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BJ vd Linde did you manage to get ICM to communicate with the JK-BMS. It took me a while as ICM showed the SOC data but none of the Sunsynk inverter data. I have a Sunsynk 5.5Kva and one needs a splitter cable for the RS485/CAN port. as well as 2 x RS485/USB cables. I got mine from Solar-assistant and the technical descriptions on their website is very good. The CAN cable I crimped myself following their instructions. After much fiddling I finally found that I did not set the port numbers for the inverter to ICM and once done all data was displayed. Unfortunately ICM only shows 15 cell voltages and reads the inverter's battery SOC for the System/Working Mode table. That SOC is totally wrong and useless. ICM displays the SOC of the battery correctly on the dashboards so it seems to have a bug or two. Sadly I saw a comment on the forum that Manie, the programmer, has passed away so I don't know where to turn for help other than alternative software. I did send ICC Software an e-mail and will see what happens.

Hi Mike, All fine here and hope same with you. My link to your cameras is dead but Bernard will take a look at the routing when he finds time. Hope you find supplies in the present turmoil.

Hi @Mike. I hear you are a very busy man with new installations. Small wonder we have not had a word for the past year or so. Stay well in the icy cold weather.

This matter has been discussed in great detail in the past. If an inverter is connected to the grid in any way, even to draw mains power for charging or switching to grid if batteries or solar is not sufficient, it is grid tied. Just study the CofC brochure posted by @Steve87, particularly the off grid illustration. There is no connection whatsoever between the inverter and the grid. So the moment you connect to the grid, the inverter becomes grid tied. Best to check with CofC before buying an inverter classified as off grid, such as those made by Voltronics ie Axpert, Kodak and others. The inverters on the list are the only ones that may be connected to the grid in any way. It does make solar a lot more expensive as a qualified engineer has to sign the installation off too. In Australia the Axpert inverters are perfectly legal as explained by @Coulomb in the past. However if you are prepared to switch the load manually between the grid and inverter output and not connect the grid to the inverter at all an off grid inverter may be used. Automatic transfer switches are quite expensive, around R12000 last I looked but probably more now.

ICC displays what tne battery BMS tells it the state of charge, volts and amps sensed are. The state of charge will drop suddenly when full charge voltage is reached as the charge amps drop to near zero but the load is still there. I have a DIY battery with BMS but information to ICC comes from a Victron Smart Shunt. Even so my ICC displays similar graphs. For a good understanding read Protection and Management of Marine Lithium Battery Banks on Nordkyndesign.com. All articles on lithium batteries on the website are worth reading for better understanding of LiFePO4 batteries.

If you want an off grid system, any of the inverters may be used. The moment you connect to the grid legislation applies. So if one is going to connect to the grid, first step is to enquire with municipality or Eskom if they supply directly to you, about regulations and applications. The inverter will then require a certificate of compliance.

That is disappointing. Perhaps try lodging a question on the website.

@Colin I don't know who Diversified Software is but the developer of ICC is Manie and as @John suggested above send an enquiry to him at [email protected] or post one on the website. Manie is sure to give you the right explanation.

@Colin at about 12h30 your battery voltage rises exponentially which is normal behavior for LFP cells when almost at 100% charge. My charge amps fall sharply as the float voltage of ICC and therefore the Axperts is set to 53.7V (16 cells). My Axperts are flashed with the latest firmware by @Coulomb (also known as Aussie firmware) and it allows me to see the charge current of of each inverter. I can't remember what the factory firmware displays. Perhaps you should investigate if there is an Aussie LFP firmware for your inverters if you have the courage to flash them. I have flashed mine many times as newer versions became available and also for others without mishaps. However it remains a personal decision and if it goes wrong you have an expensive paper weight or two on your hands. It seems that LFP batteries should not be kept at a float voltage but apparently little happens at a cell coltage below 3.4V and mine at 3.36V was recommended by @Coulomb. There are also detailed articles on https://nordkyndesign.com/. Perhaps you should switch the load to grid and then check what the charge amps or watts are on each inverter to narrow down the source of the low PV watts.

