Victron reporting 100% SOC but MPPT in bulk?

[740GLE]

I wonder if this is a 15s battery.

Dave you seem to be a glutton for buying cheap crappy batteries and realizing they are cheap crap it’s almost too funny to read your trials.

 

[outboard1196]

I wonder if this is a 15s battery.

Dave you seem to be a glutton for buying cheap crappy batteries and realizing they are cheap crap it’s almost too funny to read your trials.

Even if so, it's still no where near 100AH

 

[WorldwideDave]

I wonder if this is a 15s battery.

Dave you seem to be a glutton for buying cheap crappy batteries and realizing they are cheap crap it’s almost too funny to read your trials.

I do what I can to amuse and to entertain the masses.
I have money.
I feel like after being here a year, building my own batteries, upgrading 3 different inverters, learning how to use relays and contactors, the importance of a good crimp, programming BMS I installed, how to use shrink wrap, building a power shed, rewiring a subpanel, installing current transformers to monitor use of circuits on the grid, upgrading solar charge controllers 6 times, learning why 4/0 THHN is an absolute pain in the a$$ to work with, and learning all manner of things about grounding, bonding, transformers, Ohms law, toroidal transformers, HF, LF, and what a pain programming all this stuff can be even if all the same brand...it's time to give back and buy things on my own dime to test and report back on.

So far the only things that have just worked have been an Outback FM80 solar charge controller, a Victron 150/100 MPPT, a Victron Cerbo GX, a Victron 250/75 MPPT, Victron Quattro 48/5000/70, Giandel 12V 2000W inverter, two batteries I built myself with JBD BMS, and some 12V Eco-Worthy batteries that have done great independently, but are about to be tested in parallel and series to see how they do. Someone told me 4 eco-worthy batteries (12 x 100Ah) in series will not return 48V 100Ah and to expect only 70Ah from that configuration without an active balancer. Also there is a lot of drama with 100Ah mini/cheap batteries in parallel, and I plan to put these through their paces.
I have to say much of what I'm doing is two steps forward, one step back. Now that I'm using a Victron 48V/5000VA/70A Quattro inverter instead of the giandel, this beast is the exact opposite of my giandel inverter. The Giandel had zero features other than the various cutoffs/protections, but you couldn't even wire a relay to it. It was a 'dumb inverter' compared to the Victron. Don't get me wrong - both rock solid and have worked great, whereas one is very basic the other is super complex. The giandel has 2 connections - positive & negative. That's it. The Victron Inverter has 28 different ports/connections(!). The Cerbo GX has almost the same - more than 20 for sure! Mind blown.

The list of crap I've gone through is much smaller than the positive experiences. Seriously - cheap batteries are the biggest headache. Faulty MPPTs or PWM SCC create big headaches and major safety issues for me. All started with a crappy CHINS dumb battery, and stumbled across this forum, and eventually, will's youtube channel.

 

[outboard1196]

I do what I can to amuse and to entertain the masses.
I have money.
I feel like after being here a year, building my own batteries, upgrading 3 different inverters, learning how to use relays and contactors, the importance of a good crimp, programming BMS I installed, how to use shrink wrap, building a power shed, rewiring a subpanel, installing current transformers to monitor use of circuits on the grid, upgrading solar charge controllers 6 times, learning why 4/0 THHN is an absolute pain in the a$$ to work with, and learning all manner of things about grounding, bonding, transformers, Ohms law, toroidal transformers, HF, LF, and what a pain programming all this stuff can be even if all the same brand...it's time to give back and buy things on my own dime to test and report back on.

So far the only things that have just worked have been an Outback FM80 solar charge controller, a Victron 150/100 MPPT, a Victron Cerbo GX, a Victron 250/75 MPPT, Victron Quattro 48/5000/70, Giandel 12V 2000W inverter, two batteries I built myself with JBD BMS, and some 12V Eco-Worthy batteries that have done great independently, but are about to be tested in parallel and series to see how they do. Someone told me 4 eco-worthy batteries (12 x 100Ah) in series will not return 48V 100Ah and to expect only 70Ah from that configuration without an active balancer. Also there is a lot of drama with 100Ah mini/cheap batteries in parallel, and I plan to put these through their paces.
I have to say much of what I'm doing is two steps forward, one step back. Now that I'm using a Victron 48V/5000VA/70A Quattro inverter instead of the giandel, this beast is the exact opposite of my giandel inverter. The Giandel had zero features other than the various cutoffs/protections, but you couldn't even wire a relay to it. It was a 'dumb inverter' compared to the Victron. Don't get me wrong - both rock solid and have worked great, whereas one is very basic the other is super complex. The giandel has 2 connections - positive & negative. That's it. The Victron Inverter has 28 different ports/connections(!). The Cerbo GX has almost the same - more than 20 for sure! Mind blown.

