3 x US3000's (A)

Venus GX  

Victron MP II 48/5000

Win 11

Soft version seems to be 1.3 on the 2 I can read

As the title says, with the cable I have I can connect to 2 of the 3 batteries but not the master (throws timeout), is there some trick I'm missing?
Tried removing the Battery CAN connection going to the Venus GX, that changed nothing.

Dipswitches are all the same positions.

Tried with BV 2.0/ BV 3.0.28 / BV 3.0.33 /BV 3.0.37 Thank you @Youda Bless you.

Also tried the check box enabled & disabled for units joined.

Com port # & setting is correct.

Tried setting Regions to US

Only thing I can think is my cable but then why will it work on the other 2 batts okay.
This cable I have that I don't recall where I even got it from doesn't have any DB9 involved in it - it just looks like USB direct to RJ11 cable but does show up as a com port when plugged in. So........?? Lost.

Have ordered another cable & will see if it is that.
 

Anything doff I'm missing?

 

 

 

Edited January 28, 20251 yr by 2una

Hi @2una

I have a couple of very old US3000 too, just like yours - with the RJ11 console port.

A couple of tips:

• If the cable works for #2 and #3 it is okay and should work for the master battery too. (Of course, if the console port on the master is not physically or electrically damaged).
• AFAIK, a direct USB to RJ11 cable was sold for ICC monitor in the past. Maybe that's how you got it.
• CAN communication does not interfere with the serial console. They both run in parallel without any issue. So, you can leave master battery connected to Venux GX while playing with the console and BV.
• As far as I can remember mine US3000 worked the best with the BV2.0. Only after I upgraded FW they started to work OK with the BV 3.0.x.
• For the purposes of connection testing there's no need to check "parallel" and to enter the number of stacked batteries. Just select COM port and press OK. Even if the batteries are physically daisy chained, the BV will connect directly and show the values for the brick it is connected to. Works for master and for other batteries too.
• 115 200 baud worked for me every time, but the truth is the manual says that the console runs at 1 200 baud.
• DIP switches are for setting RS485 address of the master battery and for setting RS485 baudrate. They have no influence to the console.
• Sometimes the console of the BMS got stuck, especially if I tried talking to it via Putty too much, etc. If that's the case, just turn all the batteries OFF/ON in order to restart BMS. Beware of the power surge, caused by the empty capacitors in the inverter. The best would be to switch off the inverter first, but leave DC cables connected to the batteries so the capacitors will not get drained within a minute or two that you will need for that restart.
• Console does not reply when connected via Putty. It waits silently for a "magic sequence" that BV sends upon connection. Once that sequence is received by the BMS, it starts to accept CLI commands, sending replies etc. In this state you can use CLI that is built in the BV, or kill the BV and switch to Putty (or any other terminal emulator).

TL:DR - I would suggest to restart the batteries

 

 

Thanks for the help Youda much appreciated.

No dice so far.

The cable yes looks like what ICC sells but I can't find any record from them , I think maybe at the time (a few years ago) it was said to also be okay for batteryview for viewing use, don't really recall too well.
I remember trying to connect once & it didn't work & then got sidetracked & never got back to it till now.

Restarted the batteries. 

Dropped down the Baud rate & stepped thru all of them & tried different version's of the BV software again from 2.0 up.

Switched USB port

Doesn't want to play ball so will try with the cable that has the DB9 on it when it arrives & cross fingers its that & not a seedy console socket.
Clips in like it should but living close to the ocean brings possibilities. Photo with flash I don't see anything ugly in there.

You think once I get sense out of it that it is ok to jump from software v1.3 straight to v3.4 BIN or safer to go to v2.8 1st ? Any thoughts on that?

i guess if I get no luck with the new cable its off to Putty school.
 

 

Hmm, that sounds strange.

8 hours ago, 2una said:

You think once I get sense out of it that it is ok to jump from software v1.3 straight to v3.4 BIN or safer to go to v2.8 1st ?

You can go directly to the newest FW, no need for a phased update (I have 3.4 in my US3000 too).

You can downgrade also.

 

What else you can try: just turn them all off, and rewire the LinkPort0/1 cables in a manner that the last battery will be the master. Power on.
Then try to connect BV and set Parallel = 3.

 

2 hours ago, Youda said:

Hmm, that sounds strange.

You can go directly to the newest FW, no need for a phased update (I have 3.4 in my US3000 too).

You can downgrade also.

 

What else you can try: just turn them all off, and rewire the LinkPort0/1 cables in a manner that the last battery will be the master. Power on.
Then try to connect BV and set Parallel = 3.

 

 

Ok thankyou Youda
Did the change of the linkports & still can't get any comms connecting thru that Batt1.

When I changed the linkports Batt3 was the new Master & connected BV with parallel checked & I did get to pull the data from Batt1 now tho.

It is also v1.3

So I guess that console port on Batt 1 is either damaged or gone to permanent sleep?

How much trouble am I looking for to try do a firmware update via parallel connection?
I guess Batt2 & Batt3 I can do directly but is it doable to try update Batt1 via the parallel connection you think or is it not even possible?

 

Extra curve ball is the new cable with the DB9 connectors arrived & with that I can't get any comms happening on any batts so far so no joy with that cable.



