Batrium-experiences...

[RP67]

Hi, I just commissioned my grid tied PV system with a DIY battery pack (Nissan Leaf Gen2) with Batrium BMS, including 500A shunt and 7 LeafMon unit. I learned the hard way, Batrium is not communicating with my Sungrow SH5K-30 inverter via CAN bus, so I'm disappointed anyway (Project Lychee supposed to imitate LG protocol, but the inverter is not recognize it and flicking between LG and BYD therefore it not engage charging or discharging process at all). That is the problem what I could manage, through the optional "other battery" setting on the inverter, and it works reasonably well. I want to keep the BMS connected as a secondary protection, to disconnect the battery from the inverter in case of the parameters fall in to the critical range for any reason. However, my Batrium WhatchMon CORE stops randomly. I mean all LED goes black, including the LeafMon indicators apart from the shunt indicator which is directly powered from the battery. When I leave the board connected to the my laptop, to monitor what's going on, same thing, but the indicators (SOC%meter and mode LED) stays on, and no data received on the desktop application, and the LeafMons are dark as well.
Is there anyone had similar experience with Batrium, perhaps is there some sort of solution for this? I hate to say that, but seems to be Batrium customer support is on holiday or what, because they did not responded to my support request for 7 days, which is probably over the sensible meaning of indicated respond time in the automatic reply, "soon as possible". For some reason, I'm not convinced the paid support (what they offer) would work better.
My WatchMon is powered from the battery via fuse and a DC-DC power supply (I tried two different power supply, both brand new and an external 24VDC power supply as well), and nothing else connected to it, apart from the ISOMon and the shunt which is the bare minimum. I did not recognized any pattern on the stops, it could happen in any level of SOC, or any part of the day, and I presume that is happening more often than I thought, because I observed a stop, and restart recently.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

I just deployed a WM5 on a 14S NMC bank. It's only been running for about a month, but I have never had it "stop/restart."

It is powered directly by the battery.

It is also connected to a Mini PC running the Toolkit constantly via USB and accessible via Remote Desktop.

It effectively has two sources of power in this config.

My only complaint so far is poor/inaccurate documentation of Victron interface and random ±0.10V "jumps" in cell voltages.

 

[RP67]

Yeah, I noticed unexpected changes, mainly on the SOC, but that is very likely because the loss of data for a while. Good to hear yours going ok.

 

[RP67]

My watchmon still stops randomly, even though, some weird stuff going on. Today morning when I re-started I realized the board still communicates via WiFi, however that function is disabled.

 

[RP67]

My watchmon still stops randomly, even though, some weird stuff going on. Today morning when I re-started I realized the board still communicates via WiFi, however that function is disabled.

So, it appears to be I'm less smart than I thought. There are several other places where the WiFi communication needs to be turned off, or to be changed. I know, I should pay more attention, but to be fair, doesn't make too much sense to me to have a "switch" which is seem to be the others on the page, but pretty much does nothing. Lesson learned...

 

[javitxin]

Hi, I just commissioned my grid tied PV system with a DIY battery pack (Nissan Leaf Gen2) with Batrium BMS, including 500A shunt and 7 LeafMon unit. I learned the hard way, Batrium is not communicating with my Sungrow SH5K-30 inverter via CAN bus, so I'm disappointed anyway (Project Lychee supposed to imitate LG protocol, but the inverter is not recognize it and flicking between LG and BYD therefore it not engage charging or discharging process at all). That is the problem what I could manage, through the optional "other battery" setting on the inverter, and it works reasonably well. I want to keep the BMS connected as a secondary protection, to disconnect the battery from the inverter in case of the parameters fall in to the critical range for any reason. However, my Batrium WhatchMon CORE stops randomly. I mean all LED goes black, including the LeafMon indicators apart from the shunt indicator which is directly powered from the battery. When I leave the board connected to the my laptop, to monitor what's going on, same thing, but the indicators (SOC%meter and mode LED) stays on, and no data received on the desktop application, and the LeafMons are dark as well.
Is there anyone had similar experience with Batrium, perhaps is there some sort of solution for this? I hate to say that, but seems to be Batrium customer support is on holiday or what, because they did not responded to my support request for 7 days, which is probably over the sensible meaning of indicated respond time in the automatic reply, "soon as possible". For some reason, I'm not convinced the paid support (what they offer) would work better.
My WatchMon is powered from the battery via fuse and a DC-DC power supply (I tried two different power supply, both brand new and an external 24VDC power supply as well), and nothing else connected to it, apart from the ISOMon and the shunt which is the bare minimum. I did not recognized any pattern on the stops, it could happen in any level of SOC, or any part of the day, and I presume that is happening more often than I thought, because I observed a stop, and restart recently.

