Victron issue

[Postypat]

Hi everyone, has anyone experienced a blue tooth failure with a Victron mppt 100/30 unit and if so how did you recover the facility?

 

[Lenny HB]

Have you tried updating or reinstalling the app.
If that doesn't work try disconnecting and reconnecting the controller, when reconnecting connect to the battery first then solar.

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Are you sure it is a failure with the Victron unit. Bit weird but for a month or so my Samsung phone has been very very poor at connection to Victron stuff, even when right next to it, but other things were OK. Update to the phones software has restored connectivity suggesting something in the previous software had been an issue.

 

[Two on Tour]

Disconnect PV, disconnect the battery, wait a moment, reconnect the battery, try to connect with VictronConnect, and reconnect PV.

 

[AdrianChen]

Have a look at some of these tips - https://www.victronenergy.com/media/pg/VictronConnect_Manual/en/troubleshooting.html

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[Diabalo]

When it happens to me I switch airplane mode on and off and that sorts the connection issue out.

 

[Ditcha]

Hi everyone, has anyone experienced a blue tooth failure with a Victron mppt 100/30 unit and if so how did you recover the facility?

Have you got Bluetooth enabled on the product info page can you see the mppt at all in victron connect? I disabled this once on my shunt and could not log on or see the shunt at all I had to buy a ve direct to usb cable to connect to the shunt to re enable Bluetooth.

 

[Postypat]

Have you tried updating or reinstalling the app.
If that doesn't work try disconnecting and reconnecting the controller, when reconnecting connect to the battery first then solar.

I’ve got three of these attached to the system and they won’t power anything off grid, never had any joy with overnight power lasting anytime. They show 14.89 when charged then 0.19 minimum reading when the Victron app was working. This has been going on since last November when we got the van back from the converter. Any ideas? Thanks for the reply, much appreciated

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

Are you sure it is a failure with the Victron unit. Bit weird but for a month or so my Samsung phone has been very very poor at connection to Victron stuff, even when right next to it, but other things were OK. Update to the phones software has restored connectivity suggesting something in the previous software had been an issue.

Mine is likewise on a Samsung A40, one day able to read indoors, the next day stood over it, no connection.
Mike.

 

[AdrianChen]

View attachment 791606
I’ve got three of these attached to the system and they won’t power anything off grid, never had any joy with overnight power lasting anytime. They show 14.89 when charged then 0.19 minimum reading when the Victron app was working. This has been going on since last November when we got the van back from the converter. Any ideas? Thanks for the reply, much appreciated

14.89 is the voltage from the charging process rather than the battery, when they have been off charge for a few hours, and ideally disconnected what voltage do they drop down to, should be around 12.7v ? From what you've said they may be somewhat down on capacity so worth checking they still hold 110AH, all batteries will loose capacity over time, a few percent each year - how old are they? There is a little clear window on the top which should be green to indicate they are charged - I Don't think this confirms the capacity though....

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[peterc10]

View attachment 791606
I’ve got three of these attached to the system and they won’t power anything off grid, never had any joy with overnight power lasting anytime. They show 14.89 when charged then 0.19 minimum reading when the Victron app was working. This has been going on since last November when we got the van back from the converter. Any ideas? Thanks for the reply, much appreciated

They are probably knackered. How old are they and how often have they been totally discharged?

 

[Postypat]

They are probably knackered. How old are they and how often have they been totally discharged?

Less than a year old, no idea on total discharges but every time we try off grid we lose power

 

[peterc10]

Less than a year old, no idea on total discharges but every time we try off grid we lose power

Seems you may be heavy electrics users.. What are you using on your trips and for how long? Do you have solar panels to top up? 3 batteries is a good array, but they will soon run out if you are using lots of electricity without topping them up. And, if that has what you have been doing, it will quickly kill your batteries. For a long life lead acid batteries should not be discharged below 50% of capacity.

 

[Postypat]

Seems you may be heavy electrics users.. What are you using on your trips and for how long? Do you have solar panels to top up? 3 batteries is a good array, but they will soon run out if you are using lots of electricity without topping them up. And, if that has what you have been doing, it will quickly kill your batteries. For a long life lead acid batteries should not be discharged below 50% of capacity.

