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.
I’ve got the SOK 314Ah “with Victron comms” - I didn’t note that it was missing from the DVCC compatibility list until after I’d built a custom battery box for it in my sailboat and tailored my component setup to be 100% DVCC compatible (MultiPlus 1200VA, Orion XS, SmartSollar MPPT, with CerboGX coordination). Still putting the finishing touches on the system, but all of my testing so far is coming up aces with the SOK BMS orchestrating all three charging sources in an intelligent manner, so far as I’ve been able to tell. I have solar priority set as well. Setup was certainly pretty straight forward at least, and it sure seems smarter than my previous components’ old lead acid temp\voltage-based behavior where my charging devices tended to step on each other.
I truly hope it continues to perform for you. Check back in after six months of continuous use where you don’t fully charge the batteries multiple times per week. SOC drift and poor battery balancers are usually the weakest link in this class of batteries.
SOK has reached out three different times in as many months trying to get us to sell their batteries. Each time it was a different representative who did not know that others had also reached out. Each time I said the same thing “send me two for testing and I will return them when I am done. Only after I have thoroughly tested them will I consider it.” In all three instances they told me the same thing. Something like “Our policy doesn’t allow for doing that.” I asked them to stopped bothering me, but their sister company Riuxu has now started. I simply don’t trust them, and I know several distributors who sold their early products won’t touch them again with a ten foot pole. To be clear, I’m not saying their recent products don’t perform well. I simply won’t pay for the opportunity to try them again.
Seems like a reasonable policy on both sides when you think about it 
I do wish the 314 model came inside a clear case like their 100Ah batteries - I like the idea of being able to see what’s going on inside without voiding my warranty or having Will Prowse hack it open on livestream.
I won’t argue whether their stance is reasonable or not. They acknowledged the past problems they had and even apologized for the inconvenience when I described the specific issues. But, their management didn’t want to send me test units to verify the issues are resolved. That’s totally fine, but we’ll never sell or recommend their batteries 
Meanwhile, Epoch, SFK, Lithionics, and Pytes all sent evaluation units and that’s why we sell them. Please report back in six months or so with your experience if you think of it. Have a nice weekend.
Will do! And you have a nice weekend too. Out of the box, my cells were balanced to within .013v, and have subsequently come down to .002v after a week under DVCC\BMS management. I notice Victron has enabled a cell imbalance alarm, but I’m not sure what the threshold is. FWIW, here’s out starting point after charge completed this morning:
