What are your thoughts on using DVCC in a basic system with non Victron comms battery? In a simple installation with Cerbo, SmartShunt, Multiplus, MPPT is it worth using DVCC? Are there any reasons not too? The Smartshunt would be installed about 6 inches(15 cm) from the LFP in this case so should provide very reliable battery info.
I find the use cases in the dvcc chapter of the gx manual is very clear and applicable.
Coordinating devices is rarely unhelpful; else we wouldn’t have smart networks for the low end systems.
I use DVCC without BMS control.
It prevents the combined charge current from the multiplus/quattro and MPPTs from exceeding the maximum charge current I want for my batteries. No downsides.
That’s all great feedback. Curious what you think @OGPS since we do similar type of work.
I have a few systems using dvcc with non smart batteries. It is definitely useful.
As @ricardocello @lxonline and @nickdb said, it can be useful w/o using closed loop communication with batteries. However, in a small system I don’t know that it adds much value TBH. You would only be coordinating charging between the Multi and MPPT. That could be useful if you are using batteries w/ BMS’s you haven’t used much. If you had multiple MPPTs, dual inverters, etc. with open-loop comms then it would definitely be nice. I think @ricardocello 's example of limiting total charge current is the primary reason I can think of for using it.
In short, don’t think it can hurt and might be useful in certain circumstances. That said, I’m firmly in the camp of using closed-loop comms with quality batteries even in small RV situations, in which case I always use DVCC with these batteries.
My 2 cents
Thanks to you all. This is another issue that seemed obvious but I have received feedback from others, unfortunately one of them a distributor, that DVCC is buggy and unreliable. Again, I attribute this mostly to a lack of understanding and willingness to learn.
I think you hit the nail on the head with regard to laziness.
DVCC itself is not complicated, buggy, or unreliable. It’s 3rd party BMS’s that are almost always the issue. Most people seem to think brand of battery cells and capacity testing makes for a good battery. The reality is that most “budget” batteries on the market have crappy BMS’s. Even when they advertise “Victron comms”, most of them can communicate their SoC, current, voltage, etc. but do NOT have good cell balancers or know how to effectively control CVL and CCL when the batteries are full, but there are still DC loads that can be satisfied with MPPTs. But, if the batteries are on Victron’s 3rd part battery list, then you can at least be assured that the batteries behave properly along with DVCC.
That’s why we’ve settled on Pytes, Victron, and Epoch batteries. The Epoch Elite V2 are far from perfect, and it took them nearly a year to get the BMS to work properly with DVCC. But once you find a BMS that works well (such as Pytes) stick with it.
In the mobile space, for a brief moment in the USA the Victron NG batteries were competitively priced. But then the Orange Idiot’s Tariffs ruined that. ETTTD.
Thanks @OGPS . That’s great feedback. I have used the Epoch a bit but not utilizing the Victron comms. Any experience with SOK’s Victron Comms battery? I too was really hopeful that the Victron NG batteries would be more competitively priced. I am assuming you mean Garfield or Tigger when you refer to the “orange idiot”. We had better stop before we attract to much attention for “unrelated” conversation on the topic though.
My experience with SOK in the past was not good. Poor BMS’s, no support in the US, no real service in the US. That may have changed, but these cheap batteries are cheap for a reason. Individual users may accept poor support and quality for low prices, but as a distributor it’s a nightmare if you want to offer more than just selling cheap stuff. The Epoch Elite V1 was terrible. The initial release of the V2 was even worse. A year later, and very thorough testing of the BMS, balancing, and communications shows that it’s a good product for RV and inland or coastal marine. They don’t do well measuring low currents, however. Anything below about 0.4A doesn’t register. But most RVers and boaters can fully charge their batteries frequently enough to handle this. Some installers use SmartShunts instead to get more accurate readings, but at the cost of very innacurate readings when the battery heaters are running. Where I live, for winter camping, this is a bad idea. It’s better to use the internal BMS for reporting SoC and with DVCC. I have no recent experience with SOK and no reason to try. Like I said, once you have a solid arsenal, there’s no reason to accept every new Bubba who slaps their label on a generic battery.
With the Epoch Elite V2 and V2-T models, if you are running the latest BMS and EMS firmware you will be better off using their closed-loop communications in most instances.