Problem with Lynx Smart BMS

Question

question

luigi-miranda asked Apr 15, '23

Problem with Lynx Smart BMS

Help please! I have a problem with my Lynx Smart BMS in my sailboat.

The setup is: Multiplus II, Lynx Smart BMS, Smart Battery Protect 200 (for loads), Lynx Distributors, Victron Lithium Battery Smart 200ah x 5 in parallel, Cerbo GX with Touch 50, and Orion Tr Smart 12-30.

The Lynx Smart BMS sometimes shuts down in full (bluetooth stays on), leaving the boat with no power at all. It doesn’t send or logs any pre- alarms or warning. It simply opens the contactor and shuts itself off except bluetooh. Batteries are fully charged, all cells balanced and normal temperature. This has happens about an hour or so after turning the Multiplus off with only about 20amps of loads.

How can this happen with no alarms or warnings? As understand, any low voltage would trigger/close the ATD and force the battery protect to open. Even if that would fail, the Lynx BMS is supposed to trigger a pre-alarm. But voltage is fine and no alarms.

multiplus ve.bus lynx bms

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Answer 1 · 2023-04-17T08:31:04Z

klim8skeptic answered · Apr 17, 2023 at 08:31 AM

@Luigi Miranda @Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) Sounds odd not to have any warning messages from the Smart BMS or Cerbo.

Have you gone through the Troubleshooting section of the manual?

When the problem happens again, check each battery via bluetooth for a start.

Then check each each batteries BMS cables for proper connection, soundness and damage.

After that look at 8.4.4 and preform the tests on the battery and BMS.

Hopefully it is just a loose BMS connector.

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Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented · Apr 17, 2023 at 08:55 AM

@Luigi Miranda @klim8skeptic

This definitely should not happen. I can only think of a loose connection between battery and LSB, but this wouldn't explain why it is still accessible via Bluetooth, or the current exceeding the max 600A for 5 minutes.

However, more details needed ie. how is everything wired (wiring diagram), is there any error notification when connecting to the LSB via VictronConnect and the contactor is open, what is the mode and state in VictronConnect, what's the LEDs showing prior to and when the contactor opens, any graphs from VRM where one can see what exactly happens ie. voltage and current at the time of disconnecting the load side? The more information, the easier it is to find out what is wrong.

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luigi-miranda Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented · Apr 17, 2023 at 11:50 AM

To your questios:

Please see attached diagram as it is right now.

There are no errors shown in VictronConnect when connecting to the LSB with contactor open.

See attached screen shot of LSB status exactly when the LSB shut down and contactor open.

The only LED of the LSB while shut off is the intermittent blue bluetooth led. There is also an orange status led that lights every 10 min or so and stays on for just about 3 seconds then turns off. LED’s are normal prior to shut off

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2bed377a-bc14-4a28-8252-e080d9357f9f.jpeg (215.2 KiB)

Robert luigi-miranda commented · Apr 18, 2023 at 08:24 PM

Hello, how you made diagrams like this?

Best regards Robert

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luigi-miranda Robert commented · May 04, 2023 at 12:41 PM

Microsoft Visio

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luigi-miranda Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented · Apr 17, 2023 at 12:02 PM

VRM graph

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10a19e03-15c7-4594-89e2-baafbd826de6.jpeg (316.4 KiB)

Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ luigi-miranda commented · Apr 17, 2023 at 12:05 PM

Thanks and please ignore my previous comment. Deleted it.

I'll take a closer look.

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Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ luigi-miranda commented · Apr 17, 2023 at 12:11 PM

Just to make sure the kill switch isn't defective and causing the problem, can you replace the switch with a jumper wire between pins 10 and 11 of the multi connector and see if the problem persists?

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luigi-miranda Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented · Apr 17, 2023 at 12:41 PM

I checked the kill switch for continuity when on and off and it is OK. The thing is that the problem only has happened while the multiplus is OFF.

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Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ luigi-miranda commented · Apr 17, 2023 at 12:53 PM

Strange indeed. But that could also be a coincidence. I'd just bridge pin 10 and 11 as previously stated, just to make 100% sure it's not the switch.

How exactly did you wire the comms cable between Multi and Cerbo GX? Did you check the RJ45 cable from the Multi plugs into the VE.Bus port of the Cerbo? Are LSB and Cerbo properly terminated on the VE.Can side?

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luigi-miranda Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented · Apr 18, 2023 at 11:05 AM

The LSB is connected to the Cerbo via VE.CAN Bus RJ45 cable supplied by Victron and both terminated. Multi and Cerbo are connected properly. Everything works fine while on shore power. But if I turn the multi off, that is when the problem presents. LSB shuts down after a while with batteries normal and no alarms or warnings.

