question

elvistherv avatar image
elvistherv asked

SOC Source for Assistants

My (new to me) setup is a 960Ah bank of Lead Acid batteries in an RV, with a Quattro, BMV 712 + 3rd Party MTTP Solar charger and a Cummins LPG (3 wire) generator.

I'm looking at using the 3-wire suggestion using assistants on this page (https://www.victronenergy.com/live/auto-generator-start-stop:start) however I was hoping to use SOC rather than pure battery voltage to avoid false positives if pulling a decent load from the batteries.


However, the assistant only seems to be able to use the SOC from the Quatrro and not the (as I understand it) much more accurate SOC from the BMV 712 (in this config with DC loads, alternators, 3rd party solar chargers).

Is there any way around this or should I be looking at another solution?

MultiPlus Quattro Inverter ChargerBMV Battery MonitorAssistants
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1 Answer
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered ·

Hi @ElvisTheRV,

Sharing State of Charge with a GX device

This feature of sharing a more accurate state of charge reading back to the multi for use in assistants requires a GX device.

Once all are connected, there is an setting in the System Setup menu:

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Using the BMV directly

It is also possible to use the relay directly on the back of the BMV-712 for an generator start based on it's state of charge (rather than using the Multi), though I have only done that with a 2 wire start, not a 3 wire:

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elvistherv avatar image elvistherv commented ·

Doh!, I realise I should probably have mentioned I have a Colour Control GX, so does this mean that even though the assistant in VEConfigure says State of Charge (Internal Battery Monitor) it will actually use the SOC set in the Colour Control GX (for some reason the kit I bought didn't include the VE Direct cable to go between the Colour Control GX and the BMV, now ordered).

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ elvistherv commented ·

Hi @ElvisTheRV,

Once the VE.Direct cable is connected between the BMV-712 and the CCGX, it should automatically take priority as most accurate SOC measurement. Though it would be worth to check that setting in the CCGX.

The Assistant will not update that description and still stay internal battery monitor, and that internal battery monitor still needs to be enabled on the Multi, but the value used there will be overwritten by the GX device from the BMV.

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