It happens exactly the same. I have the watchmon core integrated with Victron with K9 cellmate cell monitors, I have also had it installed with blockmons. Without any recognizable pattern, it stops randomly, the connection with the supervisor is lost, the SOC LEDs look good, the status LED is ok and when it was installed with the blockmons the LEDs turned off, from the toolkit there is no connection with supervisor. It can happen every 15 days or every 3 hours. If I turn it off and on again everything is ok. I have tried to reinstall it, I have updated the firmware, I have tried with a USB connection, with WIFI, but I have not been able to solve it. I have changed the power supply, with 12V, with 24V stabilized and isolated, but I can't get anything. I've talked to Batrium and they haven't given me a solution, next week I'll do a Zoom with them to see if they can help me, but I'm not sure I can get anything. I'm desperate....

 

[RP67]

It happens exactly the same. I have the watchmon core integrated with Victron with K9 cellmate cell monitors, I have also had it installed with blockmons. Without any recognizable pattern, it stops randomly, the connection with the supervisor is lost, the SOC LEDs look good, the status LED is ok and when it was installed with the blockmons the LEDs turned off, from the toolkit there is no connection with supervisor. It can happen every 15 days or every 3 hours. If I turn it off and on again everything is ok. I have tried to reinstall it, I have updated the firmware, I have tried with a USB connection, with WIFI, but I have not been able to solve it. I have changed the power supply, with 12V, with 24V stabilized and isolated, but I can't get anything. I've talked to Batrium and they haven't given me a solution, next week I'll do a Zoom with them to see if they can help me, but I'm not sure I can get anything. I'm desperate....

Huh that's a relief... Sorry I shouldn't say that, I know how frustrating it is, but at least I know this issue isn't a one off. I had the Zoom meeting on Tuesday, with a very helpful person however, doesn't seem to be we solved the problem. We did software and firmware update, and the most important what I learned from this session, the desktop software is anything but "intuitive", settings are hidden under various other setting options, like the WiFi settings... I suspected the bottom corner symbol is only an indicator, but that appeared to be the access to change the communication method and so on. Unfortunately the documentation and the Wiki page isn't so helpful either (unless to someone who is very beginner, or never done things like this before). The result of the meeting was positive though, I finally managed to get the watchmon communicate with my inverter via CAN bus, but it was pretty much trying a bunch of random settings in various sequence. For example, the communication protocol which finally turn out working OK, wasn't even mentioned during our meeting (also TX only, no RX according to the desktop software). By the chance, have you got any status report generated when your unit get frozen? It supposed to create one during a critical event, but my one doesn't do it. It might be a "non-critical" event from the board's perspective?

 

[javitxin]

Huh that's a relief... Sorry I shouldn't say that, I know how frustrating it is, but at least I know this issue isn't a one off. I had the Zoom meeting on Tuesday, with a very helpful person however, doesn't seem to be we solved the problem. We did software and firmware update, and the most important what I learned from this session, the desktop software is anything but "intuitive", settings are hidden under various other setting options, like the WiFi settings... I suspected the bottom corner symbol is only an indicator, but that appeared to be the access to change the communication method and so on. Unfortunately the documentation and the Wiki page isn't so helpful either (unless to someone who is very beginner, or never done things like this before). The result of the meeting was positive though, I finally managed to get the watchmon communicate with my inverter via CAN bus, but it was pretty much trying a bunch of random settings in various sequence. For example, the communication protocol which finally turn out working OK, wasn't even mentioned during our meeting (also TX only, no RX according to the desktop software). By the chance, have you got any status report generated when your unit get frozen? It supposed to create one during a critical event, but my one doesn't do it. It might be a "non-critical" event from the board's perspective?

No, I don't have a report because it's not a critical event. In reality, the batrium continues to work but without a connection to the supervisor, it cannot be accessed from the PC and it does not send data to the inverter. I'm not sure that Batrium can solve the problem through Zoom, as it happened in your meeting and I'm starting to think about changing Bms.

 

[RP67]

In my case there is no communication with the LeafMons, which would trigger a critical event, but as you said, no comm to the software, so obviously no chance to snapshot anything.
My new BMS on the way just in case, but what makes me disappointed, I accepted to pay premium for the Batrium, and the return I expected a premium product/service. I'm still hopeful though (which is probably foolish).

