(Sorry for having to write so much – I was just trying to describe our problem in detail)
Hello everyone,
We are a group of volunteers running a non-profit shelter for homeless animals in Lithuania.
For the past couple of years, we’ve been using a Fronius Symo 10 kW inverter, which is connected to 30 panels of 330W each. This setup has been covering our immediate consumption, and the surplus energy has been exported to the grid. The ability to export is critical for us, as we rely on the “stored in the grid” electricity during the darker periods of the year to minimize the shelter’s electricity bills.
A few days ago, we finally gathered enough funds to purchase several Pylontech batteries and installed the remaining equipment, forming the following system:
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Victron MultiPlus II 5000/48
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Victron Cerbo GX
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CG EM24 Ethernet Energy Meter
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SmartSolar MPPT VE.Can 150/85 rev2
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3 x Pylontech US3000C
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Fronius Symo 10
The Victron SmartSolar MPPT is connected to 12 panels of 275W each (4 parallel strings of 3 panels to stay within the MPPT’s maximum voltage).
Dynamic ESS mode is enabled, and energy export to the grid is allowed.
Now, here’s our problem. After setting up this entire set of devices, the SmartSolar MPPT did not work as expected (perhaps our expectations were too high?) – it simply shows that it is being remotely controlled, with the indicator light on. Yes, the weather hasn’t been very sunny recently, but right next to it (in the same row), the 30 panels connected to Fronius Symo were still generating several kilowatts of power despite the cloudiness. Shouldn’t the SmartSolar MPPT be able to generate something as well? The voltage from the 12 panels is around 100-105 volts, and this situation is shown on the Victron Energy control panel:
However, the next day, without any changes to the settings on our part, the SmartSolar MPPT did eventually start contributing alongside the Fronius Symo, jointly charging the Pylontech batteries:
Once the batteries were fully charged, it added some additional power to the Fronius export (their combined generation was capped at our export limit). Yes, exporting unused solar generation after charging the batteries is highly desirable for us.
When the sun set low, generation stopped. Unfortunately, in the days that followed, we haven’t seen any further signs of solar generation from the SmartSolar MPPT. Right now, Fronius is producing around 7kW, while Victron MPPT remains at a steady 0…
Sometimes the SmartSolar shows a generation of 3-15 watts, but when the Fronius next to it is producing 2-5 kilowatts, it seems insignificant.
I carefully reviewed all the possible settings for ESS, DESS, and MultiPlus II, but I haven’t found anything that could explain the device’s behavior. One more thing I noticed is that the SmartSolar MPPT is the only device with a “VRM instance = 0” in the VRM portal. Is that normal, or could it be indicating a problem? I tried removing it in order to rediscover and configure it again, but it automatically reappears in the list of devices with “VRM instance = 0” once more:
We purchased the SmartSolar MPPT brand new via eBay (since all of our operations are funded by donations from volunteers, we have to be as economical as possible). I am confident in the high quality of Victron Energy products, so I hope the issue is related to some settings.
Please advise – what should we check? Of course, if necessary, I am happy to provide additional information about our system and the current settings of the devices. Thank you in advance for your help, it is very important to us in this situation!
