Hi @Scorp007 That question was for @MightyDee hence the 15 cells .  I see that svolt battery has a screen , i assume thats how the cell voltages were obtained . 

Sorry.  😂

 

Hello everyone,

Has anyone noticed how Luxpower SNA 5000 does not have settings to limit PV charge to the batteries?

With PV Power, the inverter charges the battery to 100% resulting in multiple over voltage protection (OVP) warnings on the BMS and Battery High Voltage warning on the inverter. I thought it will use AC or Generator charge settings for PV charge but nope.

Is there a method to limit the PV charge? I want to use the battery for loadshedding only. This issue is forcing me to discharge the battery over night to avoid filling them quickly in the morning, which avoids multiple OVP warnings on the BMS. I am using an SVolt 5.09KWh 48V battery with comms working via CAN port.

This is frustrating, and shocking how this manufacture did not consider putting settings to control PV charging.

 

I have a slightly different scenario. Same battery with a Growatt ES 5000 communicating via RS485. The maximum charge current  is set at 5A  and cannot be changed in LI mode and I am forced to go to USER2 mode. This allows me to change the current and voltage limits, however, despite the recommended settings, as soon as it reaches the fully charged state- the OVP warning on the battery is triggered. I have tried lower charge settings and the issue still persists. What I have noticed though, is that as soon as the reaches 100% charge, the inverter inexplicably displays higher voltage settings, slightly above the preset ones. So,  what I have done is , once the battery reaches the 99% mark, I quickly revert back to LI mode on the inverter to avoid the OVP warnings. I know this is not an ideal way of doing things, but my frustration is the less than ideal charge current setting limitation on the Growatt. I tried reaching out to Growatt and pointed out the issue to them and they simply responded by saying to just go with the USER2 setting. So, my thinking is that the OVP warnings are more on the inverter side than the battery itself- stand to be corrected though. 

 

The maximum charge current  is set at 5A  and cannot be changed in LI mode and I am forced to go to USER2 mode.

That sounds very odd. In Li BMS mode the charge current is set by the battery and cannot be changed by the user, correct.
The fact that your battery sets it at 5A sounds like an error of some sort. Maybe a non compatible Protocol.
That battery is either a 0,5C or 1C battery, meaning the charge current should probably be auto set to 50A or 100A.
Rather ask Growatt why the charge current is set to 5A if they claim Battery-Inverter compatibility.

Suggest you try the following to see what the results are.
Disconnect the comms cable.
Go to USE mode, not US2, i.e. voltage control mode.
Now set all your paramaters manually to what the battery specs call for. Test in this mode and see if the results are any different.

 

 

That sounds very odd. In Li BMS mode the charge current is set by the battery and cannot be changed by the user, correct.
The fact that your battery sets it at 5A sounds like an error of some sort. Maybe a non compatible Protocol.
That battery is either a 0,5C or 1C battery, meaning the charge current should probably be auto set to 50A or 100A.
Rather ask Growatt why the charge current is set to 5A if they claim Battery-Inverter compatibility.

Suggest you try the following to see what the results are.
Disconnect the comms cable.
Go to USE mode, not US2, i.e. voltage control mode.
Now set all your paramaters manually to what the battery specs call for. Test in this mode and see if the results are any different.

 

We had great difficulty getting the battery to communicate with the inverter after installation, trying numerous protocols with no success. Eventually settled on the L02 protocol via RS485, but then came the hurdle  of the 5A charge limit. I would prefer the battery and inverter to communicate via LI mode, but I end up with a battery that takes forever to be fully charged, hence the USER2 option. This has now presented another hurdle of the OVP warning on the battery. I will give the USE option a go and see how that goes, thanks for the tip.

Apologies to @MightyDee for highjacking the thread.

 

We had great difficulty getting the battery to communicate with the inverter after installation, trying numerous protocols with no success. Eventually settled on the L02 protocol via RS485, but then came the hurdle  of the 5A charge limit. I would prefer the battery and inverter to communicate via LI mode, but I end up with a battery that takes forever to be fully charged, hence the USER2 option. This has now presented another hurdle of the OVP warning on the battery. I will give the USE option a go and see how that goes, thanks for the tip.

Apologies to @MightyDee for highjacking the thread.

Hi what happened when you used the CAN port?

 

Hi what happened when you used the CAN port?

