MPPT 150/35 not charging because of -18° battery temperature!?!

Question

question

Jörg Becker asked Oct 3, '22

MPPT 150/35 not charging because of -18° battery temperature!?!

this morning the MPPT 150/35 did not start charging the battery. After some searching I found via bluetooth contact to the MPPT that it shows a battery temperature of -18°C (have never seen a temperature there before!). The MPPT is in a bluetooth network together with a smart shunt, but on the smart shunt there is no temperature sensor and it is also configured to not have one!

I had to disable/reenable the bluetooth network on the MPPT to get out of this situation. Now the MPPT does not show a battery temperature at all.

Very strange and not very nice if the system is not permanently (intelligently) monitored ...

(system is working since many months without an issue like this)

MPPT Controllers

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kevgermany ♦♦ commented · Oct 04, 2022 at 01:02 AM

There is a temp sensor inside some (possibly all) MPPTs. Suggest you discuss with your dealer, if there isn't a better answer here.

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Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · Oct 06, 2022 at 07:23 AM

Hi @Jörg Becker

Are there any other devices in the installation besides the MPPT and the SmartShunt?

Is the aux input of the SmartShunt configured as "None"?

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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Jörg Becker Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · Oct 06, 2022 at 08:00 AM

Multiplus II, Venus, Smartshunt, MPPT. MPPT and Smartshunt in Bluetooth network.

Aux input of SmartShunt configured to 'None'.

Worked like this since many months. No changes made. Charging through MPPT did not start in the morning despite sunshine. No hint anywhere in VRM to the reason.

MPPT showed in the App (via Bluetooth connection) a battery temperature of -18°C (and 'external control' ...). (Battery temperature in VRM shown as 22°C).

Problem was solved be disabling an re-enabling the bluetooth network in the MPPT.

BR, Jörg.

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Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ Jörg Becker commented · Oct 06, 2022 at 11:19 AM

Hi @Jörg Becker

And on the Venus device, do you have DVCC enabled and then especially the Shared Temperature Sense?

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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Jörg Becker Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · Oct 06, 2022 at 11:30 AM

No.

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Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ Jörg Becker commented · Oct 07, 2022 at 06:32 AM

Hi @Jörg Becker

Thanks for the answers. We are looking into the issue, but are unable to reproduce the problem, which makes it very difficult to analyse this. When you have more information (for example when it happens again), please do add a comment here as any extra information might help.

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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mkuiken answered · Oct 05, 2023 at 07:55 AM

Hi @Jörg Becker , @MiggeJ71 (and others who might have experienced the same issue),

The incorrect temperature seems to be coming from the SmartBmv/SmartShunt and could be worked around by leaving the VE.Smart Network for ~20minutes and then joining the network again (talking about the SmartShunt/SmartBmv here).

However, as of yesterday we've released a fix for this issue. It requires an update of the SmartBmv/SmartShunt Bluetooth Interface to v2.46. The latest VictronConnect (v5.97) will give you the option to update the Bluetooth Interface to v2.46.

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mkuiken answered · Oct 05, 2023 at 05:09 PM

Hi @Ximix ,

Have you already updated the SmartShunt Bluetooth interface to v2.46?

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ximix commented · Oct 06, 2023 at 08:27 AM

Hello, thanks for the tip. I could not do anything with it at first, because I regularly check for updates - via the VRM. And everything was up to date. Had to do some googling and then found another forum post that pointed out that the Bluetooth unit must be updated separately and that this is only possible via Bluetooth directly and not via the VRM. I was not aware of that. All updates made and now everything looks good.

Thanks for the great advice!

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Modifications Space

Node Red Space

Answer 1 · 2022-10-06T10:19:42Z

ludo answered · Oct 06, 2022 at 10:19 AM

It would have

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Jörg Becker commented · Oct 06, 2022 at 10:23 AM

and it should as long as it is not answered! Your 'answer' does not answer the question at all, sorry!

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ludo Jörg Becker commented · Oct 06, 2022 at 10:45 AM

3 posts up you declare it as "answered"

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Answer 2 · 2022-10-06T10:47:03Z

JohnC answered · Oct 06, 2022 at 10:47 AM

Comments are also for raising clues, which Thiemo probed for, and Jorg provided. The word 'Venus', in whatever form, is a network never intended to be used together with the bluetooth one. And I'd disable the bt.

The mppt doesn't provide a public Temp itself, but can accept one if set up to. But using 2x networks isn't kosher.

