EG4 V2 12v/400ah Comm issue

[Justice12t]

Hello Everyone,
I see there is a lot of chatter out there about these new SS V2 batteries and communication. I just wanted to post a few of my challenges and see if anyone else had the same, resolved ect. I've reached out to SS and I'm just waiting for them to respond back. So, I've got (2) V1 12v and (1) V2 12v batteries with the V2 acting as the host battery. I've got this battery hooked up to my cerbo via a CAN cable I purchased from SS. As of now, Victron is the only selectable CAN communication for the V2 12v batteries. Below are a few things I've noticed.

The cable seems to only have 2 wires for H and L but I thought there should be a ground cable/pin? pin 6? I am using the terminator plug that comes with the cerbo also.

The SOC when first plugged in for several hours showed 194% and went up as the battery charged eventually reaching 200%. I tried cerbo OS 2.93 and then the bata 3.23 (latest at the time) it didn't go back to 100% until I updated to OS 3.24, no clue there. With that said it never seems to move off 100%.

It doesn't seem to consistently show any power draw or charge. I have about a constant 1.50 to 2.60 amp draw that rarely shows. Most times it just reports 0. This is on VRM.

The above I think might cause this next issue, it doesn't report any consumption on VRM. Also seems to report a max charge current of 30amps.

It doesn't show ah hours left, time to go, any cell voltage other than the max/min cell. It only shows 600ah installed when it should be 1200ah and shows nothing for capacity left.

The list goes on. I'm still waiting to hear back from SS to see what if anything can be resolved. SS saying this battery "communicates" with victron cerbo gx is a stretch at best...lol Even if there is a video on YT showing SS and Victron working together. Yes, there are a bunch of issues to work through, but I still think if these can be resolved it's worth it. Just wanted to get this out there for anyone else with the V2 12v batteries and see if anyone has them and are having the same issues I am. Thanks. I'll update when I hear back from SS.

 

[Justice12t]

Just watched @Will Prowse video on these batteries. Below are the additional pictures and what not. Battery(ies) are working great, the closed loop communication is terrible.

 

[Justice12t]

1st pic - Shows it can see 3 batteries, low/high cell and temp.
2nd pic - Shows installed capacity as 600, it should be 1200 and shows -- for available.
3rd pic - Shows SOC 194%, that has since changed to 100% but never lowers as it also doesn't report consumption.

Several other issues that I listed above, still haven't heard anything back from SS Tech Support.

Again, the batteries are great, they work very well and do a good job staying balanced.

 

[z_zk_z]

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[z_zk_z]

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[z_zk_z]

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[Will Prowse]

1st pic - Shows it can see 3 batteries, low/high cell and temp.
2nd pic - Shows installed capacity as 600, it should be 1200 and shows -- for available.
3rd pic - Shows SOC 194%, that has since changed to 100% but never lowers as it also doesn't report consumption.

Several other issues that I listed above, still haven't heard anything back from SS Tech Support.

Again, the batteries are great, they work very well and do a good job staying balanced.

Good to know. I haven't tested the communication outside the eg4 protocol.

 

[Justice12t]

@Will Prowse , I can't remember from your Victron vidoes if you have a Cerbo or not. If you do, I'd be interested to know if you had the same experience, especially while having the original V1 12v/400ah battery attached to the new V2 battery you just recently tested. Trying to contact SS this coming week. Still haven't heard back from them.

 

[Will Prowse]

I haven't tested that before. I do have the cerbo.

 

[Justice12t]

Well I finally couldn't take anymore. After weeks or back and forth, try this, try that, send a picture of this and that. We've gotten nowhere. Just received another request for pictures of the inverter, panel, sub panel, all things that don't have anything to do with my batteries not communicating with each other and the Cerbo. I'll be honest, the support person I dealt with did his best and was fairly responsive. I finally wrote back today and receiving yet another picture ect request that I wanted to speak with someone that can approve getting me a refund. They sold/are selling something that doesn't live up to the words they are saying, and it really is a shame. Hopefully, I won't spend another month trying to get my refund but I'm afraid that will also be a fight. So, if you have the V1 12v/400ah batteries, don't waste your time/money getting a V2 12v/400ah battery to use to communicate with a Cerbo. They told me it works but I can confirm, it does not. Sad really because the batteries otherwise are great.

 

[Markus_EG4]

What is your email send me your info please

 

[Justice12t]

Update...

I'm happy to report that Signature Solar followed back up, identified the issue and created a fix with a new firmware. There are some technical challenges, but they offered a few solutions. We agreed upon one and are starting down that path. Certainly, appreciate a vendor stepping up and doing the right thing. I'll report back/close this thread once everything is completed.

 

[NCOffGrid]

Update...

I'm happy to report that Signature Solar followed back up, identified the issue and created a fix with a new firmware. There are some technical challenges, but they offered a few solutions. We agreed upon one and are starting down that path. Certainly, appreciate a vendor stepping up and doing the right thing. I'll report back/close this thread once everything is completed.

Curious if the cable ended up as part of the problem at all?

We're in the midst of a EG4/Victron communication issue. I found your post trying to research as to whether the ground wire is necessary in the cable. Signature Solar couldn't help us to this point, and Victron suggested that might be the problem. Support at Signature Solar did not offer us or discuss a firmware upgrade at all, though. Perhaps that's the route we should be pursuing next.

