Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT 100V 30 amp 12/24-Volt Solar Charge Controller (Bluetooth)

I like the bluetooth connection to see what is happening real time. Im not crazy about the fact it doesnt store the history of the charge controller input/output. If you use different devices on it you cant get the same history downloaded. Connecting wires with the screw wire block seems less secure to me. I dont know why most of the companies do it this way. Seems to limit the size of wire and makes it less secure. Ive had wires come out easily. This isnt really a dig at this brand, they all seem to have these screw connectors. The back aluminum plate popped off one day. A whole bunch of sand came out of it; it looked like beach sand. Apparently the inside of unit has sand to help with heat dissipation. Never heard of this before but I read up on it. I thought it was a defect at first but others have experienced the same thing. This shouldnt be an issue for most people since they will have it mounted on a wall but I had been moving mine around a lot and one day it just popped off. It does seem to have affected its performance so far. Time will tell. Im using it with a 100ah LiFePo4 battery and RadioB BMS connected to a Renogy shunt/battery capacity. Also us it to charge up the battery with my solar panel and AC/DC power adaptor.

Love this charger !!! Very easy installation and it works fantastic. The only complaint I have with it is the bluetooth capability. A large part of the reason I purchased this controller was so that I could monitor my charging from a mounted tablet on the wall using Victrons Bluetooth app. I can only mount the tablet about 10 feet away from the controller or it keeps losing Bluetooth connection. This seems to be a very common issue with these as well as most Victron products. I adjusted where I was mounting my tablet and it works well, just not where I had originally wanted it.

Summary: I have evaluated quite a few MPPT controllers for Vine, and while all were decent, the Victron Energy (VE) has high ratings, so I decided to purchase one for evaluation. My solar/PV system specs: 1000W of panels; 24-volt, 270Ah marine battery bank (Optima); Voltworks 2000W inverter. Using the system to reduce our electricity bill. This review is for the 100V/50A, which is the 2nd VE controller Ive purchased. Observations: The first thing to notice is that this one, unlike most others, does not have a control panel (just three LEDs); which means youll need a smart device to read the values. There are two basic VE offerings: this SmartSolar (built-in bluetooth), and BlueSolar (requires a BT dongle). Between the two, I went with the built-in BT (SmartSolar). One great feature of the VE system, is that it allows the MPPTs to communicate with each other via BT; which is a great feature for a larger system. Recommendations: One reason to choose the lower cost BlueSolar over the SmartSolar, is if you do not need the additional features that the BT brings; but for me, I didnt mind spending the extra $30-40 (per controller) to gain those features. Pros: Industrial quality & features; good application support (firmware updated upon first connect); security (bluetooth); good/efficient charging algorithm; good data and graphs. Cons: No built-in display (offset by the much better app and graphs). Conclusion: At $325, rating this 5-stars. Of all the MPPT controllers I have reviewed, Victron is the recommended brand. Related Products (lised in ORDER of HIGH to LOW rating): VICTRON ENERGY MPPT 100V 20 amp 12-24-Volt (Bluetooth) ~ $160 (5-star) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075NPQHQK EPEVER MPPT Solar Charge Controller 10A 60V PV 1206N ~ $60 (5-star) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094JCG6Y1 ACOPOWER Midas 40A MPPT ~ $180 (4-star) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HQB8RYK ACOPOWER MPPT Solar Charge Controller 30A ~ $140 (4-star) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NB1KOOZ Renogy Rover 20/30/40 Amp ~ $112/170/168 (2-star) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MRWTAB5

I have three Victron controllers and I love them. Glad I went with Victron. The three I have are the SmartSolar type with Bluetooth. The controllers communicate and I can monitor all of them through their phone app.

Experimented with a few other charge controllers for our off grid RV. I think I am finally happy with this Victron 100/50 charge controller. My 400ah lifepo4 batteries were charged from 54% to 100% by noon on a sunny blue Arizona sky. My previous charge controllers usually got the batteries to 100% by 2-3 PM if I was lucky. Love the app!! I was able to enter my specific batteries parameters that were recommended by Powequeens manual. Also able to see the history of what my panels and charge controller did for the day/week/month/year. Im Happy!

