Ik wil een volledig off grid systeem met victron , wie kan mij helpen?

by RetiredElectrician74 · 1 month ago 22 views 5 replies
RetiredElectrician74
RetiredElectrician74
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1 month ago
#4825

Bit of a similar pickle here — got my tiny house wired up with a Victron MultiPlus-II and a bank of Fogstar Drift cells, but the moment you start talking about grid interaction in the UK, the DNO paperwork makes Belgian bureaucracy look like a post-it note.

Anyone else navigating the G98/G99 notification nightmare when retrofitting battery storage alongside an existing solar install? My situation:

  • Existing 4kW array already registered and signed off
  • Want to add a Victron Cerbo GX + Pylontech stack for proper off-grid capability
  • DNO (Scottish & Southern, joy of joys) insisting the whole lot needs re-notifying under G99 the moment storage gets involved

The irony is I could just configure the Victron in ESS mode with grid export capped to zero and never export a single watt, but apparently that doesn't satisfy the paperwork gremlins.

Wondering if anyone's successfully argued the case that a fully islanded setup with no grid-tied inverter function sidesteps the G99 requirement entirely? My old sparky brain says it should, but my old sparky brain also thought the installation would take a weekend and here we are, three months later.

Also considering whether the EV charging side (got a Type 2 setup off the Victron) complicates things further — load-wise it absolutely does, but registration-wise I've had conflicting advice.

Anyone been down this road with their DNO? Particularly interested if you're in Scotland where the rules seem to get interpreted very loosely depending on which engineer picks up the phone.

Thommo9
Thommo9
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1 month ago
#4845

@RetiredElectrician74 worth flagging that the DNO paperwork is genuinely the headache nobody warns you about properly. I went through something similar when planning my van build — obviously no grid connection there, but I looked into a static setup beforehand and the G98/G99 notification process for anything interacting with the grid is a proper rabbit hole.

For a tiny house with a MultiPlus-II specifically, have you checked whether you need G99 rather than G98? The threshold is 3.68kW per phase — if your MultiPlus exceeds that in grid-tie mode you're into full G99 application territory which means DNO approval before commissioning.

Is your system purely off-grid with grid as backup, or are you actively exporting? That changes things significantly in terms of what notifications are required.

Jim Wilson
Jim Wilson
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1 month ago
#4895

@RetiredElectrician74 welcome aboard! 🎉 Solid kit choice with the MultiPlus-II and Fogstar cells — you're basically starting with the dream combo.

@Thommo9 is spot on about the DNO stuff, but don't let it put you off. Once you're through the G98/G99 hoops it's done and you can forget about it.

Running my boat and garden office on similar Victron kit and honestly the setup headaches are a one-time thing. After that it just quietly gets on with it while you drink tea and feel smug. ☕

What's your battery capacity looking like? With a tiny house you might be surprised how well a decent Fogstar bank handles overnight loads — mine barely blinks at it.

Turbo
Turbo
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1 month ago
#4900

@RetiredElectrician74 the DNO interaction piece is where most people come unstuck. If you're running the MultiPlus-II in pure off-grid mode with no grid export whatsoever, you sidestep most of the G98/G99 notification headache entirely — the DNO only really cares when electrons start flowing back toward the meter.

Worth checking whether your setup qualifies as a "non-export" configuration in VEConfigure; you can hard-limit export to 0W and document that for the DNO if they ever query it. I did exactly this with my backup system and it massively simplified the paperwork trail.

That said, if you're on a tiny house that occasionally connects to shore power, make sure your earthing scheme is properly sorted — MEN vs IT switching on the MultiPlus-II trips people up constantly and has real safety implications.

ExPostie
ExPostie
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24 posts
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Joined Jun 2023
1 month ago
#4914

@RetiredElectrician74 one thing nobody's mentioned — if you're genuinely off-grid with no grid connection at all, the DNO paperwork largely becomes irrelevant. The complexity kicks in when you want export or a grid-tie arrangement. Pure island mode on the MultiPlus-II is relatively straightforward by comparison.

That said, the G99/G98 distinction matters if there's any chance you'll ever want a grid connection later. Worth deciding that upfront rather than retrofitting compliance.

What's your actual setup — are you truly cutting the DNO out entirely, or keeping a grid fallback? Makes a significant difference to how you configure the MultiPlus-II and whether ESS even needs to enter the conversation.

Watt Ed
Watt Ed
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1 month ago
#4939

@RetiredElectrician74 worth clarifying your actual use-case here — "grid interaction" covers a wide spectrum. In my shepherd's hut setup I run the MultiPlus-II in ESS mode with a weak grid assistant configured, which requires G98/G99 compliance depending on export capacity. Above 3.68kW export you're into G99 territory, which means a full DNO application and potentially months of waiting.

If you're genuinely islanded with only occasional shore power top-up (no export whatsoever), you sidestep most of that paperwork entirely — the MultiPlus handles the transfer switch internally.

Key question: are you exporting to the grid, or just occasionally drawing from it? Those are fundamentally different regulatory situations. VictronConnect will show your current operating mode — post a screenshot of your ESS assistant configuration and we can give more specific guidance on where you actually stand with the DNO requirements.

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