The list of crap I've gone through is much smaller than the positive experiences. Seriously - cheap batteries are the biggest headache. Faulty MPPTs or PWM SCC create big headaches and major safety issues for me. All started with a crappy CHINS dumb battery, and stumbled across this forum, and eventually, will's youtube channel.

Don't worry even expensive batteries give you headaches too lol

 

[ricardocello]

I have to say much of what I'm doing is two steps forward, one step back. Now that I'm using a Victron 48V/5000VA/70A Quattro inverter instead of the giandel, this beast is the exact opposite of my giandel inverter. The Giandel had zero features other than the various cutoffs/protections, but you couldn't even wire a relay to it. It was a 'dumb inverter' compared to the Victron. Don't get me wrong - both rock solid and have worked great, whereas one is very basic the other is super complex. The giandel has 2 connections - positive & negative. That's it. The Victron Inverter has 28 different ports/connections(!). The Cerbo GX has almost the same - more than 20 for sure! Mind blown.

That's both good and bad, depending on who you are and what you want.

Victron is an engineering company that designs its products for engineers.
If you like engineering flexibility and building modular custom systems, Victron is for you.
If you just want to plug it in and make it work, you should look elsewhere.

 

[WorldwideDave]

Don't worry even expensive batteries give you headaches too lol

I'm seeing value in open loop communications vs. closed loop communication in battery bms to inverters. I also see the value in rapid shutdown buttons where you can kill the PV, inverter, and battery all at once.
I also see the advantage to buying vs. building over and over again.
But occasionally someone builds a battery with great cells, bolted bus bars, and a terrible case and bms, and the price is 1/2 of what buying the cells outright would be in USA or about the same cost they'd be new from factory in China minus shipping. Then you can rip them open and build your own battery with your own bms and viola you have a truly discounted DIY product.
But even finding a good quality BMS at a reasonable price with descent features is difficult lately. I stick with JBD for now, but some Daly look good, and Batrium even better.

 

[WorldwideDave]

That's both good and bad, depending on who you are and what you want.

Victron is an engineering company that designs its products for engineers.
If you like engineering flexibility and building modular custom systems, Victron is for you.
If you just want to plug it in and make it work, you should look elsewhere.

I see so many complaints about inverters and MPPTs that are not victron here...so many that I'm willing to pay more and have to learn more in order to use a quality product that will last that runs cool and is quiet and lasts a long time. But yes, the learning curve is steep on some of the victron gear. Then I see people fire up their EG4 and others just to have the bluetooth not connect, the menu system to be terrible and confusing, the app to be full of bugs, and I am so grateful I have learned and can afford to avoid some of the lower cost items that really matter like the MPPT and Inverter.
To me, screens like this that are basic and just work and you can click on to learn more are fantastic. Just geeky enough. Simple animation to get everyone interested in solar and want to learn more:

and like this:


and features like this:


I mean none of this exists in my old Giandel inverter or Midnight Solar stuff. This just rocks. It's not Solar Assistant or Home Assistant, but is damn good for me. If I want to geek out, I could load the advanced page:


I have probably 40 charts on that darn thing - many I don't even know why I have there All customizable. Just so happy with Victron stuff. I see that Midnight has some newer stuff too but ownership/product problems from what I read here on the forums. Sounds like some other companies like Batrium in Australia delivering some great stuff, too.
What do people think is the 'gold standard' in pre-built batteries these days? Other than that new Tesla one Will shared the other day. GW of storage a bit much for me. Plus, where would I park a 20' trailer anyway?

 

[ricardocello]

I have probably 40 charts on that darn thing - many I don't even know why I have there All customizable.

Yes, I do too, but it’s better to disable (but keep) the ones you aren’t looking at, because it can really slow down.

 

[WorldwideDave]

Yes, I do too, but it’s better to disable (but keep) the ones you aren’t looking at, because it can really slow down.

Yessir - just making a point that there are so many options and that's good enough for me. @sunshine_eggo used to tell me to make custom ones for him to see - think I have 10-15 of those (disabled) over the year. Miss that guy. Hope he's doing okay.

 

[Brucey]

I see that Midnight has some newer stuff too but ownership/product problems from what I read here on the forums.

