charging

I have a 230V Quattro running on a 200Ah 24V lithium (Battleborn) battery. I also have a 110V Multiplus on the same battery. Both appear to be functioning fine, but I'm only running the Multi in Inverter mode and only charging with the 230v Quatro. Is there going to be a conflict if I turn both charger functions on? Or will I damage the inverter/chargers?

I am looking at implementing an 'intelligent' energy harvesting system using a recently installed system that has PV array and a Pylontech battery bank and the above plus a mppt 150/70, that is to use a certain/calculated amount of stored energy in the evenings, and then restore that with PV sourced electricity via the mppt 150/70 the next day. I have made a seperate contoller to do this, that can monitor the SOC from the Pylontech bank via CAN Bus messages, so that once the SOC quota is used it will go back to AC power. I will activate the Inverter by an external transfer switch to disable the AC in and that will get the Inverter on line.

What I don't want the Inverter / Charger to do is use the main supply to charge the batteries automatically when it comes on again, that will be done by the PV the next day, I know one can switch off "Enable Charger" in the VE Configure but I want to be able to do this via a control signal or software command to the Venus or the Quattro everyday and can't seem to find any way of doing that so far.

I would appreciate any information in this regard.

One way of doing this is to switch OFF the Inverter by the remote control which is easily done but then there would be gaps in the data on the VRM portal since the Quattro monitors the main feed in terms of power supply.

Thanks in advance.

If I connect a VE. Bus BMS (connected to Victron Smart LiFePO4) and a Skylla IP44 to a Venus GX, will the BMS be able to control (disconnect/connect) the charger without additional devices (remote disconnect)? Or, must I use the BMS charge disconnect output?

I am in the final stages of designing a battery backup system with the Multiplus II. The main purpose of the Multiplus II would be to have a backup power source for when the grid goes down. The Multiplus II would be fed from the grid to ensure the batteries remain fully charged. This would be the first stage of the install and gives me a very good indication of the power draw throughout the day for my critical loads.

The second part of the install would be to connect a PV system (MPPT) that would keep the batteries charged throughout the day. I would then allow a certain % discharge going into the evening. The PV array will be sized based on the power draw of the critical loads and the solar yield on an overcast day on the shortest day of the year (New Zealand - relatively high sunlight levels). On sunny days there will always be excess power available and I would like to dump the excess power into a hot water cylinder. I am looking at including the fronius Ohmpilot that would be connected to the AC-out (non critical load) of the Multiplus II. This way there will only be limited amount of power going back into the grid. I will only be installing the fronius smart meter and leaving out the Victron smart meter upstream of all the electrical loads as the fronius smart meter would be the only meter that needs to determine if the load is dumped into the hot water cylinder or if it is being exported back into the grid. I assume this is correct? Below is an overview of how I would like the final system to look:

[image]

I look forward to comments and feedback on the above.

I just bought Gel battery 130 Ah - BAT412121084. In the datasheet it looks like this is the C20 (in German K20) value. My charger requires the C100 (K100) value to be entered. I've read on some places that I can get it by multiplying 130x1.125=146.25 Ah. Is that correct or I can find more accurate source of this value ?

This system is in an RV (caravan). Victron Energy equipment includes SmartSolar MPPT 100/50, MPPT Control, BMV-712, VictronConnect App. Batteries at 100% SOC, 1.81A load, 600W solar array. It seems the controller has difficulty providing only the 1.8 amps drawn by the load steady state when the batteries are floated and not drawing any current. In this case, the solar controller stops supplying current, the battery drives the load, and then the solar controller pulses a bunch of current back into the battery to replace the charge used. Then stops, letting the battery continue to drive the load. This happens every few seconds. Charge current is steady when batteries are less than 100%. Here is a link to a video showing this MPPT 100/50 behavior

Phoenix multiplus compact 12v 2000. When plugged into shoreline the charger just keeps running, even tho batteries are completely full. Am I missing something? I thought it should cut off once the batteries reach a certain voltage. Its the model without charge lights, eg absorption float etc. I just want to set it so that I can leave it plugged in so the ac comes through, and when the batteries are full the charge stops. Is this possible or do I need to just unplug it? Sorry if this is a daft question! Many thanks

Hello, i bought 6 12V/160Ah LiFePO4. Because of delay with the project, they are still waitig to be connected an installed. They are down to 12,65V and I want to charge them with my Blue Smart 12/5 charger... Since the BMS is not installed yet, is there anything to worry about? Or can I just fully charge them since they ar self balancing?

