Fully Off-Grid EVCS is not stopping when SOC drops below minimum soc

Q&A and troubleshooting EVCS
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1

Since the upgrade to firmware v2.04 and v2.05 my Victron EV-Charging station is not stopping the charging as it used to do.

This system has been operating as expected since 2023, with the following behavior:

  • When I plug in the car, charging will start immediately if house SOC is above configured start-SOC.
    Otherwise it will wait, status will report ‘low soc’
  • Once house batteries are charged to above start-soc, car charging will start.
  • Car charging happens independent of actual amount of sun, using solar power, battery power or a combination.
  • If house SOC drops below the configured min-SOC, then it is paused. status will report ‘low soc’.
    And resumes charging the car when SOC has risen again. Which might be the next morning.

Since the firmware update to v2.04, the pausing of the charging session suddenly does not happen anymore. Charging will simply continue, completely draining the house battery.

It somehow seems that the EVCS does not regard the house as ‘off-grid’ anymore, and therefore is ignoring the ‘min-soc when off-grid’ configuration. What determines this off-grid status? Or is the ‘min-soc when off-grid’ now only applicable in Auto mode; that is not how it is documented.

Settings:

  • Charge mode: manual (as was advised in 2023 for full off-grid systems)
  • EV Charger autostart: Enabled
  • Start charging at backup battery SOC: 80
  • Stop charging at backup battery SOC, if off-grid: 75
  • Allow battery/grid power for auto mode: disabled (but should not be relevant to manual mode)
  • Allow low excess solar power for auto mode: disabled (but should not be relevant to manual mode)

System:

  • MPTT 250/100 x2, 10kw panels
  • Cerbo GX
  • Orion Jr2 BMS, 20kwh LiFePo batteries
  • Studer Xtender inverter (to be replaced with victron in a couple of years)
  • EVCS NS
2

for victron support: VRM Portal ID is c0619ab308d3

I’ve temporarily reverted the EVCS firmware back to v2.02 so that things work as I expect them to do again.

3

@Lpopescu

I too was about to report this same recent new issue after updating to the last 2 firmwares.

We have a grid tied setup, but experiencing the same.

We have our SOC set at 97% and usually charge in auto mode from excess solar during the afternoons.

When the SOC of our house battery dropped to 97%, the EVCS would stop charging the car, but now, it doesn’t stop and keeps discharging the house battery.