BMS For Closed Loop Communication W/ EG4 18kPV Inverter

[PVGeezer]

Thanks for the suggestions. No batteries yet, I just ordered them last week. I'm getting Luyuan battery boxes with Seplos BMS's and heat pads. I'll be using a construction job box which will be outdoors. I plan to insulate it but it will be pretty tightly packed when I place the Luyuan boxes in it. So I doubt that a convection heater will be able to heat the whole job box uniformly enough. If I have problems with the Seplos BMS's driving the heat pads my backup plan is to use an Inkbird temp controller to drive them instead. Those little temp controllers are great, I've used them on several projects.

I want to mount an EG4 chargeverter in the box too, so I can transfer charge to the house batteries from my Ford Lightning. So I'll need a small cooling fan too. I'll be using an Inkbird for that as well.

 

[Lardino]

Just adding another data point:
I have had very good luck with the Pace PC200 BMS (200 A) that I got from Gobel and its logging capability has saved me some headaches. I have it connected to the 18Kpv via CAN and it handles closed-loop communication with the inverter with no problem using Lithium brand code 6.
You mentioned batteries (plural)...does that mean you have more than one?

I am thinking of adding another identical battery but am unsure how to connect them such that the 18Kpv "sees" both batteries. Does one keep the CAN connection and just add a RS485 cable from the first battery to the second? Or do I use daisy-chained RS485 ports only. Where is this explained. I guess I better do some research before my battery arrives. Rogerheflin explained some of this above but did not mention CAN, so I am a bit confused.

I also have Gobel battery with that bms. I had it connected closed loop to EG4 6000XP using battery setting 2 which I had seen other people say they used. It seemed like it worked for awhile but then I got some error where it locked out charging . Now I will have to see if the battery settings on your inverter are the same for the 6000XP. There is a compatibility chart that looks pretty much the same as for the the 18kpv . Do you have your Gobel PC200 bms programmed for the Luxpower inverter protocol ? I had mine programmed for Pylontech protocol so maybe that was the problem. Regarding your question about putting another battery on you would connect the two batteries via the daisy chained rs485 ports and the master battery ( dip switch to be battery 1) will be connected to the inverter. It will report the other battery which you have the dip switches set for 2 .
Can you tell me what voltages your 18Kpv charges the batteries to in closed loop ? Does it go about 55.2v which is what my Gobel battery bms came set to , and does it then drop down to Float of 53.6v ?
Thanks

 

[marionw]

With the PACE compatible BMS there are a number of monitoring options.
Download the SOKtool.exe software from the Current Connected website or you can download the PbmsTools software from the GobelPower website.

Use an RS232 to USB converter and connect to the Master battery as a computer. The software will allow you to monitor all batteries in the stack and if you want, the same connection can be used by Solar Asstant.

SOKTools.exe "SOK Tools 2023+ version (Includes monitoring and protocol edit)"

SK48V100 Server Rack Battery Owner & Operator's Manual

Full instruction manual for the SOK SK48V100 server rack battery. Everything you need to know is contained within this document!

www.currentconnected.com

RS232 to USB cable (if one was not supplied by your battery)

Amazon.com

 

[Lardino]

With the PACE compatible BMS there are a number of monitoring options.
Download the SOKtool.exe software from the Current Connected website or you can download the PbmsTools software from the GobelPower website.

Use an RS232 to USB converter and connect to the Master battery as a computer. The software will allow you to monitor all batteries in the stack and if you want, the same connection can be used by Solar Asstant.

SOKTools.exe "SOK Tools 2023+ version (Includes monitoring and protocol edit)"

SK48V100 Server Rack Battery Owner & Operator's Manual

Full instruction manual for the SOK SK48V100 server rack battery. Everything you need to know is contained within this document!

www.currentconnected.com

RS232 to USB cable (if one was not supplied by your battery)

Amazon.com

yes I have those cables and software and do that . I just need to know the proper protocol to work with inverter . I will try battery no 6 and program bms to luxpower and see if that works properly.

