MasterVolt and/or Victron Distributor

[silvercreek]

Hi all,

I'm refitting my boat with LiFePO4 and looking for recommendations for MasterVolt and Victron distributors so I can get a quote for each system. I know both brands have a strict MRP pricing policy but I believe they are allowed to discount when building a full system (especially larger ones as mine would be).

[Tin Tin]

what country?

[silvercreek]

United States. Should have included that in my post, thanks.

[BlueH2Obound]

Something to understand about Victron products is that Victron itself will not interact with the end user on warranty issues, or even on product installation/setup issues. They require you to go through the company/individual you purchased the Victron equipment from. So if you purchase from the cheapeast person/company on the internet, you may be completely out of luck when it comes to trying to make ANY warranty claim. You might as well have purchase used, with no warranty. So the company you purchase from needs to be a company with more than just an internet store to turn to if you have any problems.
We have purchased a fair number of Victron items for our boat. One was in the $3,500 range. We had a problem with it, and the dealer refused to even talk to Victron on our behalf, and Victron refused to talk to us direct, saying we needed to go through the dealer we bought it from . . . so basically, no warranty, no return, no other recourse whatsoever.

Secondly, although the purchase price is pretty much set by Victron for their dealers, the dealers have some latitude with items like "free shipping", and not charging sales tax if sent to you from out of state, which can amount to probably 20% reduction of total cost, depending on normal shipping and the state you are receiving the item(s) in.

We also looked at purchasing from a local distributor here in the PNW, but after promising to get back to us on pricing/availability, he dropped into a black hole or something. He also had no idea whatsoever about setup or installation of the equipment he was selling.

After much searching, the rest of the Victron equipment we installed, we purchased from
Battlebornbatteries.com. The don't just sell batteries! We had already purchased a lot of equipment from them, and had had overall good service. We had an issue with getting the Victron Solar Charge Controllers initially set up. Battleborn (specifically Roni Ventura in their tech dept) went the extra mile to walk us through the issues we were having, that are NOT discussed anywhere in the Victron installation literature (which sucks), nor on the Victron Website. He got us up and running with minimal effort on our part, but effort we would never in a million years thought would be necessary. Kudo's for Battleborn and Roni! We have had a problem with the Victron Cerbo GX as well. The first time it failed, we received a replacement in three days, and now it has failed again, still under warranty. Battleborn is working on the RMA through Victron to replace that one as well. Hopefully that replacement will go just as smoothly.

So, we would recommend purchasing through a reputable source, NOT the cheapest site on the internet, or you run the risk of getting burned. Battlebornbatteries.com is one such reputable source IMHO, there are others. We have had personal experience with two sources which I would not classify as "reputable" as well. Those we won't be doing business with again. And no, I'm not going to be calling them out here on the forum. Thanks for not asking.

We don't have any personal experience with Mastervolt, so we can't offer recommendations on that brand, although from friends, they appear to be a quality brand.

[shimari]

Both provide solid kit.

Are you a DIY type or someone who calls a technician to solve a problem? If you're the former, I'd go with Victron. There's a solid community to help support you to solve problems. Mastervolt locks configuration tools to dealers, and there's VERY VERY little online to help you diagnose problems. If you're the latter, than either will do.

[ItDepends]

For Victron gear, PKYS in Annapolis. Very knowledgable, and helpful. I have done business with them for years. Virtually all my system cam from them.

You can buy at least some Victron gear off Amazon and other online warehouses, but you had better be VERY sure you will not need any technical support. Both Mastervolt and Victron will always refer you back to your distributer if you have questions or problems.

[shimari]

+1 for PKYS. Peter worked on my last boat before he stopped direct service work. Great guy, and incredibly knowledgeable.

[silvercreek]

Originally Posted by BlueH2Obound

Something to understand about Victron products is that Victron itself will not interact with the end user on warranty issues, or even on product installation/setup issues. They require you to go through the company/individual you purchased the Victron equipment from. So if you purchase from the cheapeast person/company on the internet, you may be completely out of luck when it comes to trying to make ANY warranty claim. You might as well have purchase used, with no warranty. So the company you purchase from needs to be a company with more than just an internet store to turn to if you have any problems.
We have purchased a fair number of Victron items for our boat. One was in the $3,500 range. We had a problem with it, and the dealer refused to even talk to Victron on our behalf, and Victron refused to talk to us direct, saying we needed to go through the dealer we bought it from . . . so basically, no warranty, no return, no other recourse whatsoever.

Secondly, although the purchase price is pretty much set by Victron for their dealers, the dealers have some latitude with items like "free shipping", and not charging sales tax if sent to you from out of state, which can amount to probably 20% reduction of total cost, depending on normal shipping and the state you are receiving the item(s) in.

We also looked at purchasing from a local distributor here in the PNW, but after promising to get back to us on pricing/availability, he dropped into a black hole or something. He also had no idea whatsoever about setup or installation of the equipment he was selling.

