Anyone have experience with Volvo Penta BMS?

[pralinebuckets]

Obviously the VP BMS is not the same meaning as one that would be on a DIY lithium, but I figure people on this forum might have some experience regardless.

I'm getting a repower done on my boat, and it's coming with the VP BMS: https://www.volvopenta.com/marine/p...s/driver-interface/battery-management-system/

Does anyone have any experience with it? I can't find anything other than the press releases online. The electrician I spoke with said that it would allow for a few things to work well:

• keyless start (I don't really care about this, but sure. cool.)
• mixed chemistry house and starting batteries
• allow the alternator to charge LiFePO4 batteries
• allow the existing battery charger/inverter to work seamlessly with any chemistry I choose (it would apparently go via the VP bms instead of directly to the batteries as now)
• Present info like time remaining to charge and all the normal BMS features you would generally see on a Victron system
• Removes the need for external battery switches/shut off

I'm really curious on anyone's experience with this, especially since I can't find much real info (like manuals and installation docs) online. It looks like it's new as of 2019.

Of course when I look at VP's site, it says the following about the sensor compatibility:

• The Battery Sensor works with most batteries: AGM, GEL or flooded battery.

I'm curious if anyone has one of these and how it treats different banks, and how much control you have over the alternator charging and the shore power charging (coming from an AC marine charger like a Victron or Xantrex).

 

[wholybee]

No experience with this product, but it seems a collection of products bundled into a kit, none of which would equate to a BMS as required by a Lithium battery.

It seems more like a battery monitor similar to the blueseas, along with an echo charger type device and/or a charge relay. Maybe like a balmar duo charge to allow dissimilar chemistry along with a relay to parallel for starting.

But nothing for monitoring cells an cutting of charging or discharging to protect LFP.

If it worked with LiFePO4 i would expect that to be listed in the specs, its not. Still, if your charger is correct for LiFePO4, and you have a proper BMS for you Lithium battery (in addition to this "BMS") i expect it would be fine.

The dealer doing the repower should be able to answer your questions and get you the documents to review before you commit. A repower is really expensive, i would not proceed without more assurance. A complete system drawing of how its installed on your boat should be the minimum, and you could post that here.

 

[pralinebuckets]

Yes, its closer to a victron inverter/charger, but without doing the inverting or charging itself. Looking for general experience with it, especially if people have it setup with different chemistry batteries and how that works. The dealer doesn't have much experience with this specific unit so isn't very helpful. I'll be leaving it setup with lead acid from them and hope to add lithium to the mix later on.

 

[wholybee]

Yes, its closer to a victron inverter/charger, but without doing the inverting or charging itself. Looking for general experience with it, especially if people have it setup with different chemistry batteries and how that works. The dealer doesn't have much experience with this specific unit so isn't very helpful. I'll be leaving it setup with lead acid from them and hope to add lithium to the mix later on.

You might ask on cruisersforum.com. There is more marine experience over there. For something so new its unlikely someone here has dealt with it.

 

[pralinebuckets]

Yeah. Tough finding anyone who has any of this stuff. Even the installers haven't seen this generation of VP Diesels yet.

 

[wholybee]

I would be extremely hesitant to buy it. Is the engine available without that system? It seems like a lot of new tech to fail and leave me stranded. And its not field proven and a dealer isn't going to be much help until the get some experience.

Maybe in couple more years.

 

[mmtech]

If you look AT THE BATTERY TYPES IT DOES NOT list lithium. It sounds like a glorified battery relay jump start relay and monitor that has bin used for years. Also you would not believe how meany times i had to deal with a new product that three months later had recall after recall and some times never did work. Never purchase the first year and let them work out the bugs.

 

[pralinebuckets]

If you look AT THE BATTERY TYPES IT DOES NOT list lithium. It sounds like a glorified battery relay jump start relay and monitor that has bin used for years. Also you would not believe how meany times i had to deal with a new product that three months later had recall after recall and some times never did work. Never purchase the first year and let them work out the bugs.

Yeah - that's why I was hoping to see if anyone has made it work and how they've done it. I'll bug the seller some more - the electrician suggested that this setup would work will with Lithium, but wasn't particularly forthcoming about how, but I didn't press him at the time. The page linked just says that the sensor only supports LA type batteries, but it also suggests that it's an optional part. So how does it all work? What if I don't use the sensor? Why is the sensor the only part to list specific battery compatibility, especially if it's an optional part?

It also looks like maybe the BMS has been around since 2017? So maybe more people are using it than they think? https://manualzz.com/doc/23235873/volvo-penta-season-s-news-–-2017

 

[mmtech]

What i would do is contact volvo directly and talk to a teck and not a sales person. I worked with mercruser and they would always help out a buyer.With computer controlled engines fooling with charging systems can end up with some real nasty results.

 

[svsagres]

You might ask on cruisersforum.com. There is more marine experience over there. For something so new its unlikely someone here has dealt with it.

Probably won't get much help there either. Volvo-Penta is generally not a preferred engine manufacturer due to reliability issues and absurd spare parts pricing.

 

[wholybee]

Probably won't get much help there either. Volvo-Penta is generally not a preferred engine manufacturer due to reliability issues and absurd spare parts pricing.

As unpopular as they are with some, many also like VP. And cruiserforums is a large forum with lots of users. There is an excellent chance a VP dealer with experience with this system is over there.

 

[pralinebuckets]

I spoke with the electrician and he cleared something up for me. It sounds like the VP BMS will handle load shedding to the starter battery (I think that's the right term) during alternator charging should the LiFePO4 house battery's BMS shut off in the middle of charging for whatever reason. This was my biggest worry as I didn't want to drop in a LiFePO4 battery into the mix and potentially burn out my alternator.