Got Smurfed, right out of the gate

[Flunkyboi]

"Victron is the best!" Lol

I'm all wired up, ready to roll with my very first solar project and I cannot Bluetooth connect to my brand new V 100/50 charge controller.

None of the three PW suggestions (0000, 1234 or 000000) will connect it. A pop up video in the app suggests going into BT panel and "forget" that device, then try again. My phone has no "forget" option.

I guess Victron has a CS that can help on the phone or is it the usual phone tree where three hours of hold let's you talk to some new English speaker in Brataslavakia?

 

[timselectric]

"Victron is the best!" Lol

I'm all wired up, ready to roll with my very first solar project and I cannot Bluetooth connect to my brand new V 100/50 charge controller.

None of the three PW suggestions (0000, 1234 or 000000) will connect it. A pop up video in the app suggests going into BT panel and "forget" that device, then try again. My phone has no "forget" option.

I guess Victron has a CS that can help on the phone or is it the usual phone tree where three hours of hold let's you talk to some new English speaker in Brataslavakia?

The shunt that I purchased this week wouldn't connect with the standard PW's , either.
But there was a sticker on the side with a specific PW for it. And that worked.
It was the sticker that also had a QR code.

 

[S Davis]

My Victron dc/dc charger was the same, code on the side of the unit.

 

[HighTechLab]

Not only is there a sticker on the side of the unit, but many of them also come with a sticker shipped loose with the pin code that you can stick somewhere.

There is some new EU requirement that Victron and many others are following. Many things now have random, unique default passwords. I use Mikrotik network gear, and it was a big mistake factory resetting a unit, it required getting on a ladder up to the ceiling to reset an access point.

 

[Q-Dog]

I guess Victron has a CS that can help on the phone or is it the usual phone tree where three hours of hold let's you talk to some new English speaker in Brataslavakia?

They expect you to get help from the vendor that sold it to you.

 

[outboard1196]

"Victron is the best!" Lol

I'm all wired up, ready to roll with my very first solar project and I cannot Bluetooth connect to my brand new V 100/50 charge controller.

None of the three PW suggestions (0000, 1234 or 000000) will connect it. A pop up video in the app suggests going into BT panel and "forget" that device, then try again. My phone has no "forget" option.

I guess Victron has a CS that can help on the phone or is it the usual phone tree where three hours of hold let's you talk to some new English speaker in Brataslavakia?

If you have the puk code which should be on the sticker.
In the VC app next to the device there's 3dots, click that and hit reset pin. You will need to enter the puk code to reset the pin.
Victron had stopped the 0000 default passcode I think.

 

[Flunkyboi]

If you have the puk code which should be on the sticker.
In the VC app next to the device there's 3dots, click that and hit reset pin. You will need to enter the puk code to reset the pin.
Victron had stopped the 0000 default passcode I think.

I just found the sticker. I wasn't the first into the box. Sticker was tucked inside the little pamphlet....at my daughter's house, where it was delivered. I'm not pointing fingers at grandchildren, but....

She connected to the phone and updated firmware. It auto-sensed the Dumfume as a 12 v. It is sunset, so it was only grabbing 20 watts, but it was in "bulk" mode and charging the battery as soon as i closed the PV circuit. I can't wait until tomorrow.

I'm not real sure how to set all the parameters. The battery is one of those 12.8v 100ah Dumfumes LFP4s Will tested and tore down recently. The batteries did come with a nice spec sheet.

 

[740GLE]

My 100/50 had a sticker on the case, and an extra loose one in the box.

I found it when I started looking for the PUK code. lol

IMO they should update the app to remove the “default 00000”.

 

[outboard1196]

My 100/50 had a sticker on the case, and an extra loose one in the box.

I found it when I started looking for the PUK code. lol

IMO they should update the app to remove the “default 00000”.

Its the devices that have the code, they have stopped the 0000 code and now come with a random number.

 

[Brucey]

My 100/50 had a sticker on the case, and an extra loose one in the box.

I found it when I started looking for the PUK code. lol

IMO they should update the app to remove the “default 00000”.

VC does prompt to update pin from default.

 

[740GLE]

Its the devices that have the code, they have stopped the 0000 code and now come with a random number.

Right so anyone adding new devices to victron connect won’t have 000000 as the pin, yet the app says otherwise, people try 00000 and get frustrated and think they have a broken device.

I guess they did update it to look on the device first.

 

[outboard1196]

Right so anyone adding new devices to victron connect won’t have 000000 as the pin, yet the app says otherwise, people try 00000 and get frustrated and think they have a broken device.

Ah I see, probably left over for legacy devices.

 

[Flunkyboi]

OK, got a question now that it is working.

The Victron auto detected this Dumfume is 12, not 24. The exterior of this Lifepo4 100ah battery is labeled 12.8v. The app has a drop down section called "Expert Settings". Do I need to go in there and customize things?

These batteries come with a nice pamphlet that lists a bunch of details. One is "standard charging voltage" at 14.6V+-0.2V. Do I need to change that setting?

 

[740GLE]

Expert settings allow you to hold an absorbtion voltage for a set time and few other things, that maybe needed for balancing. I wouldn’t mess with expert until you’ve seen how the battery behaves for a few charge cycles.

