Using Growatt and Victron charge controllers to charge 48V SOK batteries

[Y2JB]

Hi All,

I am hitting the Amp limit on my Growatt 5000es so i have decided to move one of my 3 PV strings to its own charge controller. I plan to buy a Victron 150 | 30 mppt charge controller.

My Growatt is using ethernet communication with my two SOK 48V server rack batteries. Program 52 if I remember correctly.

My question is, can I just disconnect one PV string from my system, hook it to the victron and then plug the victron output to my SOK batteries and I'm all set or do I need to configure very specifically the victron?

Thanks!

 

[sunshine_eggo]

The Victron is a charger. All chargers must be configured properly for the batteries they are charging.

 

[Y2JB]

Do you have any info on using the victron in combination with a growatt ES and SOK 48V batteries?

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Do you have any info on using the victron in combination with a growatt ES and SOK 48V batteries?

No. It's not relevant. You need to program the Victron to the appropriate absorption voltage, absorption time and float voltage. Those depend on how your system is configured. Are you using comms between the battery and AiO? If so, you need to program the charger to the same values being fed to the AiO by the BMS. If using USE settings, duplicate your voltages in the Victron config.

Worth a quick peek:

Charging from multiple sources

One can have as many independent charging sources running concurrently as they like provided they are programmed properly for the voltage of one's battery bank. Examples (some or all at once, even multiples of a single type, different brands, etc.): Solar PV via MPPT Solar PV via PWM AC-DC...

diysolarforum.com

 

[Y2JB]

I am using comms so I am unsure how to actually get the settings being used by the Growatt. It is simply set to 'Program 52'

 

[sunshine_eggo]

I am using comms so I am unsure how to actually get the settings being used by the Growatt. It is simply set to 'Program 52'

"Program 52" is a meaningless statement as Victron has no setting called "program 52". Your system charges to a voltage. You need to set the victron to that same voltage. You may need to observe the system in operation to determine this value if you can't find out what the default SOK voltages are.

@HighTechLab might know.

 

[HighTechLab]

Program 52 is the battery comms protocol setting on the growatt inverter.

The unprofessional but easy to understand analogy for using communication goes something like “There is pregnant and there is not pregnant, but no such thing as half, third, or quarter pregnant”.

If you proceed with moving some of the solar to a Victron controller working in tandem with the growatt, then you would change the whole system to running without communication, since not all devices would be able to utilize communication. The only way to add more solar input capacity while maintaining comms would be to add a second growatt as a master/slave pairing (so they share the data from the battery), or go all out Victron so all the devices can use a GX device as a comms hub. Otherwise voltage control can be used if communication does not matter to you - many systems work just fine in voltage control as long as you enter the settings right.

 

[Y2JB]

If you proceed with moving some of the solar to a Victron controller working in tandem with the growatt, then you would change the whole system to running without communication

I thought this would be the case, thank you for the info