Tried two CAN protocols, L52 and 54 and no success there.

 

Hi what happened when you used the CAN port?

 

 

We had great difficulty getting the battery to communicate with the inverter after installation, trying numerous protocols with no success. Eventually settled on the L02 protocol via RS485, but then came the hurdle  of the 5A charge limit. I would prefer the battery and inverter to communicate via LI mode, but I end up with a battery that takes forever to be fully charged, hence the USER2 option. This has now presented another hurdle of the OVP warning on the battery. I will give the USE option a go and see how that goes, thanks for the tip.

Apologies to @MightyDee for highjacking the thread.

I've been using my set up 2 X 5000 ES growats on user2 for over two years now, no problem whatsoever, I set parameters 19 to 56.3 V and 20 to 53.3 V, and charging current to 26 Amps, it works like a dream, see attached dashboard. 

Edited October 2, 20232 yr by Antonio de Sa

 

Tried two CAN protocols, L52 and 54 and no success there.

Did you check to see how the pins at each end of the cable must be connected? CAN cables are not all equal. On my Goodwe I had to cut all but two connectors in the cable before the battery communicated with the inverter.

@JoeMobstarr28 I'd suggest you reach out to Svolt support as the BMS used in these Svolt batteries is a Pace BMS and it has various protocols which can be set on the BMS - the default is Pylon although there may be a better one to use with the Growatt inverter.

 

@MightyDee I have noticed a similar issue with my batteries (16 cell version), at times it's at 100% SoC with a pack voltage of around 54v and at other times its at 100% SoC with a pack voltage of high 55v (ie. 55.7v). I played around over the weekend to see if I can try pin point when or why this happens, at first I thought it was the primary battery which would end up with the lower pack voltage but that does not seem to be the case.

I know that the cell OV alarm is set to 3.60v and OVP is 3.70v, this is only released at 3.38v though.

The other thing which is a bit peculiar is that the pack fullcharge voltage is 56v which is not technically a 100% full 16 cell LiFePO4 pack.

 

I have reached out to Svolt support and I will need to pull the logs for them from the BMS for them to send to their offices overseas. We will see what happens, I am tempted to make some changes to the BMS settings myself but would prefer to keep the warranty in place at this point and fear the changes could lead to a void warranty.

 

@JoeMobstarr28 I'd suggest you reach out to Svolt support as the BMS used in these Svolt batteries is a Pace BMS and it has various protocols which can be set on the BMS - the default is Pylon although there may be a better one to use with the Growatt inverter.

 

@MightyDee I have noticed a similar issue with my batteries (16 cell version), at times it's at 100% SoC with a pack voltage of around 54v and at other times its at 100% SoC with a pack voltage of high 55v (ie. 55.7v). I played around over the weekend to see if I can try pin point when or why this happens, at first I thought it was the primary battery which would end up with the lower pack voltage but that does not seem to be the case.

I know that the cell OV alarm is set to 3.60v and OVP is 3.70v, this is only released at 3.38v though.

The other thing which is a bit peculiar is that the pack fullcharge voltage is 56v which is not technically a 100% full 16 cell LiFePO4 pack.

 

I have reached out to Svolt support and I will need to pull the logs for them from the BMS for them to send to their offices overseas. We will see what happens, I am tempted to make some changes to the BMS settings myself but would prefer to keep the warranty in place at this point and fear the changes could lead to a void warranty.

@zsde The USE mode has higher voltage control limits compared to USER2 and is slighty above the battery parameters- so I decided to stick to USER2. I still need to see what protocol works best with SVolt.

@Bobster.I tried various pinouts but can't say with absolute certainty that these are correct, currently using the cable that was supplied with the battery and that was the only one that I had some progress with.

@PsyCLown I can try your suggestion but I am not so hopeful...Sent them a query last month and got no response.

Thanks to the other forum members for your input, much appreciated.

 

@PsyCLown I can try your suggestion but I am not so hopeful...Sent them a query last month and got no response.

Thanks to the other forum members for your input, much appreciated.

I will PM you the details for one of the technical guys from Johannesburg.

 

Hi what happened when you used the CAN port?

Hi 

Finally got around to testing the L52 protocol on CAN. Turns out the installer was going about it the wrong way and I decided to do it myself.