Does your battery BMS allow you to track cell voltages?

14.6v is peak that you might not actually hit if the cells are unbalanced, the BMS will hit over voltage cell protection.

 

[Flunkyboi]

Expert settings allow you to hold an absorbtion voltage for a set time and few other things, that maybe needed for balancing. I wouldn’t mess with expert until you’ve seen how the battery behaves for a few charge cycles.

Does your battery BMS allow you to track cell voltages?

14.6v is peak that you might not actually hit if the cells are unbalanced, the BMS will hit over voltage cell protection.

I do electrical work by trade, but this battery stuff, particularly this Lifepo4 type, is still all Greek to me.

As to your BMS question...these first four Lifepo4 batteries (my first) are the Dumfume bargain batteries that Will did a video on recently. No Bluetooth com for cell monitoring. They do have low temp cut out and tend the cells, but that is as far as the bells and whistles go.

My plan is to build my first 48v storage with these four. They will be tended with 2400 w of PV via my new EG4 3kw 48v hybrid then. From what I understand, it is important get all four at a high and even state of charge before seriesing them. I do not have an expensive Lifepo4 specialized charger yet, so my goal now is to charge each of these Dumfumes with this Victron I bought for a later 12v solar project.

 

[Q-Dog]

OK, got a question now that it is working.

The Victron auto detected this Dumfume is 12, not 24. The exterior of this Lifepo4 100ah battery is labeled 12.8v. The app has a drop down section called "Expert Settings". Do I need to go in there and customize things?

These batteries come with a nice pamphlet that lists a bunch of details. One is "standard charging voltage" at 14.6V+-0.2V. Do I need to change that setting?

I would use the "smart lithium" setting for now. Then let the charger do it's thing and see how the batteries react.

 

[740GLE]

I would use the "smart lithium" setting for now. Then let the charger do it's thing and see how the batteries react.

Agreed

One thing to watch out for is if the SCC abruptly
stops charging before 14.6v is reached, this probably means the BMS went into protection due over cell voltage protection, not that the battery is full.

Use victron connect and the trends feature look at watts going in, you want the SCC to go into absorb mode.

 

[Flunkyboi]

I would use the "smart lithium" setting for now. Then let the charger do it's thing and see how the batteries react.

I'm new to all this and a bit of a scaredy-cat. Before hooking up the Victron, I set the the little rotary selector dial on the bottom of the device to position #7 ,(LFP). The only thing I've changed in the app menu is max amps to the battery. Set it to 30A. It can put out 50, but I felt I needed to dial it back.

This thing goes right to 30 when the sun clears the clouds. It ain't playing around.

 

[Q-Dog]

I would have to go to the manual and double check setting #7 is 14.2volt absorption. I would do it but I'm a little busy pulling wires through a wall right now.

 

[Flunkyboi]

The sun just popped out. It was maxed out at my set current, so for giggles, I bumped the max amp output to 40a. Amps climbed a bit, about two more amps (32) and the Victron's indicator lights changed from BULK to ABSORBTION. Battery volts are 14.04v.

Is that normal?

I watch this German guy on YouTube. He's in Australia. (He has said a few times he is friends with Will.) He said with LFP batteries that BULK and ABSORBTION are basically the same things. Man, this stuff is interesting, but confusing.

 

[outboard1196]

The sun just popped out. It was maxed out at my set current, so for giggles, I bumped the max amp output to 40a. Amps climbed a bit, about two more amps (32) and the Victron's indicator lights changed from BULK to ABSORBTION. Battery volts are 14.04v.

Is that normal?

I watch this German guy on YouTube. He's in Australia. (He has said a few times he is friends with Will.) He said with LFP batteries that BULK and ABSORBTION are basically the same things. Man, this stuff is interesting, but confusing.

Do you have a smart shunt as well? If so you should set up a smart network so the charger gets proper voltage reading.
What does the voltage / current graph look like? Could be the BMS in protection mode?

 

[Flunkyboi]

I would have to go to the manual and double check setting #7 is 14.2volt absorption. I would do it but I'm a little busy pulling wires through a wall right now.

It is 14.2v in the pdf manual.

 

[Flunkyboi]

Do you have a smart shunt as well? If so you should set up a smart network so the charger gets proper voltage reading.
What does the voltage / current graph look like? Could be the BMS in protection mode?

I did install a shunt monitor. It is not a Victron. It's a Chinatron cheapo. "TR" brand. It and the Victron's voltage and current readings are not exactly aligned, but both are in the same ballpark. I assume if the BMS did go in protection mode, the amps would have stopped.

 

[Flunkyboi]

Here is latest screenshot

 

[outboard1196]

I did install a shunt monitor. It is not a Victron. It's a Chinatron cheapo. "TR" brand. It and the Victron's voltage and current readings are not exactly aligned, but both are in the same ballpark. I assume if the BMS did go in protection mode, the amps would have stopped.

If you have no loads, generally yes amps would go to 0A when in protection mode.
The charger will generally have a lower voltage reading then at the battery due to cable resistance.