As we have moved into some stronger solar days, we have been able to turn on “auto mode" again to charge our EV from excess solar. It was fine all last summer, but now, when the car is charging in auto mode, it now continuously drawers somewhere between 250-500W from the grid, no matter what the solar output is.
You can see from the screenshots attached, we’ve drawn ¾ kWh from the grid during the afternoon.
I’ve not made any system changes I’m aware of. Our EVCS NS is on the grid side of our home MP2 based ESS.
I can’t see any settings I can change to stop our EVSC from drawing from the grid.
I’ve started to use Auto mode again (after winter) and noticed similar thing – only in my case, EVCS draws from the battery, indefinitely. Or at least well beyond the configured time of 15 minutes – I usually notice and stop the charging to that the batter does not go all the way to MinSoC.
My EVCS is connected on AC_Out, your seems to be on AC_In, maybe that’s the difference. But the underlying issue – never-ending draw instead of stopping until enough power from PV is available – seems to be the same.
am I able to configure these values in the EVCS admin GUI? I can only see “Battery/grid power timeout (min): 15“ related to this. If not, could you please advise what’s the easiest way to change these value from macOS / VRM / Cerbo?
The “Auto” mode used to work without issues for me last summer, but now it draws 4kW from battery well beyond the 15 minutes. I did not do any changes to my system since then, but of course there were things like firmware updates, maybe some DESS changes.
No, not from the GUI. You need a tool to write the new values into the EVCS. You can use node-red if you’re familiar with it.
Or a tool like this one - Download
Thanks, I’ll check Node-Red, as the linked tool has only Windows version.
Before I start experimenting with the low-level configuration values, I did a simple test. Until 9:15 the battery (Pylontech, 3x US3000C) was charging with 30A as there was 2000 W of PV available and no consumption from the house. I’m using DESS green mode, grid Set point is 0 W. Was going into the grid, all excess was used to charge the house battery.
I connected EV with Auto mode. Since the battery SoC was slightly above the set limit of 70% SoC, the charging started (3p, 6A). It started to draw 3kW from battery. 30 minutes later, EV still charges, battery dropped from 70% to 58%.
I struggle to understand how to explain this, why didn’t it stop to charge EV after 15 minutes if it was drawing from battery the whole time?
Is there a setting in the Modbus TCP registers that could fix this?
These are the current settings:
Victron EVCS Register Values
┏━━━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━━━━┓
┃ Address ┃ Name ┃ Value ┃ Unit ┃ Default ┃
┡━━━━━━━━━╇━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╇━━━━━━━━━━━━━╇━━━━━━━━━━╇━━━━━━━━━┩
│ 5000 │ Product ID │ 49189 │ │ │
│ 5001 │ Serial Id │ HQ2248RHJUF │ │ │
│ 5007 │ FW version H │ 2 │ │ │
│ 5008 │ FW version L │ 1535 │ │ │
