Victron MPPT SmartSolar Charge Controller Test and Review 120x

We put the Victron Energy MPPT SmartSolar charge controller to the test and see just how fast it can put charge back into our Lithium battery.
Our battery setup is an iTechWorld 120X Lithium charged by the Victron SmartSolar charge controller, monitored by a Victron SmartShunt battery monitor connected to the VictronConnect App.
Link to Victron Charge controller - t.cfjump.com/70153/t/42872?Ur...
Link to Victron BMV-712 monitor - t.cfjump.com/70153/t/42872?Ur...
Link to Victron SmartShunt monitor - ebay.us/Das3VC
This test was pretty much as simple as it gets.
1. We discharge about 10% of our iTechWorld 120X battery by using a toaster hooked onto our inverter.
2. Next we hook up our solar panels and get them exposed to full sun.
3. Time how long it takes to totally charge our battery.
Do you use any of the Victron Energy gear to keep your batteries up to the task?
Let us know in the comments!
#lithium #deepcycle #victron #mppt #chargecontroller #itechworld #offgrid #lithiumbattery #itech120x #solarpower #offgridpower #12volt #dualbattery #batterysystem #renewable

[@matthewknight5641]

I just got the 150-70 and hopefully its a good one. Im completely off grid and i think this victron stuff is the way to go. Thanks for the video

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

No worries mate. Glad to have helped. They’re definitely a top quality unit!

[@mr.p960]

Folks there are some very good charge controllers out there But I recently purchased a VICTRON CHARGE CONTROLLER 100-30 There are no words to explain this product but I can tell you in my words that the quality & the workmanship of this product is second to none. I am so taken back on how beautifully this equipment performs. The reviews of this product is right on and I highly recommend on a scale 1 to 10 9-1/2 seven STAR

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Very true mate, honestly can’t fault my unit and haven’t had it slow down at all!

[@fishinbite]

Great video, was the toaster connected direct to the battery rather than using the load option? And what 6mm cable do you recommend, looking at Jaycar / Alltronics it all looks to come from china

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Hey mate, The toaster is 240V so I ran that off my inverter (2 B&S cable) I've just used the standard Narva 6mm twin core cable to wire the solar controller. It's the same size you typically see in Anderson plug extension cables. Hope this helps.

[@williamwiese9963]

Great video! I have a question. I currently have 5 rv Marine batteries wired in parallel, what would i choose in my battery drop downin the connect app. Also what charging parameters would you use? Thank! Have a great day

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Hi mate, Really depends on you battery chemistry. You'll need to look up your battery (if it's not marked) and select the appropriate profile. The only input you should need then is the overall capacity of your battery bank.

[@kwikflikzyakadventures3795]

Hey Mate, thanks for sharing your vid. Q. Would the Victron 75/15 controller be big enough for a 250w panel and a 115agm, or is bigger better? Cheers

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Good question mate, (assuming you have less than 75V PV) According to Victron it’s ok, but the unit will automatically limit PV power to 220W. Anything your panel produces over 220W will be regulated down and lost 🤙🏽

[@aaronwalker1507]

You can safely over panel them in amps just make sure you don't go over the voltage I hooked up 6 250-watt panels to my 150/35 in a 3s 2p configuration on a 12-volt battery and it just limited the power to 35 amps Wich is to around 500w Watts

[@freeranger1677]

@Kwikflikz Yak ADVENTURES - To make full use of your 250W panel I would recommend the Victron MPPT 100/20

[@stanpickersgill75]

Just a quick question, if you have the mppt smart solar controller do you really need the smart shunt?? I have the victron 100/20 and victron blue smart ip22 which both can be connected by Bluetooth what is the advantage of the smart shunt??? As both victron chargers are managing my batteries when charging by solar or plugged into power. Just need to clarify as I don’t know. Thanks

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

G’day Stan, The reason for the shunt is purely to display my battery’s state of charge. The problem with lithium is some hold they’re charged voltage until discharged to around 20% so you have to measure the actual power draw to accurately display the battery state of charge. Hope this helps mate 👍🏽

[@cipriancostinstoica740]

hy victron energy bluesolar mppt 100/15 is charcing Rombat temp test 100A??