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Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ luigi-miranda commented · Apr 18, 2023 at 11:25 AM

I have a suspicion that something is wrong with the configuration of your MultiPlus charger settings in VEConfigure, perhaps accidentally configured for VE.Bus BMS?

Please post a screenshot of those settings. Easiest way to do this is by going to your VRM, click on Device List in the left menu bar, scroll down to Remote VEConfigure and click on it, then download the settings file and open it VEConfigure, change to the Charger tab and take a screenshot of the settings.

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luigi-miranda Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented · Apr 20, 2023 at 01:48 PM

I will download the settings and let you know. Could it be when I turn the MP off at the cerbo gx screen vs shutting the ac-in breaker off? Does turning the MP off causes problems with Lynx Smart BMS?

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Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ luigi-miranda commented · Apr 20, 2023 at 02:16 PM

Yes, please do so.

No, that shouldn't be a problem, and it's normal for a boater to remove the shoreline before leaving the dock. This is basically the same as turning off the AC circuit breaker. I have a similar system in my sailing yacht and that's what I'm doing all the time.

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luigi-miranda Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented · Apr 25, 2023 at 08:16 PM

Hi. Sorry for the delay. I am attaching the charger settings from VE Configure. Please let me know your thoughts on this.

Thank you so much!

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ve-config-charger-settings.jpg (72.8 KiB)

Sarah luigi-miranda commented · Apr 25, 2023 at 09:52 PM

Hi @Luigi Miranda it looks like you have upgraded the multiplus firmware and the charing voltages have been reset to the defaults. I use an absorbtion voltage of 14.2 and a float of 13.5 volts. I would be surprised if this is what is causing your problem but it may help to charge your batteries. Sarah.

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luigi-miranda Sarah commented · Apr 25, 2023 at 09:56 PM

I have not changed the parameters or upgraded the MP. I have Victron Smart Lithium batteries with Lynx Smart BMS so the system is forced to DVCC. I assume those voltage settings are ignored. Right?

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Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ luigi-miranda commented · Apr 26, 2023 at 05:10 AM

Hi @Luigi Miranda,

MultiPlus settings look good.

More questions:
Please provide a VictronConnect screenshot with the Lynx Smart BMS settings
What is the firmware version of the LSB?
What is the status of the Lynx Smart BMS when you connect to it using VictronConnect (screenshot) in case the contactor opened?
Please also check the history, either in VictronConnect History tab or on the Cerbo Lynx Smart BMS > Diagnostics menu, for any error.
Does this happen exactly 1 hour after disconnecting the Multi or does it differ?
Please add a log file from VRM: Go to your installation on VRM > Advanced menu > set the time range so it includes one of those events > then click on the download icon in the top right and download the Download.xlsx file, zip it and attach to your next comment.

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luigi-miranda Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented · Apr 26, 2023 at 10:14 PM

Hi Stefanie @Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) .

I am including a link to a shared dropbox folder with the spreadsheet from VRM and screenshots as you requested. Please click: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ae2xhdw31tugze2/AABMnc43bPeI5ycFBsGw_sa9a?dl=0

Please note these two incidents:

a) on 04-12-23 21:23 the LSB went off after two hours of selecting OFF at the Cerbo screen under MPII. Note that this time I did not use the breaker to shut offt he AC-in of the MP. I simply turned the MP OFF at the Cerbo screen.

b) on 04-13-23 13:47 the system went off while the MP was ON and charger ON.

Responses to your questions:

1. See LSB settings screenshot in the dropbox link above.

2. LSB firmware version was and still is 1.06

3. See LSB status screenshot on 04-13-23 right after the shutdown in the dropbox link above.

4. See LSB history screenshot on 04-13-23 right after the shutdown in the dropbox link above.

5. On 04-12-23 it happened about 2 hours after turning the MP OFF at the Cerbo screen. On 04-13-23 it happened while the MP was ON and charging.

6. See the Excel spreadsheet with data from 04-12-23 to 04-13-23 when both incidents occurred.

Also note that I checked and verified several times the remote on/off switch on the LSB and it is working fine.

I appreciate your help!

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klim8skeptic ♦ luigi-miranda commented · Apr 17, 2023 at 12:36 PM

Something I noticed.

Is it possible to drive a 1000Ah of batteries down to 13.25v with only a 25a load?

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Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ klim8skeptic ♦ commented · Apr 17, 2023 at 12:48 PM

I'd say yes. It's still 3.32V per cell. Idle voltage.

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luigi-miranda Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented · Apr 17, 2023 at 12:06 PM

Battery status when shut off. I also checked each cel voltage of every battery and all where OK

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e806c041-91ac-4c9b-b49a-9ab0cb842114.png (364.1 KiB)

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