I currently have the following, installed in my 2023 Promaster van.
Multiplus II 24/3000/70
XS1400
Victron Battery Balancer
Orion TR 24/12-20
MPPT 150/70-TR (Solar is not installed on roof as of yet, but I am certain the same issue will arise when it charges to a certain point)
Shunt 500
Cerbo GX
Lynx 1000 distribution
2- Ecoworthy 12.8v 314ah LiFePO4 batteries wired in series
4/0 wire for mains. Grounded to the body of the van.
I have a 24v Air Conditioner, a 24v refrigerator, a 12v security system, a 12v led strip light, a 12v diesel heater, and a 12v rooftop fan. All work perfectly.
My main problem arises when the batteries get close to 100% charge. Once the system gets close to full charge, the balancer kicks on and does it’s thing. Shortly thereafter, the Cerbo GX sends a notification with an audible alarm, “Mid Point Voltage” from the shunt. I have lowered the main voltage via the Cerbo GX to 26.8v, thinking that if it is a cell peaking issue, this would resolve it and I would just never get to an actual 100% charge. However, the inverter just continues to charge to well over the new parameter I set. It’s as if it doesn’t care that I told it to stop charging once it gets to 26.8 volts. I have to physically monitor the batteries via their bluetooth connection and shut the inverter off. I monitor the cells and they are completely balanced. (Please continue to read about the batteries below)
The XS1400 works initially, but will turn itself off shortly thereafter. The Cerbo GX shows it is still turned on, but the XS1400 sometimes goes from bulk into absorption, and/ or simply will not show any input to my batteries whatsoever. (I have a 60 amp breaker at the factory battery, 4 gauge wire is going to the XS1400, and it is feeding straight into the Lynx 1000 distribution block. It is grounded at the Lynx as well.) I have adjusted parameters in every way and it just will not stay turned on. A few times, it shows that it is off via engine shutdown, however, the engine is running and the settings are “correct”. I do not have a smart alternator. Also, the only way to get “alternator” to show up on the Cerbo GX is to have the setting that says, “Alternator charging the main battery”, but my tech support says I am wrong with this setting. They say it should be set to, “Charging another battery from the main battery” which totally makes sense via the verbiage. When this is chosen, the Cerbo GX shows that the DC load is charging. They basically told me to deal with it. That this is just how it works. (Google AI has told me to ground my system at the factory grounding point, for the factory battery. This makes no sense to me as the Promaster’s factory ground is on the same sheet metal as where I have it grounded. It claims this is why the XS1400 is turning off)
When I received the Ecoworthy batteries (Battery 1 and Battery 2) I questioned the fact that one of them said it had a capacity of 296.25ah and the other was at the advertised 314ah. (Monitoring via their bluetooth app) I initially thought the charging issues were due to this imbalance. They sent me a replacement battery (Battery new). I have mixed and matched all 3 batteries just to try and narrow down the issue. Each time charging the batteries singly, out of the system, with a lithium charger. I then parallel them to equalize voltage over a 24 hour period, put them back in series and install them in my system. I have done this process multiple times. Battery 1 seems to always spike in a cell way over the others when they get close to full, so I am currently using Battery new (314ah) and Battery 2 (296.25ah), but still having the same exact issue. As soon as a cell starts to run up, the system triggers the “Mid Point Voltage” alarm.
Anybody got any suggestions? Have i purchased the wrong setup? My tech support hasn’t been the best at all. Not at all. (At one point they wouldn’t help me because, “You only bought the shunt from us.” I had to prove that I bought the entire system from them. They still acted as if they didn’t want to assist and offered to send me a new shunt. I proved the shunt wasn’t the problem by using Google AI. It found that I created a ground loop by grounding the battery bank before the shunt. So I have been trying to use Google AI to troubleshoot ever since.) I’m months into this and ready to light the thing on fire and drive it into a lake. LOL.
Don’t use AI for technical issues. It will confidently steer you wrong most of the time.
