Hey all, we recently purchased an F350 with a Hawk flatbed on it and I'm trying to understand the solar usage and setup a bit more. This is our first 4WC and this forum has been invaluable so far. The folks we bought it from were the second owners and did not know much about the system. The Hawk is a 2022 model and it has 2 6V AGM batteries (Deka 8AGC2) wired in series (190ah capacity), 2 160w Overland Solar panels, and an Overland Solar 100/30 MPPT controller. The Victron display that was installed from the factory has not read higher than 12.7v, where after reading on here I should see this somewhere around 13.5v. Is that correct? If so it would seem the batteries are not getting fully charged. That led me to want to install the battery monitor and attempt to learn more about all of this and that's where I'm at presently.
I just installed the BVM-712 and the VE Direct dongle (huge thanks to the other threads on here that helped me get this far) and now have some questions, those are below, any help is much appreciated!
Questions on MPPT settings:
First Question - Under battery what should be selected for battery preset? Right now it's on rotary switch, see image below. If I go into edit presets I have some options to choose what type of battery is there, it's defaulted on Gel Victron deep discharge (2). Should this be AGM spiral cell, or another option?
Second Question - Under load output, the current operation mode is battery life, any reason to change this?
Third question - I am presently seeing 0w from the solar, 0.01V, and 0.0A. I did read in another thread on here that I will see 0w until the voltage is 5v above battery voltage, is that correct? I checked the inline fuse on the power cable from the panels ahead of the MPPT controller PV connection and it is not blown. All breakers are on and the kill switch is presently off (pulled out) allowing devices in the camper to be powered. I was reading about some issues with the Overland Solar panels and I am not sure if this is something that might be affecting me. When I look at the history under the VE Direct Smart device it is showing only one day of 23w in the last 7 days (6 of which have been full sun), but I am not sure if this is something to be concerned about.
Now for questions about the BVM-712 setup. I read in a thread on here about the settings and I think I have the battery settings correct, but would love a second (or third) set of eyes. See below of present battery settings.
Do any other settings under relay, alarm, display, etc. need to be changed in the BVM-712? Under Misc should the AUX input be none, or perhaps starter battery? It's presently set to none. I do not have the temperature add on, just what came in the BVM-712 box.
Now for some questions that have nothing to do with the Victron stuff. Looking in the area where the fuse block and IOTA converter etc. are located I see a couple fuses that I am not sure where they go. The one directly in front of the fan of the IOTA controller (5A), any clue what that might go to?
Different question, but same image. The fuse holder that is attached to the ground on the Blue Sea 7611 has a 10 amp fuse, but the install document from Blue Sea shows it should be a 1a, should this be replaced to be a 1a fuse? Also, it looks like the wire going into the 7611 from the F350 is quite small (definitely smaller than 6 AWG), I assume this wire is what ultimately connects at the connector that is just outside of the camper. I read somewhere else that increasing this wire size would help with charging from the alternator, but I do not imagine it is easy to change this size from the connector to the Blue Sea 7611, perhaps only from the alternator to the connection at the front of the 4WC. Thoughts on that?
Blue Sea Install document:
I just installed the BVM-712 and the VE Direct dongle (huge thanks to the other threads on here that helped me get this far) and now have some questions, those are below, any help is much appreciated!
Questions on MPPT settings:
First Question - Under battery what should be selected for battery preset? Right now it's on rotary switch, see image below. If I go into edit presets I have some options to choose what type of battery is there, it's defaulted on Gel Victron deep discharge (2). Should this be AGM spiral cell, or another option?
Second Question - Under load output, the current operation mode is battery life, any reason to change this?
Third question - I am presently seeing 0w from the solar, 0.01V, and 0.0A. I did read in another thread on here that I will see 0w until the voltage is 5v above battery voltage, is that correct? I checked the inline fuse on the power cable from the panels ahead of the MPPT controller PV connection and it is not blown. All breakers are on and the kill switch is presently off (pulled out) allowing devices in the camper to be powered. I was reading about some issues with the Overland Solar panels and I am not sure if this is something that might be affecting me. When I look at the history under the VE Direct Smart device it is showing only one day of 23w in the last 7 days (6 of which have been full sun), but I am not sure if this is something to be concerned about.
Now for questions about the BVM-712 setup. I read in a thread on here about the settings and I think I have the battery settings correct, but would love a second (or third) set of eyes. See below of present battery settings.
Do any other settings under relay, alarm, display, etc. need to be changed in the BVM-712? Under Misc should the AUX input be none, or perhaps starter battery? It's presently set to none. I do not have the temperature add on, just what came in the BVM-712 box.
Now for some questions that have nothing to do with the Victron stuff. Looking in the area where the fuse block and IOTA converter etc. are located I see a couple fuses that I am not sure where they go. The one directly in front of the fan of the IOTA controller (5A), any clue what that might go to?
Different question, but same image. The fuse holder that is attached to the ground on the Blue Sea 7611 has a 10 amp fuse, but the install document from Blue Sea shows it should be a 1a, should this be replaced to be a 1a fuse? Also, it looks like the wire going into the 7611 from the F350 is quite small (definitely smaller than 6 AWG), I assume this wire is what ultimately connects at the connector that is just outside of the camper. I read somewhere else that increasing this wire size would help with charging from the alternator, but I do not imagine it is easy to change this size from the connector to the Blue Sea 7611, perhaps only from the alternator to the connection at the front of the 4WC. Thoughts on that?
Blue Sea Install document:
