Beware BlueSolar charge controllers

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Transvemare

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A word to beware of these Victron Energy products - my experience is they're duff, and Victron Energy customer service non-existent. I bought two new Blue Solar PWM LCD-USB charge controllers to hook up an additional pair of solars. Brand new, out of the fancy box. All hooked up and connected, but then I plugged in a USB phone charger cable.
Controller/solar duly charged said phone, but when I pulled the cable out of the USB socket, the whole charger unit came with it. All four mounting pillars attaching it with small self-tappers to the mounting plate had broken. Replaced it with the second unit I'd bought, and exactly the same thing happened. The retailer has returned them under warranty to Victron, but after 10 days I'm still waiting - and we're due to sail on an extended cruise in a few days.
Have emailed sales/services at Victron - they haven't even had the courtesy to reply. Neither has their UK manager, who was copied on the email.
More utter crap, more shiny bluewash. These units cost around fifty quid a throw, and on top of which, the second one won't even set up properly - it won't select the sealed wet battery option.
My next step will be to try and get my bank to make a charge-back.
AVOID, AVOID, AVOID!!!!!
 
Interesting. My experience is the contrary.

Victron customer service was very helpful with technical details of products suitable for a small domestic solar installation, plus resetting a PIN I had lost on the boat controller. The Facebook Victron group seems to be full of extremely helpful comments from Victron head office.

It's hard to see how removing the USB plug in a vertically downwards direction would generate enough force to shear four self tappers simultaneously. But at the least, the UK Victron office should have picked up the problem. Were the screws OEM ? Any pics ?

EDIT

Are the screws in question the ones holding the black back plate to the wooden/grp surface ?
z3JQvUF.jpg


How did you try setting the "sealed wet battery option" ?
 
Last edited:
I have a failed B2B I am taking home from the Caribbean. Previously had a failed blue solar charger. Hoping the UK dealer will replace the b2b when I get home. They did replace the blues solar with no problems.
 
I recently contacted Victron customer service with a question, I think it was about their bluetooth "smart networking", and they told me to ask one of their distributors or on their forums.

Their forums have been of limited helpfulness with some answers smug or sarky, like you're an idiot for not knowing the answer or for failing to read the manual properly.

In the last 6 months I've had fantastic support from em-trak, NASA and LCJ Capteurs - all of them have replied helpfully within 24 hours.

I appreciate that customer support is probably much harder at Victron's scale, but I'd much rather be told by paid customer support "you overlooked this" (who likely to add a smiley) than by some ass in a forum who wants to prove himself.

As a result of this I would have chosen MasterVolt instead, but found their products are considerably more expensive.
 
sarabande said:
Interesting. My experience is the contrary.

Victron customer service was very helpful with technical details of products suitable for a small domestic solar installation, plus resetting a PIN I had lost on the boat controller. The Facebook Victron group seems to be full of extremely helpful comments from Victron head office.

It's hard to see how removing the USB plug in a vertically downwards direction would generate enough force to shear four self tappers simultaneously. But at the least, the UK Victron office should have picked up the problem. Were the screws OEM ? Any pics ?

EDIT

Are the screws in question the ones holding the black back plate to the wooden/grp surface ?
z3JQvUF.jpg


How did you try setting the "sealed wet battery option" ?
Click to expand...
First, the unit you show is not the same as those we have - the USB connections are on the front, but as you say little force needed to remove. Don't know what you mean by 'are the screws OEM'. They're the ones used by Victron not by me to attach blue cover to base plate. We're trying for a charge-back with our card issuer as Victron aren't interested in replacing them or replying to us.
 
The supplier/distributor is not responsible for a serious design/manufacturing defect. In this case, the supplier has acted quite correctly and accepted the goods for return. However, it is Victron who must supply replacements for faulty goods, and promptly. This, so far, they have failed to do.
 
Transvemare said:
The supplier/distributor is not responsible for a serious design/manufacturing defect. In this case, the supplier has acted quite correctly and accepted the goods for return. However, it is Victron who must supply replacements for faulty goods, and promptly. This, so far, they have failed to do.
Click to expand...

If you are in the UK, this is incorrect. Your contract is with the retailer, it is up to him to arrange a replacement, repair or refund.
 
