Blowdart18 Posted July 28, 2020 Posted July 28, 2020 I was wondering if the Guru's might have an answer on this one for me, tried searching the forum but can't find my problem. I am using the ICC provided by Manie, currently running his latest version 2.99995, to control the inverters. However whenever I change the Inverter mode, Utility, SBU and SUB, it will always revert back to some arbitrary setting. i.e I can change it to SUB now, and give it about 30 minutes it will change back to SBU I change it to Utility because the weather looks inclement and I would like to make sure my batteries are fully charged and a few minutes later it kicks back to SBU and drains the batteries. I try bypass ICC and use Watchpower to change and same thing happens, and then I try to change on the inverters itself, same thing. Could it be ICC conflicting with the Axpert somehow, or the inverters not accepting the settings? Quote
wolfandy Posted July 28, 2020 Posted July 28, 2020 1 hour ago, Blowdart18 said: Could it be ICC conflicting with the Axpert somehow, or the inverters not accepting the settings? My guess would be that either the Axpert's voltage settings or the ICC battery settings are conflicting with the changes that you want to make - and then the system automatically changes back according to its programmed settings Do you want to post screenshots of your ICC Inverter and Battery settings tabs here? Then we can see if we might be able to identify what causes this? Blowdart18 and francois 1 1 Quote
Blowdart18 Posted July 29, 2020 Author Posted July 29, 2020 Thanks Wolfandy So I unplugged ICC last night and changed my settings via watchpower, and the problem did not occur, it stayed on Utility the whole night like I wanted it to. I can definitely say that it is ICC not talking nicely with the Axpert for some reason. Plugged ICC back in this morning and looks like it is playing nicely for now, changed it to SUB for the time being, So my setup as follows: Axpert King x2 - parallel 12v Narada batteries x12 (connected in 48v) Renewys Solar panels 270W x 24 (12 on one inverter, 12 on other inverter) Settings: 1 - USB 2 - 60A 5 - AGn 6 - Ltd 7 - Ltd 9 - 50hz 10 - AUt 11 - Uti 40A 12 - 46V 13 - 54V 16 - Sbl UCb 18 - bON 19 - ESP 20 - LON 22- AON 23 - bYE 25 - FEN 26 - 56.4V 27 - 54V 28 - PAL 29 - 42V 32 - AUt 33 - Ed5 34 - 58.4V 35 - 60 36 - 120 37 - 30d 39 - Ad5 40 - Nrt 93- Nrt ICC settings page: Quote
Bloubul7 Posted July 29, 2020 Posted July 29, 2020 Check your settings under the battery tab. It might be that you have one automations activated which sets your charging state as per the rules specified Blowdart18 1 Quote
Blowdart18 Posted July 29, 2020 Author Posted July 29, 2020 I was using time control before I upgraded to the parallel setup, but this was turned off. Not sure if ICC was still trying to run this in the background. I did try turn it back on as seen in below to force it to use Utility but that didn't work either. Quote
Blowdart18 Posted July 29, 2020 Author Posted July 29, 2020 Ok so now it is doing the opposite - it has remember my reset from this morning because the system started off on Utility. Try to change it to SBU via ICC, works for 10 to 15 minutes and then switches back to Utility. Quote
Bloubul7 Posted July 29, 2020 Posted July 29, 2020 What was your battery voltage when the switch occured? Quote
wolfandy Posted July 29, 2020 Posted July 29, 2020 6 hours ago, Blowdart18 said: So I unplugged ICC last night and changed my settings via watchpower, and the problem did not occur, it stayed on Utility the whole night like I wanted it to. I can definitely say that it is ICC not talking nicely with the Axpert for some reason. Ok - so if the problem is not occurring while ICC is not connected, then we can rule out that any of the Axpert settings are causing the behavior 3 hours ago, Blowdart18 said: I did try turn it back on as seen in below to force it to use Utility but that didn't work either. 