DeeJay

Hey guys, I am trying to get info on how to BMS connect 4850's revision 14 to 48100's revision 14 so that they can talk to a Sunsynk 16kW inverter. The 4850's have 4 pin dip switch with 1x RS232 and 1xRS485 and the 48100's have a 6 pin dip switch with 2x RS485's and 1x RS232. So I am not sure if this is even possible?? Please could someone help? I have emailed Clarke Zhong, Shoto's sub Saharan representative this morning to request info... Many thanks

Hi guys, I have an old axpert SMD Lynx 5000-48 from a few years back which I decided to install as my home inverter. I ordered the ICC module and USB to RS232 adapter to let the inverter talk to my Pylontech 3.5 lithium battery. I connected the USB side of the adapter to the powered up raspberry pi and the RS232 end to the inverters RS232 port... ...pop and smoke... I only saw afterwards that next to the RS232 port is a USB port which I am guessing is where I was meant to plug the pi in?! I have obviously fried this comms pcb now and will need a replacement. Does anyone know where I might find one? Thanx a lot guys

Hi there Hoohloc, Thank you for the reply. Sorry, the inverter is a Kodak VMiii model, and it is set to Pylon on the battery setting. This lets the inverter communicate directly with the BMS on the batteries.

Hi guys, Just wondering if anyone come across a similar issue and how they fixed it. Have searched the forums, but could find nothing to answer my question. I have just purchased two US3000C's for a client and swapped out the deep cycle batteries that were installed a year back. I am a registered electrician and have been installing solar for a little over a year now, and inverter backup systems for around 5 years. I originally had an error 69 charging error with the US2000B's, but sorted this out by lowering the bulk and float charging values that came out the box with the ICC equipment. I now installed the US3000C's and came across the same warning 69 issue. I am aware that this is the batteries' BMS telling the inverter to stop charging, as the batteries are already fully charged. I have set the bulk and float values all the way down to 51v but am still getting this error. Does anyone know the correct values to input here so that the inverter does not go into a constant warning 69 loop when the batteries are fully charged? Many thanks

Hi there. I came across this problem last week when trying to install new US3000C batteries. I know you asked this a little while ago, but hopefully this helps you... I asked around and tried to get a definitive answer to this. No one could help. I kept getting given the incorrect cable pin outs. Eventually I used a bit of logic with the manual and what I could find on the net, and figured it out. I made up my own cable and it worked perfectly. here's the pinouts for the new US3000C model. Battery Pin 8 to Inverter Pin 3 ; Battery Pin 7 to Inverter Pin 5 Good luck Let me know if this helps you?

@Coulomb Heres a screenshot of what it looks like today. Rainy miserable weather...

On ICC I've got bulk charging set to 56.4v and Float at 54.0v

Which settings @Bloubul7? Do you mean the low voltage cutoff? Set to 42v Back to Grid is at 44v. Does this need to be lowered?

@Coulomb Thanx for the reply. I also thought that this is what was supposed to happen...BMV reports to ICC and then pushes this data to the King so that it can work on those readings instead of is own battery voltage readings. @Bloubul7 I have set the cutoff voltage all the way down to 42v to try and get it out of the way, but it doesn't seem to help. I have set up the BMV based on the 102Ah rating, and waited until the batteries were fully charged before inputting this data and commissioning the BMV, so I believe the BMV is reading SOC correctly. @Sidewinder Voltage was at 45v when the shutdown occurred...

Hi guys, I have a client that insisted on working with deep cycle batteries instead of lithium. I installed a 5kW King and solar panels on his roof. We installed the 4x 102Ah deep cycles and connected them up to the inverter. In order to monitor the installation remotely, I installed the ICC hardware as well. So, once installed, we ran a test, and performed a shutdown in the evening (no solar). The batteries lasted 1h15min with an average of 500w load. Now, my calculations show that 48v @ 102Ah would give you roughly 4900w of usable power. Lets assume the inverter caps that low end of the batteries at 50%, then we should still get 2450w of usable power, which, at 500w/h should equate to roughly 4-5h of autonomy. Well, 1h15min is nowhere close, so I purchased a Victron BMV-700 to show exact state of charge of the battery bank. I calibrated it correctly and it showed 100%. We reran the test and still, it shut down after 1h15min, even though the BMV showed 78% remaining. This leads me to believe that either one of the batteries is faulty, causing the battery bank to fail, OR the BMV is not sending its data to the inverter properly, thus the inverter is still controlling the shutdown based on the voltage across terminals (very inefficient), OR the BMV is not wired into the install correctly (why would it then show the correct SOC and draw while on batteries?). I have wired the BMV up exactly as it shows in the manual. It's not rocket science. It seems to me that the inverter is not getting the info from the ICC module. I have spoken to the guys at Centurion Solar, who manufacture the ICC hardware, but we have not been able to find a solution. Is it possible to connect the BMV-700 directly to the King so that it can see SOC correctly? If not, then what exactly is the point of the BMV? Just for me to see whats happening? At the end of the day I need the inverter to monitor the batteries based on the BMV's SOC. Has someone done this before, and if so, how do I set this up? Many thanks