If you're still using the same cable I won't bother trying to track down one with all three wires in it.

 

[Justice12t]

Curious if the cable ended up as part of the problem at all?

We're in the midst of a EG4/Victron communication issue. I found your post trying to research as to whether the ground wire is necessary in the cable. Signature Solar couldn't help us to this point, and Victron suggested that might be the problem. Support at Signature Solar did not offer us or discuss a firmware upgrade at all, though. Perhaps that's the route we should be pursuing next.

If you're still using the same cable I won't bother trying to track down one with all three wires in it.

Still using the same cable, but I don't currently have the system hooked up. They offered a firmware update when combining the V1 and V2 batteries. I know have all V2 batteries but haven't hooked it all together yet. Hopefully I'll get that done this weekend. I'll report my findings then. I have a cable ready to make if needed to test out what your asking so happy to provide whatever info I can for you.

 

[Justice12t]

@NCOffGrid I've got my system back up and running. What issue are you having? Is there a post you started about it? Let me know, I'll help if I can. Thanks.

 

[NCOffGrid]

@NCOffGrid I've got my system back up and running. What issue are you having? Is there a post you started about it? Let me know, I'll help if I can. Thanks.

Appreciate the offer. In short, the V2 batteries in the rack just aren't showing up in the device list when connected to the Cerbo GX. We spent a day on the phone with Signature Solar, and to their credit they were pretty thorough and spent hours with us going over everything, and they couldn't find any issues with our setup. A solar installer friend who helped us set it up reached out to a guy he knows at Victron who suggested that Signature Solar is selling this wire without a ground, just two wires when their wiring diagram calls for three, and said to get a Victron-made one to try out before we do anything else. He said it can cause some difficult to track down issues. We should have our hands on one of those here soon and we're going to give it a try.

In the end it's not a massive deal as the Lynx is working fine and giving us the basics of what we need to keep it all up and running. It's just a bummer because one of the selling points of the EG4 is the communication with our Victron setup.

 

[Markus_EG4]

Appreciate the offer. In short, the V2 batteries in the rack just aren't showing up in the device list when connected to the Cerbo GX. We spent a day on the phone with Signature Solar, and to their credit they were pretty thorough and spent hours with us going over everything, and they couldn't find any issues with our setup. A solar installer friend who helped us set it up reached out to a guy he knows at Victron who suggested that Signature Solar is selling this wire without a ground, just two wires when their wiring diagram calls for three, and said to get a Victron-made one to try out before we do anything else. He said it can cause some difficult to track down issues. We should have our hands on one of those here soon and we're going to give it a try.

In the end it's not a massive deal as the Lynx is working fine and giving us the basics of what we need to keep it all up and running. It's just a bummer because one of the selling points of the EG4 is the communication with our Victron setup.

What is your Email or contact info i can help you get this resolved sir

 

[Justice12t]

Appreciate the offer. In short, the V2 batteries in the rack just aren't showing up in the device list when connected to the Cerbo GX. We spent a day on the phone with Signature Solar, and to their credit they were pretty thorough and spent hours with us going over everything, and they couldn't find any issues with our setup. A solar installer friend who helped us set it up reached out to a guy he knows at Victron who suggested that Signature Solar is selling this wire without a ground, just two wires when their wiring diagram calls for three, and said to get a Victron-made one to try out before we do anything else. He said it can cause some difficult to track down issues. We should have our hands on one of those here soon and we're going to give it a try.

In the end it's not a massive deal as the Lynx is working fine and giving us the basics of what we need to keep it all up and running. It's just a bummer because one of the selling points of the EG4 is the communication with our Victron setup.

OK thanks for the reply. Let me know how that Victron wire works. I've got 3 V2 batteries that now communicate better, but there are still gaps in communication. Mainly, no consumption reported, "float" sits at 14v for hours and the charge current is fixed to 30amps. I don't think the ground wire will resolve these. I'm still just using my BMV as the battery monitor instead of the batteries as I hoped to do.

 

[Markus_EG4]

Appreciate the offer. In short, the V2 batteries in the rack just aren't showing up in the device list when connected to the Cerbo GX. We spent a day on the phone with Signature Solar, and to their credit they were pretty thorough and spent hours with us going over everything, and they couldn't find any issues with our setup. A solar installer friend who helped us set it up reached out to a guy he knows at Victron who suggested that Signature Solar is selling this wire without a ground, just two wires when their wiring diagram calls for three, and said to get a Victron-made one to try out before we do anything else. He said it can cause some difficult to track down issues. We should have our hands on one of those here soon and we're going to give it a try.

In the end it's not a massive deal as the Lynx is working fine and giving us the basics of what we need to keep it all up and running. It's just a bummer because one of the selling points of the EG4 is the communication with our Victron setup.

We are Selling Victrons Actual cable from them to stop them from saying that. If you give me your contact I can get one sent out to you.

 

[NCOffGrid]

We are Selling Victrons Actual cable from them to stop them from saying that. If you give me your contact I can get one sent out to you.

Appreciate that, but I did already buy one online last week that'll hopefully deliver later this week. I'll check back in whether that solves anything or not.