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Jörg Becker commented · Oct 06, 2022 at 11:26 AM

Hmmm, not sure if I understand you correctly. I am using a Venus GX device and this is clearly ok to be used with the MPII and the MPPT!?!

But you say that I should not connect the MPPT and SmartShunt over Bluetooth when they are already connected via the Venus GX?

OK, that makes sense. Still strange that it worked for months ...

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JohnC ♦ Jörg Becker commented · Oct 06, 2022 at 11:47 AM

@Jörg Becker

The combo is likely untested, as there's no need for both networks together. You're not the first to report weird things, and may not be the last, as some will perceive advantages from both and attempt to use them together. Best avoid doing it. This doesn't preclude the use of bt for a quick look or even a setting change. I doubt you can break anything, but do you need to? I chose the wire myself, and can't see a need for the bt at all..

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Jörg Becker JohnC ♦ commented · Oct 06, 2022 at 12:46 PM

Thank you!

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Answer 3 · 2023-01-03T16:57:29Z

faidapiu answered · Jan 03, 2023 at 04:57 PM

Hi, just had the same problem, all my MPPTs did not start. I have 9 100/20 Smartsolar bluetooth networked with a BMV-712. Two days ago I noticed they did not start in the morning and remained off since. Today I went to the boat to check and noticed that a temperature of -18C appear in the MPPT's status for the battery. I enable/disabled the MPPT, but did not seems to immediately help. I then did the FW update and while I was doing that some MPPT came to life again, then finally all of them worked again and now there is no temperature indication anymore.

I think the same has happend a couple of times in the past year, but at the time did not notice the temperature indication; they restarted after fiddling around in a random way ;-)

Any new idea?

Cheers, Fabio

screenshot-jan-3-2023-1428.jpg (78.8 KiB)

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klim8skeptic ♦ commented · Jan 03, 2023 at 08:30 PM

You forgot to mention if you have a temp sensor hooked up to the BMV.

Or if no sensor fitted, the aux port of the BMV set to none.

What distance between the mppt's and BMV?

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faidapiu klim8skeptic ♦ commented · Jan 03, 2023 at 10:41 PM

We have no temperature sensor connected to the BMV.

I'll check tomorrow, but I think aux port was set to none by our supplier.

The MPPT's are within a meter from the BMV.

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Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · Jan 04, 2023 at 07:16 AM

Hi @Faidapiu

You mention that you performed a firmware update. Did you update the MPPT or did you perhaps update the BMV?

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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faidapiu Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · Jan 04, 2023 at 12:13 PM

Hi, I have only updated the MPPT's firmware.

Regards,

Fabio

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Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ faidapiu commented · Jan 04, 2023 at 02:22 PM

Hi @Faidapiu

And did you also change or checked things on the BMV before updating the firmware of the MPPT?

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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faidapiu Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · Jan 04, 2023 at 09:07 PM

Hi Thiemo,

no , I did not do anything on the BMV.

I checked today that on the BMV the aux input is set to 'none' and on the VE Bluetooth network is transmitting only Battery Voltage and Current.

Best Regards,

Fabio

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Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ faidapiu commented · Jan 05, 2023 at 07:16 AM

Hi Fabio,

Thank you for the information as this might help us in finding the cause of this problem.

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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Answer 4 · 2023-10-02T19:37:45Z

miggej71 answered · Oct 02, 2023 at 07:37 PM

I have also had the same problem now twice during this summer, last time this week where I found my SmartSolar 75/15 in charging state off showing temperature as -34 degress celsius when correct temperature was +20 degrees celsius and my batteries drained half way. I also have a smart shunt in my system and both devices communicate over blurtooth network. No other devices or networks are connected or configured and aux input on the smart shunt is set to "none". Both devices are runing on latest software version available. Removing them from network and connecting again resolves the problem (temporarily) but as it has happened twice now I no longer turst the system.

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dmsims commented · Oct 05, 2023 at 09:23 AM

On the Smartsolar you can set the low temperature cut off to disabled as a work around

I have had the issue as well

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Answer 5 · 2023-10-05T16:20:00Z

ximix answered · Oct 05, 2023 at 04:20 PM

Hello,

since today I have the same problem. All charge controllers were off. All of them show a temperature of -20°C. Turning off the temperature compensation solves the problem. But the wrong temperature display still remains. I have nowhere connected a temperature sensor.

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