Alternative to Victron? Looking for galvanic isolator...

[InsuredApple]

Hi all. I'm really disappointed with the Victron support and refusal to answer some basic questions about their products -- telling me to talk to a dealer -- that I've decided to stop putting Victron on my boat. Getting consistently good support is really important to me, like support from PYI and Raymarine.

Anyhow.

Any recommendations for a high-quality galvanic isolator from a company with good support?

[s/v Jedi]

Victron support is some of the best in the industry. Did you have technical or sales support questions? Did you talk to the head office in the Netherlands or a distributor?

Example: my 9 year old Quattro malfunctioned. Technical support in Almere Holland quickly diagnosed the problem, told me I was out of warranty and the circuit board was not available anymore. Offered to swap my unit for a brand new one at 50% discount and that included 2-day shipping to Panama, custom fees, duty etc. I rarely get that level of support.

Have you found their forums?

I could recommend to try Mastervolt or other brands but they will not outperform Victron.

[InsuredApple]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Victron support is some of the best in the industry. Did you have technical or sales support questions? Did you talk to the head office in the Netherlands or a distributor?

Example: my 9 year old Quattro malfunctioned. Technical support in Almere Holland quickly diagnosed the problem, told me I was out of warranty and the circuit board was not available anymore. Offered to swap my unit for a brand new one at 50% discount and that included 2-day shipping to Panama, custom fees, duty etc. I rarely get that level of support.

Have you found their forums?

I could recommend to try Mastervolt or other brands but they will not outperform Victron.

Thanks for your reply. I contact Victron directly because distributors will only be a good route while we are here -- as soon as we are in the Bahamas or elsewhere, distributors seem to be much less keen to answer questions.

My experience is based on a reply I received after sending an email to sales@victronenergy.com. Got a reply from Johannes Boonstra, stating that they don't have time to answer questions directly. The downloadable manual for their 60-amp galvanic isolator didn't contain much information, so I thought I'd send a quick email to Victron to make sure the 60-amp model is the right fit... the "experts" here in Fort Lauderdale have let us down a few times in the past -- I much rather confirm things directly with the manufacturer before having someone install something.

I'll reach out to MasterVolt, see if that's any better. ProMariner seem decent, they replied right away -- and their manual is fairly detailed.

[john61ct]

Not defending them just stating facts.

Their business has been growing enormously, and they have always recommended working through a qualified dealer.

Yes you pay a little more, but shopping online based on price is one of those penny wise pound foolish propositions.

That said, buying from PKYS gets you access to Peter Kennedy,

Alan at Bay Marine in San Diego is very knowledgeable alan@baymarinesupply.com 619-320-5899

Obviously ordering through Maine Sail aka Rod @ CMS supports our own "local" font of knowledge, least we can do for all his tireless work for the community, https://marinehowto.com/contact-2/

Also could buy from Bruce @ Ocean Planet info@oceanplanetenergy.com

Or develop IRL contacts more local to your home port!

Then you have the Victron Community forums, where Victron engineers do monitor and sometimes contribute. https://community.victronenergy.com/index.html

And finally the **support** (not sales) resources for each global market.

If NA based try Justin Larrabee +1 207 3540493 · jlarrabee@*victronenergy.com

Hope this helps

[InsuredApple]

Originally Posted by john61ct

Not defending them just stating facts.

Their business has been growing enormously, and they have always recommended working through a qualified dealer.

Yes you pay a little more, but shopping online based on price is one of those penny wise pound foolish propositions.

That said, buying from PKYS gets you access to Peter Kennedy,

Alan at Bay Marine in San Diego is very knowledgeable alan@baymarinesupply.com 619-320-5899

Obviously ordering through Maine Sail aka Rod @ CMS supports our own "local" font of knowledge, least we can do for all his tireless work for the community, https://marinehowto.com/contact-2/

Also could buy from Bruce @ Ocean Planet info@oceanplanetenergy.com

Or develop IRL contacts more local to your home port!

Then you have the Victron Community forums, where Victron engineers do monitor and sometimes contribute. https://community.victronenergy.com/index.html

And finally the **support** (not sales) resources for each global market.

If NA based try Justin Larrabee +1 207 3540493 · jlarrabee@*victronenergy.com

Hope this helps

Hi John, great feedback and thanks for the contacts.

Ward's did the electrolysis test on our boat, and they carry and recommend the FailSafe, so I am going to get it. Ward's has been amazing all around, so I feel confident that they would help troubleshoot in case there's an issue.

I'm sure I just got the "wrong" person at Victron, and the rest are a bunch of great people who love to help customers. Our solar chargers are from Victron and our new 24-12 converter, for our JetThrusters system, is also Victron.

Thanks again, I really appreciate your feedback!

[skipmac]

It has been a few years since I needed tech support from Victron, but when I did their US reps were very responsive. I also highly recommend PKYS. Have purchased a few things from him (not all Victron products) and he was very helpful and knowledgeable.

Maybe it would get you better support from Nederland if you spoke Dutch, like some members.

[s/v Jedi]

Sounds like you got the Dutch honest directness experience (called blunt by some other cultures lol).

What it means is that he is too busy to answer (such basic) questions as he has much bigger projects needing his time. He should have added that you can ask on the forums for anything that is not in the brochure and spec sheet (they will tell you to rtfm otherwise).

There are some other great recommendations in the thread; I don't think you can go wrong with any of them,.

BTW: you had tests done? Do yo have an aluminum hull? Because if so, you should get an isolation transformer instead of just a galvanic isolator

[Integra]

Like others I can't praise Victron highly enough, but have also found much depends upon the dealer.

We purchased our Victron system through a Spanish dealer as the boat was in Spain at the time. More than a year later the USB connection on one of my three MTTP Controllers failed due to corrosion (salt water had been dripping onto it).

The Spanish dealer's response was that corrosion wasn't covered under the five year warranty, and rather than offer to fix it, he offered to sell me a new unit.

I spoke to Victron directly to see if it could be repaired, and they asked me to take it to my nearest Victron dealer, which was Barden Batteries in Fareham, UK.

They confirmed to Holland that the unit had corroded, and were instructed to give me a brand new controller and USB connector free of charge.

We also have a Mastervolt system on the boat, but Victron is light years ahead of it.