Incorrect SOC reported (1% instead of 100%) after upgrade to BMV 712 firmware to v. 4.12

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rtater asked Dec 15, '22

Incorrect SOC reported (1% instead of 100%) after upgrade to BMV 712 firmware to v. 4.12

I have just updated the firmware on my BMV 712 Smart to version 4.12. The batteries were in Float and at 100% at the time of the firmware update using VictronConnect. However, immediately after the update to 4.12, the SOC went to 1% and that is all that the BMV 712 will report on its own screen and to the other system components (CCGX, MultiPlus 12/3000). The VictronConnect App (iOS) had just been updated to v 5.80. And, the only way I could view data in the updated App was if I also updated the firmware of the BMV 712 as well to 4.12. I note there were some changes to the Start Synchronized setting (70) in firmware 4.12 according the iOS App notes for VictronConnect v. 5.80, including "SOC is retained when executing a "Restore Defaults"". I've no idea if that is related to my problem.

Any insight on how to get the BMV 712 Smart to correctly report the SOC? Is there a way to clear out the latest firmware (4.12) if it somehow didn't install correctly? Any help would be appreciated.

Up until this point on the previous firmware version (I don't remember the version number, but I updated the firmware for the BMV within the last six months), the system has been operating fine with no problems with the SOC reporting for well over two years and through several previous firmware updates.

I have tried "Synchronize SOC to 100%" through the VicronConnect App Battery Settings with no effect. Manually setting the State-of-Charge to 100% in the Battery Settings will immediately reset to the 1%. Will this require a full Factory Default Reset? Will a full reset clear out the history?

A screenshot of current battery settings are attached. These were downloaded after the firmware update to 4.12, but as far as I can tell they are the same settings that existed before the update.

BMV 712 Smart Battery Settings.png

Equipment installed: 600Ah BattleBorn batteries, MultiPlus 12/3000/120/50, CCGX, MPPT 150/100.

BMV Battery Monitor firmware update

bmv-712-smart-battery-settings.png (225.0 KiB)

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented · Dec 15, 2022 at 07:05 AM

Hi @rtater

Thanks for reporting, just wanted to post to let you know we have seen this and are looking into it.

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mkuiken commented · Dec 15, 2022 at 09:17 AM

Hi @rtater

Can you please make a service report after having been connected to the SmartBmv and trying to set the SOC manually to 100%?

Please check here if you don't know how to make the service report.

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rtater mkuiken commented · Dec 15, 2022 at 03:00 PM

Thanks to you and @Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) for posting so quickly. Through some trial and error, I think I've found the problematic setting: the Aux input in Misc Settings needed to be set to None. See attached screenshot comparing Misc Settings at time of firmware update vs currently. Once I set the Aux input to "None", the SOC reporting returned to expected behavior and the rest of the system seemed happy, though I'm going to run a couple of charge cycles to see if those go smoothly.

We do not have a temperature sensor in our setup. I may be wrong about this, but I don't believe "None" has always been an option for the Aux input setting. At any rate, despite not having a temperature sensor, the Aux input has been set at "Temperature" since date of installation (Feb '20) and has remained that way through firmware 4.10 without issue. It appears to have become critically relevant since 4.10 and caused the issue described above when updating to 4.12.

Admittedly, I do not fully understand how the temperature sensor (or the lack of expected input from a temperature sensor) would cause the issue under 4.12 in my original post. If there is any confirmation you can provide that it makes sense that this setting could cause this, it would save me some further monitoring of the system and be much appreciated. The issue caused a bit of angst last night because I wasn't sure how the inaccurate SOC reporting would influence charging, battery health, or other things in the system.

Thanks again for the support.

Misc Settings.png

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misc-settings.png (117.7 KiB)

mkuiken rtater commented · Dec 15, 2022 at 04:39 PM

I don't think there's a relation between the SOC and the temperature measured via the Aux input. With or without a temperature sensor connected and/or having aux input set to Temperature or to None, the SOC calculation is independent/autonomous.
I guess this has been pure coincidence.

Did your MPPT start a charge cycle which maybe made the BMV synchronize again (synchronization will happen after the "Charged voltage" level has been reached and the tail current condition has been met)? If so, then maybe this reset some erroneous situation.
Can you elaborate about the steps you took in the "trial and error" you mentioned?