Glad to report that it works and the charge current was automatically set to 95A under LI mode.

Thanks to all the forumites for the help.

 

I will PM you the details for one of the technical guys from Johannesburg.

Hi there

Thanks for getting me in touch with the SVolt guy, he was of great assistance and I finally managed to sort out the 5A charge limitation issue. Got it working under CAN protocol and it's now sitting at 95A.

The voltage was automatically set to 54 v on both bulk and float, slightly higher than what he recommended. I will monitor how it goes and hopefully it'll behave😕

On 2023/10/02 at 2:23 PM, PsyCLown said:

@JoeMobstarr28 I'd suggest you reach out to Svolt support as the BMS used in these Svolt batteries is a Pace BMS and it has various protocols which can be set on the BMS - the default is Pylon although there may be a better one to use with the Growatt inverter.

 

@MightyDee I have noticed a similar issue with my batteries (16 cell version), at times it's at 100% SoC with a pack voltage of around 54v and at other times its at 100% SoC with a pack voltage of high 55v (ie. 55.7v). I played around over the weekend to see if I can try pin point when or why this happens, at first I thought it was the primary battery which would end up with the lower pack voltage but that does not seem to be the case.

I know that the cell OV alarm is set to 3.60v and OVP is 3.70v, this is only released at 3.38v though.

The other thing which is a bit peculiar is that the pack fullcharge voltage is 56v which is not technically a 100% full 16 cell LiFePO4 pack.

 

I have reached out to Svolt support and I will need to pull the logs for them from the BMS for them to send to their offices overseas. We will see what happens, I am tempted to make some changes to the BMS settings myself but would prefer to keep the warranty in place at this point and fear the changes could lead to a void warranty.

HI @PsyCLown, which BMS software are you using to read the logs? Is it Pbms Tools or something? I have also sent Luxpower some query. I believe the inverter should allow us to limit the PV charge the same way it does for AC and Generator charge. This would resolve all the problems

@JoeMobstarr28, which settings did you use on your Growatt for the SVolt battery?

 

I once had a similar issue with an N-Energy battery reporting the wrong voltage of 5.0V (instead of 50V) to a Luxpower SNA inverter via RS485. I will avoid any battery that does not have CAN in future.

1 hour ago, MightyDee said:

@JoeMobstarr28, which settings did you use on your Growatt for the SVolt battery?

 

I once had a similar issue with an N-Energy battery reporting the wrong voltage of 5.0V (instead of 50V) to a Luxpower SNA inverter via RS485. I will avoid any battery that does not have CAN in future.

Hi there,

CAN- L52

RS485- L04, works similar to L52.

Had issues with L02- limits charge current to 5A.

I have given up running on LI BMS mode, voltage is set higher at 54 V on both bulk and float( SVolt recommends 52.5 V and 51 V) and this is what leads to the OVP warnings on the BMS. I have been on USER2 ever since with less hassles.

5 hours ago, MightyDee said:

HI @PsyCLown, which BMS software are you using to read the logs? Is it Pbms Tools or something? I have also sent Luxpower some query. I believe the inverter should allow us to limit the PV charge the same way it does for AC and Generator charge. This would resolve all the problems

Yes, I use PBMS Tools to read the BMS info from the Svolt batteries.

 

The luxpower does allow you to change the charging current on the inverter, although it is a combined total which includes PV & AC/ Gen:

 

4 hours ago, PsyCLown said:

Yes, I use PBMS Tools to read the BMS info from the Svolt batteries.

 

The luxpower does allow you to change the charging current on the inverter, although it is a combined total which includes PV & AC/ Gen:

 

@PsyCLownalright I see w.r.t PBMS.   Yes I saw the charging current setting. I meant settings to limit the capacity (SOC) of the battery. I do not want to fill my battery to 100%, I would like to charge it up until.. let us say 90% at most. So that I can cycle between 90% to 30% each day.

I wonder if the BMS Bulk and Float voltages differ to the 5.4KWh 16-cell version of the SVolt batteries.

 

I have contacted Luxpower SA to see if newer firmware updates can help on my side. Because yes even on Luxpower, the Charge Voltage is set to 54.7V and the Float at 54V. It is a BMS issue indeed, we should spam SVOLT tech support teams for help lool.