│ 5009 │ Charge mode │ 1 │ │ 0 │
│ 5010 │ Start/stop charging │ 1 │ │ │
│ 5011 │ L1 power used │ 2581 │ W │ │
│ 5012 │ L2 power used │ 0 │ W │ │
│ 5013 │ L3 power used │ 0 │ W │ │
│ 5014 │ Total power │ 2581 │ W │ │
│ 5015 │ Charger status │ 2 │ │ │
│ 5016 │ Charging current │ 16 │ A │ 6 │
│ 5017 │ Max current │ 16 │ A │ 10 │
│ 5018 │ Charging current actual │ 11.0 │ A │ │
│ 5019 │ Session charging time H │ 0 │ s │ │
│ 5020 │ Session charging time L │ 3793 │ s │ │
│ 5021 │ Session energy │ 2.09 │ kWh │ │
│ 5022 │ Session cost │ 0.27 │ currency │ │
│ 5023 │ Total energy H │ 4 │ kWh │ │
│ 5024 │ Total energy L │ 160.1 │ kWh │ │
│ 5025 │ CP voltage │ 4.31 │ V │ │
│ 5026 │ Charger position │ 0 │ │ 0 │
│ 5027 │ Device name │ EVCS │ │ │
│ 5049 │ Charger autostart │ 1 │ │ 1 │
│ 5050 │ Control via display │ 1 │ │ 1 │
│ 5051 │ Display active backlight │ 100 │ % │ 100 │
│ 5052 │ Display idle backlight │ 10 │ % │ 7 │
│ 5053 │ Display active timeout │ 120 │ s │ 120 │
│ 5054 │ Contactor active when charged │ 0 │ │ 0 │
│ 5055 │ Manual mode phase │ 0 │ │ 1 │
│ 5056 │ Auto mode phase │ 2 │ │ 1 │
│ 5057 │ Power for 3phase │ 3500 │ W │ 4800 │
│ 5058 │ Power for single phase │ 4200 │ W │ 4300 │
│ 5059 │ Phase switching timeout │ 60 │ s │ 60 │
│ 5060 │ CP Calibration command │ 0 │ │ │
│ 5061 │ CP Calibration status │ 0 │ │ │
│ 5062 │ Min current │ 6 │ A │ 6 │
│ 5063 │ Power calibration offset │ 100 │ │ 100 │
│ 5064 │ EVCS reset │ 0 │ │ │
│ 5065 │ Auto mode type │ 1 │ │ 1 │
│ 5066 │ Backup battery SOC for start charging in Battery powered │ 81 │ % │ 90 │
│ 5067 │ Backup battery min SOC to allow charging if OFF Grid │ 80 │ % │ 20 │
│ 5068 │ Backup battery emulation │ 1 │ │ 0 │
│ 5069 │ 'Feed in'. Start delay │ 30 │ s │ 30 │
│ 5070 │ 'Feed in'. Stop delay │ 60 │ s │ 60 │
│ 5071 │ 'Feed in'. Single phase. Grid power for start │ -500 │ W │ -500 │
│ 5072 │ 'Feed in'. Multi phase. Grid power for start │ -1400 │ W │ -1400 │
│ 5073 │ 'Feed in'. Grid power threshold for increase │ -250 │ W │ -250 │
│ 5074 │ 'Feed in'. Grid power threshold for decrease │ 250 │ W │ 250 │
│ 5075 │ 'Feed in'. Backup battery discharging power threshold │ -100 │ W │ -100 │
│ 5076 │ 'Feed in'. Current step │ 0.2 │ A │ 0.2 │
│ 5077 │ 'Feed in'. Time step │ 1000 │ ms │ 1000 │
│ 5078 │ 'Battery powered'. Start delay min │ 30 │ s │ 30 │
│ 5079 │ 'Battery powered'. Stop delay │ 60 │ s │ 60 │
│ 5080 │ 'Battery powered'. Start abort delay │ 10 │ s │ 10 │
│ 5081 │ 'Battery powered'. BKPB balance power │ 500 │ W │ 500 │
│ 5082 │ 'Battery powered'. BKPB balance SOC max │ 80 │ % │ 80 │
│ 5083 │ 'Battery powered'. Available sun power threshold for start │ 100 │ W │ 100 │
│ 5084 │ 'Battery powered'. Grid power threshold for start │ 25 │ W │ 25 │
│ 5085 │ 'Battery powered'. BKPB power threshold for decrease │ 400 │ W │ 400 │
│ 5086 │ 'Battery powered'. Grid power threshold for decrease │ 400 │ W │ 400 │
│ 5087 │ 'Battery powered'. Discharging detect timeout │ 7 │ s │ 7 │
│ 5088 │ 'Battery powered'. Next try timeout for increase │ 45 │ s │ 45 │