[@andrewwyatt2542]

Great video mate also great product I have the 100/30 👍🏻. Silly question what does the shunt actually do

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Hey Andrew, The shunt essentially just measures any and all power going in or out of the battery to give an accurate read as a percentage.

[@s4060]

The manual says have an isolator for the solar panels. Also it says fuse 20amp (min) and 30amp (max) on the battery to the controller

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

100% mate, the secondary fuse to the battery is a 25 amp built in to the unit. The reason I haven't used a separate isolator or fuse on the input side is that both my solar panels are fused at the panel connection.

[@joshithomas1938]

Great video mate. Would you mind sharing some configurations/specs of all components (battery, MPPT etc) needed for a 1500 watt hour system? I'm looking to get a Victron MPPT and a good quality 1000W inverter.

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Hey Joshi, Our battery is a 120Ahr LifePO4 deep cycle giving us around 98Ahr or 1560W/Hr usable power without damaging it. The MPPT charger is a Victron 100 | 20 giving us up to 20A of solar input capacity. The inverter is a cheap Pure Sine Wave 1500W Adventure Kings unit. Our Victron charger has been a really good product for us. Hope this helps.

[@joshithomas1938]

@@OutNAboutAustralia Cool! thanks so much for the info, appreciate this bro.

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

@@joshithomas1938 no worries mate

[@matthewknight5641]

Seen your comment qnd was thinking maybe you will want a larger inverter. I have the sungold power 4000 watt and it's great. With 1000 watts it won't be much power and it's not alot more to get one that can run about anything you hook to it. I use 560ah of lifepo4 and the 150-70 victron charge controller with 1850 watts of solar. It runs my air-conditioning 24-7 and my fridge and TV and lights.. phone chargers also.

[@Farmer2492]

HI fantastic video i have a few questions does the Victron need WiFi to show up on your phone as a few camp spots we go to you cant get wifi , on my ute canopy i have a 300 watt fixed solar panel it will be going to 2x100ah batteries but the charge controller that came with it is 20amp i think its to small and its only a cheap controller anyway, so if i buy a Vitcron controller what size would i need i am thinking a 30amp what do you think

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Hey mate, thank heaps for that. Few things to look at here. Firsty, no the Victron unit uses Bluetooth for the smartphone connection rather than Wifi. The 300W PV panel you have fixed could potentially be putting out upwards of 25A depending on your battery type and charge profile. I think a 30A charger like I've linked below would do nicely to maximise your charging current, providing you don't want to add too much more PV input (60W max) geni.us/victron-mppt-12-30

[@Farmer2492]

@@OutNAboutAustralia Thank you very much much Appreciated , we just come back from Swanhill and my battery was dropping to 10.6 volts during the night but worked ok during the day when the panel was keeping up the charge on the battery

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

@@Farmer2492 No worries, glad I could help! If you're using AGM or any lead acid batteries I would suggest having your batteries tested first and then the controller upgrade to maximise you're available PV energy mainly because they do take a fair while to charge.

[@Farmer2492]

@@OutNAboutAustralia Thank you i just brought 3 x 100ah agm Batteries brand new the brand is volta i paid $400 the seller took them out of his brand new RV and put in lithium so he can claim them on tax i had to buy the 3 as he wouldn't separate they still have warranty on them, i found that my solar panel was really keeping the fridge going as the Battery wasnt holding charge when night come the solar stopped working so the fridge run battery flat, thank you for your help

[@andreasnamwoonde9222]

Hi, thank you for sharing, I was wondering if one is able to download the data displayed by the controller, especially for long-term monitoring.

