I'm very interested in your products. I'm more interested in how you determine battery SOC. Both Midnite solar and Magnum energy determine battery SOC via shunt. This ensures other loads drawing power simultaneously are not included in battery SOC calculation. I've read all your "vague" documentation and can not discover your solution.
Victron,
In an all Victron system, you'll nearly always have a BMV monitoring battery current via a shunt. Can you transmit shunt current via VE.Smart and use that to end the absorption phase of your various chargers? Please? This would be so ideal and you have all the hardware in place. If this were done, I'd immediately buy a smartsolar, and inverter-charger, and your upcoming battery to battery charger.
This is in the works and currently being tested - so you will have the ability to do this in the near future. Also, as from the most recent MPPT firmware release v1.42 - the tail current (to end absorption phase) is now user configurable.
Currently in FW v1.42 - no, it uses the MPPT output charge current (which does not consider loads).
But in a future release you will be able to use a VE.Smart Network (Bluetooth) so that the BMV-712 can share the true current going into the battery with a SmartSolar MPPT. Then it will use that as the 'tail current' to decide when to end absorption phase. This is what is currently being tested.
Awsome! I may sell my Kid with WizBang which is mounted 15 feet of 6awg away from my batteries. How do we know when this tail current via BMV via shunt is ready?
Keep an eye out for a related blog, in the firmware section;
https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/category/firmware-software/
Create an account and regularly review the latest MPPT FW change-log on Victron Professional;
https://professional.victronenergy.com/accounts/login/?next=/
Wait for the next FW to be added into VictronConnect, then it will prompt you upon connection that a new FW is available.
Sometimes an announcement is also made on Victron Community.
How is the testing going? I visited the links provided to no avail. I have no interest in becoming a Victron engineer. I simply want to know when this new firmware is released and what the simplified test results are. Thanks.
I think the reason that you might not find exactly what you are after in the documentation is because there are various system designs and complexities to go with.
There are basic DC systems with just a battery and charger controller. In this case the charge controller will calculate SOC via its internal circuitry, like a Classic does on its own. Same thing if you have a MultiPlus on its own, you can enable the internal battery monitor and it will calculate the SOC internally. The "smart" devices can be networked via Bluetooth so that they share information amongst themselves and you can use the Victron connect app to view performance and set parameters.
When you have more complex systems with multiple energy sources like MPPTs and generators and also DC consumers, then you'll probably want to use a BMV battery monitor which measures across a shunt (just like a whizz bang junior). The BMV will then be measuring the system wide charge and discharge including DC loads. The Multiplus and MPPTs will still be measuring their own production or consumption so you'll know where energy is coming from and going to, but the BMV will provide a more accurate system wide overview.
If you want, you can step up to full system monitoring online by employing a CCGX or Venus GX. This ties all your devices in and kits you see what each piece of equipment is doing in real-time and online. For larger systems it's recommended to use a BMV and a Venus device.
What sort of system are you interested in finding out about?
Off grid RV with Smartsolar, multiplus, BMV712, orion 24/12, and CCGX.
Will the smartsolar use the information from the BMV to determine end absorb whether ending amps or SOC?
- Jeff
If DVCC (Distributed Voltage and Current Control) is enabled in the CCGX then the SmartSolar will go into "Slave" mode and it will take Voltage readings from the BMV. Charge current limits (measured by the BMV) can also be applied to the SmartSolar.
The Absorb and Float Voltage limits are defined in the SmartSolar, but readings come from the BMV.
SOC% is still determined by the parameters that are programmed into the BMV such as "End Voltage" and "Tail Current" etc. but these don't influence the charge algorithm of the SmartSolar.
I hope I have made sense.
"There are basic DC systems with just a battery and charger controller. In this case the charge controller will calculate SOC via its internal circuitry, like a Classic does on its own."
@unyalli This isn't true - neither the SmartSolar nor the Bluesolar units have ANY proper Ah/SoC metering functions. They both just run a crude Absorb time, which as it turns out, is frequently wrong
Please see: https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/1856/how-to-remove-smartsolar-automatic-absorption-time.html
