diy solar

diy solar

3p16s vs 16s3p daly BMS's and morningstar SCC

Daddy Tanuki

Solar Wizard
Joined
May 11, 2021
Messages
2,128
Location
Flanks of Mount Fuji
so after running a 2p16s 20kw pack for about 3 months and all of the fun and associated issues that crop up in a homebuilt battery pack, I finally had the pack settled out.
I then I decided to add 16 more cells to make a 30kw pack (@50 volts w/50-54.4vdc range).

Initially I added the 16 cells as a 3p16s setup but after a couple of weeks noticed that I had quite large variations on the delta v and decided that I would rebuild the pack as a 16s3p. I had extra BMS's so why not.

After rebuilding the pack and installing the two new BMS I wired all three packs into a common positive and negative bussbar and allowed the SCC and the BMS to do their own thing. now no matter what setting i put into the charge controller I cannot get the pack to charge any higher than 3.325 per cell (53.2 pack volatge) which is about 80% depending upon whom you talk with, and whose chart you are looking at. Prior to this it would take the pack to 54.4 and the BMS would eventually limit charge by shutting off the charge MOSFET causing the voltage to rise and fall (which was the issue with my high voltage disconnects on the inverter).

The fact that it no longer charges above this is a godsend in one way and a dilemma in another. Why is it suddenly restricting charge to this when it never did it with 1 BMS over the same 32/48 cells? the numbers are all good, delta v is reasonable for cells that are used/old stock (regardless of what the seller says.) and in the 16s3p config runners are not an issue as much as it was with the 3p16s config.

so what changed? the setting in the SCC are the same. I played with them back and forth over new years in an attempt to figure out what the issue was and no matter how I set the SCC's it ended up the same 53.2 with occasional rise to 53.3. charging just drops off. the amps form the SCC ramp down as if it was/were a function of the cahrge controller but there is no reason fo this to happen. the BMS's are not shutting their charge MOSFETS off and the inverter is simply drawing excess from the panels to power the load without taking anything from the battery. (confirmed with the Magnum BMM shunt, the BMS readings, and a Unit T DC clamp style ammeter.

any thoughts?

No comments here about California how screwed up it is, Gavin Newsome, or his personal protector here on the forum. sop no need to ban for another three months.

same post at NAWS minus redactions for feelz.

Ken
 
What brand BMSs? Do they advertise support for operating multiple BMSs side by side in parallel packs?

If you manually probe all cells, and all mains (buses) fore and aft BMSs with voltmeter, are there any readings which would signal any of the BMSs to limit? Like voltmeter readings potentially confirming possible imbalanced cells or anything?

On the SCC, is there a custom charge curve you can tweak and set higher? Does the SCC have sufficient sun input as opposed to other days when it had worked fine to charge higher volts on the old bank config? (like some kind of coincidence occurring to cause SCC to act different here).

Does the Morningstar use temperature compensation probe, if so, anything different about the temps that changed?

Sorry, I'm just shooting out some ideas coming to mind...
 
Last edited:
I will have to tear the whole pack open again. as its surounded by 2x 2" of blue insulation foam on all sides with jsut the BMS's and main power cords coming out of the insulation box. will get some photos on friday when I return to t he cabin and post them and go from there.
 
Thanks everyone who is chipping in, & Happy New Years.

Yes the BMS's are Daly and par per course for Daly documentation is sketchy at best.

None of the cells showed any issues voltage wise, delta V wise or temp wise. Setting for all three BMS's are identical, (or as identical as you can get with the bluetooth app). I have read that there are some other values that can be adjusted if you plug the BMS into a PC and use some other program, I might look into that next. for the time being when I arrive Friday i have to install two more breaker boxes that I have been waiting on so that i can isolate the individual packs.

I had a two (2) class T fuse's between the pack and inverter, and between the pack and bussbar for the SCC's. With the change to the 16s3p config made it so I could not isolate the packs from one another. I had to wait for the parts to arrive before I could finish this last piece. this will allow me to remove two of the banks from the charging circuit and observe what happens fairly easily. plan is to install the last two midnight solar breaker boxes with their appropriate breakers and then isolate two of the battery banks and watch what happens.

if it is indeed a Daly issue then I might just rewire the pack for 3P16S and install the chargery bms instead. I have not had a chance to play with it yet so why not give it a spin? I know the Daly will work 3p16s but i did not like the way the delta V looked and some of the issues it presented.

One thing If I drop the charging voltage from 54.4 to 54.2 it stopped the issues of the delta V but it slowed the charging immensely while this is not an issue in the summer, it will when solar production is lower such as the winter months and rainy months.

so much to tinker with and so little time to tinker.

Ken
 
Update to this thread. All of the issues were caused by my changing the settings in the SCC to avoid high cell voltage disconnect. so probably a top balance issue induced by the 16 cells I added 3 months after the first set.

I reset the charge parameters to the standard of 54.4 and charging took off. then at 54 volts I had one pack shut charging off due to one cell hitting 3.65 before the rest f the pack. Not such a big deal, but I want the SCC to shut off prior to BMS as BMS should be last resort. dropped down to 54.2 for the time being until i can get back up next week to measure things and start evaluating it better.

I have 8 "extra" cells I bought for this purpose (and to later build a 2p4s pack with). the plan is to take any runners and put them in the camper where they will float 90% of the time. so for them I will set the max charge at 52 volts or so, (still undecided, any suggestions?) but I will pair batteries from the spare 8 until I have the three 16s packs running as closely as possible.
 
Back
Top