Thanks for your advice.

Hello guys,

I have installed a 150/35 MPPT Smart Solar charger in my van and it is driving me crazy with the noise it produces. Once I disconnect the solar panels, the noise is gone.

[image]

Is this normal, something I have to live with or is there anything that can be done?

Thank you

Hi

I have a pair of Leoch 130 AGM batteries

I would like to set the correct settings in the Smart MPPT solar control 150/45 to match the datasheet for the batteries.

But I don't quite understand how to set this up correctly with the Victron Connect app settings.

The datasheet has

Cycle Use - Initial Charging Current less than 27.0A.Voltage 14.4V~15.0V at 25 C(77 F) Temp. Coefficient -30mV/0C
Standby Use - No limit on Initial Charging Current. Voltage 13.5V~13.8V at 25 C(77 F)Temp. Coefficient -20mV/ C

My guess is the Cycle usage is Absorb and the standby use is float? They seem to have different temp coefficient and there seems to be only 1 option on the controller.

So whats boost?

It also has ~15V so assuming they will accept up to that and that can be my max absorb setting?

I've only just installed it but don't want to set anything up that will dmg the batteries.

I have 650W (2 x 325W in series) so it will get up to the 45Amp charger current if the batteries are needing it and the sun is out midday im expecting,

The spec sheet: https://www.alpha-batteries.co.uk/media/catalog/product/l/a/lagm-130.pdf

charge mode

A: With switch regulator (two-step controller) charge on curve max.charge voltage for max.2 hrs/day then switch over to continous charge

B: Standard charge without switching

C: Boost charge (Equalizing charge with external generator) charge on curve continous charge for max. 5 hrs/month, then switch over to curve Standard charge

But I haven't got a clue what that means. Or how to interpret it into how the settings are presented in The VictronConnect app for the mppt controller.

The sheet doesn't have any thing i can see about Equalisation either and no idea if its safe to do that on these.

I have them in parallel so running at 12v.

Is equalisation like reconditioning? to try and de-sulphur the plates?

Does the above "A" mean i set the max absorption time to 2h?

Thanks in Adv if you are able to provide any understanding that i clearly lack about charging batteries.

Regards

Mark

Currently my Quattro (and multi) only allows a minimum of one hour of absorption time on initial charge (even though it allows .25 hours on repeated absorption).

My (and arguably most) lithium batteries require very little absorption time. So forcing them into a 1 hour absorption is both unnecessary and potentially causes extra wear on lithium batteries.

I would like to see the base absorption time settable to, at the very least, the same levels as with repeated absorption, or to even smaller window sizes.

Ideally I'd put my batteries in 10 minutes of absorption.

Hi i basically want a DC 12v ups, for a sercurity system.

they do exist but thus far seem rare and expensive,

So I had the idea of using a battery Blue power ip67 charger to power the cameras/ led/ alarm system, while also charging a battery.

The charger is a 7 Amp, the systems draws between 1-5 amps, usually less then 2 amps.

Will the battery get properly charged and maintained, or will the fluctuating load mess up the charger's charging capability resulting in poor battery life span?

I think if the charger used volts to determine its status it would be ok but if it uses current than not so.

I plan to use one or two 7AH sealed lead acid battery, would it make any difference if i used lithium?

On my EasySolar, I'm missing the State of charge indicator since I did a firmware update. Currently using firmware 2.23 20190218173409.

The state of charge displayed correctly before the firmware update.

Any tips is much appreciated. New user, so I might have missed something really simple.

Occasionally, for various reasons, I find it preferable to force a Multiplus from Float back into Bulk.

I understand that it will do this automatically when configured for "Lithium Battery" at a delta of {0.2V, 0.4V, 0.8V} below the configured float voltage for the {12V, 24V, 48V} charger.

But, if I wanted to force it to bulk anyway, regardless of the voltage, without resetting it and losing the pass-through/inverted output, is this possible? Has anyone come up with a trick to convince it to switch back?