OK, so this morning I have the following to report... Last night the inverter ran perfectly, as mentioned above. Even though it was set to only charge via solar, I see that the grid was trickle charging the battery from 21% at a rate of 2 amps, until 7am when the solar woke up and took over charging. At this point the batteries had recovered to 40%. Solar charged the batteries back up to 52v, 99% by 11am. The restart I mentioned above did change the values visually on the inverter settings page, but these values were not sent to the inverter. It stopped charging at 52v, the settings I set on it before the restart occurred. All seems to be running perfectly 🙏

Thanx guys for the help over the last few days. I wish I had actually taken in what was being offered as a solution and tried it... Everything is working perfectly. The battery drained to around 48.4v, which was equivalent to 21%. Didn't want to risk the batteries switching off and have to go back again tomorrow to turn them on. Batteries are charging back up now. I did notice that the Pi reboot itself once tonight. When it did, the bulk and float voltages reset to 53.2 in the inverter settings tab. I did not click set. I will see if this value is just a default or if it changes the value back. I'll know in the morning. None of the other values seem to have changed...

@Calvin Do you think there is any need for a BMV on this system? Does the King & Pylon BMS communicate okay?

😵 What a plonker! My bad! U did indeed! Somehow I read it but did not implement it! Had so many hassles with this install. It's all a bit of a blur! As u guys both mentioned, solved the problem straight away! 🤭

@SnoopySniper You asked me which settings were incorrect. As per my post above, the bulk and float charging voltages in my case were too high. If the battery cable is connected between the King/VMiii and the Pylon, and battery type in setting 5 is set as PYL, and on the LCD display you are seeing a flashing battery, it indicates that the BMS is talking to the inverter. Right. Now, I am no expert, but if, in this state, the LCD screen is coming up with a warning 69, it is because the BMS, which is in place to, among other things, protect the battery, is telling the inverter to stop sending charge as the battery is already fully charged and possible damage will occur if more charge is forced into the battery. Now thats fine. All you do is lower the bulk and float charge, and hey presto, BMS and battery are happy. All for the cost of 2% battery power. I would guess it can be notched up slightly from 52v until the error comes back, and then dial it back by a 0.1v adjustment to get it at its max. To be honest, I'm happy at 98%! For all those that have Pylon batteries installed with no BMS monitoring the battery, and they have the bulk and float charge set as high as 53.2v, in my humble opinion, this will be doing damage to the battery. I have no idea how much damage, but if the BMS is stopping charge at that voltage, then I'm assuming it's not a good thing... I hope this helps? ✌️

@Coulomb My client was not very happy with me this morning, as I had to return again after the comms port shut itself down. Due to this, and the fact that I DO NOT want to have to return there for a while, I have taken the cautious route until after lockdown. I have disconnected the Pi's battery cable. I have reconnected the King's battery cable to the batteries. I have rebooted the Pi and observed that it is seeing battery SOC as FULL. While the Pi rebooted, the usual 69 fault came up on the screen, during which time the charger was disconnected and the loop started again. After my chat to Johan at ICC last night, I understand that the reason for this fault code is because the BMS inside the Pylon is telling the inverter it is already fully charged, and not to charge more. However the inverter wants to throw more charge at it. But, because of the message from the BMS through the cable to the King, it disconnects the charger, and at the same time (not sure why), it disconnects the solar input (maybe because solar is setup as the only charging method, which forms part of "charging" in general). Now, in my mind, the way to solve this would be to lower the bulk and float charge? Surely?? So, I dropped the bulk charge from the recommended 53.2v to 52v, and the float charge from the recommended 53.2v to 51v, and guess what?? NO 69 FAULT CODE!!! Batteries read 98% (which is obviously what 52v equates to), and they sit perfectly at between 52 and 52.2v charging and discharging as they float on "full" or 98% in this case. This is with the King's battery cable connected to the Pylons and battery type set up as PYL! Therefore the inverter (as per manufacturers specs) should now be measuring SOC from the BMS of the battery. The Pi is still connected, but is getting its' battery SOC from the inverter, which is obviously getting it from the BMS. So this is perfect now! With no battery cable connected from the Pi to the Pylons. Obviously one would need to note that this cannot be done with an inverter that does not allow the batterys' BMS to talk to it. One would need a King or VMIII for this function. It would seem that my problems have been solved!! I don't want to get too happy just yet though. We will see if this runs through the night from 7pm on SBU and the batteries deplete and then charge up again in the morning at around 10am when solar is sufficient. 🤐