 

 

Fell into a wee trap
When i uploaded the logs for Batt1 that I hadn't been able to get to I actually uploaded Batt3 logs because changing the linkport connections around made my old batt3 the new batt1......sorted in that regard anyway....orange is the new black kinda story

Edited January 29, 20251 yr by 2una

7 hours ago, 2una said:

So I guess that console port on Batt 1 is either damaged or gone to permanent sleep?

Looks like that. RIP.

 

7 hours ago, 2una said:

How much trouble am I looking for to try do a firmware update via parallel connection?
I guess Batt2 & Batt3 I can do directly but is it doable to try update Batt1 via the parallel connection you think or is it not even possible?

Great question. Cannot answer this.
Whenever I am doing FW upgrade, I do it one by one, without using parallel.

4 hours ago, 2una said:

When i uploaded the logs for Batt1 that I hadn't been able to get to I actually uploaded Batt3 logs because changing the linkport connections around made my old batt3 the new batt1......sorted in that regard anyway....orange is the new black kinda story

Message unclear, please clarify.

26 minutes ago, Youda said:

Message unclear, please clarify.

Batt 1-2-3 What was module 1-2-3 from top to bottom , when switching the linkports so the no3 or bottom battery is Master that becomes the new module 1, 2 stays the same & 3 is then the top one.

So changing the order resolved your comms issue?  Strange but can also be dust or bad connection on RJ11.

 

 

6 minutes ago, Marius2001 said:

So changing the order resolved your comms issue?  Strange but can also be dust or bad connection on RJ11.

 

 

No, it just made it possible to read from the battery that I couldn't connect from directly by doing it via using the parallel checkbox on the BV software.

I'm still stuck in so far as I can't connect to that battery by itself as the console port seems to be a problem.

Need to do some digging to see if its safe enough to try firmware update via the same way.

China being in their new year are out of the picture for a couple of weeks.

Seems clean enough

The one not working top & a working one below 

 

Youda my purpose of this is driven by wanting to get the extra bms cell info to the Victron happening, which needs to be more up to date firmware.
At present they are all on v1.3

Whats your thoughts if I just update the new master as I believe I've read that then will allow those comms to happen.
OR is it better left alone all running the same firmware versus running 1 or 2 batts on new FW & one on very old - very old would be the last batt in the current config.

You have any thoughts?

Connect via BV to master, open CLI console and write down command: pwr

Then check the text output.

All the info about cells, temps and voltages is available to the master. Only thing that new FW does is that it puts small sample of this info into CAN protocol extension that Victron uses.

So, just update the master and it should work okay with the Victron, despite all the others (or #3) will stay on the old FW.

If you mess something, FW downgrade is possible in Pylontech.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 20251 yr by Youda

23 minutes ago, Youda said:

Connect via BV to master, open CLI console and write down command: pwr

Where is that hidden? I don't see it & haven't been brave enough to touch "log-in" - is it in there?

 

25 minutes ago, Youda said:

All the info about cells, temps and voltages is available to the master. Only thing that new FW does is that it puts this info into CAN protocol extension that Victron uses.

So, just update the master and it should work okay with the Victron, despite all the other will stay on an old FW.

If you mess something, FW downgrade is possible in Pylontech.

Ok thank you  , I'll do that - update the master & wait for China's holidays to finish & see what they have to say

14 minutes ago, 2una said:

Where is that hidden? I don't see it & haven't been brave enough to touch "log-in" - is it in there?

options

login

administrator

pylontech

console window

 

other CLI commands to play with

help

pwr 2

pwrsys

stat

info 2

soh 2

config

....

 

Good luck

 

1 hour ago, Youda said:

options

login

administrator

pylontech

console window

 

other CLI commands to play with

help

pwr 2

pwrsys

stat

info 2

soh 2

config

....

 

Good luck

 

Looks like a good place for me to stay out of 🤪

Jobs done on the master - copying the history & event data after the upgrade is painful slow now tho vrs when I did it earlier. Not sure I even need it but that SOP says to so following orders.

Thanks a bunch for your help Youda 

 

This is a weird problem
Today i monkeyed around some more & decided to try match the PC Date/time format to what the connection time out error messages were saying.
That worked out to be set the PC Time zone +8H China & 24h time format - Regions were already on US.
Then using the Update tool ( the failed firmware tool) left everything blank & unchecked & hit connect.

Viola it linked.
Closed update tool, checked with BV, working there also , unplugged & went back to the 2nd battery & updated its firmware.

Then back to the problem connection batt, connected again with BV & firmware update worked.

Thinking i'd cracked the problem & while the batts were offline returned my linkport leads back to the original way where the problem one was Master.

But after doing that no more talkies again with the problem 1, other 2 still fine.

Maybe I just got lucky but seems pretty odd. 

Anyway now have all 3 batts on v3.4

 

Edited January 30, 20251 yr by 2una

17 minutes ago, 2una said:

But after doing that no more talkies again.

🤣

Check the master battery gender. I bet it's a woman and since you've upset her, she does not want to talk to you.

Edited January 30, 20251 yr by Youda
just jokin

17 minutes ago, Youda said:

🤣

Check the master battery gender. I bet it's a woman and since you've upset her, she does not want to talk to you.

I think that's almost a certain 🤣, solution might be jamming some prozac in that port