Should I have an alarm with this setup? Solar Victron.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by PetePetePete

I'd love to hear more about this.

Sorry, I have not read the Victron manual, but normally the "Load" terminals supply battery power until a low voltage point is reached, when they will disconnect.

You can wire a small load, such as a 12v LED, directly to these terminals. When the battery voltage is high, the led will illuminate. If the voltage falls below the trigger level (say 12.0 v), the led will turn off. Unfortunately, a fridge load is often too high for these terminals so you need to use a relay to avoid overloading.

For an alarm you need the opposite condition. You want the alarm to sound when the power is disconnected. There are various ways of doing this, but most commonly a relay is used. Most relays have terminals that connect when power is removed. When the power is removed the connection to these terminals is made. This can be used to sound an alarm or illuminate a warning light. There are some traps. Relays can consume quite a lot of power. Latching relays (which only consume power when switching) or solid state relays are therefore often chosen. The other problem when controlling a fridge is rapid cycling of the relay. With the fridge on, the voltage drops so the fridge is automatically disconnected. When this occurs the voltage rises so the fridge turns on and the cycle rapidly repeats. This problem does not occur with a simple alarm.

I suspect someone has already done this with your controller and will give you some specific advice.