2 things to note: You need to enable the switch to the left of 'Use Time for Control' for your selections below to become active Any changes to ICC settings (other than inverter settings that have a button 'Set') only become active after you have pressed the 'Save' button in the bottom left. So even if you make changes on the 'Battery' tab, ICC will only act on the changed settings after you have saved them 1 hour ago, Blowdart18 said: Try to change it to SBU via ICC, works for 10 to 15 minutes and then switches back to Utility. My guess it is due to you still having a setting in ICC on which it changes back automatically (or you happened to cross a voltage setting that triggered the Axpert itself). I have lowered my 'Back to Grid Voltage' and raised my 'Back to Discharge Voltage' outside of my normal boundaries to ensure that the Axpert itself does not trigger any mode changes and hence does not interfere with ICC. In ICC itself you need to remember that even if you manually change the mode via the 'Change Inverter Mode' button, it does not override any active settings for automatic change that ICC has. An example: I have 'Use SOC for Control' active and my 'To Solar/SBU' is set to 25% My actual SOC is 45% at that moment I change my inverter mode manually via the 'Change Inverter Mode' button to Utility My inverter will change to Utility ICC will pick up that the SOC is higher than my Solar/SBU setpoint (25%) and automatically switch back to SBU. There is typically a slight time delay between my manual change and ICC automatically switching again This means that if you want to manually change modes, you first need to disable any automatic mode change settings in ICC that might be in contradiction to the manual change that you want to make Blowdart18 1 Quote
Blowdart18 Posted July 29, 2020 Author Posted July 29, 2020 @wolfandy Thank you so much for the feedback. Managed to get in touch with Manie at ICC, looks like when I updated the update didn't go through correctly. He logged on and downloaded a new version of ICC, and boom it started working fine again, even the time control started working. He said he would release a new version 2.99996, so that is can cover people like me who were trigger happy. Current version is 2.99995 Quote
wolfandy Posted July 29, 2020 Posted July 29, 2020 Cool - and thanks for the info. I also upgraded to 2.99995 earlier today and will keep an eye out for any problems Quote
Blowdart18 Posted August 3, 2020 Author Posted August 3, 2020 Sooooo . . . . Before blaming ICC make sure to check your inverters I had a sneaky suspicion that something else was causing my problem, after posting above that everything was sorted it started doing its same issues of not keeping to the charging priority that I selected. I than decided to troll the forum to see where I might be doing wrong, and I saw that @Coulomb posted the recent update for the Axpert display firmware - some people actually call this the "controller" and not the display. I went to check my versions and bobs you uncle, it is different versions. Updated both of them to 02.49 and have not had an issue this whole weekend. Hopefully this will help some poor soul if they have the same problem as me. wolfandy, francois and Coulomb 3 Quote
vitecekmatrka Posted January 29, 2021 Posted January 29, 2021 Hello guys, hello Coulomb. Im using ICC, i have quite big plant, somehow I have 3 inverters PIP 5048MK, ( same as axpert king) I got troubles at monitoring. If someone from you got a triple or more axperts in parallel can you test something? Question is I have all set up ( in setup) correctly 3 axperts king in parallel and in the cluster info I see same inverter twice. Does anyone have same issue? I tried a lot of cables configurations a lot of done by me , spent more time at axperts instead of my children. I got 3 PIP5048MK, on every is 4 kWp of pannels and I got 2 additional victron chargers ( every one MPPT got its raspi with ICC licence ) in total I got 2 raspi with 2 licences. 3 inverters connected by USB hub to raspi 4b + victron MPPT 70A + victron BMV712 smart. In total 65 kWh of lead-forklift batteries and 20 kWp pannels. in island operation feeding house. have a look on printscreen.... PLS Also Ive found that there is not possible to communicate just thru 1 USB, can someone help with? Ive connected 3 USB micro-USB to each inverter. the BMV and victron works perfectly, thank you so much. BR Vit Quote
Calvin Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 9 hours ago, vitecekmatrka said: Ive found that there is not possible to communicate just thru 1 USB What happens when you connect to only one inverter? ICC is designed to communicate to only one inverter - it gets the information for the others through the inverter parallel connections. I suspect that your multiple connections are the cause of the inverter appearing multiple times. wolfandy 1 Quote
