"Faulty" Victron MPPT cause major freak-out and chaos. And it smells funny 👃...
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- All Victron charge controller stopped charging at the same time! A major freak out of the system resulting in 0A going into the battery. Of course, this happens when you're not at home. Thanks to the Victron VRM, I could get access to the controllers and found that they all show -1°C which caused them to stop charging.
Back in the garage, I could do some troubleshooting and fault finding. I could get 3 out of 4 controllers working again but the main MPPT did not want to play the game and refused to start charging. And it has this funny smell...
A big thanks to the Victron Team for replying so quickly and helping me out here (even on a Sunday).
Someone else had a similar issue with one of the Victron Solar Charge Controllers and a negative temperature glitch:
community.vict...
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We are neighbors! Hi Andy. I live not so far from you in Karalee. Just wanted to say thanks for, not just the great technical information but the great entertainment as well. I am just a dabbler in solar a t present but I certainly enjoy your videos immensely. Thank you
Thanks a lot for saying hi and yeah, that's just 30min away from my place...
Thanks for all the amazing info. Keep making videos for all instead of answering emails for one. Most of us appreciate that choice! 👍
And me too, hahaha. Thanks Dave!
Very interesting. We haven’t set our Victron system up yet, but this is quality information to add to our quiver…and the more the better. Thanks.
It’s also good to know there is a solid support network behind the products.
The support is outstanding and products and service are great. Never had a better combination of both.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Sadly I've had a different experience: I got Victron components for my RV specifically because of their retailer network. My expectation was not that nothing could go wrong because I got a Victron system. My expectation was that _if_ something went wrong, I could get help pretty much anywhere. Three months later my charge controller (MPPT 150/45) failed hinting at a faulty current sensor. I reconnected everything multiple times, sometimes it would start again, sometimes it wouldn't. After a couple of weeks it consistently failed. At the time I was the south of Spain and checked the website to find a dealer near me. Should be quicker/easier than getting support from online support, I hoped. I drove hundreds (!) of kilometers from one listed Victron dealer, installer, RV specialist... to the next, none could help me, some were just selling an MPPT or two, but didn't know anything about the products they were selling. Some claimed they had never heard of Victron - despite being listed; I checked multiple times. So I contacted Victron and all they told me was to get in contact with the original seller. He obviously also couldn't do much but go through the basics and then tell me to return the unit. So to me the highly praised network of retailers and installers was worth sh*t.
Instead of waiting for the whole "there and back again game" with a return shipment I just got a Renogy unit for a third of the price wich was delivered two days later and works without issue. Who wants to wait around for two weeks, pay for shipping etc. during a planned three week road trip? I have to say, I was and still am very disappointed.
Even with you it's your second charge controller already. Those aren't great stats for "premium products" in such a short timespan in my humble opinion.
It's frustrating to think that I could have gotten _two_ Renogy MPPTs (one "live" plus a backup) and still have saved cash money and nerves.
@@jakobtheiner6329 Thanks for sharing Jakob. That's certainly not good. I'm not sure how their dealer model works and if they are all networked together. So, buying a device from dealer A but returning it at dealer B.
And in such a situation you were in, that's really bad. They should have helped no matter what and advised you where to go to get help.
That exact thing happened to me this past weekend in the middle of a sunny day. When I looked at my VE Network, it showed the controller was getting Voltage and Temperature data from the VE Network. I removed the controller from the network and the negative temperature reading was no longer present. It also started charging right away and kept charging after I added it back to my VE Network. I do have a Multiplus II that has a temperature sensor, but I'm in southern California so the temperature was no where near freezing like it was reading. Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
Thanks for the information, Mark. Victron is reading here as well and picked up all our comments. Do you have a smart shunt as well?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Yes, I do also have a smart shunt but don't have a temperature sensor connected to that.
I do love the smell of victron in the morning
😊
Hahaha, it's great, right? When I open the garage first thing in the morning... ahhhh, that smell so full of energy 😂😂
ALSO! I am seriously jealous of how clean your cable set-up is, BUT...... it does make it very difficult to switch pieces around to figure out potential issues. Like the current issue for example.
Thank you. This is not a cabling issue. It's very easy to take the controller off the wall and temporarily connect it to a 12V battery for example. There should be no need to open any of the cable ducts unless I upgrade are extend the system.
Thanks for these videos! Love the content...I have learned a lot from this channel!
Thanks a lot for your feedback. More to come...
Why can't any company make anything that is bullet proof reliable anymore. I don't own any of the Victron pieces like your setup, but I know that Victron isn't cheap. BTW..... this is the 2nd time in about a year roughly that you have had an issue with those particular charge controllers. I've been using a Midnight Solar classic 250 unit for about 7 years and it has been flawless. Mind you though, it's not hooked up to wifi or the net at all. It's just been a stand alone, truly off grid charge controller.
Victron is pretty good. Much better than other companies out there. They are pricy but also provide a lot for that money.
How often does your Midnight solar gets software updates, new features, performance upgrades? At the end it's good that we have the choice. I like the OTA updates and VRM they provide. No one else does that sort of stuff.
And... the problem could be home made by using these DIY self-made communication cables. They are not isolated...
There isn't any updates of that side that I know of. But like I said, I'm offline for the power side. Also, I've had no need to monitor online. I've had no issues with my equipment. I was definitely impressed though to hear that Victron is on it when it comes to trying to improve anywhere needed. That is definitely a dying trait of most companies nowadays.
