One of the big advantages of Victron equipment is it can share data (temp, battery/charging status, power consumed, etc.) with the other components and you can view most of that with the phone app, which is pretty useful for giving you a sense of how it can run and what to expect. The more complex the system, the more time you will have to invest getting it to all run smoothly. Here, the help of the vendor is essential, as Victron will refer you to them for support. When people get to this point and can't get support from Amazon, they get understandably upset--so don't buy it from Amazon.
The 712 Battery monitor is the heart of their system and it does a good job of accurately assessing your charge/discharge status, which is pretty essential and not easy to accomplish. It has bluetooth and will make use of information other components produce and show most of that on the VictronConnect app. Take a look at it in the store to see if it is the sort of program you might use. Not many other systems give you such ready access to data.
The solar controllers work excellently to charge a variety of battery types, have good charge profiles and the app has good data and a history to help you assess what you are harvesting. Sizing them is a little confusing, but if you understand that they can be oversupplied with amperage (if your panels ever reach peak output, which is rare, any power above rated capacity will be dumped, but is not harmful) but cannot endure over-voltage, you can often size down from their recommendations. Figure out the size and wiring of your array (series or parallel) and buy the controller that can handle that. Because it is MPPT, you can use panels with much higher voltages than standard RV systems (12v.), which includes 300+ watt rooftop panels, which are powerful, durable and can often be found for $1 (U.S.)/ watt or less.
CETEK, another integrated system, has an MPPT controller, but it cannot handle much above 12v.
The charger/inverters are large, expensive, and need a bit of setup using a windows computer. The options for gathering data are not as integrated as some of the other components and they seem geared more towards industrial applications, but they include some useful options and are well put together.
Their lithium batteries seem solid, but again, the setup is fairly involved and they require a good deal of additional components to limit charge and discharge to keep the battery functioning. There are odd factors in the inter-compatibility that will require some tec-support, so be warned that it is not plug-n-play.
They do offer an option to make your system internet compatible; the GXC Color control, a display panel with fairly extensive inputs and remote data logging and support. You can set alerts and alarms for all sorts of conditions, update all your components (which are published fairly often) and keep track of a huge amount of information in realtime.
PKYS (
https://shop.pkys.com/) is a vendor in Annapolis who has published a wealth of information, examples of builds and design considerations and some very good blogs. Unfortunately, he does not seem have a ton of time for phone support, so even with really good prices, it may be worth fining someone else to help you put together a complex system if that is what you need. Perhaps working with someone close enough to visit could help you get a system up and running. Once you get that far, it is a reliable and robust system that doesn't seem to need much attention to work.
Designing a high amp-hour AC/DC battery powered system with shore+solar+alternator inputs is a complicated process that demands a good amount of time, a good bit of cash and a lot of patience. Even just crimping, insulating and routing heavy gauge wire is a serious chore, fitting it together to make it organized and compact is an art. Don't expect to throw together a bunch of components and have it all work the way you need to first go. While everyone will warn you that shoddy electric can burn your project to the ground, it is more likely to ignite your temper &/or vaporize your budget if you don't give it the proper attention.
