EG4 LL BMS to Victron Cerbo

[cdsolar]

The eg4 LL V2 batteries have a BMS CAN port that is a modified pinout RJ45 port. They also appear to be able to set the type of device they are talking to (victron, growatt, ...), using the lcd screen. (I do not have said battery yet, but am considering getting one).

There are various posts out there that show you can connect the eg4 bms to a CerboGX (Victron) using a special cable from signature solar (maybe resold from Victron). Notably here:

The connection from the Cerbo to the BMS obviates the need for the battery shunt, as you are getting the data from the BMS directly.

Here are my questions:

1. What are the pinouts settings on the eg4 BMS CAN port?
2. What does changing the device type you are talking to on the eg4 actually do? Does it change the pinouts? Data format, etc?

Why do I ask?

Instead of a Cerbo, I want to use a raspberry pi. I already have a pi4 with victron's VenusOS.

This device:

https://www.amazon.com/Converter-Raspberry-Computer-Support-Windows/dp/B09K3LL93Q

will give me CAN capability.

And this or similar:

https://www.amazon.com/Yohii-Modular-Connector-Extender-Convertor/dp/B07DC4WL29

will allow me to adapt the pinouts to whatever I need (and go from db9 to RJ45).

This link from Victron shows that there are two pinout settings (A,B):

VE.Can to CAN-bus BMS cables manual [Victron Energy]

www.victronenergy.com

So which of these does the eg4 LL battery use? Or does it use it's own special pinouts?

I may have to make changes in VenusOS as well, but if this can't be done hardware wise, there is no use trying this and then go back to using a shunt on the battery.

Thanks for any info.

-Chris

 

[cdsolar]

Ok,

This link:

VE.Can to CAN-bus BMS cables manual [Victron Energy]

www.victronenergy.com

Shows that the battery side has CAN-H on pin 4, CAN-L on pin 5, and Ground on pin 6 or 2. The ground pin is the only
thing that varies. So if the Eg4 batteries are using this standard, I only have to try two possibilities. It would be nice to know
which BMS it uses.

-Chris

 

[cdsolar]

I contacted signature solar tech support on this and am very happy to say that they responded, even to a *potential* customer.

They tell me that for the eg4 LL2 batteries, CAN-H is on pin 4 and CAN-L is on pin 5.
That is what I needed!.

-chris

 

[z_zk_z]

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[cdsolar]

Hi,

I apologize for not getting back to you sooner.

I ordered my eg4 LL2 24v/200ah over the weekend, and just got notified that it shipped

I have already crafted a cable and Canbus adapter as per specs above, and my raspberry pi with VenusOS sees the Canbus interface. I will let you know my progress once I get the battery.

I cannot say for sure, but I suspect you will be ok as long as the LLv2 battery is master. But of course I may be wrong.

-Chris

 

[z_zk_z]

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[snuffy]

Notes on EG4-LL V2 (64 6 dip switch model address model) Currently shipped by Current Connected

1) The the manual appears to show inverted addresses, this is in fact correct! Thus, device 1 is all switches except for SW1 ON, SW1 is OFF.

2) To change CAN/RS485 modes, turn all switches on then press and hold the back back button (button 3) not the enter button as the manual states

 

[z_zk_z]

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[cdsolar]

Hey, Did you go with pin 6 or pin 2 on the battery side (ground pin)? I am making my own cable and I have updated my EG4-LL (version one with display, 48V) using the Victron firmware. See this recent YouTube video from EG4 (

) that shows how to update different EG4 batteries firmware. It seems, I may not need to have an EG4-LL version two as the master in order for the Victron communication to work. I want to give it a try. Thanks in advance for your reply
View attachment 134095

Again, I do not have my battery yet, but my cable will connect battery pin 2 to canbus ground on my pi. I can always redo it if it doesn't work. I never want to say that ground doesn't matter, but in this case ....

It would be great to know if the LL V1 firmware upgrade also allows you to connect to Victron equipment.

 

[cdsolar]

Again, I do not have my battery yet, but my cable will connect battery pin 2 to canbus ground on my pi. I can always redo it if it doesn't work. I never want to say that ground doesn't matter, but in this case ....

It would be great to know if the LL V1 firmware upgrade also allows you to connect to Victron equipment

I see your comment about pins and the update cable. I will switch my ground to 6. I see that you are splicing together an RJ45 cable. It might be better, if you have the tools, to just crimp a new RJ45 cable wired as you need. What would be helpful, if someone out there is reading this besides us, for someone with a genuine Victron cable, to hook it up to an RJ45 tester and tell us what pins are mapped to the other side.

 

[VanLuna]

For those who have done the V1 firmware upgrade...
What version (I assume its Firmware Version) did you see in BMS Tools before and after the upgrade?
What .HEX file do you use to do your upgrade?

My Battery: LL 24V 200Ah V1
I'm currently at version Z15T07
I have tried the 5KW_16100AH_Victron_SOL-ARK-EG4_LL_A.hex file and the app fails to erase and flash. Trying to sort that out and confirm I do need it.

 

[z_zk_z]

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[z_zk_z]

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[z_zk_z]

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[s0l4rn00b]

Notes on EG4-LL V2 (64 6 dip switch model address model) Currently shipped by Current Connected

1) The the manual appears to show inverted addresses, this is in fact correct! Thus, device 1 is all switches except for SW1 ON, SW1 is OFF.

2) To change CAN/RS485 modes, turn all switches on then press and hold the back back button (button 3) not the enter button as the manual states

Any chance you can make a video of this? I swear I've tried every option I could think of and can't get the screen to appear

 

[s0l4rn00b]

Hey, I will post photos after a little more testing but it seems my cerbo gx is talking to my EG4-LL version one batteries. I also purchased the Victron cable from Signature Solar (don't buy, it is a junk) and they are not using the ground, just pins 7&8 on Victron side and pins 4&5 on EG4-LL battery side. I have three EG4-LL V1 connected to cerbo gx and cerbo gx shows number of batteries as three.

Did you end up making your own cable? or buying the one from Signature Solar? I'd love to make my own but not sure which wires need to go where on the Cerbo side.

 

[z_zk_z]

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[s0l4rn00b]

I am using my own homemade cable. I also purchased the Signature Solar Victron cable to make sure that I got the correct pins. The attached photo (from Victron) shows the pins which I am using in my cable. I don't recommend you to purchase the SS cable because it is very stiff and extremely bad cable quality. It also doesn't look like the photo shown on their website. Just for your information, SS cable isn't using the GND (doesn't have pins 3 & 6 connected). I tested the cable with GND and without GND, and both versions work. I decided to use the GND (pins 3&6 connected) and following the Victron version because Victron is a power electronic manufacturer and Signature Solar is only a distributor which may not be in business for much longer.

View attachment 141941

Thanks I'll give this a try. Just curious, what makes you think they won't be in business much longer?

 

[z_zk_z]

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[s0l4rn00b]

It is just a matter of time before one of those EG4-LL batteries would set someone's house on fire and they will find themselves out of business due to a class action lawsuit. See my post:

PLEASE HELP - EG4-LL (V1 with updated Victron Firmware) generating Cell Over Voltage at 100% SOC

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diysolarforum.com

Ah I did see this. I have the LL V2, curious if the same problem is occuring with these?