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Youda

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Youda last won the day on October 12 2023

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  1. Broken washer-dryer story: I am using washer-dryer combo with an integrated heat-pump from AEG happily for number of years. Bought first one roughly 15 years ago, and when it died from overworking, I bought a new model. Recently, I was doing laundry and realized that towels are not as fluffy as they used to be. At first, I was thinking that there's a problem with the dryer part of the machine, as it's a pretty complicated device. Double-checked that, but the dryer and it's heat-pump was running okay. Since I am monitoring most of my appliances power consumption, I launched Grafana (https://powerforum.co.za/topic/2322-youdas-off-grid-lab/page/9/#comment-151001) in order to check for anomaly. You guess - it was there: In the past, the machine was having a huge power draw at the start of each cycle, in order to heat the water: Starting roughly 3 months ago, this part of power draw stopped showing: Okay, the issue was obvious - the machine was not heating the water, which usually means that the heating element is "kaput" and has to be changed. So I bought a spare-part and changed it to make the machine great again Autopsy identified that the old heating element was electrically interrupted, since it's resistance measurement was equal to infinity. Not only that the element was covered in limescale (which is pretty common) but this time there was a lot of fibre chunks too. It's clearly visible that the element burnout happened exactly in the spots that were covered(heat-isolated) the most: Following the successfull repair, I was thinking about two topics: 1) Why it took me so long to realize that there's something bad with the machine. 2) How to spot the issue ASAP in the future. As of 1) the answer is, that during summer and fall, the temperature of tap water was not that cold, so the detergent was still doing it's job partially. But when the winter arrived, the temperature of tap water has fallen rapidly and reached unsuitable level, which led to my late discovery of the issue. Well, completely other thing is that any machine should be able to identify such a basic failure by itself. But it did not. What a shame. Speaking of 2) I did a minor change to my existing automation script that is sending me PUSH notification every time the machine finishes the cycle: now the script is logging the highest power draw achieved during the cycle and this value is being attached to the aforementioned notification. With this information, I'll be able to see immediately that there was something wrong during the last cycle. Notification: Of course, I can add a rule that checks highest power draw achieved during the cycle and send me an alert if the value will be less than 2kW, for example. But you know - I am too lazy to do it, despite it's just one line of code, technically Youda
  2. Hi @Lionel RUN In short: For that simple scenario, that you've described above, all you need is a wallbox that has "enable contact", "enable input contact" or "enable charge contact" input terminal. You will hook the dry contact from the BMS to this input terminal and program the BMS to close the dry contact once the SOC is above 75%, open once it's below 50%. AFAIK even the Victron BMV700 can do something like this. An example of a suitable wallbox is KEBA C-series: https://www.keba.com/file/downloads/e-mobility/KeContact_KCP20_30_ih_en.pdf Some other wallbox vendors are offering the same functionality for sure, just search for the key words above and then double-check with the seller. Information add on: Just like @JustinSchoeman mentioned, some wallboxes have JSON API, so you can control them programmatically over the LAN or WIFI. Common API functions are "set maximum charging current", "pause/resume charging", "report power" and "report energy". Of course, in order to use such API, you have to implement some kind of automation based on a Raspberry PI or PLC. Personally, I am using this solution, as you can check in Youdas LAB-thread, but for your use-case it would be an unnecessary overkill.
  3. Another update from Youda's LAB: Like I mentioned a long-time ago, I'm offering free EV charging from my LAB's solar: https://powerforum.co.za/topic/2322-youdas-off-grid-lab/page/8/#comment-81049 https://powerforum.co.za/topic/2322-youdas-off-grid-lab/page/2/#comment-58507 Recently, I paved a small spot next to the driveway and moved the wallbox from it's original location to this new one. Charging is much more convenient now: Also, the wallbox is tied to Fibaro automation via JSON API, so it's power output can be controlled automatically, based on the state of the PV production. For the sake of simplicity the rule is that when it's sunny (and the battery has a decent charge) it offers 32 Amps while during the night it falls down to 10 Amps only. If needed, the main parameters can be set (or checked) via smartphone: Found out that each car model has a different charging-power curve. One interesting example here: Right now it's winter here, with tons of snow, so the PV is producing almost zero kWh/day. Luckily, EV drivers are aware of that Within few months the decent PV production will be back, so I assume that EV's will start to appear again. Youda
  4. Hi @PierreJ I remember a lot of these issues with the batteries that were sold last year and with the batteries sold around January of this year too. Based on that I would say that your batteries might fall into the affected range too. For US3000C with the old chip, the fix is in the firmware 2.8 and newer. For US3000C with the new chip(check my previous posts on how to recognize them based on SN), the fix is in the firmware 1.7 and newer. Should you find older FW in your (or your client's) batteries, I would advise to email Pylontech support with the SN and they will send you back the newest ZIP firmware package together with BatteryView or FlashTool. Contrary to previous BIN packages the ZIP packages are pretty safe to flash, when combined with the new BV of FlashTool. PS: Funny thing is, that very old Pylontech batteries don't exhibit the issue, as they do not have enhanced CAN bus protocol implemented in their (ancient) firmware. Therefore, even if there is a bad voltage sample on the cell, there's no way to relay this information to the Victron GX.