I am aware of the special "forced absorption" toggle switch operation. I am looking for essentially the same thing, but for "forced bulk."

Appreciate any help. I just picked up a victron 100/50. I have it paired with a 654W panel setup and via a switch a 10W panel is connected. I have it this way as my travel trailer sits under a large cover and the main panels do not get sun. The 10W panel is out in the sun to maintain the batteries (two 6v GC batteries).

I noticed that during charging with the 10W panel, voltage rises and falls every 30 seconds.

- Peak voltage and current I see is around 19.5v / 500mA ish

- Voltage and current then fall to 14.5v ish / 0mA

This rise and fall happens every 30 seconds or so which ends up looking like an exact waveform on the android app. And I see the wattage reading rise and fall exactly as with the graph.

Is this normal or is there an issue?

[image]

Hi All,

The literature says a 12.8V 300aH LFP smart can take up to 600A but the recommened charge current is less than or equal to 150A. If I were to use a 12KV generator to charge would it be unsafe to regularly charge above the 150A recommened?

Thanks

Just installed a new 100/30 charge controller. The blue light slow flashes. I have 4:100w mono panels wired in parallel. The solar panels unhooked to the controller show 20v but when connected to the controller, the panel voltage drops to 12.9v and 0A reported on the VictronConnect app.

Greetings to all.

I have on board a Victron Centaur 24v/80A charger charging a bank of 2x2 12V/225Ah lead acid batteries. Recently the batteries started to heat and loose water, when I went to diagnose I found out that the charger is outputting 29.8V regardless of dip switch setting. I found that there is a potentiometer inside and tried adjusting that but I could only reduce the voltage to 29.6V with strange pulsing noise from internal SMPS like it is running on minimum pulsing. I cannot leave the charger like this,it will destroy the batteries. Did someone encounter a similar problem? Is there a solution or should I just buy another charger? This one is about 4yrs old so if its gone already I think I will consider another brand. The one I replaced lasted over 12 yrs. Oh,I tried replacing the batteries with another bank new batteries but the charger is still outputting 29.6V.

If I connect from mains power to charging socket with a 10a lead it trips mains power after about 5mins charging.

If i use my 15a lead it trips mains in a split second.

Any ideas?

i have switched to your 75/15 controller. my previous blue sky, while good, has a charging algorithm that turns off the controller below 11.9 volts. therefore after long periods of low light my refrigerator draws the bank below 11.9, then the controller would not recharge or restart in the morning allowing the bank to completely discharge. Will your controller charge at bank voltages lower than 11.9? It is supposed to have a "programmable algorithm". However, I can change the load voltage but i can't find instruction on how to change the algorithm? Are they one in the same?

I have an IP22 12/15 (3) with which I was hoping to separately charge and monitor 2 separate batteries via the multiple outputs.

When you connect batteries to the separate outputs, is the charger capable of detecting the state of charge of these batteries independently, and therefore potentially charge them differently, or does it just apply the same charge to both ? The batteries could of course be in completely different conditions and states of charge, so could be at different points in their charge cycles. It seems pointless having multiple outputs if not, but I cannot find this information in the manuals or elsewhere.

I am changing the battery settings in the VictronConnect app for my Smartsolar 150\35 controllers and was wondering how you change\verify what the bulk charge voltage is? I only see settings for Absorbtion, Float and Equalization voltage in my app.

These are the settings I was told to use for my GC2 6 Vilt batteries

Bulk - 14.46v

Absorbtion - 15.3v

Float - 13.4v

Equalization - 15.6v

Thanks

Hi , I'm building a battery box which will be removed from the vehicle, and charged off solar, when camping. I'm fitting a MPPT 75/15 solar controller to the battery box to control solar charging and loads while camping, and will be hard-wiring the controller to the battery.

When in the vehicle, the battery will charge off the alternator via a uni-directional voltage sensing relay.

Question: Do I need to isolate the solar controller from the battery while it is being charged off the alternator, or is it OK to just leave it connected to the battery in parallel? (No loads will be connected to the controller while it is in the vehicle).

If I have to disconnect it, would normally-closed 30A horn relay in the + line between the battery and the regulator do the trick? The trigger current for switching the relay (to break the battery-controller + connection) would come form the battery box connection point to the alternator circuit. I could also do this with a manual switch, but would prefer to automate it. One less thing to forget.