Also... you should have mentioned the self made cables being a potential issue. Definitely something that others need to be aware of as a possible hiccup causer.
I second this. Charge controller is something that should work not matter what. I saw many videos and reviews on Midnight solar. To my understanding quality, of the midnight units are far superior than victron. but they lacking the cool monitoring features like victron. I have few victron products. but next time I will try midnight products. And I hope they will upgrade their monitoring software and change that old font :)
6.8Kw yay! Thanks for the update and info. Cheers
No problem 👍
nice sound transition with the last frames...I am on the forum too but not had the issue in the marine world.
So much info and he knows alot just man is it hard to watch
Good to know! Thanks Andy for the information. I have two of these controllers that were likely produced about the same time yours was produced. I will keep an eye on things. So far, so good here but then again yours was running flawlessly too until it didn't.
At least now what symptoms to look for and what could be causing this rather bizarre situation. Reading temperature when temperature sensing is off-------wow>
Do you use the original Victron VE.Direct cables/adapters? Someone here mentioned he had the same issue and replaced the cheap DIY cables with isolated ones.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Haven't had the problem to date but this is good to know. Keep us all updated on what Victron's solutions may be.
@@jws3925 Yes, I will. There was another glitch this morning with the West roof controller and also the East Roof MPPT freaked out but no -1° problem this time. I think I have a major comms issue in my system. I'm also still running Venus OS 2.66 on the Pi. Maybe it's time to update...
Love the smell of hot solar charge controller in the morning, smells like ENERGY
Yeah, hahaha, me too! We should fill this in bottles and sell it to enthusiasts 😂
Good morning Andy ☕☕ from Philippines 🇵🇭
That is really very good information for all of us spacialy technical department
Best regards from Philippines 🇵🇭
Thank you.
Hi Andy,
first of all: in my Installation the same -1°C issue occurred on 2022-10-05 at 14:45. At that time no change was made and we had really normal weather conditions.
The installation is very similar to yours, which is, after looking all your videos, of course a pure coincidence 😉😊. It is only at a smaller scale with one MPPT 250/85, one Multiplus and an 14 kWh EVE with JK BMS and Victron smartshunt. I only started right from the beginning with the Cerbos GX device and have an ESS assistant running.
But back to topic. As the issue occurred, we were at holiday, checking VRM not every one and a half minute, but every two minutes 😉. Diagnosis via remote:
- No error message!!!
- Everything works fine, only the MPPT shows an input of 180V but no output
- Multiplus was decharging the battery and feeding into the grid
- Restarting the system didn’t help
So I shutdown the system to prevent the battery from deep discharge. Being back from vacation I checked the installation via Bluetooth and found the virtual temperature of -1° C immediately. I am very sure, that there was no temperature indicator before, you confirmed that in your video - thank you. After switching off the “low temperature cut off” everything works fine again.
After watching your video I found an update on VRM for the MPPT, which was not shown via Victron Connect. So I updated the firmware from 3.10 to 3.11 and the ominous -1°C vanished. That is the actual state.
Regarding the smell: the MPPT 250/85 becomes very hot during operations. With an input of 170 V and 28 A I measured a surface temperature of 57°C. The temperature of the MOSFETs must be nearly at 100°C or more. In my opinion the passive cooling layout is overloaded. So I installed an active cooling system with two small fans, sucking the air out of the heat sink, controlled by the Cerbo GX. With that, the temperature stays at max. 44°C and there is no smell anymore.
Many greetings from old Germany and a lot of thanks for your instructive, helpful and always enjoyable videos.
Jürgen
I was warned by my supplier to steer clear of the ESS as it does not work well with LiFeP04 so just be careful for this as well, I have also set up my MPPT's mostly as Andy has his, I have just changed my voltages as I am running 15 cell batteries and not 16 cell.
Unfortunately DVCC has messed up my battery top balance so there's that to deal with now too.
I have two cooling fans on my setup to keep the MPPT's cool and I have it running on the Venus GX WITH temp sensors that I made up using LM335 Temp IC's. I did this so that the fans are not constantly running but also to save a bit of power (it's not much but the fans will also last longer).
Just watch out when using these two (ESS or DVCC) with non victron appliances.... I found out the hard way that they do not play nicely together. Good Luck Jurgen, I hope you get it up again
@@GapRecordingsNamibia
I am about to build a ESS with LiFePO4 cells. What didn't work well with the ESS?
@ Gap Recordings Namibia:
please: no misunderstanding. After switching off the “low temperature cut off” in the MPPT everything works fine. The MPPT produces a lot of power again.
@Hunter: don’t worry, everything works well with ESS!
In my case, I want to use all the power from the roof for self-consumption, without cutting my consumers from the grid. So the inverter is running parallel to the grid and feeds in just the amount of power, which will be just needed. If there is more power from the MPPT available as needed, it should be feed into the battery for later self-consumption. If there is less power available, the battery assists the MPPT or at night, delivers all the energy for the Multiplus.
This works very fine, but only with an installed ESS!
DVCC is only needed, if an intelligent and compatible BMS is connected. Otherwise it is completely useless.
