I’m a complete newbie when it comes to Victron equipment and could really use some guidance. I recently purchased two Victron LiFePO₄ 12.8V/100Ah Smart batteries. According to the manual, these batteries arrive at about 50% charge and need to be individually charged to 100% before being used together.
The manual mentions that you need a special charger for this initial charge, and I’m a bit confused about whether I can use the equipment I already have. I own a Victron Blue Smart charger and a Victron Smart BMS. My question is: can I use my Blue Smart charger along with the Smart BMS to safely bring each battery up to 100% for the first time? I just want to make sure I’m doing everything correctly and not damaging my new batteries.
Any advice or step-by-step guidance would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much in advance!
I’m trying to get my first Victron setup properly controlled by my Smart BMS, and I have a few remaining doubts:
System components:
2× Victron LiFePO₄ 12.8 V/100 Ah Smart batteries
Victron Smart BMS (smallBMS with pre-alarm)
Victron Blue Smart IP22 12 V/30 A charger
Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/30
Victron Phoenix Inverter 12/2000 Smart
Victron Orion-TR Smart 12/12-30 A DC-DC booster
Victron SmartShunt 500 A/50 mV
My questions:
Can I actually use the Blue Smart IP22 in a BMS-controlled setup, or does that charger lack any “remote off” input so the smallBMS can’t switch it off?
Are the other devices (MPPT, Inverter, DC-DC booster) fully compatible with the smallBMS and able to be shut down via its charge-disconnect / load-disconnect outputs?
Is one smallBMS enough to manage all of these chargers and loads, or do I need a different or additional BMS/BatteryProtect device?
Which cable do I need to connect the smallBMS to each component? I’ve already bought a 1.8 m VE.Direct cable for the solar MPPT—will that work, or do I need something else?
Thanks in advance for any guidance! I really just want to be 100 % sure I’ve got the right hardware and wiring before I power everything up.
Edit: A few answers earlier I said that I wanted to connect the batteries in series… that wasn’t right. I meant in parallel.
I have already bought all the components from an online dealer. He can’t or won’t answer my questions about installation. The community is my last hope.
Because you need to buy a Battery Protect for the IP22, I suggest that you buy a 100A Battery Protect and connect the output of all 3 chargers to this battery protect which is connected to the ATC port on the BMS. This then gives you a single control wire for all chargers.
The ATD terminal on the BMS is then connected to the remote H terminal of the inverter as per section 3.3.3 of the Small BMS manual. This is a single wire.
If you have 12V DC loads these will need another Battery Protect connected to the ATD terminal on the BMS, Section 3.3.5 of the Battery Protect manual shows you how to wire it to the ATD. You can have the inverter and the 12V DC loads on the ATD terminal.
This schematic found on the Victron site has a set up similar to the one I am proposing with a single cut off for all charging. However in this case a Cyrix relay is used rather than a Battery Protect.
Im not sure about the remote L connection from the inverter to the battery -
I ask ChatGPT and he said I need to cable I so. Also with the GND wiring from the BatteryProtect to the battery -
I thought about it again and realized that I have two batteries that should be connected in parallel, which I had forgotten in my scheme, so here is a new attempt:
There is major problems with your battery protect, look at the battery protect manual. The main terminals on the battery protect are for positive only, not negative. The only negative is the small 0.3A wire to.the gnd terminal.
The other mistake, the inverter remote L terminal must not be connected to negative.
The wire loops on the remote terminals of the battery protect and the inverter need removing.
Make all the negative connections to the bottom battery. You really ought to have a negative bus bar for these. You should also have 2 small bus bars for positive, one for the battery connection and one for the charger connections.
That looks good. Read all the manuals they should recommend fuse and cable sizes for each unit. You will have to work out for the combined cables. Have a look at the Victron book “wiring unlimited” for info on cable sizes, voltsge drop and fusing.
If the battery discharges too much and the BMS stops discharging by the ATD this will also isolate the chargers so the battery can not recharge.
The Battery Protect must have current flow in one direction only, you can not have charge and discharge through one battery protect. You must keep charge and discharge seperate.