│ 5089 │ 'Battery powered'. Time step │ 15 │ s │ 15 │
│ 5090 │ 'Battery powered'. Current step │ 1.0 │ A │ 1.0 │
│ 5091 │ 'Battery powered'. Grid power for 'feed in' detection │ -1500 │ W │ -1500 │
│ 5092 │ 'Battery powered'. Start delay max │ 300 │ s │ 300 │
│ 5093 │ ON grid detection threshold │ 10 │ W │ 0 │
│ 5094 │ EVCS errors L │ 0 │ │ 0 │
│ 5095 │ EVCS errors H │ 0 │ │ 0 │
│ 5096 │ EVCS warnings L │ 0 │ │ 0 │
│ 5097 │ EVCS warnings H │ 0 │ │ 0 │
│ 5098 │ EVCS notification code │ 0 │ │ 0 │
│ 5099 │ External lock │ 0 │ │ 0 │
│ 5100 │ Multiple relay charging │ 1 │ │ 0 │
│ 5101 │ Multiple relay charging. Relays switching delay │ 10 │ s │ 10 │
│ 5102 │ Allow battery/grid power for auto mode │ 0 │ │ 0 │
│ 5103 │ Battery/grid power timeout │ 5 │ min │ 30 │
│ 5104 │ Overload protection │ 0 │ │ 0 │
│ 5105 │ Input current limit │ 15.0 │ A │ 13.5 │
│ 5106 │ Overload protection ON/OFF timeout │ 10 │ s │ 10 │
│ 5107 │ Overload protection cut-off timeout │ 5 │ s │ 5 │
│ 5108 │ Relays OFF delay │ 2000 │ ms │ 2000 │
│ 5109 │ Detected car phases │ 1 │ │ 1 │
│ 5110 │ Randomized delay max │ 600 │ │ 600 │
│ 5111 │ UP-time H │ 3 │ s │ │
│ 5112 │ UP-time L │ 31080 │ s │ │
│ 5113 │ Reboot counter │ 36 │ │ │
│ 5114 │ Last reboot reason code │ 1 │ │ │
│ 5115 │ Sys watchdog reboot counter │ 3 │ │ │
│ 5116 │ Sys watchdog last reboot reason code │ 2 │ │ │
│ 5117 │ Relays statuses │ 257 │ │ │
│ 5118 │ Overload current decrease timeout │ 5 │ min │ 5 │
│ 5119 │ Overload current decrease counter │ 1 │ │ 1 │
│ 5120 │ Overload current decrease rate │ 20 │ % │ 20 │
│ 5121 │ Onboard humidity │ 0.0 │ % │ │
│ 5122 │ Onboard temperature │ 0.0 │ °C │ │
│ 5123 │ Display temperature │ 0.0 │ °C │ │
│ 5124 │ Car connector temperature │ 0.0 │ °C │ │
│ 5125 │ Power meter temperature │ 0.0 │ °C │ │
│ 5126 │ Power control temperature │ 0.0 │ °C │ │
│ 5127 │ Power supply temperature │ 21.3 │ °C │ 0.0 │
│ 5128 │ Allow low excess solar power for auto mode │ 0 │ │ 0 │
│ 5129 │ Charging current limit external │ 0 │ │ 0 │
│ 5130 │ Inverter overtemperature protection │ 1 │ │ 1 │
│ 5131 │ Inverter overtemperature protection. Charging current restore timeout │ 60 │ s │ 60 │
│ 5132 │ Light ring brightness limit │ 100 │ % │ 100 │
│ 5133 │ CP auto-calibration state │ 1 │ │ 1 │
│ 5134 │ 'Battery powered'. Low excess power threshold │ 500 │ W │ 500 │
│ 5135 │ 'Battery powered'. Emulated BKPB power │ 0 │ W │ 0 │
│ 5136 │ 'Battery powered'. Emulated BKPB SoC │ 100 │ % │ 100 │
│ 5137 │ 'Battery powered'. 'feed in' detection │ 0 │ │ 0 │
│ 5138 │ 'Battery powered'. BKPB SoC max │ 99 │ % │ 99 │
│ 5139 │ Multiple relay charging. Conditions check delay │ 10 │ s │ 10 │
│ 5140 │ Online update feed │ 0 │ │ 0 │
└─────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────┴──────────┴─────────┘
In my case the solar yield is relatively fake, the EVCS should look at the grid, which I think it does, it ramps up and down faster than the solar yield. But it asks for a bit more than the sun can give, and thus grabs power from the grid.
