Easyysolar II GX multiple generator charging issues

DIY
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Hi all. I am tearing my hair out today due to not being able to use a generator to charge my batteries in prolonged bad weather.

My system comprises of an Easysolar II GX 48/5000/70-50 and 2x pylontech us5000b batteries. Victron is outputting 230v at 50hz.
I’ve had it set up for close to a year without any notable problems. Today when I have depended on adding charge from a generator I am having multiple issues.

Firstly I tried plugging in my small (Yamaha 2800w) generator and all appeared well for about half an hour. I was getting 2000w of power input from the generator that was charging my batteries. That then tripped the overload on the generator. When I tried restarting the generator to reset the breaker it started fine but almost as soon as the Victron switched the relay for the generator on it was again overloaded.

I then was able to find and change the generator input current limit setting which I expected to remedy the situation. It did not. The generator was not tripping the overload but it the Victron did not get any power from the generator.

I then grabbed the larger generator (7500w output) and left the settings to 10a generator input current. I could see the voltage from the generator in the Victron but it wouldn’t take any power.

I was getting frustrated (been dealing with cyclonic weather issues for days) and called a neighbour over that has a large multi component Victron system to help me.

Between the 2 of us we changed some settings via VE Configure but progressivly only made things more confused without any solution. Some things tried were enabling the “Weak AC input” setting, Disabling the “Ground Relay” setting, disabling the “Power Assist” setting. None of these seemed to fix the problem and now I have sen a new issue where the generator is sometimes providing power but only a very small amount, less than 600w. This is with either generator.

I am at a complete loss now. My neighbour was confident with the settings changes but I would like to reset the whole system to defaults and start from scratch.

This has really shaken my confidence with the system. I really do need the ability to charge the batteries from a generator in bad weather such as we are having now. I’m at a loss as to how to achieve this.

The documentation has not helped me at all. I have no idea where to go with this problem. I bought the (to me) very expensive “EasySolar” so I would have a reliable solution that was simple to deal with. The first time I’ve needed to depend on it in an bad weather situation I feel it has failed. I still have some battery left but there is likely days more time I won’t have enough solar input.

If anyone can give me any clues as to where to look for options to rectify this issue I’d greatly appreciate it. My opinion on Victron has truly soured today, I feel let down by the product. My neighbour was talking about needing an oscilloscope to investigate the problem further. I really never expected a prodcuct called “easysolar” to be so difficult to deal with about something so seemingly simple as charging battery from a generator.

This morning I helped a different neighbour with their older multiplus. They needed to charge from a generator. I wired on a lead and plug and connected their cheap generator and it jus worked.

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Rest assured, Victron is good stuff, it’ll serve you for many years. Can I ask a silly question, is the battery near full already? It won’t take charge if the charger thinks it’s full. Have you set the charge characteristics of the internal AC Charger (via the VE Configure not the MPPT Charger)? By default, the settings may not match your system. e.g. my float voltage is at about 54V with bulk at about 56V

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Ask as silly as you like!
Battery was at under 50%.

I haven’t altered the charge settings in VE Configure. They are currently set to:
Charge curve: Adaptive + BatterySafe
Absorption voltage: 57.60
Float voltage: 55.20
Charge Current: 10

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Hi,

my mp 12/3000 and my onan generator have had problems with each other since i installed the mp.

Now i have firmware 555 on the mp, set ups off , weak ac off, and they love each other.

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And you’re certain these aren’t the MPPT Solar Charger settings, these are the separate AC Charger settings? You can also set the acceptance voltage range here. And you’ve checked obvious things like breakers, and that you’ve set your 3-way power switch to ON not just INVERT?

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I believe the charge settings in VE configure don’t actually matter as I have the Pylontech using it’s own BMS.
The settings I am referring to are under the “Charger” tab in VE configure.

The MPPT settings are not in VE Configure are they? I’m not sure what you mean there.

Breakers and switch on the Easysolar have been checked.

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Thanks for sharing your experience Ludo. Do you know what firmware your MP (I assume thats a MultiPlus) was having issues with? I’m not sure if the Easysolar uses the same firmware for the inverter charger part of it but I think it may?
In the VRM I can see under my device list:
Product: MultiPlus-II 48/5000/70-48
Firmware version: 497

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Hi, i started somewhere ~490,upgraded to 508/510/552 and am now using the current version 555.

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I have updated the firmware of the MP device (now on 555). It unfortunately has made no difference.

I am able to charge from any of 3 generators I have been trying but none will charge at more than 700w

One of the generators only latches to the EasySolar when “Weak AC input” is checked.

