Adding EG4 To Victron/BB - Will this work!?

[rhino]

Is the ground not currently connected? The current setup w the BBs and Victron was all there before I arrived. I'm just adding the EG4s for now.

I assumed that fluorescent green cable on the Quattro is connected to the chassis ground bolt on the bottom right side of there but I don't see where that cable is actually going? It looks like it is just rolled up and can't see an end to it.

The charge controller looks like it is missing the chassis ground cable. Letter A in image below is where there should be a screw where you attach the grounding cable:

 

[rhino]

Same with that Midnite solar surge protector. I only see positive and negative cables coming out but it has to be connected to a ground as well unless the ground is going out through the wall in that box and can't see it in the pic?

 

[DrZ123]

Same with that Midnite solar surge protector. I only see positive and negative cables coming out but it has to be connected to a ground as well unless the ground is going out through the wall in that box and can't see it in the pic?

I'm on a rock island so I don't believe the previous owner was able to find ground.

 

[rhino]

Is there no grounding for anything in the entire system including the AC side?

 

[DrZ123]

Is there no grounding for anything in the entire system including the AC side?

Apparently not according to the previous owner. Her tried to get ground outside but was unable to.

Is it essential?

 

[rhino]

I'm by no means a professional but I do not know how you can have a safe system without a ground. What is the green grounding conductor for that Midnite Solar surge protector connected to? If the green ground wire isn't connected to anything that it isn't going to be able to protect the system. The Midnite Solar manual for that surge protector even has this:

Important! A good grounding system is essential for both safety and lightning protection. The NEC recommends a
ground resistance of 25 ohms or less. The lightning protection industry recommends 10 ohms or less. A thorough assessment of the grounding system is strongly recommended.

There is some useful information on grounding in Victron's Wiring Unlimited PDF.

In general if you can't go vertically down you can go horizontal. I assume there is at least some soil on top of rock that would allow something like a ground plate to be installed. I would see if you can find out what is recommended locally.

 

[DrZ123]

As of now there is no ground. The green cable attached to the inverter is an AC in cable for a generator.

I guess my next task is establishing proper ground!

 

[DrZ123]

Hooked them up! No explosions. I do have to figure out the grounding.

Once the EG4 rack comes those will go in the rack, and will run the POS from the rack as it runs now.

The NEG will run to a busbar with all of the other negatives and then copper from the busbar to the SmartShunt.

 

[Adam De Lay]

Hooked them up! No explosions. I do have to figure out the grounding.

Once the EG4 rack comes those will go in the rack, and will run the POS from the rack as it runs now.

The NEG will run to a busbar with all of the other negatives and then copper from the busbar to the SmartShunt.

Congrats!

 

[DrZ123]

Congrats!

Thanks for the help Adam!

So now I have 40kwh of battery capacity.

However I only have 16x 100w panels. I have a feeling they are going to struggle keeping the batteries full.

Am going to measure today to see how much free roof real estate I have for additional panels. I believe I'm limited in size due to my location and the weight of the larger panels, so may have to stick with 100w.

 

[DrZ123]

Is there any way to have the Victron inverter communicate with both my Battleborn batteries AND my EG4 LP batteries? I have the EG4 communication hub I'm going to hook up but if it's not syncing with the inverter it's really just to see specific battery details no?

 

[DrZ123]

Hooked up the EG4 communication hub and it's reading the batteries properly.

Is there any way to hook that hub up to my Victron Venus GX so I can read the data remotely?

Any way to have the Victron Quattro communicate with both the BBs and the EG4 hub?

 

[Adam De Lay]

I believe I’ve seen the Cerbo handle different batteries connected to it at the same time. Not sure about the specific GX you have though.

Can the GX connect to the BB batteries?

 

[DrZ123]

I believe I’ve seen the Cerbo handle different batteries connected to it at the same time. Not sure about the specific GX you have though.

Can the GX connect to the BB batteries?

I guess not re the BB connecting.

I have the Venus GX. But If I make settings in the EG4 hub, will those settings override the Victron devices?

 

[Adam De Lay]

I guess not re the BB connecting.

I have the Venus GX. But If I make settings in the EG4 hub, will those settings override the Victron devices?

If you have proper communication set up between the communication hub and the Victron GX, I believe it’s supposed to, but unfortunately I don’t have any direct experience with the communication hub and it’s integration into Victron.

 

[DrZ123]

So something weird is going on. My Victron shunt shows battery level at 78%. This is after everything was fully charged and the depleted down to 78%. Voltage shows 53v at all places such as busbar to busbar, EG4 POS to neg, and BB pos to ney.

However, my EG4 batteries still show 100% on the status indicator and BMS test as well as the EG4 comm hub show close to 100% charge. What's going on here? Are the EG4 batteries being used?

 

[Adam De Lay]

As long as everything is connected together and turned on, I wouldn't worry about it. It's possible that while the voltages of the separate "systems" were the same, the SOC of each were different.

If you put a large load on the quattro, do you see power being drawn from the LP4 batteries? If you turn off the BB battery disconnects, does everything remain running?

 

[DrZ123]

As long as everything is connected together and turned on, I wouldn't worry about it. It's possible that while the voltages of the separate "systems" were the same, the SOC of each were different.

If you put a large load on the quattro, do you see power being drawn from the LP4 batteries? If you turn off the BB battery disconnects, does everything remain running?

If I shut off the battleborns everything does remain running.

How can I test if there's power being drawn from the EG4s?

 

[Adam De Lay]

Can you turn on a large load?

Do you have a DC clamp meter where you can see current being drawn from the batteries?

 

[DrZ123]

It's so weird. There is definitely load on the EG4 batteries and they now read 52v, system shows 66% on the Victron Dashboard and same voltage.

However EG4 batteries still show full SOC on their indicator lights and BMS test...