question

marekp avatar image
marekp asked

System turns OFF without apparent reason with loading Two Wire BMS assistant

The system:

3 phase system consists of:

2x MultiPlus-II 48/3000,

1x EasySolar-II GX 48/3000,

48V/200Ah Winston Battery,

123SmartBMS Gen3.

The problem:

After connecting everything together, loading "Two Wire BMS" assistant, the system is turning itself off for no apparent reason after some time.

First I suspected wrong signals from BMS, so I disconnected it and replaced its signals made with jumpers on Aux1 (allow to charge) and Aux2 (allow to discharge). It did not make much difference.

After while the system just goes off.

The system turns itself ON after the jumpers are removed.

Battery is full.

Everything was working OK until I loaded the assistant.

Any ideas how to check why the system goes OFF.

There are no alarms or notifications (other than #1 Device switched off)

I know it switched off, but why.

I assume that #1 Device it the one the BMS is connected to.

Any ideas where to look?

screen-shot-2020-11-02-at-105723-pm.png

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Multiplus-II3 phase
5 comments
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Matthias Lange - DE avatar image Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented ·

Can you show us your VEconfig settings?

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marekp avatar image marekp Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented ·

Here it is.

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Matthias Lange - DE avatar image Matthias Lange - DE ♦ marekp commented ·

Click on "summary" to see the settings of the assistant.

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marekp avatar image marekp Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented ·

Here it is.

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marekp avatar image marekp Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented ·

Hi Matthias,

When you asked me to post my VEConfig settings, did you plan to help me, or just to make me do some work?

Regards,

Marek

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1 Answer
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered ·

Have you read and followed this:

https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Manual-Connecting-other-lithium-battery-systems-to-Multis-and-Quattros-EN.pdf

Specifically this bit was not mentioned in your question -

Take extra care when running a parallel or three-phase system. 
The BMS needs to be wired to one Multi only. 
The assistant needs to be programmed into all Multis in the system


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marekp avatar image marekp commented ·

YES, it is wired to only ONE multi and assistant is loaded to ALL THREE.

I was surprised that I had to load this assistant to each Multi separately because it refused to load to "all units".

The only difference from this manual is that I am using Aux 1 and Aux 2.

Actually, now I had to remove this assistant because with it loaded the system turns itself off for no reason.

OK, there was a reason, this assistant was loaded. :)

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marekp avatar image marekp commented ·

Ok, lets try it again.

You cited the manual:

                    
  1. Take extra care when running a parallel or three-phase system. 
  2. The BMS needs to be wired to one Multi only. 
  3. The assistant needs to be programmed into all Multis in the system

In this manual, above text is the only mention about 3 phase system.

Connecting BMS wires to one Multi is simple to follow, but this programing all 3 Multis is not so clear cut.

1st method. Program assistant in first Multi and save it to disk. Than use the saved setup to program the other 2 Multis.

2nd method. Program each Multi separately. In this method only during the first Multi setup there are question about Aux ports, because when in the second and third Multi assistant setup, you choose that BMS is connected to "other" Multi, the setup ends.

Which method is correct one?

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The 2nd method. The assistant needs to be added and configured separately for each unit, with only the unit that is connected to the BMS set up fully with the options selected matching the physical hardware interface connections.


The other Multis are told there is a two wire BMS assistant loaded, but that they are not the one connected physically to that BMS.

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

Thank you.

The second time I used method #2. You can see it in my VEConfig screenshots. Maybe this assistant setup documentation for 3phase or parallel system should be more detailed.

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I have updated this in the 3 phase and parallel documentation - https://www.victronenergy.com/live/ve.bus:manual_parallel_and_three_phase_systems#assistants

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

Hi,

This additional info definitely helps, but I still have a question about that TIP at the end of this section.

Tip: a quick way to load Assistants into each unit in the system is to save the settings after configuring the master in L1. Then open VEConfigure for another unit and load that file. VEConfigure will automatically adapt the Assistants for the slaves. (note: In some cases you might get some warnings. Please step through the assistant in that case.

When I first programmed my Multis with "Two signal BMS assistant" I used method described in this TIP. Now I know it was not correct way, but there was no warnings. Maybe in that TIP should be a list of assistants for which we should not use this method.

Sorry for dragging this problem but I think this should be cleared to the end.

Regards,

Marek

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Given the caveats and exceptions, I have just deleted the tip for now.

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