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rok-herman avatar image
rok-herman asked

[solved] VE.Bus BMS v2 not powering up

I have problem with powering up VE.Bus BMS v2. I guess there should be some kind of LED status powering up, but there is nothing.

Battery is connected with communication cables.

Cerbo GX is powering through GX-Power terminal only when AUX in is also connected, but from same DC source. From what I understand BMS uses battery + or AUX in which ever voltage is higher. So this is already indication that there is something strange happening.

Remote L H is bridged.

Same behavior whether BUS devices are connected or not. I think there should be some kind of error LED indication if there would be communication error.

BMSVE.Bus
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rok-herman avatar image rok-herman commented ·

So based on pwfarnell user, I found out I made mistake and forgot to read product information carefully enough. I have to use smallBMS and not VE.Bus BMS V2 as I don't have inverter/charger that would be VE.Bus compatible.

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pwfarnell avatar image
pwfarnell answered ·

Have you checked your battery voltage and that this is getting to the battery + connection on the BMS, could a fuse have blown. Have you checked the battery with Bluetooth on VE Connect. You do not definitely state, but you do have battery + connected to the BMS.

The BMS needs to be connected to a VE Bus inverter or inverter/charger that is connected to the battery because the BMS gets the negative connection to the battery through the VE Bus cable. See section 3.2 in the manual.

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rok-herman avatar image rok-herman commented ·

Yes, I checked basic things, voltages, fuses. I charged LiFePO4 battery with charger using LiFePO4 algorithm, and manually stopped when it got on float and all cells were balanced. Then I started to connect all devices to Load and charge disconnect ports.


I did think of where BMS gets negative connection. I thought it would get from communication cables, but I guess I'm wrong if it gets it from VE Bus cable.


Thing is, that I don't have Inverter/charger with VE.Bus communication, I only have Cerbo GX and mains detector which I think I don't need to connect anyway but also tried and nothing happened.


I tried all bus ports, but I didn't find right combo that would give me any LED indicators, even just simple error.


So where would now BMS get negative connection?


I'm also using original RJ45 UTP cables.


So, system configuration is as follows:

- LiFePO4, 200Ah smart battery,

- VE.Bus BMS V2

- Cerbo GX

- GX Touch 50

- Phoenix 12/1200 inverter with VE.direct

- Phoenix Smart Charger 12/30/1+1, VE.Direct

- Smart Shunt 500, VE.Direct

- Smart BP65

- SmartSolar MPPT 100/300, VE.Direct

- Orion-TR Smart 12/12 - 30


I tried to use 3.5. GX device configuration from manual, so this is one of setup I tried to use, of course without Multiplus inverter/charger or similar.


AUX-in port is not really applicable for me, because I don't have separate AC-DC power supply available.


So If Inverter/charger with VE.Bus communication is necessary, what would happen if I would have for some reason malfunctioned inverter? Would whole system stop to work? Seems a bit unreasonable as we still have Cerbo GX and other devices connected that have to work together.


I will still look for solution to use VE.BUS BMS V2 without Inverter with VE.Bus communication as Cerbo GX can supply sufficient negative terminal for BMS to power up in my opinion.




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pwfarnell avatar image pwfarnell rok-herman commented ·

If you want to persevere with the VE Bus BMS here is the VE bus pinout so you can see which pin is negative.

However, without the inverter I do not know if VE bus communication will work to the Cerbo or not or if it will just error that the inverter is not connected.

https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/64847/rj45-wires-used-by-vebus-pin-out.html

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rok-herman avatar image rok-herman pwfarnell commented ·
Thank you, now works. Pin 3 did the trick.


No error reported from BMS. I will test for proper function further.

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marvin2812 avatar image marvin2812 rok-herman commented ·
I had exactly the same issue and fixed it by connecting pin 3 to ground. So far so good, but does the BMS show up in your Cerbo GX device?


My Cerbo is not showing any new device or do i need to do something else to get the Cerbo discover new VE.BUS devices?

I noticed as well that the blue status led of the BMS is not blinking every 10 seconds as described in the manual.

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Mark avatar image Mark rok-herman commented ·

Hi

Thanks for this.

I also was looking for a solution.

Is this working?

The Victron agents said to get a small Bms to me, after all the problems.

What a stupid design.

The previous version had seperate + and - pins for supply.

So I also have a system with no inverter and no need for any AC.

I got these batteries as they would fit in the existing Batt bay in the caravan (even though they where 4x the price of cheaper Lifepro Batts.

But then you have BMS’s that tell you nothing of what is going on or even if there is a fault or connected OK.

Rant Rant

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