With an active ESS you only have to be aware, that the MPPT is remote-controlled by the ESS. All the parameters concerning charging in the MPPT are overwritten by the parameters from the Multiplus. Those are not exactly the same, the parameters in the MPPT are a little bit more detailed. But the main-parameters for absorption, floating, ... are the same.
As mentioned before, this works very fine for months. Since July this year, I was able to reduce my power consumption from the grid to less then 10% of the months before. Considering the winter in Germany, I think, that I can reduce the power consumption from the grid to approximately 30%. So 70% of the power are for free!!
@@jurgenburger7081
Thanks!
@@jurgenburger7081 Thanks a lot for sharing, Jürgen. That is quite interesting and odd that it happened to so many people at the almost same time. Victron is reading the comments here and is well aware of the issue. They suspect the software on the smart shunt causing the issue but still investigating...
Sorry to hear a top of the line gear is glitching out for you. I still have my Morningstar mppt controller with the original firmware out of the box. Granted it’s not communicating to anything. But it just works. The smart shunt tells me what is happening. Good luck.
I am with you Mitch I have a Mercer 5kW system with 7 kw of pylon tech batteries -
It just works!
I also have a Victron 5 kW system with 8 kW of Blue nova batteries -- One has to pay constant attention to things like software upgrades etc and I am unable to get it to take my batteries down to 90% - it holds out at around 65 %
I wish I had "Mr Off grid garage's" knowledge but I don't think I have enough life left to accumulate it
All Victron equipment smells :) They use a blue epoxy type material and that smells all the time.
I installed today a Bluesolar 100/50 to test but tests will need to wait as I connected to a 12V battery to test and now I can not use it on my 24V battery. I did not know that at first connection it sets the battery voltage and can no longer be changed unless you have a VE.Direct cable or Bluetooth dongle so I need to get one before I can use it.
I wanted to open mine to see the internal construction and I was not able to thus I made a google search to see that it is glued with that smelly blue epoxy type compound used in may of Victron devices. It helps to dissipate the coil heat to the metal case (blue part) and probably reduces the coil vibration.
What's the TEMP in Sunny HOT Australia?
MINUS one! Hah.
Glad everything appears to be working!
Yes, all up and running again...
I have 3 chargers 150/35 victron and had the same problem back in January of this year. I fixed it by shutting off the solar input to each charger THEN shutting off the battery to each charger so ALL chargers were OFF at the SAME TIME. Then brought them all back up and turned the solar back on and BINGO problem was fixed and has never happened since. I noticed you didn't do this Andy you only reset each device 1 at a time. Try ALL your devices at the same time ;-)
Yeah, I did as well. What comms cables are you using DIY or genuine Victron?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia haven't got any comms cables yet, though when I do im planning on copying your raspi setup. Next phase of the project:-)
This happened to me also. I was running lead acid batteries at the time and the temperature compensation brought my battery voltage to 14.8 v for a whole day.
An awesome informative video, this has helped me a lot.
Thanks 👍
I have a mobile fully Victron system.
The system has run faultessly untill it didn't. (low networked temp charge disconnect on all the networked chargers)
I reset the older 75/15 smart charger to factory defaults (yes, I did immediatly change the nbattery type to be correct for the system after the reset) and all came came back to normal.
- same low temperature not charging issue. ( I live in North Queensland and it does not get cold)
My system
- Victron 200AHr 12.8V smart battery (did its job and disconnected loads when the battery went flat)
- Victron Smart BMS 12/200 (did its job and disconnected loads when the battery went low)
- BMV-712 Smart (was beeping when I inspected the system today to an unlrelated jb on the trailer
- SmartSolar MPPT 75/15 fed from trailer roof panels below ( the networked chargers all worked after I did a factory reset to reset on this device)
- Victron BlueSolar MPPT 100/50 (not networked and not impacted by the system failure, it worked as normal when powered, was the only charger that would work and can be fed with external auxilary portable panels that are not normally connected, but do so via 50A Anderson connectors)
- Phoenix Smart IP43 Charger 50A (240V input) was not powered untill I checked the system this morning, when powered up, it refused to charge due to picking up low temp (-1 deg) from the network
- Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC Charger Non-Isolated 12/12-30 ( not powered during the entire event)
- 2 x175A semi flex panels on roof feeding the Smart 75/15 charge controller
- 50 liter fridge ( the primary load that runs 24/7 from the system. The system has no problem keeping up with the fridge)
- other loads for when we are fylly using the system include a xantrex 1800i inverter. (not relevent to the system failure)
I would be interested to know what the fix is and what Victron say currently waiting a call back from my supplier)
- the 75/15 charger is a few years old, I pulled it from a lead acid based 24 V system whilst I was waiting for the new one to come for the camper trailer. ( the new one has since arrived, but I had not got around to futting the new unit and putting the older unit back to the 24V lead acid system yet) Perhaps the solution for me could be to put the older charge controller back onto the lead acid system and the new one onthe lithium system?
Hi from should be warm and sunny hawks bay NZ. My 150/70 controllers did the same a couple of months ago. I just turned low temperature protection off as it never gets that cold here. Upsetting for a high end product to behave like this. I would like to find a solution, after using cheap and nasty Chinese products, I thought I would get ultimate reliability from victron
They suspect a software problem in the smart shunt at the moment but are still investigating. Do you have one as well and reported the issue to Victron?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Yes I have one, I didn't report the issue. Every now and then I still get a low temperature display on the charge controller but no action is taken as the protection is off
@@simongrace2538 maybe report this to their forum and see if others have the same issue. If it is still happening for you, they probably want to know about it to fix it...
community.victronenergy.com/index.html
Hello, unfortunately I also had the problem today. -20°C in the display. My charge controllers are all from 2022. Must now just live with the fact that the temperature compensation remains on off...
