Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT 250/70-MC4 VE.Can70A 250V MPPT solar charge controller, MC4 PV, VE.Can and Bluetooth

Overview

The SmartSolar MPPT 250/70-MC4 VE.Can combines a 250V PV input with 70A of charge current for 12V to 48V batteries, connected via two pairs of MC4 connectors (30A each). Victron gives 1000W nominal PV power on 12V and 4000W on 48V, a PV short-circuit limit of 35A and 99% peak efficiency. Its two VE.Can ports network up to 25 controllers with a GX device, alongside Bluetooth, VE.Direct, remote on/off and a programmable relay. It uses the 3kg L housing; battery fuse 80–100A.

• 70A, 85A or 100A charge current, 12/24/48V automatic
• 150V or 250V PV input, Tr screw or MC4
• Two RJ45 VE.Can ports plus VE.Direct and Bluetooth
• Up to 25 units synchronised on VE.Can
• Remote on/off terminal and programmable relay
• Optional plug-in SmartSolar display

How it works

These SmartSolar controllers add VE.Can networking to the large 70A to 100A housings. The tracker holds the PV array at its maximum power point and charges 12V, 24V or 48V batteries automatically, or 36V selected by hand. On the 150V models the absolute input limit is 150V at the coldest temperature with 145V for operation; on 250V models these are 250V and 245V. Excess PV power is clipped.

Charging is adaptive three-stage with optional equalisation, using one of eight rotary-switch presets, from gel and AGM to OPzS and LiFePO4, or a user-defined profile. The internal sensor or a Smart Battery Sense, BMV-712 or SmartShunt provides temperature and voltage compensation. Batteries discharged to zero volts and lithium batteries with an open BMS disconnect are recovered.

VE.Can networking

Two RJ45 VE.Can ports let up to 25 controllers be daisy-chained with UTP cables for synchronised charging, and connect them to a GX device for monitoring, control and VRM. The first and last devices need a VE.Can terminator; cables and terminators are not included. The VE.Can bus is powered from the battery and is not galvanically isolated, so positive-grounded systems need a separate CAN isolation module.

Installation and compatibility

The 70A units use the 3kg L housing, the 85A and 100A units the 4.5kg XL housing. Tr versions have 35mm² PV screw terminals; MC4 versions have two (70A) or three (85A and 100A) MC4 pairs on one tracker, each limited to 30A. Battery fuses are 80–100A for 70A, 100–120A for 85A and 120–140A for 100A models, and connections are torqued to 2.4Nm.

Mount vertically on a non-flammable wall, terminals down, 10cm free above and below, within 3m of the battery and not above it. Connect the battery before the PV. The PV array must remain ungrounded and optimisers must not be used. A remote on/off terminal accepts a BMS signal, and a programmable relay can signal alarms or switch a load.

Monitoring and settings

Every SmartSolar has Bluetooth built in: the VictronConnect app on Android, iOS, macOS or Windows shows live data, keeps 30 days of history and error records, changes settings and installs firmware updates. The VE.Direct port connects a GX device such as the Cerbo GX for remote monitoring on the VRM portal, the MPPT Control display, a USB interface or external control cables.

Questions and answers