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valden avatar image
valden asked

Can VE.Smart be used to send Smart battery voltages to a Smart Shunt then Cerbo by VE.Direct?

A boat I'm helping with has three 12.8V Smart Lithium batteries in parallel, managed by a Smart BMS CL 12-100. A Smart Shunt is connected to a Cerbo by VE.Direct. The Cerbo is using DVCC to manage the networked system, which also includes a MultiPlus, Smart MPPTs and Smart Battery Protects. While overall system voltage and State of Charge information is presently visible on the Cerbo's Touch 50 display, it would be helpful to see individual battery (and even cell) voltages on that display. The only way to see this information at present is by the VictronConnect app and Bluetooth directly to each battery.

Can a VE.Smart network be used to transmit battery (and cell?) voltages to the Smart Shunt, with these then available for viewing via the Cerbo on the Touch 50 display?

Alternatively, the Smart BMS CL 12-100 already receives battery cell data. Can it send this to the Smart Shunt or Cerbo via VE.Smart, for viewing on the Touch 50 display?

Thank you.

cerbo gxLithium BatterySmartShuntDVCCVE.Smart Network
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2 Answers
pwfarnell avatar image
pwfarnell answered ·

In answer to your questions about the lithium smart battery cell information, tje battery does not transmit the cell information to the BMS you are not correct on that point. All the battery send to the BMS is an allow to charge or allow to discharge signal, all battery info is handled in the control board in the battery. The Bluetooth on board the batteries is not designed for permanent operations so it has never been integrated with VE Smart or the Cerbo Bluetooth.

Re mixing VE Smart and VE Direct there are many reports on this forum of people experiencing erratic behaviour when running both in parallel.

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valden avatar image valden commented ·
Hello pw. Thanks for this reply.

I will advise the folk on board to continue with using VictronConnect and their phones to monitor battery and cell voltages. We are trying to deal with battery and cell out-of-balance problems. The last thing we need is erratic behaviour.

Much appreciated.


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kevgermany avatar image
kevgermany answered ·

You cannot mix Victron's Smart Networking with other Victron networks. The system has linked the smart network manual to this page which will help.

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valden avatar image valden commented ·

Hello Kev. I read the VE.Smart Networking document's Limitations chapter, at this link:

https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/VE.Smart_Networking/20723-VE_Smart_Networking-pdf-en.pdf

The Limitations chapter advises what the Smart Network is designed for and the priority order for handling of duplicate data points. It does not say that VE.Smart cannot work with other Victron networks. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I haven't found a statement in the manual that says you're right. Please point me to such a clear statement if there is one.

If I was on the boat right now, I would try some tests. I don't want to ask others who are on the boat to do this testing for me if it will be a waste of their time. If you know it would be a waste of their time, do let me know. And, how do you know that?

Thanks.

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