Humsienk Server Rack Batteries connecting with Canbus to cerbo gx mk2

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1

Hi All;

Very new to Victron. I have a Cerbo GX Mark 2 on order and I have some Humsienk Server Rack batteries. I want to use interconnect the batteries to the the Cerbo on the Canbus ports. I was told I need “VE.Can to CAN-bus BMS Type B cable”. I looked around and I found both the A cable and B cable do not work (if I use the Wattcycle batteries as a reference (they appear to be very similar). So I down load the batteries Manual and see that:

CAN H is PIN 4

CAN L is PIN 5

GND is PIN 7

This matches neither Cable A or B.
The Victron side is

CAN H is PIN 7

CAN L is PIN 8

GND is PIN 3

I am presuming that all I have to do is hack a cable together using some keystone jacks in some cases and match everything it should work. I will have a cable that is directional but should work. The protocol is Pylon. Or am I making the wrong presumption here?

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soffice.bin_cFUqaFqGae805×168 33.3 KB

2

Skip the ground and use can h and can l only

If you plug it together and the bit rate (250 or 500) is correct it should announce itself and appear on the device list if it follows the correct addresses for victron as to where it sends its information

Because it is mot on the official compatible list you left either contacting the battery manufacturers for more information and experiments.

3

Thank You. The bit rate is 500 according to the manual. So the procedure is

  1. Make the cable. Skip ground.

  2. Set the bit rate on the Cerbo to 500

  3. Set the protocol on Cerbo to PYLON

Cross your fingers and it should work. :thinking:

4

I have never had to set any protocol on the GX for the battery except the bit rate.

Thr battery announces itself if it talks.

5

Thanks again. This thread seems to be a similar BMS. I will read it through and go from there:

6

Yeah many manufacturers use pylontec base for thei bms. I guess we will have to wait and see how you get one with your experiements

The other option is to contact the battery manufacturer and ask them if it is possible and how.

7

I already have a conversation running with them too. They suspect a “Type B” cable. But won’t say for sure until I give them specific information about the batteries. This I find distressing because this implies that there are more than one BMS out in the wild. :face_exhaling:

8

If you look carefully the only difference between type a and b is the ground. So if you skip the ground you eliminate having to try 2 cables.
Assuming the bms uses the usual can position of 4&5 on the cable (some other brands use others)

9

I got a funny response from Humsienk:

Based on this BMS/communication version, this battery uses a standard RJ45 CAN communication connection and normally does NOT require the Victron Type B adapter cable.

In most cases, you can simply use:

* a normal 8-pin RJ45 Ethernet/network cable

 directly between:

* the battery CAN port

 and

* the Cerbo GX VE.Can port.

For Victron communication:

* protocol should normally be set to Pylontech compatibility mode,

* and communication should work through the standard CAN connection.

The manual shipped with the batteries states otherwise and is exactly the same as the one downloaded. I asked for further validation and an updated manual. :thinking:

10

So the “protocol” is probably 500kb/s, is it the only setting you change on the GX for Pylontecs

And in theory no special cable is needed just a straight one?

Technically nothing will blow up if you plug it together and see. It just it will either work or not.

11

Most likely Pylon Tech. 500 KBs is in the document. They say straight. But the docs supplied say otherwise. I have asked for clarification but they are shipping hardware with old documentation is not good. I will try straight through and see.

12

Mystery solved. The manual is correct. I had to hack a “type B” cable with no ground. Thank you for the help!