Using load output on solar charger

tenoverthenose

New member
I'm running my Engel 45 fridge (among a few other things) off of my house battery in my truck. I already have 200W of solar to charge everything (along with the alternator when moving) using a Victron BlueSolar 75/15 MPPT. Currently I have a fuse block wired to my house battery where all of my accessories are tied into it. I do not currently have a low voltage disconnect anywhere in my system.

My question is if there would be a problem in using the load output on the charge controller to run a relay to power my fridge (or a solenoid for the entire fuse block). As I can program the Victron unit's load output to cutoff at a specific voltage, this could operate as a low voltage disconnect right? My goal is to use what I have (if possible) to stop my fridge from unnecessarily draining/damaging my house battery.
 

Rando

Explorer
No need for a relay - you can run your fridge and the rest of your aux loads (assuming they don't regularly exceed 15A) directly off of the Victron load terminal.
 

john61ct

Adventurer
I thought Engel has LVD built in.

If so run off the bank directly, you've got more load capacity for the SC's LVD.

If adjustable, I would set the fridge to cut out earlier (higher V) than the other smaller loads
 

tenoverthenose

New member
Thanks everyone for the input, it's much appreciated. Unfortunately the Engel does not have a LVD built-in. I'll probably just hook it directly up to the SC for now and make use of it's LVD. Maybe in the future I'll hook up a solenoid to control my fuse block too.
 

sumnrfam

Active member
No need for a relay - you can run your fridge and the rest of your aux loads (assuming they don't regularly exceed 15A) directly off of the Victron load terminal.

Rando, (all) ;-) I'm running the same Victron (75/15), and currently have the 'batt' output on the MPPT going direct to the battery, and the battery feeding a (fused) Blue Sea 12 circuit block, and the fridge is direct to the battery ,

I was never sure how the 'load' circuit worked, and if I should have the Blue sea tied to that circuit, or the fridge, or both?

Or should the fridge (ARB with low voltage disconnect) and Blue Sea, both be on the 'Load' output, and the battery only on the 'Batt' output?

Thanks all for any additional help,

Wade
 

Rando

Explorer
As long as your loads don't draw more than 15A, you can feed the blue sea fuse block with the 'load' output from the solar controller. The advantage to this is that all your loads are on a low voltage disconnect so you won't be able to kill your battery. Also if you have the blue tooth dongle (you should) you can view the load currents in the app, as well as being able to turn the load output off from the app (say after a trip when you want to make sure that everything is shut down). The other benefit (which I had not realized) is that the power consumption on the load terminal is also logged with the solar charge controllers history function. Using the app or display you can get a 30 day history of both your solar production and how much power your loads used each day. If you like data, this is a pretty powerful way of assessing how your system is performing.

Rando, (all) ;-) I'm running the same Victron (75/15), and currently have the 'batt' output on the MPPT going direct to the battery, and the battery feeding a (fused) Blue Sea 12 circuit block, and the fridge is direct to the battery ,

I was never sure how the 'load' circuit worked, and if I should have the Blue sea tied to that circuit, or the fridge, or both?

Or should the fridge (ARB with low voltage disconnect) and Blue Sea, both be on the 'Load' output, and the battery only on the 'Batt' output?

Thanks all for any additional help,

Wade
 
Last edited:

jonyjoe101

Adventurer
the only problem I would have with using the load out is it shutting off. On my ecoworthy mppt controller if the controller suddenly encounters "edge of cloud" syndrome where the the sun suddenly comes out from behind a cloud, the voltage will increase past 15 volts as the powerpoint changes, this always disconnects the load.

The load out has an overvoltage relay and on my controller it won't reset it self automatically. I use to have fans connected to the load out but they were always turning off. I don't use the load out unless it's something non essential.
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
I have my set up using the the load side of the solar charger. All of these units more or less were designed as power manager units for a enclosed off grid lighting system. The load side pulls from the battery. As long as the draw is below the max rating and the battery voltage doesnt drop below the cut off they will power the load side.

My controller was a $30 Amazon 10amp limit. Going on 4 yrs with zero problems. During the winter I simply turn off the load side via the function of the controller.

Works great and is a battery saver.
 

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