 

[sunshine_eggo]

I'm feeling very fortunate I purchased my WM5 moments before the Core became their primary product. No shutdowns/hangs since commissioning. I am NOT using wifi if that matters. Mini-PC attached via USB.

 

[kromc5]

Worry about your post since I purchases a watchmon core. My watchmon 4 both units have worked perfectly no restart in six+ months, my watchmon core was doa on arrival and sent back. Its been several months waiting for the return plus extras I wanted.

 

[RP67]

I'm feeling very fortunate I purchased my WM5 moments before the Core became their primary product. No shutdowns/hangs since commissioning. I am NOT using wifi if that matters. Mini-PC attached via USB.

Yeah, that might be slightly different. I was told to not use USB for monitoring, especially when other power source attached to the board, as the USB also supplies 5V to the board and that could cause issue... I doubt about that. I'm using WiFi since I realized the WiFi is on (first post) but no difference whatsoever.

 

[RP67]

Worry about your post since I purchases a watchmon core. My watchmon 4 both units have worked perfectly no restart in six+ months, my watchmon core was doa on arrival and sent back. Its been several months waiting for the return plus extras I wanted.

Hmm... they are not fast... One thing for sure, I'll not going to get further Batrium for a while.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Yeah, that might be slightly different. I was told to not use USB for monitoring, especially when other power source attached to the board, as the USB also supplies 5V to the board and that could cause issue... I doubt about that. I'm using WiFi since I realized the WiFi is on (first post) but no difference whatsoever.

No one has cautioned me against that. I look at it as a backup power source.

 

[RP67]

No one has cautioned me against that. I look at it as a backup power source.

Well, it seemed obvious for me as well, but that's what I meant when I said Batrium isn't "intuitive". Unfortunately not a word about this in the documentation. I expected the board to select the higher power input, and switch over when needed.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Well, it seemed obvious for me as well, but that's what I meant when I said Batrium isn't "intuitive".

Understatement!

Unfortunately not a word about this in the documentation. I expected the board to select the higher power input, and switch over when needed.

I can confirm that behavior. I've had to redo some connections, and disconnecting the primary power terminal fed by the battery did not disrupt the Batrium function. Disconnecting the USB when connected to battery power shows no disruption either.

 

[javitxin]

Eh, eso es un alivio... Lo siento, no debería decir eso, sé lo frustrante que es, pero al menos sé que este problema no es único. Tuve la reunión de Zoom el martes, con una persona muy útil, sin embargo, no parece que hayamos resuelto el problema. Hicimos una actualización de software y firmware, y lo más importante que aprendí de esta sesión, el software de escritorio es cualquier cosa menos "intuitivo", las configuraciones están ocultas bajo varias otras opciones de configuración, como la configuración de WiFi... Sospeché que el símbolo de la esquina inferior es solo un indicador, pero parece ser el acceso para cambiar el método de comunicación, etc. Desafortunadamente, la documentación y la página Wiki tampoco son tan útiles (a menos que sea para alguien que es muy principiante o que nunca haya hecho cosas como esta antes). Aunque el resultado de la reunión fue positivo, Finalmente logré que el watchmon se comunicara con mi inversor a través del bus CAN, pero estaba probando un montón de configuraciones aleatorias en varias secuencias. Por ejemplo, el protocolo de comunicación que finalmente funcionó bien, ni siquiera se mencionó durante nuestra reunión (también TX solo, no RX según el software de escritorio). Por casualidad, ¿tiene algún informe de estado generado cuando su unidad se congela? Se suponía que debía crear uno durante un evento crítico, pero el mío no lo hace. ¿Podría ser un evento "no crítico" desde la perspectiva de la junta? sin RX según el software de escritorio). Por casualidad, ¿tiene algún informe de estado generado cuando su unidad se congela? Se suponía que debía crear uno durante un evento crítico, pero el mío no lo hace. ¿Podría ser un evento "no crítico" desde la perspectiva de la junta? sin RX según el software de escritorio). Por casualidad, ¿tiene algún informe de estado generado cuando su unidad se congela? Se suponía que debía crear uno durante un evento crítico, pero el mío no lo hace. ¿Podría ser un evento "no crítico" desde la perspectiva de la junta?

¿Qué firmware has instalado? ¿Sigues teniendo el mismo problema con el nuevo firmware? No entiendo muy bien a qué te refieres con el protocolo de comunicación, ¿has cambiado algo?