And already found the problem solution: Did not know that the Bluetooth unit is not updated via the VRM, but only directly via Bluetooth connection from VictronConnect can be updated. Once made everywhere an update (charge controller and SmartShunt) and everything is running again.
What ever it is, it only happens when in network mode. All devices work fine on their own. Its like they don't recognise there is no temperature probe, but it doesn't happen all the time. I can go for months , then suddenly it happens. Leave network and it all starts back up fine . Thinking of buying the temperature probe to see if that resolves it
@Andy. Have you checked that the AUX input of the smart shunt is set to NONE? Cross talk from the RUVI??
Yes, that is set to none since the beginning. I haven't connected the Ruuvi yet to the Victron system. The Pi has no working BT...
Ich hab schon seit etlichen Monaten überlegt warum ich Dein Englisch so gut verstehe. 9:11 'Scheiß Viechkram....' 😏🤗 liebe Grüße aus Deutschland 🙋♂️
Andy, dich muss man einfach gern haben!
Dein email-statement ist absolut nachvollziehbar und korrekt.
Allerherzlichste Grüße downunder aus dem Herzen es Ruhrpotts:
Michael aus Dortmund
I've three 100/20 with same issue. Specially on cloud sunny days. Shall I open a request on victron? How?
The problem was not with the MPPTs but the Victron Smart Shunt. They had this problem fixed in on of the last FW updates for the shunt.
Okay, then I've another problem with my 100/20. I've no shunt. Only pylontechs via can.
@@xbromy and it shows -1°C and stops charging?
Hi Andy. Been having odd issues with my 150/70 TR as well over the last few days. Mainly issues with the VRM portal. So did a firmware update to version 1.61 from 1.59, and this morning had no output like you.
But as you did Found the BMS function turned on. Just turned if off and all is well my unit is about 3 years old. So thanks for the help and info. But i have no BMS problem per version 1.61.
Wondering if there was a version between the two that triggered the problem..
Thanks for sharing, Andrew. Yeah, I never saw a 1.60 firmware for these controllers either. Went straight from 1.59 to 1.61.
So, you had the DVCC turn on? Do you have a smart battery/BMS connected?
Very interesting. Temperature sensors basically never fail with a reading of -1C (or anything near -1C). A temperature sensor typically fails either low or high, where low usually reads less than -40C or high reads greater than 100C. So I would guess that Victron's firmware is not handling the failure properly and messing up the reporting. Or that the temperature sensor is reporting an software initialization value but never updating. But why one of the solar charge controllers that doesn't report temperature would cause such a mis-reading, that is very odd. If I were Victron I'd want to get that bad unit from you and figure out why the firmware got so confused.
So now the question is... what caused the failure in the first place? Unless you had thunderstorms in the area recently or other surge events, it should not have failed. You discussed the weather later on in your video... yes, a voltage surge is totally possible with broken clouds. A solar system can actually go from cloudy-levels of voltage to maximum radiance in mere seconds... literally maxing out the solar panels for a few seconds as the cloud clears the sun due to the sheer brightness of the clouds (that are near the sun) combined with the unobstructed sun.
It sounds to me like maybe a component burned out from over-voltage. As Victron said... a tolerance issue with the voltage. That could very well be. It is very common to see (for example) electrolytic capacitor failures when the caps are specified with too-low a voltage to handle surges. That could, in turn, destabilize the switching MPPT supply circuitry and prevent the charge controller from operating properly.
An example of this would be... say you had a DC input specified for a maximum of 125V. Normally an experienced circuit designer would use 250V electrolytic capacitors in a circuit like that. Note the huge difference there. Less experienced designers often make the mistake of specifying component tolerances that are too low. For devices that are under constant loads such as charge controllers, a 150V or even a 200V electrolytic capacitor would be too low. I'm guessing the component change is related to an issue like that.
They believe it's a software issue most likely with the smart shunt. There is no physical temperature sensor connected to the system but the smart shunt broadcasted this to the network. The AUX port in the Shunt is set to None (can be set to read a mid point voltage or a temperature sensor).
Well done Andy! Thank you.
Does the VIctron need the battery to run? I ask as I have a small system and one issue is, the BMS cuts the discharge from the batteries, this in turns the MPPT charger controller off, so I have to do a little dance to allow the BMS to allow to discharge so the MPPT turns back on so I can charge my batteries... heh, hope that makes sense.. thanks for any feedback..
If the BMS turns off your battery, there is another problem with settings in the MPPT or BMS. The BMS should only ever disconnect the battery of one of the cells goes out of specs but not during normal charge and discharge operation.
I have had 2 of the Victron 250/100 charge controllers in my Amazon cart for a couple months now and was just about to pull the trigger and buy them but not if they have firmware issues. Much like a well designed automobile, you should never ever need to update the firmware of a solar charge controller after it rolls off the factory line. Especially if that model has been out for a couple years. It should be bulletproof and just work 24/7/365 for the next 50-100 years from a software perspective. I am currently running 4 of the Make Sky Blue units that have worked flawlessly but I was interested in the Victron units due to the much higher input voltage which means I could reduce some of the wire losses in the cable run. I also want to be able to install it once in my lifetime.
