Different firmware on MPPTs

Q&A and troubleshooting
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1

I have 2 MPPTs both charging the same battery bank.

One is a Smart Solar MPPT 100/20 48v this is connected to 2 solar panels and charges 5 x 130Ah 12V lead acid leisure batteries. This MPPT is running firmware v1.64.

The second one is Smart Solar MPPT 100/50 this is connected to another 2 solar panels and charges the same 5 x 130Ah 12V lead acid leisure batteries. This MPPT is running firmware v1.67.

The 50A MPPT firmware was updated when I carried out a firmware update check via VRM.

I am now getting error messages saying that Error code: #66 - Incompatible device encountered for parallel operation (e.g. old firmware/different settings)

Is Victron Energy going to release a firmware update for the 100/20 MPPT to resolve this issue, or do I need to downgrade the firmware on the 100/50 MPPT?

Looking forward to your responses.

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2

Have you checked both devices are set correctly to e.g. 12V if your batteries I assume are in parallel? Are you using smartnetworking?

3

From where, or what software ?

The mppt normally don’t have a “parallel” setup.

4

I am getting the error messages in VRM.

289 Solar Charger - GARAGE 20A MPPT [289] Error code: #66 - Incompatible device encountered for parallel operation (e.g. old firmware/different settings) 2025-04-15 09:50:51 31s

5

Yes the batteries are connected in parallel. It’s a 12v system.

Yes I am running Smart Networking.

Screenshot_20250418-214131 (1)
Screenshot_20250418-214131 (1)1755Ă—1522 191 KB

6

You can’t connect the MPPTs over ve.direct AND over smart bt network.

Please disconnect the mppt’s from the bt network, and reset the system.

Good luck

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7

I have disconnected the MPPTs from the Bluetooth network as you suggested. But I still have different firmware on each of the MPPTs and the same error messages in VRM.

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8

My 100/20 has v1.64
Both 100/30 have v1.67

But ofc i have no cerbo, all just connected over bt with synchronous charging and voltage sharing.

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9

Hi @Tonyexe

Is the error still there?
If not, any idea what caused the error to be cleared?

Kind regards,
Thiemo van Engelen

10

The error shown below appeared in VRM on the 15th April 2025. I went and checked up on the system and the Cerbo GX was bleeping. So I cleared the error to silence the Cerbo.

289 Solar Charger - GARAGE 20A MPPT [289] Error code: #66 - Incompatible device encountered for parallel operation (e.g. old firmware/different settings) 2025-04-15 09:50:51 31s

My concern is there any risk having 2 MPPTs running different firmware charging the same battery bank. Both MPPTs have ve.direct connections to my Cerbo GX.

11

Hi @Tonyexe

Ok. So the error cleared itself (after 31 seconds).

The error was probably caused by the internal bluetooth dongle. We have identified a situation where a dongle might think that the battery voltage settings don’t match between products in a VE.Smart network when another MPPT is updated. The internal dongle then causes this error to be set in the MPPT, which is picked up by the Cerbo and reported as error there. After a while, the internal dongle got the correct battery voltage from the updated MPPT and cleared the error, but the Cerbo still reported the error. So it is annoying, but nothing serious in this case.

In general, there is no problem running 2 different software version. When they are networked (DVCC / VE.Smart networking) and synchronized charging is enabled, then they will just follow that charge profile.

Kind regards,
Thiemo van Engelen

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12

For years Victron is telling us the BT module in Cerbo can’t communicate with bmv, mppt asf..

Now its generating errors?

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13

Sorry that I wasn’t explicit enough. I was talking about the MPPT’s internal Bluetooth dongle.

With kind regards,
Thiemo van Engelen

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14

Hi Thiemo,

Thank you for clarifying the situation. I have, as a precaution, checked the both MPPTs internal Bluetooth dongles and the are both running firmware v2.52

Regards
Tony