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Hi Andreas, Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately I haven't been able to work that one out yet. The best I've been able to monitor is the standard 30 day history available through the Victron Connect App. This can be exported to a CSV file and emailed. Hope this helps.

[@beggersbelief6932]

I have a grid tie panel, its 190w and about VOC 37 volts..will this panel be ok to connect to the victron 100/20 to charge my lithium batts...thank you for any advise...

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Hey mate, definitely should clarify with Victron but, from what I understand, yes it can be connected to the Victron 100|20. The unit has a maximum permissible incoming DC voltage of 100 Volts DC. Providing you aren't using it in parallel with another panel that could push the amperage over 20 Amps I believe it's fine.

[@Meatcleaver101]

West Wyalong Mallee Men footy team - I used to play for them, and the Giral /West Wyalong AFL, the Union Club out the road and I used to run the Metro back in the day

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Seems like everywhere we go, someone knows someone from West Wyalong haha. Funny you mention the Metro, I was only there the other night.

[@Meatcleaver101]

@@OutNAboutAustralia 1000% OG West Wyalong boy ... used to live on the causeway on Main street... Went to West Wyalong High, I know Bottles and Jack (ACE caravan park) pretty much most of the Wyalong township .. My name is Mick Walker asl around you'll find out about me..

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

@@Meatcleaver101 I'll have to for sure!

[@bigbenrich]

How were the two panels hooked up? Series or parallel?

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Hey Ben, connected in parallel mate.

[@michaeljenkyns1719]

Hey mate did you ground the unit to the chassis? Or just use the ground from the battery terminal to the battery connection Thanks Mick

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Grounded it to the chassis Mick

[@michaeljenkyns1719]

Cheers mate Thanks for that

[@michaeljenkyns1719]

Would I it be best if I ground directly from the chassis or from the ground of my fuse. Block

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

​@@michaeljenkyns1719 hard to say without seeing you're system and grounding arrangement mate but only use you're chassis if you can prove a solid ground connection between your battery with a multimeter.

[@michaeljenkyns1719]

Thanks mate appreciate your help

[@joeboxter3635]

Not clear was 150W solar the only panel or was there a 2nd one also attached to give you 130W.

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Hey mate we had 260w of solar connected in total (110w fixed, 150w blanket) I never expected to actually get anywhere near that power however as our panels weren’t the cleanest and it was a bit late in the day.

[@frankt7769]

I've got the same system a lithium 12v battery 100ah I've got the 20a victron controller and shunt,only thing is I have a 160w kings fixed solar panel and a portable 130w solar panel will it be to much for my controller to handle or will the 20a controller be fine

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Hi Frank, put simply, at the maximum capacity of both panels...yes they will be too powerful for your controller. Not sure how much damage would be done to the unit as I don’t believe it has input overcurrent protection, but I’ll explore this more.

[@frankt7769]

Ok thanks for that

[@s4060]

You need to read max Amps and check from there. Matching panels volts and amps to within 5% also. I strongly doubt you would have a problem with those panels.

[@myresonance8013]

Dude could I run x2 160 Watt panels with the victron 100/20 it's essentially 40 watts more than on the box just wondering if could still work out ?!?

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Hey mate, Yes you can run both panels together, I’m assuming in parallel and the voltage doesn’t exceed 100Vdc the regulator will just max out and only deliver 20A to your battery.

[@myresonance8013]

@@OutNAboutAustralia Great thankyou 👌

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

@@myresonance8013 no worries mate 👍🏽

[@panospapadimitriou3498]

nope until now not many solar charger products have built in bluetooth. you have to see the 48v capability of it .. its quadruple the power and can maintain a rack mount battery every day !!! in normal conditions!!!

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Definitely mate. One day I'd love to build a 48V system for more power hungry equipment!

[@BareFootDuck]

I swear by Victron. And I find having panels in a fixed position, very inefficient

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

100% mate. Only problem is coming out and moving them every few hours 😂