question

Isaac Shannos avatar image
Isaac Shannos asked

EV Charger low SOC

Screenshot 2023-01-27 at 8.45.01 am.pngI'm pretty sure they're linked up alright but not sure why the SOC isn't being reported. Just noticed the DNS details don't match up on the EV Charger and the Venus GX. All latest firmware..


Any ideas?


Edit: When trying to charge in Auto or Manual, charging does not start. It says car connected, 'low soc'


Screenshot 2023-01-27 at 8.34.26 am.pngScreenshot 2023-01-27 at 8.33.13 am.pngScreenshot 2023-01-27 at 8.32.03 am.pngScreenshot 2023-01-27 at 8.28.54 am.pngScreenshot 2023-01-27 at 8.28.21 am.png

SOCModbus TCPev charging station
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3 Answers
Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image
Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) answered ·

Ok, make sure modebus tcp is enabled on the GX side (setting/ services)

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Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image
Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) answered ·

And there is a low soc message on the charging station? or what?

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Isaac Shannos avatar image Isaac Shannos commented ·

If it tries to charge in auto or manual mode, it won't charge and just says Low state of charge.

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matthias-roetzer avatar image
matthias-roetzer answered ·

Today I came across Low SOC message as well:

2023-02-21-111706.jpg

The WiFi connection was broken and the EV charger did not receive the SOC value from the GX device, which was about 96% at that time. So the EV charger stopped charging in “Auto Mode” that’s clear. Then I switched to “Manual Mode” and tried to start, but yet not charging which is good when running off-grid to protect the battery when not receiving the SOC - btw my minimum SOC setting is 90%. it would be nice to have an override button for making the EV charger work when the LAN is down. I my case it took some hours to make the WiFi infrastructure work again. Meanwhile I couldn’t charge which was a bit nasty. So please think about it to add some sort of override switch at the EV charger display in order to convert it into an ordinary wallbox. This feature should have some sort of protection eg. by PIN code to avoid unintentional activation and to ptrotect the installation from troublemakers.

I've not yet tried how the EV charger behaves when setting the minimum required SOC to 0%. But even if it does then charge in "Manual mode" when the network connection is down, this is not the preferred config because I don't want to empty my battery by accident when the network is good while running off-grid.

BR, Matthias


4 comments
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If you disable the GX communication, it will work in manual mode, like below1676994519601.png

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1676994519601.png (164.1 KiB)
matthias-roetzer avatar image matthias-roetzer Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·

Hi @Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff)

Many thanks for your answer. The possibility you mentioned, I'm well aware of it. But for users without the apropriate knowledge this is far beyond their capabilities. Think eg. of elderly people, they would require a skilled person to change the config. On the other hand if disabling the GX link then Auto mode wont work. So this is not a permanent setting and a skilled person is again necessary to change it back later. In case of a stress situation this is simply too much in most cases. Technical systems, even if they are complex inside should be easy to use for end users and that means as well very easy turning the wallbox in an ordinary wall plug when a situation is going on. Thats why I was sugesting an additional working mode which could then be for example:

  • Auto
  • Manual
  • Scheduled
  • Permanent ON

OR

  • Auto
  • Semi-Manual
  • Full-Manual
  • Scheduled

OR ....

Please think about it. Thank you!

Best regards,

Matthias

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Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ matthias-roetzer commented ·
Unfortunately, there is no way of having both a complex and simple system at the same time. So we have to find the right balance. :)
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matthias-roetzer avatar image matthias-roetzer Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·
Hi @Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff)

That is what I'm talking about. Providing the balance by easy switching between complex and simple eg by means of a 4th EV charger Mode "permanent on" which represents "simple". BR, Matthias


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