Also: even though you have no temperature sensor connected, did you ever see a temperature value on status screen in VictronConnect?

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rtater mkuiken commented · Dec 17, 2022 at 04:42 PM

The trial and error involved changing the default settings, one at a time, back to settings that were in place at the time of the firmware update. The only setting that re-instated the 1% SOC condition, both when it's the only value changed or in conjunction with all the other pre-update settings, was the Aux Input value reset to Temperature from the (new?) default setting of "None". It is a consistently repeatable condition. Toggling the Aux Input setting between None and Temperature consistently clears and incurs the error, respectively. There may not be an intended logical relationship between the Aux Input setting and the SOC as you say, but there is clearly a very strong correlation between the two, at least on my system. I was hoping @Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) would come back and provide some insight on this as well.

I don't see where temperature value would show up in the VictronConnect App screen for the BMV (or the MPPT). I don't believe I've ever seen one there in the past either. Where would this show up? I'm seeing only SOC, Voltage, Current, Power, Consumed Ah, Time remaining, and the relay state on the Status page, and it isn't an available value on the History or Trends pages.

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snoobler rtater commented · Dec 18, 2022 at 07:44 AM

Probably makes a difference if it's set for temperature AND you have a temperature sensor:

Here's my BMV-702 with temperature shown:

And temperature as trends option:

Here's my MPPT with a different temperature shown:

I have 7 temperature sensors. BMV-702, 2X Quattro probes, SBS and 3 temperature sensors on my BMS. The 32°F is from the BMS, and it's less affected by air temperature, so it reads higher.

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mkuiken rtater commented · Dec 19, 2022 at 01:55 PM

@rtater

"Toggling the Aux Input setting between None and Temperature consistently clears and incurs the error"

Do you mean you can still reproduce the issue at this moment? If so, can you please make a service report?

Please check here if you don't know how to make the service report.

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rtater mkuiken commented · Dec 22, 2022 at 01:14 AM

Service Report submitted

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John Muntanga commented · Dec 20, 2022 at 03:04 AM

For me the issue is that after the update to V4.12, the BMV-712 is constantly showing that the battery is discharging even when I have more solar energy (indicated by the MPPT). Note that my loads are never above 800 watts. Therefore, the battery has now been discharing and its now at 3% SOC. I have a Cerbo GX device with firmware version 2.92, MPPT 150/45 with firmware version 1.61. Im using a non victron Inverter.

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whatsapp-image-2022-12-20-at-045927.jpeg (40.8 KiB)

Modifications Space

Node Red Space

Answer 1 · 2022-12-24T07:07:34Z

Hello all!

We indeed identified a bug that causes this. Thank you for helping to find it.

The bug affects the BMV-712 and the SmartShunts. And happens when it is configured for having a temperature sensor connected while not actually having that physically installed. Ie a wrongly configured system. But not good ofcourse, as it breaks previously working systems. I expect a fix in january.

Precise description, also added to the change log on Victron Professional (slightly amended from the prior text):

——

When the Auxiliary input is set to “Temperature”, while there is no temperature sensor connected and a temperature compensation coefficient above 0.0 is set, then the calculated state of charge (SOC) is incorrect. In extreme cases, this is noticeable as a SOC that is always 1%.

Solution:

When no temperature sensor is used, set the Auxiliary input to “None”. This is also the default for this setting since v4.05. For earlier versions the default setting for the Auxiliary input was “Starter Battery”.

——

Thank you again @rtater .

On the email you asked about being able to downgrade. Good question, and its possible. The way to do that is to download the old file from Victron Professional (https://professional.victronenergy.com), and program that into the device using VictronConnect.

Whats not helping there is that -until recently/now- we didn’t keep old versions available for download. But that policy is changing. There are some caveats, the first being the downgrading can cause one or more settings to be reset in certain cases. So after doing a downgrade, its important to carefully go through them.

And the other “caveat” is that VictronConnect currently requires a recent (not perse the latest!) version to be installed on a device in order to see and modify its setting. This also recently been improved; see text on the change log for the v5.80 release. https://www.victronenergy.com/live/victronconnect:beta#v580_released_officially

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