Updates are great and provide many new features, fixing performance issues and enabling to connect to other, newer hardware.
If you never update your software, it will outdate pretty quickly and become incompatible. Look at all these solar charge controllers out there which don't even have a LiFePO4 profile. Useless to the point the whole device needs replacement.
Well, I think it's a pretty big shame for Victron. This has certainly not happened to me with my 5 times cheaper Epever products...
I was just thinking - thankfully I have my Epever on my RV for the last 4 years and it worked flawlessly
Yep do love myself an EPever controller
Have 3 no Epever controllers, 20A, 40A, and the big boy 100A, nobody talk to anybody, the way I like it lol
@@jimbobarooney2861 I slightly over panel mine and have fitted a 24v pc type fan running on 12v via a 60c little temp switch to just keep the air moving over the passive heat sink as it's in a cupboard - it feathers the current down anyway if it ever gets too hot
@@trevortrevortsr2 has any solar manufacturer offered a product that will allow say 3 or 4x the rated output to the solar output, so as to maintain a steady daily input either when sunny or cloudy, winter, summer etc, so you have a large solar array and a relatively small battery bank
I had similar problem and cheap VE direct cable was the problem. It worked fine on cheap USB to serial cable with PL2303HXA chip but not the one with Prolific chip. You can see what chip it uses in device manager on Windows.
I discussed this with Victron and they said it is extremely unlikely that this would cause such a problem.
my bet is a firmware update from victron. are they connected to the internet?
Of course, I showed the firmware update in the video through the VRM 😁
means if vrm compromised HECKER can change our SCC values and burn it ? :D
Hey Andy, I am very happy to meet you online and I am learning so much about LFP cells 😃👍
But I have a doubt 🧐 it will be a great experiment.
Can you test it for me 😊😊😊
The doubt is the cell if if I charge the cell at 3.4 volt fully charged and after that I increase the voltage can it push the AMS into the battery?
Thank you ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you. What is 'AMS' please?
3.4V is not a full charge unless you let it absorb for quite a long time...
Yeah I mean to say it is ampere.
Yeah I know the 3.4 volt is low and it takes a lot of time to absorb so you can try it with 3.5 volts.That can be very easy.
But there will not be so much room to increase the voltage after fully charging the cell.
And also thank you to listening my words 🙂😊
And please consider my writing because English is my third language 🤗
@@rajanikantamandal1205 Thank you. I charge to 3.45V which is just when the voltage starts to rise. Absorbtion does not take too long at this point so it may be something you can try as well...
its getting temperature from the smart shunt ?
Thanks Andy- looks like it’s colder out your way than here. (If only that was the problem…)
Not great.
Someone suggested the DIY comms cables I'm still using. That could be it!
Did you have to enable the dealer code in Preferences->Dealer to allow the developer forum engineers to access your installation?
No, they can do it anyway. That is just for the installer (if you had it installed by a company).
I had the same problem. Turned out it was a bat connection in the ve cable, plugged it back in firmly and temp -1 was gone
En effet c'était assez stressant cette situation que tu as eu ANDY, merci pour le partage de cette nouvelle expérience avec VICTRON ! Heureux que tout est enfin opérationnel.
Can we have a conversation about the Seperate MPPTs versus the MPPTs RS. Yes we have the point of one thing in a system versus all going out with the RS breaking. But I’d like to hear your viewpoint on why you bought the MPPTs over the RS. Might be you had one, then two and decided to just buy another two. But going deeper, which setup would you go with from scratch?
Yeah, discussed this in previous videos already. The RS is great if you have high voltage strings and no shading. I'm trying something completely different here. Low voltage strings (
@@OffGridGarageAustralia thanks Andy.
Okay so today I have fitted the "optional" bmv temperature sensor. Part number ass000100000 . This now displays the battery temperature on vrm, also shows in ve network that it is communicating temperature over networked mppts. I'll report back if this resolves the -1 fault. Problem being the fault only appears randomly, some times month with no issue.
Smart shunt = BMV without the display. You do have to be very careful about isolation when hooking up communications interfaces/cables. The temperature reporting sounds like the software is reading and interpreting a register wrong.
Same thing happend to me it's some software bug or error in comunication from SmartShunt or Multiplus-II, try set Aux input to temperature save and back to none or your correct setup in SmartShunt settings.
If it doesn't solve problem restart GX (RaspberryPI) and Multiplus-II
Last option restart SmartShunt
Yeah, discussed this with Victron and they said it is highly unlikely that the none-isolated cables are to blame for that. They are heading more into the direction of a bug in the smart shunt firmware.
Hey Andy just to say y months later, I just had this exact issue on my 150/70 temperature -1 and the mppt just shut down this morning for no reason, cloudy rain to start and then sunshine - latest firmware as per VRM devices.
Heya, well that can happen at the end it is still electronics whiths can go faulty or needs upgrade's and with victron you know you have a relayable costumer survice
Have you set the aux control in the smart shunt to temperature ?
