reapster

I have 2 setups with a Pi monitoring the batteries via the RS232 port (I just use a MAX2232 module to do the TTL<->RS232 level conversion, but the USB<->RS232 devices work great too), using https://github.com/Tertiush/bmspace. Works great, and goes into home assistant. I've also gotten PBMSTools to work remotely with ser2net to read out the logs which was helpful. They're standard PACE BMS's though, so anything that talks to Hubble/Revov/SVolt (and many, many others) etc will work.

some "gotchas" for balancing these: The SVolts PACE BMS is set to start balancing at 3.5v/cell, 20mv difference (so anything less and it wont kick in). They will keep balancing once OVP is hit at least, so that helps a bit. If at any point it sees a discharge, balancing stops immediately - so, if you have a bulk and float, and the current drops and it drops to float, balancing stops. I usually set float and balance the same when trying to get these (PACE BMS based batteries) balanced. SVolt recently changed their recommended voltages to the below:

Apologies if you've already done this, but worth asking: Did you set the DIP switches on the batteries? On the 1st battery, just switch 1 should be on, on the 2nd, only 2 should be on/up. I think they come with all down which likely wont work with RS485. The SVolt batteries do default to the Pylontech protocol as you've stated, as far as I'm aware.

From SVolt tech support:

Claimed/collected by @WannabeSolarSparky - was great to meet you!

If anyone wants the below, free to anyone willing to collect (Southern Suburbs, CPT)

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread - just dealt with an old Axpert 5kVA (Synerji rebrand of an Axpert MKS 5K) with a blown PAR board. When testing/fixing another similar (the 0.8 PF version) inverter, it ran fine without this board. In the case of the current unit, the board was blown badly, similar to that in the first post. Removing it seems to have no effect, and the inverter functions fine, charging and on battery. (This unit is a single unit, no parallel setup at all) I had assumed this was the "current-sharing" board, or something to do with handling parallel connections (mostly based on it being called the 'PAR' board in the service manual), but my understanding is nothing compared to @Coulomb's - Just wanted to update with some anecdotal experience! Keen to hear anyone elses thoughts and have my (admittedly limited) understanding corrected!

Seems like such a thing called a rotary phase converter exists, which seems pretty interesting, and, possible to DIY (its pretty much 3-phase motor with some capacitors and drop-out relay) it seems.

Depending on your Aircon (eg, Midea - https://esphome.io/components/climate/midea.html), it might be possible to add an esp8266/esp32/ESPHome to it and go the home assistant route there, if you are up for that. EDIT: Sorry - saw you were just using aircons as an example, my bad.

The Pace BMS typically keeps the last 400 or so events/alarms timestamped, I'd guess this is what they use to assist in their warranty-denying escapades. But wow, thats a pretty terrible customer experience.

Altergrid mentioned they expecting them around mid-August

Just got 16 of these too! As mentioned previously, all pretty much perfectly balanced (within 1-2mv) Just waiting on the clips + bus bars too now.

That impressive @FixAMess, out of interest, at 1C discharge, what do you see the cell difference go up to? Keen to compare, I get the impression around 0.1v is expected at max discharge (for around a 100Ah/5kW battery), but I've seen higher on my batteries (though they aren't new). Assume it varies a bit over the discharge cycle as well, less during flat voltage section and higher during the lower and upper SoC?

Agree with @FixAMess, though as a disclaimer, I haven't been through any warranty claims. Having read the "terms" though, things like having to register the installation within a week, take pictures, use the right fuses and settings (which as others have pointed out, is difficult when there are 4-5 different datasheets and manuals saying different things for a single battery), and only then, they might, at their discretion, honor a "warranty". It feels like many of these have enough escape hatches built in to avoid any claims if they deem fit, but honor claims soley to avoid bad publicity when it suits them.

Eskom are welcome to incentivise the behaviour change, and I'll gladly take advantage of that (which is exactly time of use tariff as mentioned above, though I know zero about whether this is available to us lowly individuals). Without that, I'll not be lifting a finger to help a failed SoE out of the goodness of my heart.

Wow thanks for the doc. Looks pretty much like Voltronic LIB to me. I assume the greyed out parts are not mandatory (when sniffing LIB I didn't see my inverter request the the greyed out stuff (Axpert King 1) - and my battery (Blue Nova RacPower) also doesn't respond to most of the greyed out (0x10-0x2F, 0x40-0x55) addresses, annoyingly).

Thanks @RikusW for all your work and for the info on this. I ended up with a BlueNova RacPower battery too, and your CAN bus dumps and decoding work are super super helpful. Also great to know it changes protocol instantly (saved me lots of restarts switching and dumping CAN messages again!) I can read out the usual stuff (Voltage, temp, SoC, charge/discharge current/voltages) from it via CAN (thanks to you) and via RS485 (Voltronic LIB protocol). I see they support some of the Voltronic LIB protocol, but I'm super keen to get the cycle count and cell voltages too, did BlueNova ever get back to you with info? Thanks again everyone!

Heya @BritishRacingGreenR628.80 was the total I had to pay, after paying for the DigiKey order, so no, not as far as I understand. There wasn't any tax/vat on the digikey invoice, so I guess the R628.80 essentially includes "VAT" in this case.

I ordered R2k of parts (IGBTs, caps, power diodes) from DigiKey. Super quick courier, but got nailed for R628.80 customs/import duties. This was Sept, 2022.

I use mppsolar (https://github.com/jblance/mpp-solar) which works pretty well with my RCT brand Axpert 5k/4kW MKS

Have a spare HA02 battery balancer that I no longer need, free to a good (or any) home. Located in southern suburbs, CPT, if you want to collect, but can courier if need be.

Heya @tertiuscpt Just wanted to let you know this works great on my Revov R100 too! Can confirm the pinout is the same on the RJ11 Thanks for the project!

All sold

Have 10 new JASolar 395W panels at R1800 ea, Claremont, Cape Town. Ended up with part pallet and looking to sell some if any interest. Unfortunatey don't have an invoice though. Happy to give some kind of warranty/assurance if that helps though.