What Assistants Should I Load - Marine/ Lithium with Solar

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flip-flops asked Dec 25, '18

What Assistants Should I Load - Marine/ Lithium with Solar

System - 600 AH 12.8v LifePo4, BMV 702, MPPT 100/30 x3, Multiplus 3000 120-50, Phoenix Inverter 12/350 115vand 12/350 230v, Isolation Transformer 3600, ve.bus BMS and Colorcontrol Gx. Fitted to sailboat.

I've run with the Ve.Bus Lithium Assistant for almost two years and having recently upgraded my Solar system to almost 1200 watts. Plus being in a marina for the first time in about that long , I'm noticing a few gremlins in my current settings. The 100/30's on my Color control show Mode: ESS State: Ess however with shore power connected on occasion the output will be zero from Solar. Move Limit Charge Current to off and solar charge is restored for awhile then the same issue. Turning it on then works for awhile. Unplugging shore power solves the issue. Should I delete the Lithium assistant and load an ESS Assistant?

Lithium Battery CCGX Color Control Assistants MPPT Control display

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Modifications Space

Node Red Space

Answer 1 · 2018-12-25T21:02:22Z

boekel answered · Dec 25, 2018 at 09:02 PM

There are multiple options, what I've done is ad a switch for the customer to not fully charge the batteries on shore power, so the solar power is used as much as possible. by turning this switch off, the battery is fully charged by shore power (sometimes that's wanted)

I'm using the 'generator start/stop' assistant, wiring the switch through the K2 relay to the aux1 input to ignore AC input.

with LFP batteries it's probably best to use SOC instead of DC-input voltage.

screenshot-2018-12-25-220042.png (47.1 KiB)

screenshot-2018-12-25-220042.png (23.1 KiB)

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Michael Riley commented · Apr 12, 2019 at 11:41 PM

@Boekel. Just read this post. Would you be willing to share some wiring diagrams or a little more information regarding how you achieved your stated objective. You have two screenshots the same - was this intentional or was there another VE.configure one intended? Thanks in advance.

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boekel ♦ Michael Riley commented · Apr 13, 2019 at 07:55 AM

Hi @michael, I only intended to add one screenshot, don't know where the other (duplicate) link came from.

I'm willing to share wiring, but it is very straightforward, and as I think someone that implements these assistants should have some electrical knowledge, I want to warn: only use this if you are capable!

functions:

1a Charge up to x% on shore power (to fully use solar power)

1b Fully charge on shore power (when needed)

2a 16 Amp shore power supply

2b 10 A or less shore power supply - reduce charge current - switch to battery when high AC-loads.

Both functions use the 'ignore AC2 input' option.

1 uses input aux1

2 uses input aux2

1 closed switch to relay2, relay2 to aux1 input

2 closed switch to aux2 and relay1, relay 1 (n.c.) to temp sense input

aux

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Michael Riley boekel ♦ commented · Apr 16, 2019 at 11:59 PM

Thanks. Seems that a 'lot of options' also means that no-one knows how many to load. 'Capable' - understood. When I was eighteen I was a genius; at 30 I had learnt even more and realised I knew even less; at 60+ now I have a lifetime of experience and now am less capable than I ever was. The more I read I realise the less I know. I am (was) a LAME (actually a certified aircraft engineer - we didn't get licences.

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boekel ♦ Michael Riley commented · Apr 17, 2019 at 08:21 AM

It's just switching input to ground, some via a relay in the Multi itself :)

Too easy to draw, and keeps away people that have no idea of how things work. I'm sure you'll be fine in wiring / programming it.

Usually you first get it to work, test normal function, then implement all extra's one by one to make sure it works as you want it to work.

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Michael Riley boekel ♦ commented · Apr 17, 2019 at 08:46 PM

Too true. Got a few things on the plate at the moment - getting ready to depart Australia for six months or so in the South Pacific. Thanks for your input. Regards

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Answer 2 · 2018-12-28T15:07:05Z

flip-flops answered · Dec 28, 2018 at 03:07 PM

So which is the more correct assistant to be running for my marine use the Lithium assistant or the ESS Assistant?

Thanks

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Answer 3 · 2019-04-12T23:37:51Z

Michael Riley answered · Apr 12, 2019 at 11:37 PM

@Flip-Flops. I have a similar configuration and was wondering what the outcome to the question about which assistants should be loaded. What did you end up with? Thanks in advance.

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flip-flops commented · Apr 13, 2019 at 02:30 AM

@Michael Riley,

I never did get a straight answer only thread drift.

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