Help- Victron App for dummies.

[Maggie Belle]

Can someone please give me a tutorial for dummies on this charge controller app values.

First day connected. I have 2 100ah SOK lifepo, 2 180 w panels.

 

[solarsimon]

• Your panels are producing 30.7 Volts at 9.2 Amps. So that's 282 Watts. Good.
• That's being converted to 20.4A going into your 12V battery, with a charge Voltage of 13.55 Volts. Good.
• That's 276 Watts from the 282Watts from the panels. Good.
• That's BULK charging, as shown. Good.
• It should decrease to slower charge rates as the battery fills up.
• Your phone needs charging soon. Bad!

 

[Maggie Belle]

• Your panels are producing 30.7 Volts at 9.2 Amps. So that's 282 Watts. Good.
• That's being converted to 20.4A going into your 12V battery, with a charge Voltage of 13.55 Volts. Good.
• That's 276 Watts from the 282Watts from the panels. Good.
• That's BULK charging, as shown. Good.
• It should decrease to slower charge rates as the battery fills up.
• Your phone needs charging soon. Bad!

Thanks. That’s awesome. I’m still trying to understand what is good and what isn’t. It’s so much fun learning though.

 

[rmaddy]

Did you setup the settings as I described in your other thread?

 

[Rocketman]

If you click on the “Trends” it can show you what is currently happening - you select what you want to see - volts & current and it will graph it for you. Other that looking for fun - I don’t find that screen very helpful.

The history tab, however, I find very useful! It will show you how much power you harvest each day - for the last 30 days. It will also tell you how many kWh you have harvested since it was set-up. But the most useful areas is the highest and lowest voltage each day. That can help you know what is going on with your batteries. You get to see the lowest voltage that occurred each day. That can be super important!

One other very helpful screen is the demo library - this shows all the screen you get if you purchase a different Victron device. This is found on the very first screen - where you select which device you want to look to the left of “Device List” and you will click on the the three horizontal bars. In the demo library you can make any change you want for practice.

 

[Maggie Belle]

Did you setup the settings as I described in your other thread?

I did.

 

[Maggie Belle]

If you click on the “Trends” it can show you what is currently happening - you select what you want to see - volts & current and it will graph it for you. Other that looking for fun - I don’t find that screen very helpful.

The history tab, however, I find very useful! It will show you how much power you harvest each day - for the last 30 days. It will also tell you how many kWh you have harvested since it was set-up. But the most useful areas is the highest and lowest voltage each day. That can help you know what is going on with your batteries. You get to see the lowest voltage that occurred each day. That can be super important!

One other very helpful screen is the demo library - this shows all the screen you get if you purchase a different Victron device. This is found on the very first screen - where you select which device you want to look to the left of “Device List” and you will click on the the three horizontal bars. In the demo library you can make any change you want for practice.

Thanks for this! This group is so helpful and I’m learning so much. I’m still trying to make sense of the voltages of a full or nearly empty battery.

 

[rmaddy]

I’m still trying to make sense of the voltages of a full or nearly empty battery.

Do you have shunt or battery monitor installed in your system? If not, you might want to consider a Victron SmartShunt. It will work really well with your charge controller. It will help you see the current battery status much better.

LiFePO4 batteries have a nearly horizontal voltage graph except for the first 20% and last one percent. The difference between 20% full and 99% full is less than a volt. That's why a shunt is so useful.

 

[PerryB67]

Just go to YouTube.com and search for "Victron App Explained" and you'll have enough information to make your head spin.

Enjoy,

Perry

 

[Maggie Belle]

Just go to YouTube.com and search for "Victron App Explained" and you'll have enough information to make your head spin.

Enjoy,

Perry

Do you have shunt or battery monitor installed in your system? If not, you might want to consider a Victron SmartShunt. It will work really well with your charge controller. It will help you see the current battery status much better.

LiFePO4 batteries have a nearly horizontal voltage graph except for the first 20% and last one percent. The difference between 20% full and 99% full is less than a volt. That's why a shunt is so useful.

I have the Victron Smart BMV and it says I am at 100% charge but it’s the first time I’ve used it snd I know they can’t be true.

 

[rmaddy]

Once you are sure your BMV settings are correct for your batteries, you need to fully charge the batteries, use some of the battery power, and then fully recharge them again for it to be accurate. Then you need just need to fully recharge at least once every two weeks to keep it accurate.

If you aren't sure about the BMV settings in VictronConnect, post the Battery settings that you have for review.

 

[Maggie Belle]

Once you are sure your BMV settings are correct for your batteries, you need to fully charge the batteries, use some of the battery power, and then fully recharge them again for it to be accurate. Then you need just need to fully recharge at least once every two weeks to keep it accurate.

If you aren't sure about the BMV settings in VictronConnect, post the Battery settings that you have for review.

I e changed a couple settings but I’ll need to look into how to do that as well. Thanks.

 

[rmaddy]

To be clear, when I said "Battery settings" I'm referring to the "Battery settings" screen of your SmartBMV in VictronConnect. Similar to the "Battery settings" screen we discussed for your SmartSolar.

 

[Maggie Belle]

To be clear, when I said "Battery settings" I'm referring to the "Battery settings" screen of your SmartBMV in VictronConnect. Similar to the "Battery settings" screen we discussed for your SmartSolar.

Thanks. You know how to talk to a freshman I think I have those right now. I really want to get these charged and I’m Florida we are having unseasonably rainy cloudy fall days. Should I get my shore power hooked up and charge that way?

 

[rmaddy]

If you aren't getting enough solar to charge your battery, shore power would be a good option.

Feel free to post your SmartBMV battery settings if you want a quick sanity check.

 

[Maggie Belle]

If you aren't getting enough solar to charge your battery, shore power would be a good option.

Feel free to post your SmartBMV battery settings if you want a quick sanity check.

Thanks. I was wrong. It was my battery settings only for my charge controller that I set. This is what the BMV looks like.

 

[rmaddy]

Some of those are fine. Some are not. I would make the following changes:

Charged voltage: 14.1V (this should be 0.1 less than the Absorption voltage setting for your SmartSolar)
Discharge floor: 5%
Peukert Exponent: 1.05
Charge efficiency factor: 99%

Since you have both the SmartSolar and the SmartBMV, make sure you enable VE.Smart networking on both of them in their respective settings. I would enable the networking on the SmartBMV first. This will allow the two to talk to each other via Bluetooth.

 

[Maggie Belle]

Some of those are fine. Some are not. I would make the following changes:

Charged voltage: 14.1V (this should be 0.1 less than the Absorption voltage setting for your SmartSolar)
Discharge floor: 5%
Peukert Exponent: 1.05
Charge efficiency factor: 99%

Since you have both the SmartSolar and the SmartBMV, make sure you enable VE.Smart networking on both of them in their respective settings. I would enable the networking on the SmartBMV first. This will allow the two to talk to each other via Bluetooth.

Ok I have not done that either. Can’t thank you enough. I am going to adjust those settings but as I’ve been on this power journey I’ve decided to learn as much as possible to understand the whole system. I’d like to know it in and out eventually and build a system in some property in the future. I’ve been listening to will prose and bought his book. Where can I go to better understand the why behind the numbers you just gave me?

 

[rmaddy]

The manual for the BMV has a section describing most of the settings. Same for the charge controller. What? Read the manual? Who does that?

 

[sunshine_eggo]

While this is for the BMV-7XX series, it is the same for smartshunt. Worth a watch to get a run-through of the settings and why: