Ventana 3709 Solar upgrade

[Notsotalltexan]

Greetings One and All--

Yesterday I completed installation of six 200W Rich Solar panels on the roof of my Ventana 3709 with combiner box. I also called Mangum Energy to ask whether my 2812 inverter and my new ME-ARC50 remote control advanced series works with my inverter revision or if I needed a software update. I spoke with Scott Buckhouse in tech support and after he determined that I had just what I needed for my new LifeBlue lithium batteries, he walked me through the new settings necessary on my remote then had me crawl into the basement where my Mangum 2812 inverter was mounted and directed me to the reset button just above the green blinking LED. Then he had me hold it down until I saw the lite blinking rapidly and voila, my inverter and remote were now set for lithium batteries, charge controller and solar array.

Scott also told me to be sure and disconnect the positive inverter cable first from the battery and when reconnecting my inverter cables to the Lithium batteries, to connect the negative first, then the positive.

Today I will finish in the basement, replacing the FLA batteries with my two 200Ah Lifeblue batteries, build cables then fire it all up!

Here is Scott's contact info for anyone needing their tech support:

Scott Buckhouse

Product Support Technical Specialist

Magnum Energy, a product brand of Sensata Technologies, 5775 W Old Shakopee Rd Ste 100, Bloomington, Minnesota 55437

[email protected] // 800-553-6418 office // www.sensatapower.com

 

[Rich W.]

I’d like to see pics of your panel placement if convenient.

 

[AbdRahim]

Scott also told me to be sure and disconnect the positive inverter cable first from the battery and when reconnecting my inverter

Anyone know if this is the propersequence for all invertrs?

 

[Richpatty]

Anyone know if this is the propersequence for all invertrs?

This is only for magnums as far as I know…as if you disconnect the negative first, it will search for alternative ground (in particular with the BMK installed). It could burn out the BMK…

So they tell me.

 

[Notsotalltexan]

Here are my six roof panels and my controller with breakers and Victron smart shunt. My LifeBlue batteries are Bluetooth too. I should have taken a picture of the two batteries and my master battery disconnect with positive and negative J-Posts. I will and post in a few days.

Thank you to all here who gave me help and encouragement.

Laurent

 

[Richpatty]

Great news!

One question: It is hard to tell from the pic, but make sure ALL negative connections need to go to the Shunt. The idea is to allow the shunt to see ALL activity between the batteries and all connections, including general 12v, solar and the inverter.

 

[Notsotalltexan]

Thank you Rich. I specifically asked Jack Caruso with AMSolar this and his reply went as follows:

So just to summarize, the shunt will have 3 wires total connected to it. One on the battery side from the most negative battery connection, and 2 on the load side. One is for the J-post, and the other is for the chassis ground.

This is all I have connected to the shunt, just as he explained.

Laurent

 

[Notsotalltexan]

Thank you Rich. I specifically asked Jack Caruso with AMSolar this and his reply went as follows:

So just to summarize, the shunt will have 3 wires total connected to it. One on the battery side from the most negative battery connection, and 2 on the load side. One is for the J-post, and the other is for the chassis ground.

This is all I have connected to the shunt, just as he explained.

Laurent

Rich--

Jack also sent me this wiring diagram which was a big help. It is a Victron diagram using the same size charge controller I purchased.

 

[Notsotalltexan]

Thank you for noticing this Rich. I think that in my haste, I neglected to run a cable from the J-Post to the load side of the shunt.

 

[Richpatty]

Ok. And when you say “J Post”, do you mean a Busbar?