Luxpower does send BMS updates for some batteries (i.e Hubble), not sure if they work with battery manufactures to make this possible. At this stage SVOLT is not under the list of supported batteries by either Growatt and Luxpower.

15 hours ago, MightyDee said:

I wonder if the BMS Bulk and Float voltages differ to the 5.4KWh 16-cell version of the SVolt batteries.

 

I have contacted Luxpower SA to see if newer firmware updates can help on my side. Because yes even on Luxpower, the Charge Voltage is set to 54.7V and the Float at 54V. It is a BMS issue indeed, we should spam SVOLT tech support teams for help lool.

Luxpower does send BMS updates for some batteries (i.e Hubble), not sure if they work with battery manufactures to make this possible. At this stage SVOLT is not under the list of supported batteries by either Growatt and Luxpower.

Yes they do as the 5.09kWh is 15 cells and the 5.43kWh is 16 cells, so the voltages need to differ and they do.

54.7v / 15 cells = 3.646v which is basically a full cell.

 

Svolt use a Pace BMS and Hubble also use a Pace BMS - likely different Pace BMS versions though but the compatibility with inverters is likely the same.

 

Are you using the Svolt battery with the Luxpower with communication or in lead-acid mode?

I see.

I use it with CAN coms, on Pylontech battery brand (2). I use up to 60% of the battery in the evening so that I can utilise Solar to charge every morning. I have set my On-Grid End of Discharge to 40%.

On 2023/10/27 at 5:05 PM, MightyDee said:

I see.

I use it with CAN coms, on Pylontech battery brand (2). I use up to 60% of the battery in the evening so that I can utilise Solar to charge every morning. I have set my On-Grid End of Discharge to 40%.

On sunny days I set mine to 10% which means I use 90% of my battery's capacity. Now that's it's sunny I could probably charge 20kwh, would definitely not be able to in winter.

Now if I had the option to feedback in summer to balance my winter usage it would make more sense to buy a net metering device for R10k vs R60k for another 10kwh of batteries. Alas feeding back is still not available here.

Edited October 29, 20232 yr by Buyeye

On 2023/10/29 at 10:40 AM, Buyeye said:

On sunny days I set mine to 10% which means I use 90% of my battery's capacity. Now that's it's sunny I could probably charge 20kwh, would definitely not be able to in winter.

Now if I had the option to feedback in summer to balance my winter usage it would make more sense to buy a net metering device for R10k vs R60k for another 10kwh of batteries. Alas feeding back is still not available here.

Hi Buyeye, how does the feeding back work? Suppose you feed 100KWh to the municipality, will they allow you to use this 100KWh during winter? I thought the city just buys energy from you at R0.12C per KWh. I am not understanding this well, https://www.tshwane.gov.za/?page_id=23414

I heard the City of Tshwane supports feed-in if you have the right inverter that can  cut supply when there is no Grid energy.

 

12 minutes ago, MightyDee said:

 https://www.tshwane.gov.za/?page_id=23414

I heard the City of Tshwane supports feed-in if you have the right inverter that can  cut supply when there is no Grid energy.

 

Normally those inverters that are bi-directional and can feed back into the grid will stop feeding back the moment the grid is lost. 

I hear about their concerns for safety but it would be interesting to know which makes and models would feed back into the grid to be unsafe as pointed out under the Q&A reply. 

I think most that do allow feed back require that you must still be a nett user per month. This means no feed back in summer for use in winter. The 2 registers are used just to deduct export from units used during the month. 

Not worth it to get a few cents per kWh exported looking at the cost of the meter for the customer account. 

2 hours ago, MightyDee said:

Hi Buyeye, how does the feeding back work? Suppose you feed 100KWh to the municipality, will they allow you to use this 100KWh during winter? I thought the city just buys energy from you at R0.12C per KWh. I am not understanding this well, https://www.tshwane.gov.za/?page_id=23414

I heard the City of Tshwane supports feed-in if you have the right inverter that can  cut supply when there is no Grid energy.

 

I was hoping we would get a system for feeding in similar to the Americans but different cities are implementing feeding in differently at different rates. So you have to read what is available in your city and make a decision based on that.

I'm in kzn and feeding in is still not available in the city where I live.

Syncing with the grid is a basic feature in hybrid inverter. If they lose sync they limit to load or essentials. The arrow in the far right would fall away.

Edited November 19, 20232 yr by Buyeye