Good day all. Thanks to all on the forum for an excellent source of information and assistance. 

My setup consists of:

Victron Quattro 48/5000/70 (Running ESS assistant) 

Victron Smartsolar cc MPPT 250/100

Venus GX

BMV-712 smart 

UFR1001E Anti-Islanding Relay 

5.2KWp Array

400Ah AGM battery bank 

All Victron products updated to latest firmware. 

I've been using ESS for about a month flawlessly, when suddenly the inverter shutdown at 70% soc two nights ago showing the following LEDs:

Bulk Led = Flashing 

Absorb Led = Flashing 

Float Led = ON

Inverter on Led = Flashing. 

I switched the inverter off and on, same LEDs. I then disconnected the RJ45 utp VE.Bus cable connecting the inverter to the Venus GX, the inverter came on. 

Plugged back the RJ45 and the inverter trips with the aforementioned LEDs. I've bought a few RJ45 cables, tried all of them and the same thing keeps happening. Right now the inverter is on, but not connected to the Venus GX. 

What's the solution to this? Thanks in advance. 

 

 

Is it possible that the patch cable is not galvanically isolated? Do you have a MK3 USB that you can use between the Venus and the Quattro. This may help in troubleshooting.

Yes, I have the MK3 USB cable.

I've just connected to the Venus GX using the MK3 USB cable, and it's stable and connected!

 

Edited July 5, 20197 yr by Barezzi

Thanks for the assistance Mazs. I'll have to buy a proper(galvanically isolated) RJ45 cable from the Victron dealer here. 

Glad I could be of help. Whatever you do, don’t take a hammer to it.

4 minutes ago, Mazs said:

... don’t take a hammer to it.

A few more frustrating attempts, I suspect I'd reached that bridge! 😋

7 hours ago, Barezzi said:

I've just connected to the Venus GX using the MK3 USB cable, and it's stable and connected!

IF I read it right, you don't connect from inverter to the VenusGX with the MK3 cable, you can, but I use a plan stock standard UPT cable from inverter to VenusGX.

I only use the MK3 when I want to upgrade the inverters firmware.

Yes that's what I did too, but for some strange inexplicable reason the inverter shut down after several weeks of usage. 

12 minutes ago, Barezzi said:

Yes that's what I did too, but for some strange inexplicable reason the inverter shut down after several weeks of usage. 

If I was you I would approach a Victron dealer and ask for help before buying anything more. 

Not sure if this will help but my  inverter also shut down under select circumstances.

My case it was:
1) Earth problem - cause drama on top of point 2.
2) Two sets of totally separate DB's where one had wires touching and one was incorrectly wired to a changeover switch.

If we had a Eskom failure and the changeover was switched AND Eskom came back on, then the inverter switched off, dead. Took a while to find the problem.
The circuitry problem it kept on trying to restart - till that was fixed - N and E touched in a DB. Also only after a Eskom failure.

8 hours ago, Barezzi said:

Bulk Led = Flashing  

Absorb Led = Flashing  

Float Led = ON

Inverter on Led = Flashing.  

According to the toolkit app, that is VE.Bus Error 14, Device cannot transmit data.

Most likely a problem with the RJ45 cable, like a short circuit.

BUT... also recently they found a hardware bug in a specific batch of CCGXes (made in Hungary). In this version, one of the pins on the built-in mk3 chip ended up floating causing the VE.Bus to be more busy than it should be. See here. So also update the CCGX to v2.32.

9 hours ago, Barezzi said:

Plugged back the RJ45 and the inverter trips with the aforementioned LEDs. I've bought a few RJ45 cables,

Happened to me once, I had all my components for my own install on a work bench, updating firmware, going through the config files and making sure everything is correct before installation. Next morning unplugged everything, installed it, plugged everything in and as I plugged the cable from the Quattro into the venus, the quattro tripped. showing the same LED"s, I almost  ............................. myself. Thought I blew the Quattro. Ripped out the wire and ran away for a while. Came back later and restarted the Inverter, all seemed okay, but when i plugged it back in it tripped again. Unplugged again , restarted and everything looked okay. As I was about to plug the cable back in, i realized that i was plugging this cable into the Lan port of the Venus and not the VeBus port. 

52 minutes ago, plonkster said:

Most likely a problem with the RJ45 cable, like a short circuit.

From the experience above, this sound like the most likely reason.

1 hour ago, Jaco de Jongh said:

... From the experience above, this sound like the most likely reason.

I actually plugged it in the VE.Bus port, and it worked correctly for several weeks.

It just shut down the inverter inexplicably two nights ago. 

I currently have it up and running again with the MK3 USB cable as suggested by @Mazs

I suspect my RJ45 cable just packed up, crimped them myself. 

@plonkster I'm using a Venus GX updated to the latest firmware v2.32. 

 

On 2019/07/05 at 10:44 PM, Jaco de Jongh said:

almost  ............................. myself

I remember, you called me a about the ordeal. Which I really appreciated, because collecting other people's experiences are invaluable when you do support 🙂