It sits on None since I got the shunt 2 years ago.
the smell is totally normal, my 250 100A victron controller smells a bit funny as well, i think its the resin thats inside the mppt
I like this smell. Hot electronics. We should fill it in bottles and sell it to other enthusiasts like us 😂
It shouldn't had provided a temperature measure if there was no temperature measure. It might be some internal overflow or some bad use of another measure to stop some process BUT that UGLY computing. It should have displayed some error parameter or else but NOTHING close to a functionnal parameter.
TY for your report and honnesty, I won't go into Victron equipment knowing what they just did. It reminds me when WKS+pylontech were periodicaly going crazy and even overriding the parameters I stepped in, that's just a complete NO.
Andy I had this issue and it was them cheap usb connection wires to the Raspberry Pi running the venus os i had to reboot the pi for some reason i also noticed if u turn the power off to the raspberry pi it turns off the solar charge controllers...
OK, that did not make any difference to rectify my fault. Victron is looking into it ans suspect the software of the smart shunt atm. Do you have one in your system as well?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia yes I have the 100 amp Victron Smart shunt in my system along with the raspberry pi and 16 120ah lithium batteries
@@diysolaradventures7894 That's probably it, a possible software bug in its firmware...
Hi Andy. I have been enjoying your solar and Victron videos. I am curious what type of RCD are you using?
Thanks, Matt. I'm using the Clipsal RCBOs in my AC distribution. I've got them here on my website as well: off-grid-garage.com/electric-installation/
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I forgot to check there. Thank you. It appears that your RCBO trips on a "A" ground fault. I have been struggling with whether or not "A" is enough when running inverters or DC motors downstream and if it ought to be a "B". I will have normal domestic use motors running (eg washing machine) as well as larger woodworking machinery on my micro-grid. From what I can read here in Europe type "AC" are deprecated and "A" are installed as standard but it would seem that "B" would be most appropriate in this situation. Any thoughts? Keep the videos coming!
I have a 100/20 MPPT and after watching todays video found I had the exact same problem. Temperature of -1 and no charging turned off the temp as shown in your video and charging resumed again according to the devices the firmware is current and unlike your demonstration with VRM I didn’t get the option to update firmware via the VRM portal.
You only get the Update Option when bidirectional communication is enabled for VRM in your GX device.
It's weird it happened everywhere at the same time...
would you recommend this Waterproof Outdoor Surface Mounted 1-in-1-out 500V IP65 Solar PV Surge Lightning Protection DC Distribution Box Combiner Box ??????
Sure, if the combiner box is weatherproof, it can be sitting in the rain.
It depends on your requirements, so I cannot really recommend or not...
is it because he doesn‘t like the Energy of the comming Shingles 😂 maybe you made the pact with the … 🙉 😝
Argh.. it will be a lot of energy!!!
This happened again today. It was 77 degrees Fahrenheit outside and the solar charge controller was not charging and showed 30 degrees fahrenheit so was shut off due to the setting to stop charging when the temperature reaches 32 degrees fahrenheit.
It did not happen to my controllers any more since the smart shunt FW update a while back. Do you have a smart shunt as well?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia yes, I do have a SmartShunt running v4.14
@@markdavidson6321 OK, definitely report this Victron as this problem should have been fixed for quite a while now. I worked with them to troubleshoot and test. It was a problem with the Smart Shunt FW.
Use the Victron Community forum as they will read it there and respond.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Will do. Thanks Andy!
Sounds like something was updated to show temp, but since the charge controller does not have a temp sensor it reads "-1" I do a bit of programming myself and use "-1" or "0" for a default number until its updated by the code. And since "-1" is less then 5 it shuts down to "protect" your batteries. In short Vectron shouldn't have turned the low temp shutoff on by default.
Thanks. Keep it charged.
Herzliche Grüsse aus der Slowakei. Vielen Dank, dass Sie Ihre Erfahrungen und ein weiteres interessantes Video geteilt haben. Hat es geholfen, das BMS vom "Funknetz" zu trennen? Aber ich mache einen Witz daraus, es ist ein Beweis dafür, dass die Hardware buchstäblich eingefroren ist :D
hello I saw that in your video, where you test the Daly Smart active balancer, it is for 16s battery banks but it also works on your 4S battery bank ?? or am I wrong to see and is it a Smart 4S active balancer? I hope you answer me in the meantime thank you. Angel
That's been discussed in the other video.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia 😭yes you're right ... I asked you the question there too but you don't answer me 😭 I'm sorry
I checked my mppt while watching your video. And same problem. It doesn't charge from two days now (less addict than you) I can see -18c on the app. I'm in NZ. I will see tomorrow morning if the charge is blocked only by the temperature cut off or not. I took some screen shoot. But my system is really simple, no vrm, a smart shut and a mppt 100/30.
Wow, it happend all over the world, it seems... so, just a smart shunt and an MPPT?
I had two Victron charge controllers showing -18C that happened 1 or 2 weeks ago so I disabled the temp control.
Yep this has happened to multiple controllers from us also. I have been advised by Victron to disable the low temperature cut off. I have not had a problem since and we fit lots of these per week.
Yes, that was exactly what happen to the guy in the forum, -18°C ...
Great job
Good Day Sir, Today I encountered the same issue. I have 3 controllers and 1 is giving me the issue.
