Closed-loop Battery Comms interoperability? EG4+Ecoworthy

[phubner]

Hi Y'all,

I want to add more batteries to my closed loop (6x EG4 Lifepower4) battery rack. It is connected to my Solark 12ks via the EG4 Lifepower4 Communications hub. Ecoworthy batteries are getting great reviews and are so much cheaper (1300vs900!), but does anyone know if the speak the same "Comms" as the Lifepower4s? Maybe @Will Prowse or others have tested this type of communications interoperability?

Thanks for your insights!
Paul

 

[ScrodusGargleRotten]

They probably do not speak the same language. EG4 is like Apple. They lock you in an ecosystem and laugh at ideas like yours.

They probably would void the warranty on your Eg4 batteries just for thinking this!

 

[phubner]

(lol) I understand that "Probably do not" may be the outcome, but I know that so many battery makers are using the same BMS nowadays so the question remains!

Has anyone with multiple battery types tried?

Optionally, is it advised to run some batteries closed-loop and just add a few more without comms?

 

[ScrodusGargleRotten]

is it advised to run some batteries closed-loop and just add a few more without comms?

Closed loop is like a cult. Many restrictions, little benefit.

No problem at all with somein the cult on , some off.

I left the cult recently. I am enraged at EG4s customer service.
Thier gear is good enough.

 

[BarracudaBob]

Put the EG4 Lifepower4 on closed loop and parallel the E-W batteries with them. As long as you have balanced everybody out and added them all at the 100% charge voltage so no arcing and sparking when you put them together they will work fine. I have been doing it since October 24.

The LifePower4 V1 have a 100% BMS Reset Voltage of 56.6V and the E-W have 56.8V so the E-W will go to 99% SOC when the LP4V1 will go to 100% SOC displayed. You can reprogram the E-W for 56.6V and everything works just fine together.

 

[Brucey]

Open loop no comms, based on voltage allows for greater system stability imo and then no more reliance on potato bms soc guess numbers where they drift due to not detecting small current loads (gets worse as you add more batteries). Definitely a problem with the eg4s.

 

[BarracudaBob]

Open loop no comms, based on voltage allows for greater system stability imo and then no more reliance on potato bms soc guess numbers where they drift due to not detecting small current loads (gets worse as you add more batteries). Definitely a problem with the eg4s.

I am running open loop now but still had to change the 100% BMS Reset voltage to 56.6V so the EG4 didn't alarm out at 56.8V

 

[phubner]

@BarracudaBob Thanks for the setting info. I'll make the changes when I get the batteries. (2x EWs on preorder. I have to wait until March for delivery)

 

[rcguymike]

Hey everyone, I have some ecoworthy batteries coming, I'm running a Victron system and would like to pull the ecoworthy data into VRM for logging, temps, cell mins/maxes etc. Not looking to run closed loop, I ordered a victron shunt too since I can't just use the EG4 LL-S anymore for accurate DC data. TIA.

 

[marionw]

If you do want to run closed loop use the EW batteries as you have more control over the BMS settings/parameters such as the Max Charge Voltage the BMS sends to the Inverter. With the EW you can set this value, with the EG4 LifePower4 V1 you can't.

 

[rcguymike]

If you do want to run closed loop use the EW batteries as you have more control over the BMS settings/parameters such as the Max Charge Voltage the BMS sends to the Inverter. With the EW you can set this value, with the EG4 LifePower4 V1 you can't.

Yeah I didn't like the default closed loop performance, my USB cable was missing from the package and Signature Solar sent it later, I haven't tried yet but it looks like the EG4 LL-S should be adjustable.

I've been waiting until I figure out my whole battery system before bringing it offline to do firmware updates though.

Currently I'm just using DVCC for shared voltage, temp and current and then have the MPPTs set to 56.8V, it looks like that allows the cells to balance much better than the EG4 requested 56V.

I have seen calibration drift using only the EG4 BMS SOC so I ordered a Victron Shunt too. At least with the eco-worthy new batteries I can get the pack data over Bluetooth but I have some node red stuff to monitor max cell differences and some control over some DC sources and would like to get all of the Battery stats into VRM. I think the cerbo has 2 different CAN ports can one be set up to read from the Eco-worthys? Or could they be read with RS485, RS232 or something?

 

[marionw]

Yeah I didn't like the default closed loop performance, my USB cable was missing from the package and Signature Solar sent it later, I haven't tried yet but it looks like the EG4 LL-S should be adjustable.

I've been waiting until I figure out my whole battery system before bringing it offline to do firmware updates though.

Currently I'm just using DVCC for shared voltage, temp and current and then have the MPPTs set to 56.8V, it looks like that allows the cells to balance much better than the EG4 requested 56V.

I have seen calibration drift using only the EG4 BMS SOC so I ordered a Victron Shunt too. At least with the eco-worthy new batteries I can get the pack data over Bluetooth but I have some node red stuff to monitor max cell differences and some control over some DC sources and would like to get all of the Battery stats into VRM. I think the cerbo has 2 different CAN ports can one be set up to read from the Eco-worthys? Or could they be read with RS485, RS232 or something?

With the ECO-Worthy batteries you can pull all individual battery data from the RS232 port on the Master Battery. Solar Assistant can also do this and display the data for each battery.

 

[rcguymike]

So I made another RJ45 Ethernet/CAN adapter, same as the EG4 to Victron, and plugged the EcoWorthy batteries into the 2nd CAN port and set it for the same settings as the BMS CAN port(500k) and the EcoWorthy battery shows up on the VRM dashboard with separate accurate stats!

The downside is it appears as though either the 2 ports are "bridged" when set to the same settings or the cerbo just doesn't properly handle 2 CAN battery masters. When viewing data on the advanced tab you can catch some of the statistics jumping between the 2 different masters, but the battery plugged into the BMS CAN port generally is the data that shows. For the historical graphs only the data from the BMS CAN port is logged, but if you have a dashboard graph/logging set up it can bounce between the data from the 2 masters.

Anyone else tried something similar yet? I might try setting up the EG4 battery for RS485 come to see if then the Cerbo/VRM can distinguish. Both batteries get VRM ID 512 even if I switch the ports around and redetect the battery. There is some way VRM is distinguishing them though as you can name them and the name sticks...if you do a redetect and swap cables around you can get the names confused though... it's like so close...