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bc-109 asked

Phoenix Charger + Phoenix Inverter + Cerbo GX : will AC source display correctly ?

Hi,

I'd like to build a system such as the one described on this document, but without the output bypass, and with an additional Cerbo GX controller :

https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/4-PHOENIX-CHARGER-AND-INVERTER.pdf

The purpose is to mimic the behavior of a business "online" UPS : the charger charges the battery, and the inverter generates clean sinus output from the battery. In the meantime, I'll have some load connected directly to the battery CC.

The planned configuration is :

- Phoenix Charger 12/30

- Phoenix Inverter Compact C12/1200

- Cerbo GX + BVM-702

I read in other threads that, in such a situation, the input of the Phoenix charger may not display as "AC source" in GX dashboard.

Could someone confirm if this bug has been solved or not ?

PS : Please note using an integrated charger/inverter (such as the Multiplus) is not an option here. This would act as an"offline" UPS (ie, when AC source is present, load is powered by AC source, and inverter does nothing). I need "online" behavior (ie, load is always powered by clean sinus generated by the inverter, whether input AC is present or not).

Thank you in advance for your answers. Kind regards



Phoenix Inverter
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2 Answers
wkirby avatar image
wkirby answered ·

I have a system just like what you describe. I have a Phoenix Smart Charger IP43 to charge a battery and then a cute little Phoenix Inverter 375VA to power a network switch and a HPE DL380 G8. There is also a BMV-600 for the battery monitor for the 100Ah lithium battery bank.
It all works really well.

You do not see AC consumption from the charger. I would not think this is a bug though. More likely due to the fact that the chargers don't have AC sensors, so the information simply isn't available in the first place. This does not affect the functionality of the system though and your idea of an online UPS system should work just fine, like mine does.
1662134987175.png

1662135681943.png

On VRM it looks like that:
1662135511968.png


1662134987175.png (25.5 KiB)
1662135511968.png (43.1 KiB)
1662135681943.png (31.2 KiB)
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bc-109 avatar image
bc-109 answered ·

Hi, and thank you for your answer.

Your situation is the same as I previously read in another thread. You have a "Phonix Smart" charger, which AFAIK has VE-Connect only.

I'd like to know if situation is identical with "Phoenix 12/30", which has VE-Bus.

In other words, is the missing AC source information caused by the lack of VE-Bus on your charger model, or is it caused by the fact we are using a sdandalone charger (whether it's VE-Bus or VE-Connect) ?

You say it's not a bug. In Microsoft words, that could be considered as a "lack of feature" :-D But for me, it's clearly a "blocking" thing. What's the purpose of having full-teatured communication buses, network and cloud, if information is not available on them ? Moreover, I'll also sink some DC current directly. This is supported via the "Has DC system" setting in the menu. It's calculated by the difference between what the charger measures and what the BVM measures. If the charger does not provide data, then the measured DC would not be displayed, too. I wouldn't spend 2000 € (and 500 € just for the graphical display) for something that will not display data correctly...

--

If the AC source is not displayed in GX or VRM, I'd like to know if the information is technically available somewhere at lower level : does the charger VE-Bus deliver this information directly to the bus, or to any other "developer" tool, such as API, MQTT, etc ?

(But maybe this isn not the right place for that question. Is there some dedicated forum or mailing-list targeted to developers ?)

Kind regards


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