The guy I was speaking to whizzed around and changed things, so I am not 100% sure. The settings now are as follows... Back to Grid Voltage - 46v Back to Discharge Voltage - 48v Battery Cutoff Voltage - 54.5v Bulk Charging Voltage - 53.2v Float Charging Voltage - 53.2v Charger Source - Solar Only AC Input - Appliance Battery Type - User An update though.... I had a lengthy chat this evening to the owner of Centurion Solar and the programmer behind the ICC software. He VNC'd into the Pi and queried the system to see where the issue lay, as the battery once again froze up and I could not get any data out of it. The long and short of it is this... The battery's were not designed to have their comms ports as a permanent data transfer port. None of the comms ports on the battery are designed in this manner. They are more akin to an upgrade port. As such, they auto shutoff. This is based on the internal computer in the battery. It decides this. When these ports close, the monitoring cable loses connection. Usually 2-3 reboots of the Pi solve this, but every now and again, the port shuts down, and only a hard reset of the battery will wake it up again. Unfortunately, this is the issue with my battery. I have 2 batteries in parallel, so he suggested that I swap the batteries around and make the other one the master, and try its' comms port as communication, and maybe I'm lucky and it works better. Unfortunately, all lithium batteries are designed this way. It is not just a design fault with Pylon batteries. In fact, it is not a design fault by nature, as the batteries were not designed to transfer data full time through these ports. He is presently working with Pylontech, and busy writing a script of code which will embed itself in the battery, and will query these ports. If they go to sleep, it will try and wake them up again, so that this loss of communication does not happen for an extended time period. He says it's about 70% successful in doing this, but the other 30% of the time the battery will still require a hard reset. I am unlucky in that the battery I have set up as a master is losing its' connection every day. This is far from ideal, as I cannot seem to wake it up by soft resetting it If the Pi can't see it then the inverter will not know when to recharge the batteries, or what level they are at to stop discharging them. So I will try and swap the batteries around and see if that helps. The only battery so far that he has solved this problem for, by working with the manufacturer, is the Blue Nova range. The only way to work around this 100% of the time, is to buy a Victron BMV battery monitor, and plug it into the Pi to use as SOC. Then to use the Pi as usual to control the inverter based on accurate SOC with no resetting necessary. Bear in mind that you will need the VE Direct to USB cable as well to plug the BMV into the Pi. Mine has been a bumpy road with my first full solar install, but I have learnt a LOT along the way in the last 3 months. Looks like I will be coughing up for a BMV monitor so that my client will be happy. From now on I will be including these in the quoted cost of the installation so that I don't run into this issue again. I hope this helps anyone else out there with similar issues... ✌️ Ps: The King version of these inverters has an issue with the firmware. The cable supplied to connect the inverter to the battery works perfectly until you connect solar to the installation. As soon as solar is connected, you get the 69 warning, and charging of the batteries stops, solar is lost, connection is gained, charging starts, solar connects, warning 69, and an endless loop of this situation continues every 10 seconds or so. Also note that if you want to connect the Pi to a King version, you need a USB to micro USB cable. And it needs to be a decent, expensive cable. A cheap R30 cable does not communicate between the Pi and the inverter. Just the way it is. These are some of the things I have learnt along the way... 👨‍🔧

Got hold of the ICC guys today, and they VNC'd into the ICC at my clients. Turns out a couple of settings I had input were not right. We disconnected the inverter from the batteries, and connected the ICC battery cable from the ICC to the batteries. We left the time settings for control as they were, and the SOC control settings as they were. Since 1pm the Pi has been running perfectly and measuring all data correctly. I am eagerly awaiting 7pm so that I can see if this has worked without any more issues. I'll report back tomorrow, after 24h of, hopefully, flawless logging and monitoring...

