Activating victron solar controller after winter storage

[TheLonePine]

We have solar panels and Lithium batteries in our 2023 Escape 19. when we put the batteries in after winter storage nothing registered on the Victron Battery monitor and the Victron MPPT controller was not showing on the Victron app. After digging around in the Victron on line manuals I eventually disconnected and reconnected the wires from panel and battery to the controller which reset the controller and it immediately appeared on the victron app again and is working well. The BMV monitor was not showing recorded data and I reset it by pressing the three little bars at the bottom of the app once in BMV mode and clicked clear data, and it is now working again.
I am thinking it might be worth installing switches for the panels and battery wires to the controller as it would be easier to reset next year rather than going to the hassle of disconnecting the wires. Has anyone else done this and if so what switches did you use?
it took a long time to figure this out with the manuals so I hope this helps anyone else who is having this issue.

[SRS]

Originally Posted by TheLonePine

We have solar panels and Lithium batteries in our 2023 Escape 19. when we put the batteries in after winter storage nothing registered on the Victron Battery monitor and the Victron MPPT controller was not showing on the Victron app. After digging around in the Victron on line manuals I eventually disconnected and reconnected the wires from panel and battery to the controller which reset the controller and it immediately appeared on the victron app again and is working well. The BMV monitor was not showing recorded data and I reset it by pressing the three little bars at the bottom of the app once in BMV mode and clicked clear data, and it is now working again.
I am thinking it might be worth installing switches for the panels and battery wires to the controller as it would be easier to reset next year rather than going to the hassle of disconnecting the wires. Has anyone else done this and if so what switches did you use?
it took a long time to figure this out with the manuals so I hope this helps anyone else who is having this issue.

Lots of threads here on the forum but here is what I did. I installed a DC circuit breaker to disconnect the solar panels from the controller and a Blue Sea 30 amp circuit breaker between the battery output on the controller. The DC breaker is mounted inside a circuit breaker box. There are also solar disconnect switches which are supposed to be better but I had already installed mine when I read about them. For the solar, I believe it's important to disconnect both the positive and negative wires. Like everything, there are lots of opinions but I can say this setup does work and makes it much easier to work on the 12 volt system.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

[TheLonePine]

Thanks, sounds a good idea to install some switches

[Centex]

Similar approach to SRS, here's my Main DC Panel which allows selective isolation of various components from the battery and vice-versa (still need to make nicer labels).

Among other things this allows separate isolation of my PV array from the solar controller in sections (rear array is 2x200W in series, front array is 400W in series, the two arrays are in parallel), and isolation of the solar controller from the battery, facilitating the solar connect / disconnect sequence recommended by Victron ("on first" / "off first" labels to help me remember the proper sequence). The 'ganged' PV array breakers act on both the (+) and (-) feeds from each panel pair to the MPPT controller.

This Main DC Panel is mounted face-up at the front corner of my passenger side dinette bench immediately under the hinged seat; that's the space where my battery, inverter/charger, voltage regulators, MPPT, etc are located.

[SRS]

Originally Posted by Centex

Similar approach to SRS, here's my Main DC Panel which allows selective isolation of various components from the battery and vice-versa (still need to make nicer labels).

Among other things this allows separate isolation of my PV array from the solar controller in sections (rear array is 2x200W in series, front array is 400W in series, the two arrays are in parallel), and isolation of the solar controller from the battery, facilitating the solar connect / disconnect sequence recommended by Victron ("on first" / "off first" labels to help me remember the proper sequence). The 'ganged' PV array breakers act on both the (+) and (-) feeds from each panel pair to the MPPT controller.

This Main DC Panel is mounted face-up at the front corner of my passenger side dinette bench immediately under the hinged seat; that's the space where my battery, inverter/charger, voltage regulators, MPPT, etc are located.

Very nice setup Alan. If my 17A ever grows up, I'll want to do what you've done.

[John in Santa Cruz]

I used a battery disconnect switch on my panel + wire to the Victron 100/30. So far I've only used it to disconnect the solar so I could test multi day battery usage, but it's in there in case I want to disconnect the batteries themselves.

[TheLonePine]

Thanks Everyone, some nice solutions. Time for me to go and find the switches :-)