vitecekmatrka Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 (edited) 14 minutes ago, Calvin said: What happens when you connect to only one inverter? ICC is designed to communicate to only one inverter - it gets the information for the others through the inverter parallel connections. I suspect that your multiple connections are the cause of the inverter appearing multiple times. Hi I will do it wait here few minutes, but Im sure it does not work, or work in same way. I see your signature, how it works at you? only 1 usb cable connected to the master? do you use grid backup for all of them? thank you Vit, Czech republic Calvin annexed is icc connected via 1 usb to master, PI 4 restarted, to pi is also connected victron charger. see photos. I have no idea about. I thought it will work automatically. maybe some combination mistake I dont know in Czech rep nobody has 3 pip or kings in parallel... with ICC Edited January 30, 2021 by vitecekmatrka Quote
vitecekmatrka Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 next think is if I will choose in icc 4 inverter in parallel then last one in 4 position appears see setting and cluster info. . Any idea, where may be a trouble? Quote
wolfandy Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 10 hours ago, vitecekmatrka said: I got 3 PIP5048MK, on every is 4 kWp of pannels and I got 2 additional victron chargers ( every one MPPT got its raspi with ICC licence ) in total I got 2 raspi with 2 licences. 3 inverters connected by USB hub to raspi 4b + victron MPPT 70A + victron BMV712 smart. I have to admit that I do not fully understand how your system is set up If all of your equipment is in a single setup, then you should only require 1x ICC - as you should be able to manage (almost) everything through it As @Calvin wrote, you only need 1 USB connection from the Pi to the Master of the inverters. I am only running 2 Axperts in parallel, but this is also how my system is set up The only problem that you will have is that ICC currently is only able to support 1 external Victron MPPT. If I understand correctly, you have 2. So for the time being, you will only be able to display the PV production of 1 Victron MPPT in ICC. Manie does have the feature request for ICC being able to handle multiple Victron MPPTs on his table (I'm also interested in that feature) - but at the moment I do not know when he will be able to add it Quote
wolfandy Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 1 minute ago, vitecekmatrka said: next think is if I will choose in icc 4 inverter in parallel then last one in 4 position appears see setting and cluster info. . What I do not understand is that the 1st serial number is showing up 2x - but with different values reported for some of the line items Do you only have 1x USB connected now to the Master inverter? All other inverter USB connections unplugged? And have you restarted ICC or even your Pi after doing so? Quote
vitecekmatrka Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 Hi, Ok to be honest. My system is 3x PIP 5048MK in parallel I got 2 victron chargers , I got 1 BMV 712 the system consists of 1 RASPI 3B+, where is connected BMV 712 and 1 victron charger MPPT 60A - licenced ICC Raspi 4B, where is connected 1 victron charger MPPT 70A and 3pips working in parallel - licenced ICC I got totall 5 sets of pannels, every set is approx 4 kWp , in total 5 , meaninng 20 kWp hope is clear. Quote
vitecekmatrka Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 2 minutes ago, wolfandy said: What I do not understand is that the 1st serial number is showing up 2x - but with different values reported for some of the line items Do you only have 1x USB connected now to the Master inverter? All other inverter USB connections unplugged? And have you restarted ICC or even your Pi after doing so? Yes 1 cable, to pips, 1 cable to 70A MPPT victron. Quote
wolfandy Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 2 minutes ago, vitecekmatrka said: hope is clear. Cool - thanks That sounds ok so for I'm running 2x Axperts, 1 Victron MPPT, and Pylontechs (instead of your BMV) on my ICC Just out of curiosity: Why do you not have the BMV also connected to the same ICC that your inverters are on? Then you could have the inverter switching based on the accurate BMV data instead of the Axpert's guesstimates? Quote