Solar isn’t fake, my apologies if I wasn’t clear.
I have solar, I meant that the numbers are close to what is delivered, but not completely right.
The battery is emulated, as otherwise it wouldn’t work at all.
(I’ll probably get a battery later, for now I just want to charge the car for "free” from the sun)
It looks like I have a setting wrong, this is the graph from HA.
Top showing what the gridmeter sees, below what the panels claim to produce.
(it’s rather cloudy in NL now, that is why the yield is jumping so much)
As you can see, long before the 6A (1440W) yield is hit, the EVCS starts to push power to the car.
The strech before noon where the yield is about 2kW, and the grid gets about 500W, that is what I expected.
In short:
The EVCS starts too soon and gives about 500W too much, probably because I misconfigured it.
Once the solar yield ramps up, that issue disappears, maybe that is a clue what the issue is.
Thanks for the help!
Change is made, I’ll report back when the car is empty enough again for a new test.
According to the prediction, Wednesday should be a good solar day.
As you can see, it takes a while for the EVCS to not use the grid to supplement the solar input.
Is there a setting that can be changed to change that?
I guess the default is to try to stay as close to zero as possible, but as you can see, in my case it hovered above 0 for the first 2 hours, and then below it for the next 3 hours.
Charging ramped up nicely with the solar output, so that is fine.
It would be perfect if the setpoint could slide down a bit, so that there will also be a bit of feed in, instead of using the grid a bit.
My solars power is "free”, the grid isn’t.
As I said, it’s already pretty nice to be able to charge the car for very little money, but for zero would be even better.
I won’t be able to test soon, the car is full, and usually it’ll be a week before it is empy enough to warrant a charge.
There are multiple other parameters you can play with. You can even control them externally from Node-RED or something like that, and you can create dynamic responses.
Disabling the “Allow low excess solar power for auto mode:” seems to have done the trick for me. Now there’s the countdown in the UI when the PV yield drops unexpectedly (or some new load from the house joins the consumption):
With “Allow low excess solar power for auto mode” enabled, there’s never any timeout (or at least I haven’t seen any when testing). It looks like the “Battery/grid power timeout (min):” setting has no effect when “Allow low excess solar power for auto mode” is enabled, is that correct? If yes, it’s not clear from the documentation or the GUI.
It would be great if the EVCS algorithm had some sort of “explain” feature (or “debug” log), where advanced users could see the reasons for particular charging state and eventually adjust the parameters through the GUI settings or Modbus. Something like:
10:33:00 [mode=Auto] Charging stopped, reached the timeout of low-PV-yield set to 15m (config key: AAA) … 14:11:05 [mode=Auto] Waiting for SoC to reach 85% (config key: BBBB) … 15:00:04 [mode=Auto] Waiting for PV yield to reach at least 1500 W for 5 seconds to start charging (config keys: CCC, DDD)
… 15:00:04 [mode=Scheduled] Waiting for next schedule to start at 2:00 (Schedule #3 - 3p @ 16A)
EVCS works now for me as expected, thanks for your help @Lpopescu Looking forward to upcoming improvements to EVCS charging / DESS.
In Auto Mode my EVCS initially starts using “excess solar”. After about 5 minutes, the grid comes in and provides power for all loads and solar drops to nearly zero. This is happening with the batteries at 95% SOC. Sunny day with plenty of solar. Makes no sense.
In manual mode, excess solar is used for charging and grid does not come in.
Here are my settings for Cerbo-GX:
Maybe the simple work-around for Auto Mode not working properly, is to stay in Manual Mode and schedule charging for the usual time of day that I have excess solar.
Lucian, I’m hoping the link above will take you to the video on Youtube. If it doesn’t, let me know, and I’ll try another way. It appears that once I exceed about 10A charging, after a few minutes the grid will come in whether I’m in Auto or Manual Mode. (The video is completely in Auto Mode.) You’ll notice there is weird behavior even after I stop charging.
Thanks for your assistance.
Looking forward to upcoming improvements to EVCS charging / DESS.