Smart Solar Charger not receiving networked voltage

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stephenknudsen asked Jul 17, '22

Smart Solar Charger not receiving networked voltage

I have a Smart Solar Charger, BMV 712 and a Smart Battery Sense which are all networked. The problem I have is that while both the BMV 712 and the Smart Battery Sense display the same voltage, the Smart Solar voltage display is significantly higher which causes it to transition to float before actual desired absorption voltage is reached.

What I don’t understand why the solar controller appears to be using its own sensed voltage rather that that being transmitted via the network which I assumed was supposed to happen and do I have a faulty solar controller?

All products are on the latest available firmware. Please refer to attached screenshots of the respective devices.

Solar Controller

BMV 712

Smart Battery Sense

smart solar charging behaviour VE.Smart Network

smart-solar-charger.png (393.7 KiB)

bmv-712.png (338.7 KiB)

smart-battery-sense.png (256.0 KiB)

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klim8skeptic ♦ commented · Jul 17, 2022 at 11:16 AM

How odd. What firmware version is your Victron Connect?

Andriod or Apple device?

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stephenknudsen answered · Jul 27, 2022 at 10:33 AM

Everything seems to be working OK now. It wasn’t obvious however the BT firmware was not the latest revision and since updating, the MPPT battery voltage now reflects what is being sent over the network.

Thanks for your assistance.

de123993-5c03-40e4-a4d0-de04fd8f9365.png (467.1 KiB)

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Modifications Space

Node Red Space

Answer 1 · 2022-07-17T21:24:17Z

stephenknudsen answered · Jul 17, 2022 at 09:24 PM

iOS app is VictronConnect v5.70 and the respective device firmware versions are the latest available for download as I update as soon as available. The RV is parked off-site so the actual versions will have to wait until access is available.

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Answer 2 · 2022-07-20T06:41:03Z

Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) answered · Jul 20, 2022 at 06:41 AM

Hi @stephenknudsen

This is indeed a bit odd. When you are able to access them again, can you then also make a screenshot of the VE.Smart networking settings page of the SmartSolar?

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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Answer 3 · 2022-07-20T07:50:42Z

stephenknudsen answered · Jul 20, 2022 at 07:50 AM

Thiemo, The first attachment shows the network settings on the SmartSolar or is there another screen shot you need?

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Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · Jul 20, 2022 at 10:12 AM

Hi @stephenknudsen

I meant a screenshot of the VE.Smart menu in the settings menu. This provides a lot more information, for example which other devices are in the same network and can be seen.

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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stephenknudsen Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · Jul 21, 2022 at 02:48 AM

As requested, please see attached.

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a3a97c88-7396-47ab-b667-39731b1df350.png (368.8 KiB)

Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ stephenknudsen commented · Jul 21, 2022 at 11:03 AM

Hi @stephenknudsen

Can you perhaps test what happens when you remove the BMV from the VE.Smart Network?

And is the difference between battery voltage on the MPPT and the SmartSense constant or does it seem to depend on the battery current of the MPPT?

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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stephenknudsen Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · Jul 21, 2022 at 10:22 PM

Prior to my initial post, I individually removed the BMV and the SmartBatterySense from the network with no change to the indicated battery voltage on the MPPT during charging.

In response to your question, the voltage difference does depend on the MPPT battery current.

I originally installed the SmartSense to overcome the voltage drop issue and after doing so, assumed that because the MPPT was reporting using the SmartSense voltage, the displayed voltage was just was what it was sensing and not what it was using which I now believe to be incorrect.

I appreciate your assistance as this issue has been troubling me for some time.

Regards, Stephen

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Answer 4 · 2022-07-21T11:11:29Z

Alexandra answered · Jul 21, 2022 at 11:11 AM

@stephenknudsen

One of the limitations of a smart network is that the battery sense and the bmv cannot both be used in the same smart network.

If you remove the smart battery sense or the bmv as @Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) from the network it should sort it out.

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Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · Jul 21, 2022 at 12:55 PM

Hi @Alexandra

To my knowledge, it should be possible to use a Smart Battery Sense and a BMV712 (or SmartShunt) in the same network, as long as they are connected to the same battery(!!). The reason for this is the case where the BMV is configured for aux voltage or midpoint deviation. The BMV then does the voltage and current sharing and the Smart Sense does the temperature sharing.

I can imagine that this might not be obvious from the page describing the limitations.

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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Alexandra ♦ Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · Jul 21, 2022 at 01:07 PM

Hi @Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff)

No you are right it is there if you read it carefully. Thank you for pointing it out.

The BMV having a higher priority than the smart sense for the same battery.

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