We are trying to use a 12v fridge and short periods of a heater or air con. We have a 250 w solar and a link to vehicle battery. The fridge works but won’t get cold at all unless we hook up and the others only work for a few minutes unless we hook up. 330 should be enough? Last tested in May one battery was at 76% other two at 85% according to suppliers which they said was expected after six months use. You can see the suppliers name on the battery.

 

[AdrianChen]

We are trying to use a 12v fridge and short periods of a heater or air con. We have a 250 w solar and a link to vehicle battery. The fridge works but won’t get cold at all unless we hook up and the others only work for a few minutes unless we hook up. 330 should be enough? Last tested in May one battery was at 76% other two at 85% according to suppliers which they said was expected after six months use. You can see the suppliers name on the battery.

Are you using an inverter for the heater/aircon? These devices are normally high power users, for eg a 1kw heater will draw over 80amps per hour from a 12v source via an inverter. A fridge also uses a fair bit of power over a 24hr period depending on its size and type (absorbtion/compressor) etc. Not knowing which air con unit you have I can't say what it would use, mine is a 2200watt unit, so would use 183ah of capacity per hour. I would think the average days yield from 250w solar might not cover that lot, especially so on dull days. If the 76% and 85% relates to the state of charge of the batteries I don't think it means anything much - except to say all three should be very close, so perhaps one at 76% is doing most of the work (some small difference can be due to the way in which the batteries are wired/connected) - if it relates to the remaining capacity ie 85% or 76% of 110AH ie one of the batts is down to 83AH and two are 93%, then your capacity was down from 330A to 270AH at the time of the test. If the heater/air con units are run from the batteries, they may well be drawing a very high amperage, enough probably to degrade them, since they are a pretty standard Flooded Lead Acid type. From what you've said I guess you have a charger for use on EHU, what rating is that?

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[Postypat]

Are you using an inverter for the heater/aircon? These devices are normally high power users, for eg a 1kw heater will draw over 80amps per hour from a 12v source via an inverter. A fridge also uses a fair bit of power over a 24hr period depending on its size and type (absorbtion/compressor) etc. Not knowing which air con unit you have I can't say what it would use, mine is a 2200watt unit, so would use 183ah of capacity per hour. I would think the average days yield from 250w solar might not cover that lot, especially so on dull days. If the 76% and 85% relates to the state of charge of the batteries I don't think it means anything much - except to say all three should be very close, so perhaps one at 76% is doing most of the work (some small difference can be due to the way in which the batteries are wired/connected) - if it relates to the remaining capacity ie 85% or 76% of 110AH ie one of the batts is down to 83AH and two are 93%, then your capacity was down from 330A to 270AH at the time of the test. If the heater/air con units are run from the batteries, they may well be drawing a very high amperage, enough probably to degrade them, since they are a pretty standard Flooded Lead Acid type. From what you've said I guess you have a charger for use on EHU, what rating is that?

Thanks for your reply, yes there is an inverter and yes a victron charger too, maxed out at 30 amp, maximum the crafter alternator allows. Sounds like we just cannot run greedy things off the batteries

 

[AdrianChen]

Thanks for your reply, yes there is an inverter and yes a victron charger too, maxed out at 30 amp, maximum the crafter alternator allows. Sounds like we just cannot run greedy things off the batteries

Yes I think so - - When replacing the batteries you might want to consider Lithium, 200AH would be more than equivalent usable capacity to the 3 * 110AH Lead acid, since for a long life lead acid should best be discharged to 50% only, and more resilient with high discharge rates, alternatively I would look at Gel/Carbon-Gel. Victron gear normally has a Lithium profile, the charger you mention sounds like an Orion B2B, but if there is a mains charger that would also ideally need to have a lithium charge profile, again victron (and many others) do.

Best of luck!

 

[Lenny HB]

Sounds like you have knackered the batteries.
You can't run air con from batteries unless you have 50p - 600 ah of Lithium and 500-600, Watts of solar.
If you want to run it off batteries you are going to have to spend a few grand.. You would also need a bigger B2B and possibly a alternator upgrade.