You don’t say how your system is configured. Are you using the XS1400 to charge 24V from the alternator? Are you using the chassis battery for your 12V, separate battery, or a 12V tap from your 24V?
I agree about ai. It has been walking me in circles as of now.
The factory van battery is not running anything at all in my system. It is all completely stock. I tapped into the positive of this battery and it runs directly to the xs1400. (Sales and tech support have told me the xs1400 automatically changes from 12 to 24 volts and that it is installed correctly.) The orion tr 24/12 is handling the step down and is powering the 12 volt items. It gets it’s power from the 24v bank via the lynx 1000 distribution block.
Yes the XS1400 will, but it’s good to check. “Alternator charging the main battery” is what you want, that’s what you’re doing, right?
Check the input voltage lockout values to allow charge only when the engine is running, the enable input can be an ignition signal as a backup. I have mine set a bit high so the chassis batteries pretty much recover from crank before it enables. (diesel coach)
Adjust the XS battery settings so if it runs away from the Cerbo it doesn’t hurt anything. The Multiplus & mppt has charger settings too. Set those to limit charge if anything gets away from the Cerbo, it’s good to have backup. Enable DVCC and set your shunt as BMS in the Cerbo, unless your batteries are communicating?
Is your shunt reading proper current & voltage? It sounds like what you have should work once it’s set up properly. Get the manuals for everything you have. Step back and read them over carefully. Victron manuals don’t highlight items that are likely to cause you problem, but the data is there. It’s up to you as a system designer to know how to use the data in Your system.
What battery voltage are you trying to charge to? It’s very common for Lithium cells to diverge at top of charge. I use 3.45V cell, they play nicer around there.
Yes, “alternator charging main battery” has been checked and that made the most sense to me. Still no clue why the tech was so sure I was wrong.
I understand what you are saying about the xs1400, and will dive deeper into it, but I think I just don’t understand how to set up the shunt.
I started this morning with all 8 cells at 3.33. I moved the shunt and multiplus to 27.6 after you advised you are at 3.45 per cell. I watched the voltages on both batteries and the same exact problem occurs no matter what. Battery new and battery 2 are climbing consistently, but then, all of a sudden, battery new climbs very rapidly. The multiplus slowed down as it got quieter and went into absorption, but the cells on the top battery kept climbing. Top section voltage was at 14.69v, bottom section voltage got to 13.70v and the alarm went off. I silenced it and it immediately went off again. I turned the multiplus off and no more alarm. Why doesn’t it stop charging when it gets to the max voltage I set it to?
In my experience, it won’t matter if I lower the voltage down to 26.8v. The same scenario keeps happening. One battery just spikes and it causes the shunt to tell the cerbo to sound the alarm. No matter where I set the max voltage.
14.69v / 4 cells is 3.67v, the internal BMS opened up the charge path.
Shunt need to be set to Battery Monitor in the Misc.monitor mode setting. The main battery (bottom 12V battery) negative should be the only cable on one end of the shunt, the other end goes to the loads negative (in your case chassis).
Cerbo settings.system setup.batteries & charge control. Your shunt should be battery monitor and controlling BMS. I have a communicating battery, my menu items might be different than yours.
I just spoke to a tech that advised i need a cable to adjust the internal regulation in the multiplus. He said to lower the max charging voltage to 26 and see what happens for a bit. Then slowly raise the voltage up to get closer to 27.6 over the next few days/ week. Said he has had the same issue before and this was the only fix as the batteries spike when they get close to being full.
The xs1400 simply had the wrong parameters set for the van’s alternator. Seems to be working properly.
Ordered the cable. Fingers crossed this works.
Thanks for your responses. I really appreciate it.
You can use VRM and VEConfigure without any additional cables. See Remote VEConfigure
You should set the charger limits for protection. I think DVCC handles the charge based on information from the shunt (set as a BMS). I don’t have any experience with non-communicating batteries, but that’s how my system works.