 

[caesarv]

I just added my second Gobel battery yesterday (V2) and all seems to be working well. Both use the Pace BMS. The master battery connects to my 18Kpv via the CAN port. I then connected the two batteries together using the RS245C ports. I set both batteries to use the CAN protocol of LUXPOWER and the 485 protocol of LUXPOWER_V03. Keep in mind I only have a partial day of data, but the battery voltage at 100% hit 57.2V for a brief moment before settling down to about 56V. Communication between the inverter and batteries is working well and the inverter detects the now-doubled capacity.
Using the Gobel BMS software, I can monitor both batteries from a single RS232 connection to the master battery using their provided USB cable.

Impressions; I am very happy with Gobel. I struggled a bit with the assembly of the first battery, but did not have any of the issues that Andy had. Both batches of cells were perfect and all arrived with the exact same voltage (3.291V I think.) Assembly of the second battery (V2) was virtually perfect and the new plastic wire channel was a welcome addition. Gobel may not be the cheapest, but I fully recommend them for their high quality. Attached is a picture of the two batteries; I still need to attached them to the wall and strap them in (I live in earthquake country) and provide a better ground connection.

 

[Lardino]

I just added my second Gobel battery yesterday (V2) and all seems to be working well. Both use the Pace BMS. The master battery connects to my 18Kpv via the CAN port. I then connected the two batteries together using the RS245C ports. I set both batteries to use the CAN protocol of LUXPOWER and the 485 protocol of LUXPOWER_V03. Keep in mind I only have a partial day of data, but the battery voltage at 100% hit 57.2V for a brief moment before settling down to about 56V. Communication between the inverter and batteries is working well and the inverter detects the now-doubled capacity.
Using the Gobel BMS software, I can monitor both batteries from a single RS232 connection to the master battery using their provided USB cable.

Impressions; I am very happy with Gobel. I struggled a bit with the assembly of the first battery, but did not have any of the issues that Andy had. Both batches of cells were perfect and all arrived with the exact same voltage (3.291V I think.) Assembly of the second battery (V2) was virtually perfect and the new plastic wire channel was a welcome addition. Gobel may not be the cheapest, but I fully recommend them for their high quality. Attached is a picture of the two batteries; I still need to attached them to the wall and strap them in (I live in earthquake country) and provide a better ground connection.

I bought my Gobel battery prebuilt this summer and it was such a good price with shipping included (2700). I wish I had gotten a second one as it turned out to have such great balanced cells. I do have gobel cells I bought this past summer to build another one but don't have their box. Hopefully I will get it put together soon. I also have 4 Orient Power /Jakiper batteries and they are not near the quality of the Gobel - at least the cells aren't. They also have Pace BMS . The pace bms in the Gobel is a newer higher current one but they all talk together okay.
I wish there was a way to insert our own battery voltages into the closed loop . I only want to charge to 55.2v and float at 53.6v . But I will see how it goes when I try the different battery #6 setting and program it to Luxpower.
In case you want to check out another monitor option , I use this one called Pylon to MQTT . You can use either an esp32 or a Raspberry Pi to do the communications . I use an esp32 and send the mqtt data to a pi that is running Mosquitto, Telegraf, Influx , and Grafana. All details in the wiki on this github project. Works great and I graph all 16 cells in every battery and the other data too like soc, current in each, voltages, capacities, temps , etc. https://github.com/ClassicDIY/PylonToMQTT
Thanks for sharing your results.
Larry

 

[marionw]

The PACE BMS does have a "Pack Full Charge Voltage(V)" setting which is settable.
The great thing about the PACE BMS is that for the most part, batteries from different manufacturers who use the PACE BSM retain an interoperability that most BMS do not. In addition the PACE BMS communication protocol is "more well" documented than most other BMS's.
I have six SunGoldPower batteries with the PACE BMS and have been very satisfied with their performance./
I have found than a number of "Pbsmtool" and "SOKTools" software work with the PACE BMS but I prefer the SOKTools software only because I know the password and can change any settings on the "ParameterSetting" tab