If you post the battery graphs one would be able to see what is happening while batteries are being charged. I have 2x4Kw Axperts with a 240AH diy battery and controlled by ICC on an RPi3. Works perfectly although solar power is down since it is winter with frequent cloudy days.

@Gnome I have always found Manie Erasmus of ICCSoftware most helpful and cordial. As a long time user of ICC I can say that it controls my 2 x Axpert 5Kva cluster flawlessly. Recently had to replace my BMV700, which failed and opted for the Victron Smartshunt. My FLA batteries I also replaced with a DIY 240AH LFP battery bank. ICC works perfectly on a RPi 3B in controlling all necessary functions and does a sterling job in controlling the sensitive matter of correct battery charging voltages. Manie was understandably very upset when his source code was published publicly. The source remains unknown but it seems likely that it might have been a trusted associate of the past. I am one satisfied customer who has paid only once and my licence is valid until 2063.

I have been using ICC from Manie of ICCSoftware since it was a Windows program. My Raspberry Pi boards and official Pi power supplies come from Pishop who are local official distributors. Never have any problems with hardware and software hanging. Inverters are 2 parallel Axpert MKS 5Kva/4Kw inverters. Battery is 240AH 48V LiFePO4 DIY with Smart ANT BMS. A Victron BMV700 battery monitor is connected to the RPi. All this is working flawlessly so I have about 5 years of experience using ICC and have no hesitation in recommending it. Not sure what the latest version (ICM) licence costs are but the ICC version is valid until 2063. From information on the ICCSoftware website it would seem that ICM is required for Deye/Sunsink so better check licencing costs and validity with them.

@Acuario Thanks a lot for your drawing and details of your underfloor heating system. It will be of much value to me.

@Acuario Do you have a storage tank for the hot water from the solar panels and what is the volume in litres. Also are your heating pipes embedded in the floor slab or in an isolated concrete layer above the floor slab. Perhaps you would be so kind as to describe the your hydronic floor heating system a bit more comprehensively. I did embed pex pipes in my concrete floor slabs when building the house and am trying to figure out the most effective way of producing the required hot water. In the Western Cape Province of South Africa, where I live, we have a fair amount of sunshine in winter but our electricity infrastructure has been badly neglected and willld probably fail at some stage. We are already having frequent rolling blackouts and electricity prices keep escalating. So I think it is time I put the pipes in the floors to work.

A friend has SLA batteries of unknown make as shown on picture. Does anyone know the absorb and float voltages for these. There are no batteries listed on the product list of the website printed on the batteries.

@hoohlocCharging the inverter's internal capacitors through a resistor is just a safety measure to prevent possible failure of the capacitors and other components in the DC circuit. Using a 100W 230V incandescent light bulb, as @Chris Louw suggested above, will prevent the capacitors from failing because of extreme inrush current and the subsequent hassle of disconnecting the inverter for a warranty claim. My inverters are out of warranty so won't do me any good. The inrush current of LFE batteries can be a few hundred amps so why take the chance that something may fail.

@Coulomb thank you for the information about your controller. My ICC-Pi does control the inverters' switching based on state of charge as per the BMV700 as well as time isettings. But it would seem to me that flashing the inverters with the LF1-73.00e firmware, as you recommended, would add voltage to the control. From everything that I have read about LFP batteries, that seems to be the crucial factor. It will be interesting to see how I manage to optimise the switching as soon as the LFP batteries are connected.

Thanks very much for your advice @Coulomb. I will try your voltages and see how it pans out with the Ant BMS. Just one question, does your controller communicate with your inverters and does the controller rather than the inverter determine when switching from grid to solar or vice versa occurs. @Gert-Claassen I hope that my posts on your thread will assist in optimising you own similar solar system, which is probably a major objective of all of us.

