Hubble AM4 lithium battery over voltage issue (South Africa)

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denzel asked Mar 28, '24

Hubble AM4 lithium battery over voltage issue (South Africa)

Good Day,

I take great concern in the Hubble AM4 lithium battery issue I currently face with respect to an over voltage issue . Victron you have this battery as a compatible on your website but in my case its been 3 weeks and Hubble Lithium energy has not fixed the issue.

Setup:

3 * Multiplus in parallel (3000/24/70)

4 * 250v/100 MPPT Solar Charge controllers

2 * Hubble AM4 battery packs.

Cerbo GX

From the day of installation the victron monitoring detected an over voltage alarm . I noticed the battery volt SOC at 100% read 29.2V .

As per Hubble Lithium documentation the battery should charge to 29V .

So the over voltage alarm is connect.

Hubble said i should upgrade the battery firmware, I purchased a recommended cable and obtain the software from Hubble Lithium and upgraded the software. This made no difference.

They then said there cloudlink device needs to upgrade by them , still no joy.

Now my VRM cant offer me any alerts as the api maxes out due to the hubble being in overvoltage alarm .

Hubble cant seem to able to access there own BMS to cut of the SOC at 29V . I even asked for access to the BMS to do this but they are mum on the matter. 12 emails still nothing.

A 26000 ZAR investment on a Compatible battery as per the victron website has proven to be a bad one.

Victron can you offer any assistance or perhaps re-look at this being a battery on your list.

Lithium Battery overvoltage

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Modifications Space

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Answer 1 · 2024-03-28T12:25:45Z

nickdb answered · Mar 28 at 12:25 PM

Hi, VRM can be reset to enable alerts again, the link will be in the email when it notifies you of too many messages.

Unfortunately, HV alarms are normal on new batteries until it can settle. How fast this happens depends on how it is let charge and how it is used, often advice is to leave it on keep batteries charged for a few days, and some times coupled with deep discharge cycles.

Lowering the voltage can sometimes assist, but on its own it may delay balancing as well.

None of these issues are unique and their support should be capable of guiding you.

Their BMS is not unique, it is a generic PACE BMS used by a few other brands, and has also had a few issues over time.

All Victron can do is certify that the battery can communicate properly to the GX and integrates with the rest of the features, they can't control quality of the battery nor how it is used.

If the fault persists your supplier should be able to replace the battery based on the data logged from the BMS.

HV are not in themselves a danger on new batteries as the BMS will cope and it will be one or more cells out of balance.

Personally I am not a fan of any battery using that BMS, but try remove the voltage limit and leave it on keep charged for 3 or more days. It should resolve and if it doesn't, push for a replacement battery based on cell analysis.

As a separate note, a 24V 9kW system is not ideal, it would be better using 48V.

Check you are configured as per

https://www.victronenergy.com/live/battery_compatibility:hubble

This states for ESS:

screenshot-2024-03-28-at-143106.png (39.8 KiB)

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nickdb ♦♦ commented · Mar 28 at 12:44 PM

To add, at 24V, that battery is also a bit too small.

You have 230A max on a system that can pull well over 300A, which is exciting at 24V.

If you are using anywhere near that systems capabilities, you will drain those batteries fast and hard. That will not help balancing.

A 9kW system really should be at 48V.

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Alexandra ♦ nickdb ♦♦ commented · Mar 28 at 01:40 PM

I was thinking that as well. Battery a bit small can't take the amps out - or in as well as in this case. Bit of a bad mix when you consider the BMS is also slow at balancing as well.

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Answer 2 · 2024-03-28T12:32:13Z

Alexandra answered · Mar 28 at 12:32 PM

@Denzel

The problem won't be the pack voltage but rather a cell voltage that is over.

With slower balancing on some batteries like the Hubble this is normal worse especially when new.

When Victron say the battery is compatible they mean that if the battery sends a 'do not charge' (and other requests) the system complies. Then the battery has to sort itself out internally (pace BMS has slow balancing) if it can't do that, then it needs to be replaced.

There are some work arounds.

One is a slower charge amperage (half the amount installed).

The second is to cap the voltage in DVCC to slightly lower than absorption and keep them at fully charged for a few days. Tough to do, i know, in a country with load shedding.

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nickdb ♦♦ commented · Mar 28 at 12:35 PM

It's a 24V battery/system.

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Alexandra ♦ nickdb ♦♦ commented · Mar 28 at 12:38 PM

Edited. Did read that. Then promptly forgot.

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Answer 3 · 2024-03-30T14:57:51Z

denzel answered · Mar 30 at 02:57 PM

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the response , all comments and recommendations well received. I managed to realtime monitor the batteries and you are correct it was a cell imbalance. After a while it leveled out. I reduced the charge voltage in the DVCC and so far so good.

The plan is to increase the battery banks to exceed the inverting power. I'm already vested in the 24V system so I'm in it, I did however cater for the high amps this setup can draw.

Regards

Denz

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