Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

I now have 2 Pylontech US3000 batteries on 2x Axpert inverters in parallel with a Raspberry Pi and CCT monitoring program.  They performing very well without any problems since I installed the first one in the beginning of June and the second one end of July.   This past weekend the red "ALM" led light on the master battery appeared.  I rebooted the whole system and the "ALM" red led was gone.  Then about 2 days later it was back again - after another reboot it was gone again.  At the moment the system just performs as a UPS.  No PV panels installed yet.    I assume "ALM" represents "an alarm mode".    Is this something serious or is it an indication that the battery bank is only in stand by mode? 

Posted

@CassieYes and it warrants interrogation of the battery to find out why. A manual is a good place to start, but it probably still could be caused by half a dozen things.

The new battery is supposed to be the master from what I've read, so you could approach the vendor/installer.

If that's not an option:

@Youda, I think is probably the most familiar on the forum with pulling more data out of the Pylontechs.

Posted
19 minutes ago, Cassie said:

I now have 2 Pylontech US3000 batteries on 2x Axpert inverters in parallel with a Raspberry Pi and CCT monitoring program.  They performing very well without any problems since I installed the first one in the beginning of June and the second one end of July.   This past weekend the red "ALM" led light on the master battery appeared.  I rebooted the whole system and the "ALM" red led was gone.  Then about 2 days later it was back again - after another reboot it was gone again.  At the moment the system just performs as a UPS.  No PV panels installed yet.    I assume "ALM" represents "an alarm mode".    Is this something serious or is it an indication that the battery bank is only in stand by mode? 

It will happen every 48 or 72 hours (Cant remember ) if you dont discharge your batteries. It does happen in battery backup systems without PV panels and self consumption. The alarm is not serious, but it remains annoying. I found a site a while back explaining what in the firmware causes this, bu cant seem to find it now. 

 

EDIT: Wait here it is. its under the Victron Q&A section.

Pylon.thumb.png.f9e7e150f1fda99d8cbb8f93fa7ab1da.png

 

Posted

I wonder if you could set up the inverter to do an "equalise" charge every 2 days (maybe every 3 days would work), for just say 5 minutes, to top up the battery and prevent the alarm. Just set the equalise voltage to be the same as the absorb/CV battery voltage setting.

That way, the red ALM light will only ever mean "serious fault, don't ignore".

Alarm red light for "sleep mode" is a terrible user interface.

Posted
13 hours ago, phil.g00 said:

 

The new battery is supposed to be the master from what I've read, so you could approach the vendor/installer.

 

Thanks phil.g00,   Should I change the newer one to be the master  The older one did have 3 cycles, and when I added the new one, ICC still displayed 3 cycles.  If I changed it and make the new one the master, will ICC then change the cycle back to 0 ? 

Posted
2 minutes ago, Cassie said:

Thanks phil.g00,   Should I change the newer one to be the master  The older one did have 3 cycles, and when I added the new one, ICC still displayed 3 cycles.  If I changed it and make the new one the master, will ICC then change the cycle back to 0 ? 

I don't even have Pylontechs, so I am very far from a guru. I have read that somewhere, couldn't tell you where right now. However once you've got this alarm sorted out, my general rule of thumb is, if it's working don't mess with it.

Posted
2 hours ago, Coulomb said:

I wonder if you could set up the inverter to do an "equalise" charge every 2 days (maybe every 3 days would work), for just say 5 minutes, to top up the battery and prevent the alarm. Just set the equalise voltage to be the same as the absorb/CV battery voltage setting.

Hi Coulomb,   Is "equalise" charge the same as "Float charge".     How do you set it up to charge only for 2 - 3 days and for a certain time period?   Is it done on the Raspberry?

Second question;  is it advisable to change my newest Pylontech to be the master (see phil.g00's comment)?   The older Pylontech is currently the master.

Posted
16 minutes ago, Cassie said:

Hi Coulomb,   Is "equalise" charge the same as "Float charge".  

No. It's actually a facility designed for lead acid batteries, but you can presumably still use it with a Pylontech. On the LC Display, it's settings 33-37,

Quote

How do you set it up to charge only for 2 - 3 days and for a certain time period?   Is it done on the Raspberry?

ICC is able to change settings, so I imagine it would be able to do it. Otherwise, use WatchPower or the buttons and LC Display.

Quote

Second question;  is it advisable to change my newest Pylontech to be the master (see phil.g00's comment)?   The older Pylontech is currently the master.

I don't know Pylontechs. I think phil.g00 may be thinking of the situation where you have a mix of US2000s and a US3000; then the US3000 has to be the master (from memory).

Posted
26 minutes ago, Cassie said:

Is "equalise" charge the same as "Float charge".  

On the Victron systems we set Absorb to 52.5Volt and Float to 52 volt. I guess in your system, a small difference like this will be sufficient to wake the Pylons up and get them out of "Idle" mode. It seems like this alarm only gets activated in Idle mode, or that is what we saw on battery backup systems. 

 

 

Posted
3 minutes ago, Jaco de Jongh said:

On the Victron systems we set Absorb to 52.5Volt and Float to 52 volt. I guess in your system, a small difference like this will be sufficient to wake the Pylons up and get them out of "Idle" mode. It seems like this alarm only gets activated in Idle mode, or that is what we saw on battery backup systems. 

 

 

Thanks Jaco,  It looks like that is what the Pylontech guy (in your previous comment) is also suggesting.

Did you see my last night comment on your post of 2018 regarding battery tools?

Posted (edited)

Please see this LiFePo charging curve:

image.png.8dada02579ff4ab664d45520f85db420.png

An equalize, is actually a higher than normal charging voltage used with Lead Acid batteries, that get this moving around on the plates and does a form of top balancing every once in a while. So in your case it would appear to your full battery as if it was getting charged every so often.

However, I wouldn't recommend it. As you can see from the graph it takes very little charge to shoot the voltage up so:

1.) It may not fool the BMS

2.) It may result in your battery shutting down, to protect itself.

3). If you want battery longevity, stay away from the high and low voltage kneepoints on that graph.

4.) As you can see there is very little Ah capacity to be gained by working into the kneepoints.

I'd rather do Ned Yu's suggestion or just use them a little bit. ( Some load on a timer or something).

@Coulomb, is right about the US3000 being master as well, I have read that too. I don't know maybe I am mixing things up.But assuming the same rationale, it would seem that Pylontech would have the highest capacity battery as master. Which generally would be the new one, I don't think that would matter in your case though.

Edited by phil.g00
Posted
1 hour ago, phil.g00 said:

An equalize, is actually a higher than normal charging voltage used with Lead Acid batteries,

Perhaps I was not clear. I proposed to set the equalise voltage to the same as the absorb/CV voltage, so the battery voltage raises from float voltage to absorb voltage for 5 minutes every second day. I hope that this will register as a charge (and will actually replenish a little energy lost from the battery running the BMS), and reset the "I've not been charged" timer in the BMS. So this is no more dangerous than running a 5 minute bulk charge, i.e. a normal but brief charge.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...