Changing the generator current limit makes no difference to any of the generators.

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Hi. The first thing I’d do with genset supply is to enable Dynamic Current Limiter in the Multi. It brings on the gen AC over a few seconds to allow the gen to wind up. The need for Weak AC could be a number of things, even resistance in AC wiring. I always see that as a temporary need, something to investigate.

The restricted input could be the Pylons, given they’re in charge. Something like low Temp can cause them to restrict CCL and limit the genset. Best get familiar with the Pylon reporting from the GX, they need satisfying before they’ll allow full-spec treatment.

Settings for the Pylons are all here… Victron & Pylontech UP2500, US2000, US3000, US2000C, US3000C, US5000, US5000B, UF5000, Pelio-L, UP5000, Phantom-S, Force-L1 & L2 [Victron Energy]
Above you’ve mentioned a few settings which don’t seem right, set it all up properly.

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Thank you for your help.

Can you tell me which settings don’t seem right? I believed the charger settings in VE Configure to be unused when the Pylontech BMS is in control. From your linked document “When DVCC is enabled, the battery (via the CAN-bms) is responsible for the charge voltage.”
My Pylontech batteries are set up as DVCC.

I can turn on the Dynamic Current Limiter but the issue I’m having is limited power being drawn.
Only the largest of the three generators required the Weak AC option but all 3 generators reached the same power limit regardless of that being on or off. The wiring is very short and thicker than required.

I’m on the east coast of Australia, battery temp has been above 20c the entire time I’ve been attempting to charge. My neighbour has the same model Pylontech batteries and the same spec MultiPlus (not built into an easysolar) and using the exact same generator (I borrowed his to test) he is hitting his set limit for generator input. The batteries normally (in sunny conditions) charge at a much higher rate through solar than they are through the generator.

I’ll change the rest of the VE configure settings to match those in your link.
I know my neighbour didn’t alter any settings in VE Configure for his setup that is charging at a higher rate, he left them all as default and is using the Pylontechs in DVCC too.

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If you could save the settings with victronconnect and post them here, we could mount them on a demo mp and check them.

Or post screenshots of all settings pages.

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A side note…
As you have DVCC controlling things and Pylontechs are sending charging parameters, for now, there is no problem, but take into account that Pylontech US5000B is a 15S (15 cells) battery and the 57.6V above is for 16S type battery and it’s too much…
So absorption should be 52.5V and float about 51.75V, for the case when there is no DVCC control…

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5.1v less to compensate for one 3.5v cell ?

Sounds strange to me

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It’s quite clear…
Old setting is/was for 16S, while the suggested one is for 15S, as it is his Pylontech battery.
57.6V, means 3.6V/cell, for a 16S battery
52.5V, means 3.5V/cell, for a 15S battery
I’ve recommended 3.5V/cell, instead of 3.6V/cell, to be more conservative and in Pylontech specified range.

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I have changed the charger settings for the battery as per the link provided from JohnC’s post.

Whilst doing so I noticed something that seemed off. There was a setting not mentioned labelled “Charge current” that had been set to 10A. I looked it up and that setting is the DC charge current limit to the batteries. I looked at the battery parameters in the device list through the remote console and saw the max charge current the batteries BMS uses is 160A. So I confidently changed the “Charge current” setting to 70A and pushed the settings through.

It’s working now. I can only assume that setting was changed due to confusion about AC current limit settings.

I’m yet to retry the larger genny but my little one ran fine and I was able to limit the current draw through the VRM "Generator Current Limit"setting.

Thank you everyone that has weighed in. I was at a loss for hours and trying not to change settings i didn’t need to. I believe that Charge current setting was changed by someone trying to help me and I was under the impression the charger settings were neither touched or relevant.

I feel much better about the configuration now and feel like I have a better understanding of the system.

For you battery voltage enthusiasts there is some interesting info in the JohnC linked Pylontech Victron battery compatibility document:

" My system only charges the battery to 52.4V

When DVCC is enabled, the battery (via the CAN-bms) is responsible for the charge voltage. The Pylontech battery requests a charge voltage of 53.2V. We have however found that in practice this is too high.

The Pylontech battery has 15 cells in series, so 53.2V equates to 3.55V per cell. This is very highly charged and makes the system prone to go overvoltage.

It should also be noted that a LiFePO4 cell stores very little additional energy above 3.45V.

For this reason we opted to override the BMS and cap the voltage at 52.4V. This sacrifices almost none of the capacity and greatly improves the stability of the system."

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