@Coulomb Thank you for your advice and interesting description and graphs of your control system. I am, at my advanced age, not brave enough to tackle a DIY controller so will continue using the RPi and ICC-Pi control software that has served me well for many years. Clearly I will have to bite the bullet and re-flash my inverters with your and @weber's LF1-73.00e firmware. I have made a note of your voltage settings, which your have advised on this forum some time ago, in my Aussieview manual. How have they worked for you with your LFP battery bank. My own DIY battery of 16 serial connected parallel pairs of 120AH cells with one Smart Ant BMS will hopefully be up and running in about 10 days. So any modifications to your original voltages will be much appreciated.

@Coulomb I have been running LC73.00e since it became available on my 2 x Axpert MKS PF 0.8 cluster with Trojan T105 batteries. The Axperts are controlled by ICC-Pi on a RPi with BMV700 connected. Voltage switching levels are set to minimums on the Axperts so as not to interfere with ICC. As voltages are set on ICC, I guess there is not any benefit in reflashing the inverters with LF73.00e if I replace the Trojans with banks of 16 series connected LiFePO4 cells. I ask to make doubly sure that the LiFePO4 cells are not damaged and would appreciate your advice. Are you using any controller other than the Axperts on your own system, which as I recall from past discussions on the forum, Is the same as mine except for ICC-Pi and batteries.

It seems there is a lot of confusion about the ICC-Pi Software suppliers. Since I have been using it since it was a Windows only app and had contact with the two developers, Jaco and Manie, I hope some background will clarify the issue. The original Windows app was donationware. After some time the RPi app became the standard only app available. At some point Jaco and Manie parted company and since then Manie continued to supply and develop the ICC-PI app. At a later date Centurion Solar became a reseller of the ICC-PI app. Some time ago Manie and Centurion Solar also severed their relationship and Centurion now supply their own app, whatever the origin or code base may be. So the two current suppliers are ICCSoftware which is Manie's enterprise and Centurion Solar which supplies a similar app. The two websites are named after the suppliers and relevant information about their products and prices are available on each. I hope this clarifies matters.

@Clivevan just go to the link above posted by @isetech. That will take you the website of Manie who maintains, upgrades and sells the ICC-PI that I and many others worldwide have been using for many years. I have never had to pay for upgrades or a monthly fee. How Centurion fits into the picture I do not know or care about.

@iiznh We are using about 40W for a Ubiquiti Powerbeam, 1 x LPR camera with infrared illumination, 1 x CCTV camera and a network switch. Also we have an infrared illuminator using about 60W at night. Our mains charger current is only 7.2A so I guess we never did manage to charge the battery fully. We are going to disconnect the infrared illuminator as the LRP camera's built-in infrared illumination is sufficient for reliable number plate recognition. Thanks a great deal for your suggestions.

@iiznh Thank you for your suggestions. After checking the specifications of our present charger and solar pwm charge controller, it would seem that we will stay within the limits of LiFePO4 batteries. We will be using 100AH cells with a Daly BMS. As we will be adding a 73W 12V solar panel to the system, it should keep the battery at a high SOC during the day until the street lights come on and mains charging takes over. The Victron IP65 and a Victron MPPT solar charge controller would be ideal but is also quite pricey.

In our village we have a CCTV monitoring system, installed and maintained by a few residents of which I have been one since we started it some 13 years ago. Some of our cameras run off 12V 100AH batteries, charged by the street light power which is only on during night hours. Thus far we have used SLA batteries with disappointing lifespans. We now wish to install LiFePO4 cells with a BMS and add solar panels with charge controllers to boost power during the day. Since the charging characteristics of LiFePO4 differs from SLA, I have been trying to find suitable mains chargers and solar charge controllers. So far it would seem that the Victron IP65 may be a suitable mains charger. Of course the less costly the better. Any advice and suggestions for mains chargers and solar charge controllers would be much appreciated. @___ (I guess this is you plonkster) perhaps you would have some suggestions.