After much searching, the rest of the Victron equipment we installed, we purchased from
Battlebornbatteries.com. The don't just sell batteries! We had already purchased a lot of equipment from them, and had had overall good service. We had an issue with getting the Victron Solar Charge Controllers initially set up. Battleborn (specifically Roni Ventura in their tech dept) went the extra mile to walk us through the issues we were having, that are NOT discussed anywhere in the Victron installation literature (which sucks), nor on the Victron Website. He got us up and running with minimal effort on our part, but effort we would never in a million years thought would be necessary. Kudo's for Battleborn and Roni! We have had a problem with the Victron Cerbo GX as well. The first time it failed, we received a replacement in three days, and now it has failed again, still under warranty. Battleborn is working on the RMA through Victron to replace that one as well. Hopefully that replacement will go just as smoothly.

So, we would recommend purchasing through a reputable source, NOT the cheapest site on the internet, or you run the risk of getting burned. Battlebornbatteries.com is one such reputable source IMHO, there are others. We have had personal experience with two sources which I would not classify as "reputable" as well. Those we won't be doing business with again. And no, I'm not going to be calling them out here on the forum. Thanks for not asking.

We don't have any personal experience with Mastervolt, so we can't offer recommendations on that brand, although from friends, they appear to be a quality brand.

Thanks for the detailed reply. This is good information that I hadn't considered.

[silvercreek]

Originally Posted by shimari

Both provide solid kit.

Are you a DIY type or someone who calls a technician to solve a problem? If you're the former, I'd go with Victron. There's a solid community to help support you to solve problems. Mastervolt locks configuration tools to dealers, and there's VERY VERY little online to help you diagnose problems. If you're the latter, than either will do.

Definitely the DIY type. Thanks, this steers me more towards Victron. I like their mobile app accessibility and their Cerbo GX is killer. But MasterVolt has a perfect battery for my application and space constraints (MLI Ultra 12/6000), and I'd like to stay in a single ecosystem if I can (I already have their inverter). But if I can't adjust/diagnose it myself.... it won't do me much good I suppose. Thanks again.

[silvercreek]

Originally Posted by ItDepends

For Victron gear, PKYS in Annapolis. Very knowledgable, and helpful. I have done business with them for years. Virtually all my system cam from them.

You can buy at least some Victron gear off Amazon and other online warehouses, but you had better be VERY sure you will not need any technical support. Both Mastervolt and Victron will always refer you back to your distributer if you have questions or problems.

Originally Posted by shimari

+1 for PKYS. Peter worked on my last boat before he stopped direct service work. Great guy, and incredibly knowledgeable.

I appreciate the replies and PKYS recommendation. Will give them a look.

[goboatingnow]

Unless you are in the marine or industrial electronics trade with a company etc. you will only access typical retail discounts , often quite minimal. I’m in the industrial trade and was a mastervolt dealer

If you are diy , use the Victron community resources ( and Victron WILL answer direct technical queries ) buy the cheapest Victron pricing ( usually via Amazon )

Use the Victron community resources if you answers.

Suggest you don’t mix Victron and mastervolt. Stay in the blue walked garden.

Have a look at Victron Venus OS running on a beaglebone board ( that’s all the Cerbo is ) or the Pi version. Bit “ geeky “ but a lot cheaper and more flexible then Cerbo

[MerMike]

Regardless of who sold the equipment you can find the distributor responsible for technical support by using the automated support inquiry on the Victron website. All you need is the serial number and an email address for the response.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by MerMike

Regardless of who sold the equipment you can find the distributor responsible for technical support by using the automated support inquiry on the Victron website. All you need is the serial number and an email address for the response.

The victron community support forum is far better then any dealer. Go there first

[MerMike]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

The victron community support forum is far better then any dealer. Go there first

Do you understand the difference between providing facts for the benefit of the community and providing an opinion, which itself is disputable?

Oh, wait. You're trolling. Have a nice day. :

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by MerMike

Do you understand the difference between providing facts for the benefit of the community and providing an opinion, which itself is disputable?



Oh, wait. You're trolling. Have a nice day. :

Given I was a mastervolt distributor my view is local distributors have very limited knowledge of particular usage cases.
Often it then just results in a ping pong between you the dealer and the manufacturer.

WhereS these days manufacturer supported community forums has access to both knowledgable users and the manufacturers own engineers.

Not trolling mate everything I say is based on a lifetime in industrial electronics with a business based in 4 countries and 150 employees. A background of 20 years in industrial electronics design across military, space and automotive helps a lot to.

I’ve literally distributed $10s of millions of electronic products across 100s of manufacturers based on all continents.

So those are my opinions ( everything on CF is an opinion. ) judge as you wish.

Very few dealers have the resources to provide good tech support. It’s simply an economic fact of life. You don’t employ highly qualified EEs to sit answering the phone mostly dealing with “ help how do I switch this on” queries.

So the best is , “can I get to the manufacturers support directly. “ if so ignore the dealer channel buy from the easiest and cheapest sources. ( which may be dealers or not )

Access the manufacturers tech resources as needed. Victron for example will handle direct support emails. Telnonika will not for example but the community forum is more knowledgable then the dealers.