus. However they don't really say/show what the OEM ground connection wire size is. I just assumed it needed to be as large as the largest negative wire.

My setup is actually similar.
Looking at post 88, the Lynx power in bar has the cover off. Positive bar is top and negative bar is offset below. The plastic pieces over the negative bar insulate the positive cables above. I am tying the battery bank to this device through switches (see post 79) So think of it as the red and black bars in your diagram except with a switch between the battery's and the bar connections. I did this so I could isolate a pare of the 6V batterys if needed.

Now my wiring is similar to your diagram.
Battery positive and negative feed the Lynx power in bar ( it just a fancy dumb buss bar set up for positive and negative connections). Edit - the positive feeds from MPPT controllers will feed this bar on the right. MPPT output circuit breakers are mounted to the right of the power in bar in picture above. This provides a direct feed to the batterys. Positive bar (top) feeds left to switch (insulation plate mounted) then through fuse below and over to the MultiPlus. Negative feed from power in bar comes out of the center lug of the negative bar (visible between 2 black plastic plates each side). This feed runs straight down to battery side of shunt. Load side of shunt goes to a second negative bus bar located below Multiplus where all negative load feeds go (Mppt's etc). The 4/0 negative from the MultiPlus attaches to the same ground bar directly below completing the loop. All of this wire is 4/0.

So this all needs to be frame grounded at some point from the negative buss bar (below MultiPlus) I guess that is the wire size now in question. What wire size do I need to connect to the OEM ground? In the existing wiring the negative ground to frame wire is the same size as the positive feed wire to the OEM positive buss bar (lower right in my photo above post 88). That's why I assumed it needed to match the largest positive cable.

I did a sketch drawing I posted earlier in this thread, but I will try and use power point to clear this up - I have very limited ability doing this so it could get interesting.

I know this is probably clear as mud.
More later
Thanks
Keith