ESS self consumption not working

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revpipad asked Sep 19, '23

ESS self consumption not working

I have a 3 phase system set up as ESS with optimise without battery life and the system using 5 x BYD battery box pros

Problem I'm having is the system is siting at 100% charge and on the odd occasion when it does use the battery "ext control" appears on the quattro graphic

Then the system charges the batteries back to 100% then goes back to "discharging"

I'm tearing my hair out with frustration as I've updated the software and have followed the ESS set up guide, the most frustrating part is the system worked until i added another battery

Any advice and guidance would be very much appreciated

Wayne

ESS ess settings ess grid setpoint not reached

ess-ext-control-issue.jpg (185.4 KiB)

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matt1309 answered · Sep 19, 2023 at 10:58 PM

Hi,

Something definitely seems off with the installation. The PV inverter is showing negative watts?

What is providing the PV inverter information is it an external energy meter if so i it seems like it might be wired incorrectly/backwards. This may be the cause of your problems. I'd maybe start by resolving that and then seeing if you have any further unusual symptoms after that.

I was going to offer some more guesses of what might be causing it but thinking about it that negative PV might be causing all sorts of weirdness in the system that it might just be the cause.

Let me know if not happy to throw a few more guesses at it.

If the issue persists after fixing the negative PV my next question was going to be what are you using to monitor the grid power, another energy meter or does grid go straight into multplus/quattros with no loads on grid side?

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gazza answered · Sep 27, 2023 at 04:09 PM

Yes both can be rolled back. The CCGX will be easiest to try first. Go to Remote Console

Settings > Firmware > Stored backup firmware. You can then just reboot from the back up version available (ie your last firmware).

The Quattro is a little more involved but the file required is on professional Victron
https://professional.victronenergy.com/downloads/firmware/

But, I would do a little more research before you attempt that... ESS #3 is BMS disabled charging error?

How did you do the upgrade to 506?

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revpipad commented · Sep 28, 2023 at 08:03 AM

Gazza, thanks for the response,

I'll give this a go and see how we get on, I used the firmware update tool so it should be fairly easy, it will be interesting to see if this solves the problem

especially as other people are now experiencing the same problem with the ESS

Wayne

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gazza revpipad commented · Sep 28, 2023 at 04:28 PM

The only reason I asked is because if you update via VRM it "leads" you through also saving/updating the VEConfigure file for the new firmware. But, rolling back via the raw firmware file "may" be an issue with the configuration? (In the past I have always made a copy of my VE Configure file before a firmware change just in case I need to roll back, this may be superfluous? but it has worked). At the very least I would save a version of your VE Configure before rolling back the Quattro in case there are still issues, or the firmware update turns out NOT to be the problem!!

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Modifications Space

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Answer 1 · 2023-09-20T09:14:11Z

revpipad answered · Sep 20, 2023 at 09:14 AM

My bad I was playing with the meter settings to see if this had an effect, the meters are AC meters connected to three remote buildings with PV on them

I have an three phase energy meter on the grid connection point

I've re assigned them, and the system is still the same so any further guesses would be appreciated, one thing i failed to mention was that this problem started when I installed a new battery and upgraded the software and firmware a couple of months ago

Wayne

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Answer 2 · 2023-09-20T10:02:09Z

gazza answered · Sep 20, 2023 at 10:02 AM

"....I installed a new battery and upgraded the software and firmware a couple of months ago"

There are 2 variables here. If you disconnect the "new" battery and go back to how it was before, does it work... with the new firmware? I would start there.

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Answer 3 · 2023-09-27T13:40:55Z

revpipad answered · Sep 27, 2023 at 01:40 PM

so I've disconnected the new battery and still no change the system sits at 100% it does go down to 99% then immediately charges the batteries back to 100% from the grid, while showing external control on the color control screen

I've checked and re checked the VE config settings and had someone from the suppliers to check the system, they have advised me to rewire part of the system, but its worked perfectly fine since 2019 so I'm reluctant to touch the wiring as i think its a software issue

sometimes #ESS 3 is displayed but I'm not using an external algorithm

its just frustrating as the batteries are at 100% in self consumption mode and its taking 2kW from the grid.....

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revpipad commented · Sep 27, 2023 at 03:21 PM

I've read some threads on DVCC being forced on, could this be the problem?

its the only thing I can think of as all the settings are correct but after the firmware update on the Quattro's to v506 and Color control to v3.10 the system hasn't worked correctly

can the software be rolled back? if so can it be done easily?

I would ask Victron but for a large company with good quality products the customer support is surprisingly shockingly poor

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Answer 4 · 2023-09-28T17:09:25Z

lifeingalicia answered · Sep 28, 2023 at 05:09 PM

Be aware Firmware update resets to FD

Check ALL settings against documented settings before update.

At my place external meter was ticked - I do not have such a thing -

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