  5. SOLVED: Pylontech + Victron = High Cell Voltage Alarm Hi guys, the problem shown above is a specific issue that is affecting only the combination of Victron + Pylontech, when using CAN communication between the Victron GX device and the Pylontech's BMS. Root cause is something like this: Most of the inverter manufacturers are using original Pylontech BMS CANbus protocol implementation, that is quite limited on the information it can provide about the cells. It focuses on SOC, current control and alarms mainly. Victron was the first one (AFAIK) to implement enhanced version of the BMS CANbus protocol. The enhanced protocol is able to report information about the state of individual cells, which is great for diagnostics. For a shame, from time to time there's a voltage sampling error. Normally, this error is being eliminated by the BMS verification algorithm, so the battery as a whole is aware that it's just an error and stays calm. But when the enhanced protocol is used then the Victron GX device receives actual value (bad sample), will log it in the VRM, and might start to panic. That's the reason, why this issue is affecting Victron installations only (AFAIK). The issue is solved via Pylontech firmware update, where bad samples are automatically eliminated from being forwarded to Victron GX. Hope this helps, Youda
  6. Yeah, in reality, both of these have a very similar effect. Let me just repeat that 53V is too much. Set your charger to 52,5V and that's it. No communication with the BMS necessary. In order to be precise: Normally, Pylontech BMS does NOT limit charging current. Yes, there is FET in the BMS input, but it's used as ON/OFF protective device only. The reason why you see that the charging current is going down is based purely on the fact that the battery is full and it's not accepting charge anymore. Lead-acid battery, without any BMS, has a very similar curve too. The only difference is that with the lead-acid the last stage of charging takes much longer, the amps curve is not so steep....and voltage levels per cell are different, of course: Example of practical implementation in a Mean Well charger: https://www.meanwell.com/newsInfo.aspx?c=5&i=946
  7. Not really @warick_wrx Scenario 2 is possible even without any comm cable between the Pylontech BMS and Inverter. It works purely based on the analog voltage and current measurement. It's basically the same logic that was used for lead-acid batteries in the old times when there were no BMS. If you have a comm cable and working communication between the BMS and the inverter, the possibilities are even richer.
  8. Yes, it is possible, but: 1) You don't have to stop the charger once the Pylontech is charged to 100% SoC, as once the voltage of battery reaches the voltage set on the charger then the charging current will quickly drop to zero. You just have to watch for the situations where the voltage of charger suddenly jumps up. This might happen when large AC load is switched off, while the sun is fully shining. This might cause overvoltage alarm, if the resting voltage of the battery is already too high. Therefore, if you don't have a way how to disable the charger, it's better to set the charger to 52,5V (15x 3,5V). Such a voltage is still able to charge Pylontech to 100% SoC, while leaving sufficient "voltage margin" for these unexpected jumps. Got it? 2) Even some basic chargers have 2 settings that you can combine, in order to protect the battery from overvoltage and/or overcharging: CC voltage = 53V CV voltage = 52,5V. When both settings above are used together, the battery is charged to 53V first, then the charger lowers it's voltage to the resting 52,5V. 3) This is how the charging current looks in the last stage of charging, when the voltage of the Pylontech starts to reach the voltage set on the charger: From 10:00 the charging currents starts to drop quickly, reaching zero amps at 10:25. Note a small current spike at 10:46 - it's caused by a sudden voltage jump mentioned above.
  9. @tomvi for the BatteryView HV 3.8.2: User = user Administrator = Pylon2019001! Warning: Do not play with the stuff you are not trained on. Youda
  10. Hi @BritishRacingGreen 1) First of all - if the US3000C is running and the RUN led is slowly blinking, then the battery should be supplying 48V to the output terminals. There's no need to connect the communication cables etc. 2) Just grab a voltmeter and check the terminals. Beware that the SurLok terminals have plastic-insulated pins. Therefore you have to touch the side of the pin, not the tip. Like this: 3) Test each battery, one by one. 4) The screenshots that you've provided in the first post show that all the usual suspects are okay: - BMS OK - Cells OK - Temperature OK So, if there's no voltage on the terminals then the internal fuse (or precharge circuit) has blown. Even the manual is clear on this: BTW: Reliable Pylontech distributors have some spare BMS boards on stock and are experienced with flashing firmware or swapping the boards as these batteries are being sold in thousands. So the repair should not take ages. And in this particular case it really might be just the fuse.
  11. How about to add ZIEHL UFR and couple of contactors, so once the grid parameters starts to go out of the norm the installation will be automatically disconnected? https://www.victronenergy.com/accessories/ziehl-voltage-frequency-sensitive-relay-ufr1001e Or, maybe just a simple automatic transfer switch will do the job too.
  12. BatteryView HV 3.8.2 BatteryView 3.8.2 for HV Product.zip
  13. BatteryView HV 3.5 BatteryView 3.5 for HV Product.zip
  14. BatteryView HV 3.5 and 3.8 Pylontech's "BatteryView HV" is a diagnostic tool used for the high-voltage batteries like: H48050 + external BMS Force H1 Force H2 If you are adding a new brick to the existing high-voltage stack, this tool might be useful for checking the voltage levels of the individual cells and ensuring that the stack is properly balanced. You'll need a Windows laptop with a serial port (or with USB2Serial converter) and a serial cable. Bear in mind that you will need real RS232 interface, NOT the 5V/3.3V UART. Common pinout of the RJ-45 CONSOLE port on the most of the Pylontech HV batteries: If your battery uses a different pinout, then consult the wiring with the product manual.
  15. Version 1.0.0

    345 downloads

    READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST: https://powerforum.co.za/topic/2322-youdas-off-grid-lab/?do=findComment&comment=151032 Firmware for Pylontech low-voltage batteries: US2000B Plus US2000C (original chip) US2000C (new chip) US3000 US3000C (original chip) US3000C (new chip) US5000 (original chip) US5000 (new chip)
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