 

[Lardino]

The PACE BMS does have a "Pack Full Charge Voltage(V)" setting which is settable.
The great thing about the PACE BMS is that for the most part, batteries from different manufacturers who use the PACE BSM retain an interoperability that most BMS do not. In addition the PACE BMS communication protocol is "more well" documented than most other BMS's.
I have six SunGoldPower batteries with the PACE BMS and have been very satisfied with their performance./
I have found than a number of "Pbsmtool" and "SOKTools" software work with the PACE BMS but I prefer the SOKTools software only because I know the password and can change any settings on the "ParameterSetting" tab

You can get a software download on the Gobel page that is updated version . Password is 123456 . Check it out sometime.
Are you saying that whatever the full pack setting is in the pace bms - that is what the 18kPV uses to terminate the Absorb ?
Here is what my Gobel came programmed with and I have never touched them because it works so well.
I need to give my Gobel a try with open loop again but this time with battery 6 and luxpower inverter protocol programmed in. What I had in it before didn't work right with my 6000XP.
Thanks

 

[marionw]

The problem is:
The "Master" reports:
1) Average SOC for all batteries in the bank/stack.
2) Voltage of the batteries in the bank/stack (if all are in parallel should be the same),
3) Any battery alarm or protection conditions.
4) Max Bulk Charge and Max Float Charge voltages.
5) Max Charge Current.
6) Start and Stop change flags as well as "Charge Immediate" flag

What the inverter does with this information is a mystery that is not well documented.

Does setting a PACE BMS "Pack Full Charge Voltage(V)" affect what the BMS sends to the inverter as "Max Bulk Charge Voltage" and "Max Float Charge Voltage". I do not know.

My experience with both six EG4 LifePower4 V1 (via an EG4 Communications Hub) and six SunGoldPower batteries (and an SRNE Inverter clone) where both communicated with the Inverter using the Pylontech protocol was; the Inverter disregarded/ignored anything but SOC. It appears the Inverter only managed battery charge based on the "Master BMS" reported SOC. The Inverter did set the Max Bulk Charge and Max Float Charge voltages to the BMS values

It's all about how a particular Inverter (firmware) processes the data from the "Master BMS". This is a sorely undocumented process.

 

[Lardino]

The problem is:
The "Master" reports:
1) Average SOC for all batteries in the bank/stack.
2) Voltage of the batteries in the bank/stack (if all are in parallel should be the same),
3) Any battery alarm or protection conditions.
4) Max Bulk Charge and Max Float Charge voltages.
5) Max Charge Current.
6) Start and Stop change flags as well as "Charge Immediate" flag

What the inverter does with this information is a mystery that is not well documented.

Does setting a PACE BMS "Pack Full Charge Voltage(V)" affect what the BMS sends to the inverter as "Max Bulk Charge Voltage" and "Max Float Charge Voltage". I do not know.

My experience with both six EG4 LifePower4 V1 (via an EG4 Communications Hub) and six SunGoldPower batteries (and an SRNE Inverter clone) where both communicated with the Inverter using the Pylontech protocol was; the Inverter disregarded/ignored anything but SOC. It appears the Inverter only managed battery charge based on the "Master BMS" reported SOC. The Inverter did set the Max Bulk Charge and Max Float Charge voltages to the BMS values

It's all about how a particular Inverter (firmware) processes the data from the "Master BMS". This is a sorely undocumented process.

With so many inverters out there by EG4, Luxpower, and others I am surprised how undocumented it all is .

I just found a github project that takes a Victron Smart BMS data and makes into canbus pylontech data to feed into an inverter . I am still studying this to understand how it works. Since I just installed a Smart Shunt I may try this out . https://github.com/sijones/DiyBatteryBMS/wiki
But first maybe the easy thing to do would be for me to try out the batteries in luxpower inverter mode and see how that works.
Thanks for the info - I am starting to understand a little bit how closed loop works.