I have three Victron SmartSolar MPPT controllers wired to three separate solar arrays, and am a touch confused about the networking status. All three MPPT devices are connected to the same VE.Smart network (bluetooth). All three MPPT devices are connected to CerboGX via VE.Direct. When querying VRM, in the ‘networked operation’ menu, all three chargers state ‘Yes’ to networked. Two of the chargers (100/50 and 100/30) show a network status as ‘Standalone’, with mode setting of ‘External Control’. My largest charger, 150/70 shows a network status as ‘Slave’ with mode setting of ‘External Control’. I do not have a BMS, and all chargers appropriately report ‘No’ for ‘BMS Controlled’.
My intention is to have all three chargers follow the same voltage/current restrictions set by CerboGX DVCC, but I’m not understanding why two of the chargers are in ‘Standalone’ network status. Seems to me that one of the chargers should be “Master”, and the two others “Slave”. Any guidance is much appreciated as always!
Is there a BMV-712 or SmartShunt installed? It would be necessary for the DVCC shared voltage, current, and temperature sense to be enabled.
Ve.Smart networking communicates via Bluetooth and doesn’t use DVCC. It does require a BMV-712 or SmartShunt to provide remote voltage, current and temperature sense.
Since all devices are connected to the Cerbo via Ve.direct or Ve.direct / USB cables, using Ve.direct is preferred, Ve.Smart should be disabled.
@RaySun I do have a BMV-712, which CerboGX is using to enforce voltage/current sense through DVCC. All three MPPTs are connected to CerboGX via VE.direct/USB interface.
Based on what both of you are suggesting, I plan to disable Ve.smart networking and use only VE.Direct. Sounds as though in my system, there may be confusion between the two systems enabled simultaneously.
As a further add on if both are enabled then there can be some weird behaviours.
If you have a GX then it is already networked, remove the Bluetooth one to avoid unnecessary complications. It is designed for systems without a GX.