And in turn, the retailer has a contract has a contract with the maker, whether UK or EU. UK Sale of Goods Act is quite clear about it. However, I'm in France and here ultimately manufacturer is liable. I posted this as a warning to my fellow boat owners about a piece of badly made/designed crap to avoid - sorry some people are more interested in delving into legal issues.
 
I’ve had nothing but good experiences with both victron products and support. I had a technical question last year, sent an email and next morning had an reply and then had a call from UK sales manager.
So many YouTubers with solar systems, boating, RV and home are using their gear if it was fundamentally flawed we would hear more.
 
I had a BlueSolar charger blow up on me as soon as I connected it to the batteries. I was in a bit of a rush by then (supplier had messed me around) and was not happy when they suggested they would need to process the return and get the faulty component sent to Victron to confirm the problem. I had even sent them photos of the exploded capacitor and *massive* solder bridge that had caused the issue. The supplier in question were BatteryMegastore whose customer service is not always terrible.

The replacement seems to be working fine, so I'd say based on my experience that they make reasonable products, but with non-existent quality control.
 
Transvemare said:
A word to beware of these Victron Energy products - my experience is they're duff, and Victron Energy customer service non-existent. I bought two new Blue Solar PWM LCD-USB charge controllers to hook up an additional pair of solars. Brand new, out of the fancy box. All hooked up and connected, but then I plugged in a USB phone charger cable.
Controller/solar duly charged said phone, but when I pulled the cable out of the USB socket, the whole charger unit came with it. All four mounting pillars attaching it with small self-tappers to the mounting plate had broken. Replaced it with the second unit I'd bought, and exactly the same thing happened. The retailer has returned them under warranty to Victron, but after 10 days I'm still waiting - and we're due to sail on an extended cruise in a few days.
Have emailed sales/services at Victron - they haven't even had the courtesy to reply. Neither has their UK manager, who was copied on the email.
More utter crap, more shiny bluewash. These units cost around fifty quid a throw, and on top of which, the second one won't even set up properly - it won't select the sealed wet battery option.
My next step will be to try and get my bank to make a charge-back.
AVOID, AVOID, AVOID!!!!!
Click to expand...
Just bought a Blusolar victron product. Glad i did. I know now not to buy any of their other stuff. Dreadful manual, forum nit accessible by me, Facebook group uninformative, victron say contact retailer who weren't helpful.
 
I chose an 'Epever' 30 Amp MPPT Controller.

The manual is a bit iffy but after instalation it works very well.

It is running from two 200W rigid panels and is hooked to 550 AH of AGM's.

It appears well made and the only minor drawback is the screen which is hard to see where I mounted it. It is running two 'fridges and a freezer 24/7/365 and where we are in NI, sunshine is hard to come by. Even so, the batteries have had no external charge since May 12th when I finished the install.

One reason for not going Victron was a couple of club members who had troubles with Victron kit and lack of after sales from the supplier during resolution.
 
rotrax said:
I chose an 'Epever' 30 Amp MPPT Controller.

The manual is a bit iffy but after instalation it works very well.

It is running from two 200W rigid panels and is hooked to 550 AH of AGM's.

It appears well made and the only minor drawback is the screen which is hard to see where I mounted it. It is running two 'fridges and a freezer 24/7/365 and where we are in NI, sunshine is hard to come by. Even so, the batteries have had no external charge since May 12th when I finished the install.

One reason for not going Victron was a couple of club members who had troubles with Victron kit and lack of after sales from the supplier during resolution.
Click to expand...
My epever controller from photonic universe has been excellent
 
I have the model of which you speak. I am amazed that it broke through the removal of a USB cable and shall take extra care now.

The only problem I have with it is that it reads. 2 of a volt lower. Not really an issue though but I was surprised I couldn't calibrate it. It was cheap and I notice that it is being replaced by a newer version so no problem.
 
CapPugwash said:
The only problem I have with it is that it reads. 2 of a volt lower. Not really an issue though but I was surprised I couldn't calibrate it. It was cheap and I notice that it is being replaced by a newer version so no problem.
Click to expand...
What are you comparing it with and when was that last calibrated?
 
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