wolfandy Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 4 minutes ago, vitecekmatrka said: Yes 1 cable, to pips, 1 cable to 70A MPPT victron. Ok. Great And have you restarted your Pi since making the cable changes? And maybe also a 2nd time? What version is your ICC? Are you using the USB cable that came originally with the Axperts or a cable that you bought more recently? Some of the USB cables that were shipped with Axperts were of an old standard and could cause comms issues between the inverter and ICC. For me, replaceing the original cable with a new one from the shop made my systems a lot more stable Quote
vitecekmatrka Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 1 minute ago, wolfandy said: Cool - thanks That sounds ok so for I'm running 2x Axperts, 1 Victron MPPT, and Pylontechs (instead of your BMV) on my ICC Just out of curiosity: Why do you not have the BMV also connected to the same ICC that your inverters are on? Then you could have the inverter switching based on the accurate BMV data instead of the Axpert's guesstimates? Dear Wolfandy, it is easy. My system grew from 1 inverter added next one then BMV then trird one, then MPPT and then next MPPT. problem is taht in case of 2 in parallel it worked well, i can remember., then I think too many devices on usb on raspi and communication was not safe. some spikes on BMV and victron PV watts. Im using to control the inverters based on PV or load of it. most of time works only one pip, during day if PV is more than 700W is switched on second. and in case load is higher than 5500 W then synchronizing third one. to prevent spikes on battery watts, and have safe communication I decided to have separate PI for logging. all theese logging is sent to emoncms and PV output.... Quote
vitecekmatrka Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 3 minutes ago, wolfandy said: Ok. Great And have you restarted your Pi since making the cable changes? And maybe also a 2nd time? What version is your ICC? Are you using the USB cable that came originally with the Axperts or a cable that you bought more recently? Some of the USB cables that were shipped with Axperts were of an old standard and could cause comms issues between the inverter and ICC. For me, replaceing the original cable with a new one from the shop made my systems a lot more stable Hi, ICC is 3.1 and GPIO 1.18. on both raspi ( 3b+ and 4) Im using somehow powerfull fast charge data cables, also tested tomtom navigation system cable and many others.... I dont see any issue about. I can remember 2 in parallel were assigned perfectly but begining 3 in parallel it was not easy from the begining to log them..... Quote
wolfandy Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 Thanks 2 minutes ago, vitecekmatrka said: Im using to control the inverters based on PV or load of it. most of time works only one pip, during day if PV is more than 700W is switched on second. and in case load is higher than 5500 W then synchronizing third one. Does this mean that you physically switch the inverters on/off during the day? 9 minutes ago, vitecekmatrka said: I can remember 2 in parallel were assigned perfectly but begining 3 in parallel it was not easy from the begining to log them..... Ok - my experience is only with 2 in parallel... Have you dropped Manie an email and asked him for support? Quote
vitecekmatrka Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 1 minute ago, wolfandy said: Thanks Does this mean that you physically switch the inverters on/off during the day? Ok - my experience is only with 2 in parallel... Have you dropped Manie an email and asked him for support? Yes Phisically Im ynchronizing and driving them during day. Master is still on, and the 2nd and 3rd inverters synchronizing as requested. but syncing and desyncing is only once a day, that means conditions to switch on are PV or Load, by GPIO swithing relays with safe antiparallel logic, and then I cut some wire in inverter to be able to control it remotely independently on the bushbutton status ( this remains still In ( ON) ) No I have not send mail, i think Manie is very busy vith other bugs and requests...... because normal people is OK 1 onverter, for some cases 2 inverters, but i have a specific island operation ( with grid backup ) with 65 kWh in lead batteries.... in czech rep is now snow, so I need capacity of batteries to hold during winter in island. And case for 3rd one is if you have so powerfull pannels ( 20 kWp) is a pitty to leave it in the pannels better is to consume it.... Quote
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