Huh that's a relief... Sorry I shouldn't say that, I know how frustrating it is, but at least I know this issue isn't a one off. I had the Zoom meeting on Tuesday, with a very helpful person however, doesn't seem to be we solved the problem. We did software and firmware update, and the most important what I learned from this session, the desktop software is anything but "intuitive", settings are hidden under various other setting options, like the WiFi settings... I suspected the bottom corner symbol is only an indicator, but that appeared to be the access to change the communication method and so on. Unfortunately the documentation and the Wiki page isn't so helpful either (unless to someone who is very beginner, or never done things like this before). The result of the meeting was positive though, I finally managed to get the watchmon communicate with my inverter via CAN bus, but it was pretty much trying a bunch of random settings in various sequence. For example, the communication protocol which finally turn out working OK, wasn't even mentioned during our meeting (also TX only, no RX according to the desktop software). By the chance, have you got any status report generated when your unit get frozen? It supposed to create one during a critical event, but my one doesn't do it. It might be a "non-critical" event from the board's perspective?

What firmware have you installed? Still having the same problem with the new firmware? I don't quite understand what you mean by the communication protocol, have you changed something?

 

[RP67]

¿Qué firmware has instalado? ¿Sigues teniendo el mismo problema con el nuevo firmware? No entiendo muy bien a qué te refieres con el protocolo de comunicación, ¿has cambiado algo?

What firmware have you installed? Still having the same problem with the new firmware? I don't quite understand what you mean by the communication protocol, have you changed something?

Well, I thought better to add some pictures. Communication protocol to the CAN bus communication, unfortunately that is not standardized, so there is various options. While I was taking these pictures for you, I quickly tested several others and it seems to be with the (other) current settings (charge/discharge and remote under the control logic tab) there is some more potentially usable option on the list.
Firmware/software version, you can see on the other photo.

 

[javitxin]

Eh, eso es un alivio... Lo siento, no debería decir eso, sé lo frustrante que es, pero al menos sé que este problema no es único. Tuve la reunión de Zoom el martes, con una persona muy útil, sin embargo, no parece que hayamos resuelto el problema. Hicimos una actualización de software y firmware, y lo más importante que aprendí de esta sesión, el software de escritorio es cualquier cosa menos "intuitivo", las configuraciones están ocultas bajo varias otras opciones de configuración, como la configuración de WiFi... Sospeché que el símbolo de la esquina inferior es solo un indicador, pero parece ser el acceso para cambiar el método de comunicación, etc. Desafortunadamente, la documentación y la página Wiki tampoco son tan útiles (a menos que sea para alguien que es muy principiante o que nunca haya hecho cosas como esta antes). Aunque el resultado de la reunión fue positivo, finalmente logré que el watchmon se comunicara con mi inversor a través del bus CAN, pero estaba probando un montón de configuraciones aleatorias en varias secuencias. Por ejemplo, el protocolo de comunicación que finalmente funcionó bien, ni en ocasiones se mencionó durante nuestra reunión (también TX solo, no RX según el software de escritorio). Por casualidad, ¿tiene algún informe de estado generado cuando su unidad se congela? Se suponía que debía crear uno durante un evento crítico, pero el mío no lo hace. ¿Podría ser un evento "no crítico" desde la perspectiva de la junta? sin RX según el software de escritorio). Por casualidad, ¿tiene algún informe de estado generado cuando su unidad se congela? Se suponía que debía crear uno durante un evento crítico, pero el mío no lo hace. ¿Podría ser un evento "no crítico" desde la perspectiva de la junta? sin RX según el software de escritorio). Por casualidad, ¿tiene algún informe de estado generado cuando su unidad se congela? Se suponía que debía crear uno durante un evento crítico, pero el mío no lo hace. ¿Podría ser un evento "no crítico" desde la perspectiva de la junta?

¿Qué firmware tiene instalado? ¿Sigues teniendo el mismo problema con el nuevo firmware? No entiendo muy bien a qué te refieres con el protocolo de comunicación, ¿ha cambiado algo?

Well, I thought better to add some pictures. Communication protocol to the CAN bus communication, unfortunately that is not standardized, so there is various options. While I was taking these pictures for you, I quickly tested several others and it seems to be with the (other) current settings (charge/discharge and remote under the control logic tab) there is some more potentially usable option on the list.
Firmware/software version, you can see on the other photo.

Unfortunately that firmware is the last one I have installed and I have the same problem. Randomly it keeps failing.

 

[RP67]

As I said, did not fixed my problem either. But in the other hand, the stops become very short approximately 2-5 second and that is not enough to trigger any critical fault which would stop the inverter. I'm not sure if that is `because of the "update" or not. I'm keep monitoring but that is pretty much I can do at the moment.