No issues with my midnite rosie 7048M inverter/charger and hawkes bay 90A scc.

Rosie is silent under 1500W per leg, no transformer hum, designed with a LF XW pro as a benchmark. Huge surge capabilites.

The hawkes bay works seamlessly on the canbus chain, no VRM for Midnite tho. Theres Solar Assistant support, in my case I've got a victron 3P75CT energy meter
to hook up so I can track the Rosie in vrm, versus current dc loads approximation and then a spare smartshunt to track hawkes bay scc output.

No issues with ownership, one of the founders passed away recently but company still going strong.

 

[Green Garden]

I just completed charging up a new 48v lifepo4 battery, and then doing a full discharge test. During the test I got 72% of rated capacity. While recharging the battery today using a Victron smart Solar 250/70 MPPT, it was about 85% state of charge and then I watched it jump up to 100% state of charge. It happened within a minute. It was not possible because I was charging in a very low rate of maybe 5 A. So the Victron smart Shump 1000 amp is reporting 100% state of charge, but the MPPT is still trying to charge in bulk. I’m confused by what I am seeing. Some have suggested that perhaps the battery has older cells inside of it, and that the battery management system is disallowing the pack to continue to be charged.

The battery does not support Bluetooth. It is a dumb battery not a smart one. I’ve already contacted the manufacturer who has offered me a refund for another issue already… The fact that it is advertised having Bluetooth and ultimately not having it at all.

Others have suggested that it did not fully charge the first time despite it reading a state of charge of 100% based on the battery voltage settings. I had it connected for eight days and every day it was in bulk for a few minutes then absorption then float. Maybe I have some settings wrong. Sharing those in the attachments. There have been inconsistencies between what the website says, the side of the battery says, and the manual that came in the box with the battery.

Other gear in system:
Victron Quattro 48/5000/70
Victron Cerbo GX

I’m new and I have Humsienk cheap Chinese batteries (i’ve been getting them on Temu with special discounts for between $150 and $230 for a 12 V 314 amp hour mini). So the other day my inverter kept shutting off and my charge controller said my batteries were full. When I turned the inverter on the voltage drop to about 42. When I turn the inverter off it went back up to 59. I don’t know how your batteries are configured so this may not apply to you. I am set up in 4S2P configuration. So what I did was I took a multimeter and I tested the voltage across each battery I found 3 in each bank were at 10.1v and the other one was at 14.8v this is 44.4v but when I read the voltage across the bus bars it was 59.2. So my charge controller thought my batteries were full because it was getting a false reading from batteries not being balanced. You’re not supposed to connect batteries in parallel if they’re off by more than 0.1 V. Let me tell you you get a really really really big spark when they’re off by four point something volts . What I should’ve done was either discharge the one or charge the other three. But at any rate I left them in parallel overnight and everything worked fine the next day all four batteries in each bank read exactly the same voltage now. I have a battery balancer on order but based on what I’ve read I’m not sure that I need one it sounds like you just need to either low balance them or high balance them and they pretty much stay there as long as the batteries are similar ages.

 

[WorldwideDave]

I’m new and I have Humsienk cheap Chinese batteries (i’ve been getting them on Temu with special discounts for between $150 and $230 for a 12 V 314 amp hour mini). So the other day my inverter kept shutting off and my charge controller said my batteries were full. When I turned the inverter on the voltage drop to about 42. When I turn the inverter off it went back up to 59. I don’t know how your batteries are configured so this may not apply to you. I am set up in 4S2P configuration. So what I did was I took a multimeter and I tested the voltage across each battery I found 3 in each bank were at 10.1v and the other one was at 14.8v this is 44.4v but when I read the voltage across the bus bars it was 59.2. So my charge controller thought my batteries were full because it was getting a false reading from batteries not being balanced. You’re not supposed to connect batteries in parallel if they’re off by more than 0.1 V. Let me tell you you get a really really really big spark when they’re off by four point something volts . What I should’ve done was either discharge the one or charge the other three. But at any rate I left them in parallel overnight and everything worked fine the next day all four batteries in each bank read exactly the same voltage now. I have a battery balancer on order but based on what I’ve read I’m not sure that I need one it sounds like you just need to either low balance them or high balance them and they pretty much stay there as long as the batteries are similar ages.

Welcome to the forums. Did you not charge each battery individually before connecting them in parallel?

 

[Green Garden]

Welcome to the forums. Did you not charge each battery individually before connecting them in parallel?

Probably wouldn’t have been a 4v difference if I did.