Hi there,

I am looking for guidance in my installation is correct.

I am currently using the following batteries in a master/slave connection

 

1. Leoch - LFeLi-48100C (48V 100Ah)
2. Shoto - SDA 10-48100 (5.12 KwH)

My inverter is a GoodWe EM 5048.

• On the Leoch, I set the "ADD" switch 1 to ON
• On the Shoto, I set the "ADD" switch 5 to ON

Is this correct?

I noticed that even though the Shoto was recently added, and set to slave (according to their documentation), it currently behaves as the master and depletes first before the Leoch takes over.

I will appreciate any feedback and guidance.

NB: I am the house owner, not the installer.

Regards

Hi @Geda, I am wondering why you decided to add a Shoto instead of another Leoch. 

I see a few problems here : 

1) The Leoch is a 15s - 48 volt Nominal battery whereas the Shoto is 16s - 51.2 volt Nominal. They require different charge voltages and voltage at 100% SOC in one would not be the same in the other.

2) Two different brands would not necessarily communicate. In fact it is unlikely, unless you have some information stating that these two will.

3) Just because the one is set as Master ( for its particular model) and the one as Slave ( for its model) does not mean they will act accordingly.

My opinion would be that these two are not compatible.

For reference I have three Hubble X-100's and two Leoch LFeLi 48100TB's connected in one bank.

The difference being they are both 15s - 48v Nominal batteries and as far as I could establish are materially identical.

Even so, they use different protocols and do not communicate.

I think the lack of industry standards in the protocols batteries use to communicate with Inverters - and probably with other batteries -  is a big problem in the solar industry.

Thanks @Brickman for replying.

I relied on my installer on the choice of hardware to use, so I trusted what he recommended.

Somehow these seemingly incompatible batteries are handling the load fine, and when the Shoto gets to 80%, the Leoch carries on supplying the house.  Hence I said there is some 'handover/failover' happening.

The other challenge I am battling to resolve is that the BMS from the Leoch was not connected to the inverter, so I have been trying to get the guy to come out and fix it.  He previously said the 'communication failure' message could be due to firmware needing to be updated but I have recently decided to read up on it.

Based on what you are telling me, when I eventually connect the BMS I might not get correct health stats.

• Inverter BMS -> Shoto CAN port
• Shoto RS485A -> Leoch RS485A

I potentially need to buy another Shoto I guess.

 

Edited March 2, 20224 yr by Geda

On 2022/03/02 at 5:36 PM, Geda said:

I am currently using the following batteries in a master/slave connection

1. Leoch - LFeLi-48100C (48V 100Ah)
2. Shoto - SDA 10-48100 (5.12 KwH)

If you are mixing batteries from different manufacturers the least you should do is to choose the same chemistry AND the same number of cells. Your LEOCH has 15 cells, the Shoto has 16 cells. That will never work fine. I would never expect BMS from different manufacturers to have compatible protocols.