Last year I installed a new Victron system using Pytes V5 batteries. The system consists of two Multiplus II 48/5000/70-95 inverters, an MPPT 450/200 controller, and a Cerbo GX MK2. I started with four V5 batteries, then added another two a few months later. Everything seemed to be working fine. Several months ago, I added two more V5 batteries to bring the total up to eight. At the same time, I updated the Pytes battery firmware to the 10.33 version using the BSMQt program. I then started to notice issues. The batteries would go into idle at 98 or 99% instead of 100% as in the past. Also, I noticed when fully charged the batteries would occasionally cycle between discharge and charge.
I contacted Pytes tech support and last week they sent me a new firmware version (10.38) that was supposed to overcome these issues. After installation, the batteries did go up to 100%, but were constantly cycling between charge and discharge. It was like the BMS was trying to balance out the cells, but could not. Thinking one of the new batteries could be defective, I disconnected them, but it did not change anything. To keep the batteries from constantly cycling between charge and discharge, I reinstalled to older firmware (10.33) and now the batteries are in idle at 99%, with an occasional charge-discharge cycle. All the firmware on the Victron devices are up to date.
Pytes tech support is looking into this, but so far has not come up with any explanation or solution. Nor has my installer. So, I thought I would post the problem here to see if anyone else has experienced this or might have a suggestion. Thank you very much for any help you can give.
I have 6 units on v33 and had a similar problem. The soc got also stuck at 99% and was cycling between charging/discharging. I did not charge each battery separately to 100% before connecting 4 units to the already installed units. Today I charged each of them separately to 100%. The problem seems to be gone.
Thanks for letting me know I’m not the only one. Pytes Tech Support told me today there’s an issue with the firmware not charging batteries added later to 100% and are working on a new version. Last time I checked, my newer batteries were at 98% and this brought the whole bank to 99%. Hopefully they will come out with a fix since there has to be more of us who added batteries and have this problem when they get up to 100% SOC.
I previously sent an email regarding this issue but have not yet received a response. I have tried contacting both eu@pytesgroup.com and service@pytesgroup.com without success.
Could you please assist me or point me in the right direction?
I am running a Victron installation with six Pytes V5A batteries. The system worked perfectly until I recently added three additional V5A batteries. Since adding the new batteries, the entire battery bank only charges to 98% and never reaches 100%.
To investigate the issue, I purchased the Pytes USB-to-RS232 cable and checked the firmware versions. I found that the original batteries are running firmware version 10.22.1C, while the three new batteries are running 10.29.1C.
As a troubleshooting step, I separated the batteries and charged the three older batteries to 100%, followed by the three newer batteries. Unfortunately, this did not resolve the issue.
I have a few questions:
Where can I find the latest firmware for the V5A batteries?
The European website appears to contain outdated firmware files, while the U.S. website only provides downloads for the V5 model and not the V5A.
I have read on the Victron Community forum that Pytes is developing updated firmware to address this issue.
Can you provide any information regarding the status of this firmware, its expected release date, and where it will be available?
Are there any additional troubleshooting steps or configuration changes you would recommend to resolve the charging limitation and allow the battery bank to reach 100% state of charge?
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Best regards
Jan Dohrmann
OGPS
(Ed @ Off-Grid Power Systems - offgridps.com)
7
Have you contacted the deal from which you purchased the Pytes batteries? They should be able to connect you with the latest firmware.
Just an update. I’m still waiting to hear from Pytes R&D on a solution. It’s been over a month since I first contacted them. Either it’s not an easy problem to fix or they’re not working very hard to find a solution. When I updated to the latest firmware, it just exacerbated the problems, so I went back to the previous version. Until they come up with a workable solution, anyone who wants to have their batteries SOC to 100% should think twice before adding new batteries to their V5 bank. If anything changes, I will let the group know.
V5 and V5a both use same firmwares. 10.29.1C is the latest 1C firmware version. If you want we can send you 10.29 firmware(please send an email to pytes aftersales support). In the meanwhile, we will ask R&D to release new 1C firmware version. Our R&D team is currently working on a new solution for battery not charging to 100%. Before the release, the new firmware must go through testing with inverter. Please be patient.
Your tech support and my dealer both sent me SPBMS 16SRPV1.10.38.bin as the latest firmware version less than a month ago to replace the 10.33 I previously downloaded from the Pytes website. As you can read in my original post, the 10.38 version did not work very well. This is not what you reference above as the current firmware. Is what I was sent specific to a Victron system? I just checked the Pytes Download section on your website and found there is no longer a current firmware file to download.
As Neal mentioned the firmware download option for the V5 has disappeared from the pytes download site, and I would like to obtain the latest stable firmware version until the new version is ready.
Could you please provide the correct Pytes aftersales support email address? I previously contacted both service@pytesgroup.com and eu@pytesgroup.com, but I have not yet received a response.
The Pytes email MX servers blocks some other (third-party) MX domains, in my case: @freenet.de . I have used my @t-online mail account to contact Pytes via email. Same problem with bbs of Pytes.
I have made a registration in the Pytes bbs [ https://bbs.pytesess.com ], then got there a contacted to AAmir and he connected me with a Pytes support engineer. He contacted me then via email, he made a look at my system and after this he sent me the current firmware. (I don’t want write here the personal email address of the support engineer, hope you understand this.)
To update everyone, I am very pleased to report Pytes Tech Support and R&D came through and sent me new bootloader and firmware files that seem to have solved the problem. It took awhile to update each battery individually, but once it went back live, all the batteries went up to 100% and the entire bank went into Idle. The frantic cycling between Charging and Discharging is stopped. I’ll give it a little more time before declaring victory, but I am optimistic this fix will work. Many thanks to Joseph and all the other people at Pytes who made this happen.
Thank you for the update. We are still monitoring the new firmware closely. Should any issues come up, please know that we are always here to support our customers.
I can also confirm that beta 10.39 stops the cycling issue and that both my new and older batteries now charge to 100% again. I would also like to thank Joseph and everyone else at Pytes who helped make this happen.