OMG! This is driving me nutz! And my client as well, which is not good for business! Please can someone help me... After connecting up the Pi and plugging in the special cable from the Pylon 2.4kwH x 2 batteries to the Pi unit, the Pi worked perfectly and I could monitor it and VNC into it as well if I needed to make remote changes. Because this is the Kodak King unit, the communication cable between the Pi and the inverter needs to be in the inverters micro USB port. It also needs to be an expensive cable, not the cheap R30 cables you can buy. They wont work. I tried many! So, I set the inverter up as follows: Battery Type : Use Voltage settings as mentioned on this and other forums for Pylon batteries. Use Time for Control : 7am - 7pm setup as SUB as client wants to run off solar with battery only as backup if needed (loadshedding). 7pm - 7am setup in SBU mode. Obviously there is no solar at this time so the inverter runs on batteries at this time. Use SOC for Control : Back to grid set at 50%. This means that if the batteries reach 50% overnight then they will stop discharging and utility will take over, saving them for a possible worst case scenario of an overcast rainy day, and loadshedding. So, with it setup in this manner, all was working well, batteries were at 99% SOC, and all communication was working perfectly. Got home last night and at around 8pm decided to logon and see what was happening with the batteries, which would have now been running the installation for an hour. Logged in and found that grid watts was zero. Perfect. Saw that the batteries were still at 99%. A bit odd, but possible, as the load was only around 500w. Logged off and made supper. Logged back on around midnight as I was climbing into bed. Batteries still sitting at 99%! Obviously this was impossible. I did a restart of the Pi and waited for it to come back up. When it did, I saw that the grid was now running the installation, and the batteries were showing zero. Also impossible. I checked the Thread Info, and the Pylontech info was blank.... I then clicked on Info Logs, and saw Error Connecting to Pylontech Port... It was after midnight now, so I thought to call round in the morning. This morning, around 10am, I returned to my client, again, to check what was happening. The batteries showed full LEDs lit, 100% charged! The Pi showed zero with a comms problem as mentioned above. I restarted the Pi again and everything came right! I failed the mains and checked that everything was being displayed properly on the Pi. Solar was running, so I pulled the fuses on that. This left the batteries running the installation and discharging, no grid watts, no solar. Perfect. Reconnected solar and mains, and watched the batteries charging back up again. Perfect! Said goodbye and promised to monitor and find that "sweet spot" for my client. Around 5pm I logged in and all was still fine. Logged in again around 8pm, an hour after switch over to SBU mode, so the inverter should be running on battery now... Again, this was the case, however battery was reading 99% again... Checked the Thread info and found that the Pylontech field was blank again! Once again the Pi could not connect to the Pylontech port! This was connected and running perfect all day, and at 5pm too. I can only think that when the inverter switched over to SBU mode, it lost connection to the batteries! The same as last night! I have no idea why though?! So, i restarted the Pi, and waited for it to come online again and reconnected to it. Still no battery connection. Restarted again. Still no battery connection. No matter what I tried, or what sequence of stopping and starting and changing settings and restarting, I cannot get the Pylon batteries back online! The best that i got was the inverter running the batteries off of its own management system. The Pi being basically useless. Just a manner of VNC'ing into the unit remotely. I am so upset with this installation. I keep going back to my client again and again and again! Not only is he getting rather annoyed with me, but I am losing faith in these Voltronic inverters and Pi monitoring systems. Please, if anyone has any input, please impart your knowledge Tomorrow I will need to return AGAIN! I am going to reconnect the cable from the inverter to the Pylon batteries. The one that came with the inverter. The King inverters can manage the battery via its own BMS. Unfortunately, the reason that I am using the Pi method is because the inverter was doing strange things when running on Battery Type: PYL. I'm at a loss other than that and hope that with this SOC method and the Pi connected, I can get this unit to run like i need it with no further issues... 😥

Okay guys, I am making a quick mission to my clients house today to install the ICC hardware and see how it goes running it off of state of charge via ICC instead of off of the Voltronic battery settings. I have setup VNC on the ICC hardware here at home, and tested it, so I know it works. I'll be able to monitor and make changes if necessary from the comfort of my office (fingers crossed). I'll let you now how this inverter behaves running via ICC...

How do you go about notifying them of the "bug" then?

Yes, well, when you are selling millions of units worldwide, and there are people such as yourself out there who can manipulate code, why should they need to do anything about it. Their job will eventually be done for them, or a workaround will be found. 🤬

At least until someone can fix this error with the Axpert inverter??

Thanx @Coulomb & @Calvin A quick question then... I have read somewhere, and also been told the same thing, that if you use USR on battery type and setup your individual voltages on the different settings, then the lithium battery does not function as well as if it was working through a BMS. Apparently this is because the inverter reads voltage across terminals instead of reading percentage charge left in the battery. Will this have an impact on overall battery capacity and performance? These are the 2 questions my client is asking me... In particular a video on youtube worries me regarding this... The forum wont let me post the link, but if you search "how to connect and use pylontech cable" on youtube you see a demonstration of how retarded the battery works under the Axpert settings for a lithium battery. I suppose the only option would be to permanently connect an ICC control hardware system to the inverter and batteries...?

Is your setup in SBU mode?