The SmartSolar MPPT 100/50 Charge Controller Bluetooth worked initially, but it suddenly will not work. My other Victron Bluetooth products have worked for a long time, several years. This did not. It was a good charge controller for a few months, but now I have no control over it. I went through all the troubleshooting guides, and performed everything they suggested, but still will not work. I am considering either getting the optional display or the Bluetooth Dongle, but it is not necessary for Smart Solar products, and if the cost for the two are 25% what a new solar MPPT charge controller from a competitor costs, I will probably just change it out for a different brand. Too bad - all my other Victron products in the system work well. The Bluetooth on other components work fine. Since I cannot connect to Blue tooth, I cannot even update the firmware to see if that works. There is really no real tech support that I can find.

Summary: I have evaluated quite a few MPPT controllers for Vine, and while all were decent, the Victron Energy (VE) has high ratings, so I decided to purchase one for evaluation. My solar/PV system specs: 1000W of panels; 24-volt, 270Ah marine battery bank (Optima); Voltworks 2000W inverter. Using the system to reduce our electricity bill. Observations: The first thing to notice is that this one, unlike most others, does not have a control panel (just three LEDs); which means youll need a smart device to read the values. There are two basic VE offerings: this SmartSolar (built-in bluetooth), and BlueSolar (requires a BT dongle). Between the two, I went with the built-in BT (SmartSolar). One great feature of the VE system, is that it allows the MPPTs to communicate with each other via BT; which is a great feature for a larger system. Recommendations: One reason to choose the lower cost BlueSolar over the SmartSolar, is if you do not need the additional features that the BT brings; but for me, I didnt mind spending the extra $30-40 (per controller) to gain those features. Pros: Industrial quality & features; good application support (firmware updated upon first connect); security (bluetooth); good/efficient charging algorithm; good data and graphs. Cons: No built-in display (offset by the much better app and graphs). Conclusion: At $160, rating this 5-stars. Of all the MPPT controllers I have reviewed, this is the recommended one. Related Products (lised in ORDER of HIGH to LOW rating): EPEVER MPPT Solar Charge Controller 10A 60V PV 1206N ~ $60 (5-star) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094JCG6Y1 ACOPOWER Midas 40A MPPT ~ $180 (4-star) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HQB8RYK ACOPOWER MPPT Solar Charge Controller 30A ~ $140 (4-star) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NB1KOOZ Renogy Rover 20/30/40 Amp ~ $112/170/168 (2-star) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MRWTAB5 GARNDE Rosefinch XS 30A MPPT ~ $150 (1-star) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094Z7RVXR

The unit arrived on time and exactly what I wanted. It was easy to install and had it running within an hour (most of the time was making cables to connect to the battery and solar panels). I would highly recommend this unit with the BlueTooth interface to monitor the connection.

In a side-by-side comparison between this Victron unit and an HQST solar controller it’s impossible to tell any difference in battery charge current. The Bluetooth communication for setup and monitoring is easy and convenient, except for the occasional dropouts. If you really don’t need the 48 volt capability I recommend saving some money and use the other brands. I intend to run a 48 volt battery system but set up a 24 battery bank for comparison of the Victron and HQST (which is a 24 volt maximum). Each controller was connected to identical 400 watt PV arrays and battery charge current was measured by watt-hr meters. After accumulating 500 watt-hrs the arrays were swapped and test repeated. The results showed no meaningful differences in charge delivered to the battery bank. The solar climate was a mix of sun and clouds during the test. Visual snapshots of both meters during the test reinforced that both controllers were responding similarly throughout the variation in cloud cover.

This is a good little MPPT Controller, Bluetooth, efficient and does what its supposed to do . It also has a Load Output to prevent from draining your battery flat. My only gripe is the specs say the terminals can accept 10AWG or 6mm2. While a bare, stranded 10AWG wire will fit, if you use Ferrules, it will not fit in the terminal. The largest wire this controller will take with a Ferrule installed is about 12AWG. I use Ferrules on ALL connections that use a clamp down terminal. I never allow bare strand wire to be clamped down by the terminal. If you do this, it will smash the wire, spreading it apart, and not allow for a secure connection. Yes, it will work but, with the amount of vibration in a Boat or RV, the use of Ferrules will make for a more secure connection. I returned the 100-15 and purchased a 100-30 Smart Solar MPPT. The 100-30 is the smallest Controller that will accept 6AWG Ferrules. I use 4AWG wire and crimp on 6AWG Ferrules. Works perfect and when cut apart to inspect, the copper is so tight, its almost welded together from the amount of force the ferrules crimp down. FYI, the wire and crimp tools I use are from TemCo. While this controller doesnt need anything bigger than 12AWG wire, I always oversize my conductors for low loss and room for expansion (Future Proofed). Hope this helps someone make the proper choice for their application.