Barking Sands
Guru
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2019
- Messages
- 981
- Location
- New Port Richey, Fl
- Vessel Name
- M/V Intrigue
- Vessel Make
- 1985 Tung Hwa Senator
I was testing the 300AH Essential batteries with Victron Comms but those ended up going to a buddy of mine. I opted instead for the 460Ah version X 2 that have the Marine IP67 case and some additional features. I figure for my small boat 920Ah should be more than enough.
They arrived a few days ago and today I put them on the bench and hooked them up to the Multiplus 2 and CerboGX and shunt etc. It didnt take long since it was the same hook up as the 300AH Essentials.
For the last few weeks I have been drinking from the firehose of information regarding Victron systems and how to configure lithium batteries and learning things like "tail current" and various other parameters that must be set to properly charge the batteries and then will reset the SOC meter to 100% when the batts are considered fully charged.
So these batteries out there that have "Victron Comms". Whats it good for other than displaying actual battery info on the Cerbo Touch 50 screen and then forwarding to the Garmin? Why would anyone really need that or want it. This basic question was not apparent when discussing "Victron Comms" and there really wasn't much info on the web that was readily available that went into details.
The off grid resources really are the best for this research. Better than most boat resources. At least for configurations and experimenting.
Anyways...as of the last week or so, much of the details I have gathered seem to have come down to just a few items of critical info:
1) in regards to something like the Epoch 12V300A V2 battery...the V2 does not stand for "Version 2" of this model battery. It describes the Victron V2 BMS protocol and lay out. There are other batteries that have had this feature for some time, but mainly for off grid, not marine batteries.
2) once the V2 capable battery is coupled to the Cerbo system you dont need to make any parameter changes. The battery BMS contains all the details. See the instructions below from Victron at the bottom labeled C. And this is the heart of the matter and what the "Victron Comms" do. All details, and commands come from the battery BMS for charging and discharging and temp control. I will of course confirm this with testing. I still have the shunt inline to use as a comparison. I can see both Epoch details alongside Victron Shunt details on both the Touch 50 screen and the Garmin plotter (via NMEA200).
One complaint about the Epoch is that the internal shunt threshold is not adjustable and does not register below 1 amp. So if your system is near equilibrium at say +/- .9 amps it will not register on the SOC over time. Over many days this will throw the SOC off. The Victron shunt this threshold is adjustable. If you dont hang around 1 amp or less that is not a problem and on boats "in use" you would rarely be under 1 amp draw or charge. I talked to Epoch yesterday and they said they are going to do something about that, but it will take a while.
A couple other features on this battery are:
1) it came with 2 harnesses. One is for a remote on/off switch that can be dash mounted. The other has the 10 segment SOC monitor that can also be remote mounted.
2) self heating- FYI the heating elements draw about 11 amps from the charge current.
3) Bluetooth
4) 97 lbs each!
5) IP67 waterproof. Everything is gasketed.
This is where I am so far. Still learning, reading and testing. I have the feeling this will be much more common in the future. As of now there are only a handful of batteries that have this but most are "server rack" style for off grid home systems.
I hope to be installing this set up in the boat in about 3 weeks.
They arrived a few days ago and today I put them on the bench and hooked them up to the Multiplus 2 and CerboGX and shunt etc. It didnt take long since it was the same hook up as the 300AH Essentials.
For the last few weeks I have been drinking from the firehose of information regarding Victron systems and how to configure lithium batteries and learning things like "tail current" and various other parameters that must be set to properly charge the batteries and then will reset the SOC meter to 100% when the batts are considered fully charged.
So these batteries out there that have "Victron Comms". Whats it good for other than displaying actual battery info on the Cerbo Touch 50 screen and then forwarding to the Garmin? Why would anyone really need that or want it. This basic question was not apparent when discussing "Victron Comms" and there really wasn't much info on the web that was readily available that went into details.
The off grid resources really are the best for this research. Better than most boat resources. At least for configurations and experimenting.
Anyways...as of the last week or so, much of the details I have gathered seem to have come down to just a few items of critical info:
1) in regards to something like the Epoch 12V300A V2 battery...the V2 does not stand for "Version 2" of this model battery. It describes the Victron V2 BMS protocol and lay out. There are other batteries that have had this feature for some time, but mainly for off grid, not marine batteries.
2) once the V2 capable battery is coupled to the Cerbo system you dont need to make any parameter changes. The battery BMS contains all the details. See the instructions below from Victron at the bottom labeled C. And this is the heart of the matter and what the "Victron Comms" do. All details, and commands come from the battery BMS for charging and discharging and temp control. I will of course confirm this with testing. I still have the shunt inline to use as a comparison. I can see both Epoch details alongside Victron Shunt details on both the Touch 50 screen and the Garmin plotter (via NMEA200).
One complaint about the Epoch is that the internal shunt threshold is not adjustable and does not register below 1 amp. So if your system is near equilibrium at say +/- .9 amps it will not register on the SOC over time. Over many days this will throw the SOC off. The Victron shunt this threshold is adjustable. If you dont hang around 1 amp or less that is not a problem and on boats "in use" you would rarely be under 1 amp draw or charge. I talked to Epoch yesterday and they said they are going to do something about that, but it will take a while.
A couple other features on this battery are:
1) it came with 2 harnesses. One is for a remote on/off switch that can be dash mounted. The other has the 10 segment SOC monitor that can also be remote mounted.
2) self heating- FYI the heating elements draw about 11 amps from the charge current.
3) Bluetooth
4) 97 lbs each!
5) IP67 waterproof. Everything is gasketed.
This is where I am so far. Still learning, reading and testing. I have the feeling this will be much more common in the future. As of now there are only a handful of batteries that have this but most are "server rack" style for off grid home systems.
I hope to be installing this set up in the boat in about 3 weeks.