Thanks a lot!

Danie

Aloha. I have a system comprised of (2) MPPT 75/15 controllers in parallel to a 24V bank with a BMV. Each charge controller is fed by (3) 100 watt 20V panels. This system powers dual electric boat trolling motors which are wired directly to the batteries and not to the Load Outputs of the controllers.

My question is, when should the charge controllers switch to Bulk mode? Do they have to see a specific load or a load for an amount of time before switching?

I thought they would switch from Float to Bulk if the voltage of the bank fell below the set threshold, but during mid day sun while both chargers are in Float mode with fully charged batteries, if I turn the motors on and draw a load the chargers do not switch to Bulk to offset the amperage draw which causes the voltage of the bank to drop. I can see this on the BMV. I would have thought a load causing voltage drop below set float value would have caused the controllers to switch to Bulk?

I have tried networking and resetting all devices and double checked all settings.

Thanks!

Hello,

We are working on a project to charge/discharge a battery by using a PLC. We have seen that the Venus GX supports Modbus tcp/ip but it is not clear to us whether it is possible to control the controller via this protocol. Here we think of for example:

- Charging the battery

- Discharging the battery

- Charging speed of the battery

- Battery Discharge Rate

So we want to get the intelligence out of the controller and control it from the PLC. Is this possible?

Thanks in advance for your efforts!

Hey all, I want to protect 4 CALB 3.2v 180ah lithium batteries in series, as well as charge them from my vehicle charging system. which is a Ford van with a 115 amp alternator.

It looks like the smart battery protect 12/24-100A might be good for the LVD, what about over-voltage protection?

Are any of the Cyrix-CT or Cyrix-LI suitable for charging from the vehicle charging system?

Pretty soon, I'll be adding a solar panel and controller, just not there yet.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thank you.

Currently the rate limiter is limited to no less than 13A on my Quattro, which was made available only after an update, lowering that from a much higher limit.

Are these limits physical/electrical or are they software/firmware?

I'd like to see the rate limiter set to something similar to my multi (which allows 7.5A) or even lower.

Sometimes we have available some sketchy power, that is able to reliably provide at most maybe 5-7 Amps. While not great, it's better than zero :) And it's 24/7.

Ideally, I'd like to push this thought further and see if there can be a mode the Quattro or Multi can be placed into, which leaves it still inverting all the time, but also allowing it to continually trickle charge from a power input.

I realize this is might not be possible, since you're probably using the same transformer to move power in/out, depending on shore power available.

But I figured I'd ask in case it trips off some "creative engineering" bells within the Victron mothership :)

While on shorepower, my motorhome’s 12V parallel AGM batteries (400A total) are being charged concurrently by a XANTREX Freedom SW 3012 inverter/charger and 990w parallel solar panels via BlueSolar MPPT 150/100. The SOC (for solar only) is managed through a Venus GX & BMV-712. The inverter/charger typically remains in a float condition throughout the day while plugged in to external power, maintaining the batteries at 100% SOC. There may be a few intermittent loads on the batteries throughout the day because the inverter/charger has a load mgmt system that supplements any insufficient power from shore (or generator) such as heavy start-up loads; however, the SOC typically remains at 100%. Upon daylight, the MPPT automatically enters absorption then float modes. I am not sure if both systems will recognize the other and adjust their float settings accordingly, possibly reducing battery life, and I am concerned that the batteries may be overcharged or damaged by keeping the inverter/charger and MPPT powered concurrently.
Question: To extend battery life, should I disable the MPPT while on shorepower; or should I disable the inverter/charger’s float function so that the batteries are not being charged concurrently from 2 separate sources? Or should I even be concerned about a system with 2 concurrent charging arrangements?

I have a centuar 12 VDC / 40A charger with a house battery bank of 300 Ah. When I start my generator the charger goes to approximately 50A and will continue to charge for approximately 30 - 60 minutes. The current at that time is approximately 35 A and than the charger switches to float prematurely in my mind. Batteries are not fully charged. I have checked and the charger did not seem too hot and the fans were still running. Is this the expected behavior? Thanks Rob.