In my setup, I have 2 MPPTs (75/15 and 100/30) and a 500A Smartshunt, connected to a Cerbo GX. I also have an Orion XS which I plan to connect to the Cerbo, but haven’t yet. It’s onboard my boat. While boating (engine running, altenator producing power) I noticed that the Orion XS went to OFF because my solar panels where Float charging the battery. At first I was confused, but soon realised that because there’s no connection, they can’t be in sync.
So I started to investigate more, and while doing this, I noticed that both MPPTs are also not in sync", because one was in float and one was in absorption. I then found out that they should be “Externally controlled” instead of showing their individual state…
Checked the DVCC settings on my Cerbo and it is turned on, SVS, SCS turne on, etctera…
So why are my MPPTs not externally controlled and what will happen if I do connect the Orion XS?
There are different setting based on your battery type, managed or unmanaged. You might be missing some settings. SVS & SCS don’t control charge current.
If you don’t have a managed lithium battery then the states will be different.
Charge is controlled by the inverter with a conventional “dumb” battery.
The DVCC manual is really good, it details how it works in different scenarios.
I do have a (simpeler) inverter from a different brand and (for now) a lead acid battery, but every search I did, mentioned that the CERBO should be taking over the different charger states once everything is connected. Especially when there is a Smartshunt (which is also configured as battery monitor).
But I see now that I should have read the manual about DVCC
With a simple lead-acid battery, there is only a limited functionality, it seems.
At least I found how I can limit the total current as I was a little bit concerned that combining 2 MPPTs and an Orion XS would result in a charge current that would be too high for my battery (I have 420Ah and want to limit the current to 40A).
With an unmanaged battery DVCC uses the inverter algorithm, but you do not have a victron inverter so it cannot even do that.
The GX will do little other than share information from the shunt when configured as the source for the shared sensors.
For DVCC to work properly, you need to have a Victron inverter. It would request charging current when needed. Alternatively, you can install a shunt upstream of the inverter and configure it as an Energy meter “DC-system”. The alternator is not taken into account either. It also needs to be connected via a shunt so that the MPPTs and the Orion can reduce their output. Why do you want to limit it to 40 A? With the correct voltage settings, the permitted current should not actually be exceeded. Which batteries do you have?
I have had good experiences with Ve.smart networking for synchronising the charge controllers. It works with the Orion as well. If the MPPTs are “Smartsolar”, I would do that too. SVS and SCS must then be switched off. However, if a BMS communicates with the Cerbo, that is not possible.
The alternator isn’t connected directly to the battery, it’s current is going “through” the Orion XS which is connected via the shunt, so the charging current from the Orion XS is visible as negative DC Load on the remote console (will that change once the Orion is connected to the Cerbo also?). My battery bank is 420Ah so I was taught that 10% of that is a safe charging current… I even have the Orion limited to 25A to not overheat my alternator.
That is safe when charging at a constant current for 10 hours. If charging up to a maximum of 14.4V, a limit is only required in very rare cases. I limited the current to 96A on a 24V/460Ah system, but only because the PV system is very powerful (10kWp) and a charging current of 104A occurred once.
I realise that I might be a bit conservative, but I recently fried my alternator when I tried to charge by batteries for an hour, which apparently drew way too many amps because the batteries where very empty. So now I am both very careful to not overcharge my batteries or fry my alternator (again)…
Do keep in mind that an Orion should not be connected directly to an alternator at all; it’s a battery-to-battery charger, not an alternator-to-battery charger. Alternator goes to a Pb start battery, Orion connects to that start battery on the input and your target battery bank on the output.
Failure to have a Pb battery on the input side as a buffer may well burn out your alternator again, if that is indeed how you have everything connected.
The alternator is connected directly to the starter battery and to the Orion, so electrically, the Orion is connected to the battery. That part is working fine.
I will start by getting a vd.direct-to-usb cable, so I can connect the Orion XS.
Then I will test with the Victron recommended settings for a while to see what happens amongst all 3 chargers, then I will try the ve.smart ‘hack’ you mentioned to see if there is any change in behaviour.