Looks like you're on the Central Coast NSW - maybe it really was -1C 😂
Far more north... and definitely not -1°. It's t-shit weather 😉
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I know you have a busy channel so apologies for all the posts but reading through the comments on the issue you report I'm wondering what the potential is for these systems to be hacked? Seems a couple of other people had the same problem around the same time with their system connected to the internet?
Funny, yesterday I had some very nice issues with my Victron systems
Hey can we do a test to see if we can use lead acid batteries and lifepo4 batteries for the same inverter of course using different charge controllers. Would it work.
One of my 75/15 controllers stopped functioning also last week. In the VRM or app no issues but when wired directly to my phone I got the 116 calibration error "controller needs replacement"...
I'm not sure if I tried the update via VRM before or after it failed (did the update early in the morning without solar) from v1.59 to 1.61 and then found out it did not start... Maybe a coincidence but I wait with updating my other controllers.
Now waiting for a reply from Victron about the error and solution.
Weird. Nothing the Victron forum about the issue?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia There are a few topics, almost all got the error after an update. The old controllers (2015/2016) have an hardware issue with the new software but keep functioning with the error. It's not only affecting the small controllers but also the 35/50/70amp ones that are complaining about it.
Mine is from 2018 and apparently replacing is the only solution so it's definitely toast.
Luckily I didn't experience the temperature issue but thanks for explaining!
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Got the answer, mine is not repairable and they will send a new unit. It's 4,5 years old but the warranty is 5 years so a nice service from Victron and the dealer.
Found out also that my home made ve-direct to usb cable from this controller gets hot in my raspy and is not recognised anymore...
After reading the posts here about the cables and possible other issues I'm going to order four original cables to be safe...
Did your mppt stop charging battery despite voltage from panel being sufficient? I have issue with 1.59 firmware
I’ve been having the same problem from the same mppt victron is imo one of the worst companies to get warranty coverage I’ve been trying for over a year to get help from victron with nothing but passing the problem to the dealer who has no technical knowledge and leaving me with a defective unit very sad how victron treats customers who spend thousands on their equipment then ghost them with no support
Contact the Netherlands its self .
Its a Dutch company.
The dealers in other country are imported from the Netherlands.
Blue Power shop is the name from the Dutch officiële Victron store.
Explain them that you have a problem .
@dyslectische finally got a replacement had to send old unit in first on my dime but was found to be defective and was warranty replaced all in took about a year to get replaced 🙃
@@roadrescue829 nice that its fix
Gutten Tag Andy, Just for information if you have the ve bus direct cables connected to your chargers, which I see you do, you should not have the bluetooth network setup between them, they talk to eachother and are controlled by the Cerbo/Pi via the direct cables
The Multiplus II is not part of the Smart Network. Neither is the Phoenix inverter.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Hi Andy, nor should it be, I am talking about the network vetween the smart shunt and the MPPT chargers, you do not use this when you have them connected to the cerbo with VE direct cables, otherwise you have two networks
Hi,
Ich bin Herr Strawbridge Strawbridge.
I'm your newest subscriber.
Hello 👋
Just disable it Andy we have had lots of the controllers do this. Also, an actual fact I have replaced two under warranty, thinking there was a problem when in actual fact, it just was the setting.
That said, I did have one unit show exact symptoms of what you were describing and it was a faulty unit. It was directly replaced under warranty.
What setting was it to cause the -1°C issue?
I guess you only use the genuine VE-direct cables, not DIY adapters?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia actually Andy, this was running as part of the VE network.
As you have found out, it has nothing to do with the actual issue.
I could not resolve the issue, and now I have had two units replaced under warranty because of this.
Just as a precaution, on all of our installations, we disable the sub 5° setting. Not required when my batteries are located inside most peoples caravans in sunny hot Australia. 🌞
Crazy Chase Electron BTU-Firmware-Hardware. Das ist verrückt
Sir good day i just want to ask the different between high frequency inverter and low frequency inverter which is better?
That depends on your application. They both have their pros and cons...
Hi Andy, soon as I herd Smart Network. I thought firmware update and not so smart :D No idea Andy I Like transformers not so sure about the alternative. I, building my whole system off your videos, it's not finished haha but I went with SMA as my choice of inverters, I am really worried about programming and settings in these SMA inverters but I will my best to figure it out but I never want updates :D
You want updates! That's the best and fixes problems which they didn't think about in the first place. SMA will be a great system.
This same thing happened to me so I disabled the temperature feature that I use with the battery sence then I disconnected the charge controler, shunt and battery sence from the network I then restarted it all and created a new network name and reconnected everything and it's been fine since
My system is fitted in to our camper trailer
Thanks for sharing. It's most likely a bug in the smart shunt firmware. They are investigating.
Hallo Andy wo sind die Kabelschuhe auf der Solarseite? ;-)
@@Reisefreund. Sorry mein Fehler im eifer des Gefechts falsch formuliert. Das mit den TR verbindungen ist mir noch nicht bekannt gewesen.
Hi Andy. Do I understand correctly that TWO of the four MPPT Victrons you have are (or did) malfunctioning? (This one is a second!)
If this is the case, the sense of using MPPT Victrons is at least questionable in my opinion!
My reasoning is simple: if the Victron company boasts world wide of its supposed quality, demanding a relatively high price for it, I expect that I will get this quality! Meanwhile, your (and not only!) experiences seem to indicate something different - in my opinion 50% of defects are a total failure. Honestly, this is a surprising finding for me.
No, that is not the case. The first issue I had last year was already fixed with the next update a few days later for the 150/35.
This problem now is different and affects only very few of the controllers in certain conditions. They fixed that already last year, but it seemed my two MPPTs were built just before that date.
It's nowhere near that 50% of their MPPTs fail. That would be insane.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia However, there are a lot of manufacturers who can reconcile hardware and software changes and vice versa in such a way that they are invisible to the user - the user does not even realize that they exist. For me, this state of affairs is what I call reliability.
Seen from this perspective, Victron has more mishaps that should never happen. In my eyes, it is very serious doubt to trust the company. So much so that I am starting to seriously consider the proposals of Chinese manufacturers.
The Chinese made incredible progress in this area - just as not so long ago, the term "Chinese equipment" was synonymous with crashing junk, so today the same term begins to take on a positive color - relatively cheap and good at the same time. Just like "Japanese equipment", which today is deservedly synonymous with quality (but not especially cheap) and reliability, and a few decades ago, especially in the USA, was a shamefully hidden trash.
Would you recommend Venus OS over a Cerbo GX?
Im new to victron and don't want to have something that requires to much knowledge to set up.
Actually VenusOS is the operating system that runs on the CerboGX…. You can run the the OS on a raspberry pi too, as Andy is doing. I opted for the Cerbo too, because I want a fool proof stable solution, being a pi fool…
@@Krisdarnok Thank you for the answer.
I think I will go the Cerbo.
Cerbo provides you with all the right interfaces and connectors right away which are all isolated. It works out of the box.
The Raspberry Pi does the same but needs a lot more DIY upgrades and also scripting/programming to make it all work. It's not hard but still needs some extra time.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Thank you for the answer.
I've had issues victron products like battery sense showing wrong voltage and 75/15 lock on to equalize charge.
Did you report it through their community forum?
Hi, i have a 150/60 and i have it already 4 times in te last 12 months.
I Called Victron and they cant help me with it.
What comms cables do you use for the VE-Direct? Victron genuine or DIY?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia oniginal Victron,
I have 1 temp sensor connected to 1 of the Multis. And i tried a lot of Things to fix it. But i know now when i have the Problem and i set in dvcc sts on than the -1 on the Mppt is gonne. I leave it on for a few Hours an put than the sts back off. Problem Solved.
same issue with tempeture -1C. I disabled low temp cutoff and everything is ok now :)
When was that, just in the last few days? Do you use a smart shunt as well?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia it was 29.5. 2022. We were on holiday of cource :D And yes, i have a smart shunt.
@@glottis512 That's when it always happens...
Each controller has internal temp sensors that can only be viewed if you have the controller displayed installed. Maybe the internal temp sensor has been overheated too long and is malfunction? I personally use an AC 120mm fan to keep the controller cool. The fan reduced internal temps from 57 to 30. Maybe get one display and see what your internal temps are reading.
Yeah, just weird it happened to all controllers at the same time.
I just checked on mine and I don't have any temperature
No, I never saw this before either... weird...
I think someone deserves a beer or 2
I was excited... 🍺
i thought victron was more problem free :/
Never had any issues with their gear. Most likely it's been caused by the DIY cables I'm using for VE-Direct. They are not isolated.
Schön mal wieder ein paar deutsche Worte im Video zu hören, auch wenn es nur sch**ß Viechkram ist... 😁 Grüße aus Deutschland
There are other channels where I swear in German 😂
Did you speak german?
Sounda like 😁
Viechkram! 🤣
May be it's due to a bug
All this network connectivity and still the system cannot tell you where the fault is located.
Yeah, more testing is needed. The shunt's software is now under investigation....
9:07 "Was ist denn hier alls für scheiß Viechkram" :D :D
some help maybe you know enough, my batteries are fully charged, I can see that it doesn't charge, so I want to use power approx. 100ah at 24 volts Can I have it not take in power / amps, that is, it takes it from my batteries, I thought they were full, it will draw from the sun, if there is not enough sun, it will take from the batteries hope you can answer it
Same thing happend to me it's some software bug or error in comunication from SmartShunt or Multiplus-II, try set Aux input to temperature save and back to none or your correct setup in SmartShunt settings.
If it doesn't solve problem restart GX (RaspberryPI) and Multiplus-II
Last option restart SmartShunt
Yeah, it seems they are blaming the smart shunt at the moment. New update incoming...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I am using original comunication cables and no temperature sensor. My devices was set according with none temp sensors. In my opinion it's bug in SmartShunt or GX software
@@denny43342 Yes, that is my understanding as well. They are investigating...
Ninja update of a faulty firmware?
Modern Benz unreliable but 40 plus years ago MB- legendary.
9:08 Zieht nach Australien und beschwert sich dann über "scheiß Viechkram" 😄
for as much as those overpriced Victron's cost... I would be pissed... I would rather stick with my "makeskyblue" controllers and risk the chance of a fire than overpay for something that is buggy.
Could be caused by the cheap DIY comms cables I'm using everywhere. The voltage spikes could mess up the comms. I'll test this...
Victron Equipments Is Highly Over Priced Junk! I'd Never Use Any... 😁😎
I tried all the other junk before. Victron is the best I had so far...