Victron settings wrong ?

[suavecarve]

Whilst we were away we used our fogstar 280 with 350 watts of solar together for the first time.

One of the things that was quite noticeable was the she would go into absorption even when we were only 60% full and into float by 70% which meant we were getting 30 watts of solar instead of probably about 200 watts at 1400 hours.

I m assuming something is wrong with my settings ??

These were the days we were half full and started the charging of the ebikes as soon as we got back to force her into bulk again

Any ideas ?

 

[Ditcha]

How do you know you where 60% full not by the app by any chance ?

 

[suavecarve]

How do you know you where 60% full not by the app by any chance ?

It is by the Fogstar app and I didnt believe it was accurate, until it proved to be when I ignored it and ran out of electric ! Bleeding air fryers

 

[Ditcha]

It is by the Fogstar app and I didnt believe it was accurate, until it proved to be when I ignored it and ran out of electric ! Bleeding air fryers

Best to use a shunt the app isn't very accurate you where at 100% on all of the days you show in that snap shot.

 

[monzer]

Most days you are getting a reasonably high P-max and yield making me think that would be enough to top up the batteries. The victron MPPT is usually pretty good and knowing how much to pump in to them and for how long.

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[suavecarve]

As per previous, I am/was aware of the inconsistencies in the Fogstar app so monitored but took little to no notice. I was monitoring (hourly) our usage and thought... "Lets try the air fryer and prove the fogstar app is wrong" when we were on about 30% .......... unfortunately Fogstar was accurate and we had no electricity one night ! and that was after we had been in Float

This all leads me (rightly or wrongly) that my settings may be wrong

 

[Barti Ddu]

I'd trust the Victron Connect app over the Fogstar BMS app anyday.

Looking at your daily yield, P max figures, and the fact that it's going into Absorption and Float as intended, I'd say your battery is charging nicely from your solar.

Ps. Like what you've named your van in the Victron app by the way!

 

[suavecarve]

I'd trust the Victron Connect app over the Fogstar BMS app anyday.

Looking at your daily yield, P max figures, and the fact that it's going into Absorption and Float as intended, I'd say your battery is charging nicely from your solar.

Ps. Like what you've named your van in the Victron app by the way!

The fogstar app is "DGSE van4" and my wifi is "FREEWIFE (if you know the password)

Edit: Freudian slip "FREEWIFI (if you know the password)"

 

[Raul]

Whilst we were away we used our fogstar 280 with 350 watts of solar together for the first time.

One of the things that was quite noticeable was the she would go into absorption even when we were only 60% full and into float by 70% which meant we were getting 30 watts of solar instead of probably about 200 watts at 1400 hours.

I m assuming something is wrong with my settings ??View attachment 1041212

These were the days we were half full and started the charging of the ebikes as soon as we got back to force her into bulk againView attachment 1041213

Any ideas ?

Your battery is full sir.
At 14.2v absorb for two hrs those cells are saturated.

 

[Ditcha]

Everything looks fine in victron connect everything working as should, not sure about fogstar settings but looks like they are the problem.

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[suavecarve]

Appreciating everyones in put, but further information I could have added at the start.

When we were in the Dordogne and getting the 14.2 volt absorption and then float and Victron saying everything working fine but Fogstar saying 50% full we then went on the big trip back up north in a day (ish) and I had the wife reading out the readings (from victron and fogstar) every hour as we were gaining the alternator as well.
The day before we left we had reached Float, we used about 40ah of battery for the ebikes and 20ish for the telly. We got 30 ah going into the battery for about 6 hours and werent quite full (according to fogstar) which again leads me to believe victron settings were wrong and fogstar was right.
Similarly we had electric for 2 nights (after the same type of discrepancy) and we recharged up to full (about 5 hours) when Victron was saying Float the day before

 

[suavecarve]

Here's the day we ran out.

We may have done a bit of driving the next day but nothing over 2 hours

 

[Lenny HB]

Like everyone else say your solar settings are correct and you will get to 98% - 100%
You will get a slight improvement by changing absorbtion voltage to 14.25v then the battery will definitely get to 100%.
Fogstar say 14.3v for Victron equipment but 14.25v works well, better to be lower than too high.

Try discharging the battery to 40% then recharging too 100%, repeat 4 or 5 times then see how the BMS reports SOC.

As said with Lithium the only reliable way of measuring SOC is with a shunt.

 

[Raul]

Here's the day we ran out.

We may have done a bit of driving the next day but nothing over 2 hours

View attachment 1041260View attachment 1041261

Just one observation, your battery should NEVER exceed 14.4v, so, why on last day shows 14.67v? What else have you got charging?
That is a fairly high voltage and will triger the bms. In triggering the bms. It will think is full and reset to 100%.

 

[Ditcha]

Just one observation, your battery should NEVER exceed 14.4v, so, why on last day shows 15.67v? What else hou have iy charging?
That is a fairly high voltage and will triger the bms. In triggering the bms. It will think is full and reset to 100%.

It also shows that 20 days ago the voltage reaches 14.67v something else going on there but what ?

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[suavecarve]

Just one observation, your battery should NEVER exceed 14.4v, so, why on last day shows 15.67v? What else hou have iy charging?
That is a fairly high voltage and will triger the bms. In triggering the bms. It will think is full and reset to 100%.

Aha, well noted.

We were on an electric charge late in that day and the 2 days after.

With similar high voltage. 14.78 as well as 14.67

 

[Ditcha]

Aha, well noted.

We were on an electric charge late in that day and the 2 days after.

With similar high voltage. 14.78 as well as 14.67View attachment 1041328

What charger have you got fitted?

 

[suavecarve]

Ditcha Schaudt with lithium setting

 

[Ditcha]

Ditcha Schaudt with lithium setting

Is that the b2b or the actual battery charger?

 

[suavecarve]

Is that the b2b or the actual battery charger?

Charger

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[Raul]

Charger

It is set to high, excuse my typo ( I have edit it) , but the 14.67v is extremely high and very likely will hit high voltage protection and bms will cut out.
If that happens your balancing will suffer. Imbalanced cells mean not quite full battery, some cells will be more full than the others, but not all of them.

 

[Ditcha]

Charger

All I can suggest is to check the output of the charger with a multimeter the higher voltage has to be coming from somewhere process of elimination unless someone else can chip in with a theory as to where the higher voltage is coming from.

 

[suavecarve]

It is set to high, excuse my typo ( I have edit it) , but the 14.67v is extremely high and very likely will hit high voltage protection and bms will cut out.
If that happens your balancing will suffer. Imbalanced cells mean not quite full battery, some cells will be more full than the others, but not all of them.

Balance of the cells was good at all stages. Typo absolutely excooosed

 

[suavecarve]

All I can suggest is to check the output of the charger with a multimeter the higher voltage has to be coming from somewhere process of elimination unless someone else can chip in with a theory as to where the higher voltage is coming from.

Job for tomorrowish. Great input thank you

 

[Ditcha]

Just a thought the starter battery couldn't be back feeding from somewhere could it ?

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[suavecarve]

Screenshot of the 2 days it was high voltage.
The way I read it is we were accepting solar and 240 together at the point voltage was high for a short period

 

[suavecarve]

Just a thought the starter battery couldn't be back feeding from somewhere could it ?

Not turned on at those times so doubtful as it would be more constanr

 

[ChrisL]

What are the individual cell voltages and how much difference is there between cells?

 

[suavecarve]

What are the individual cell voltages and how much difference is there between cells?

At the moment it's this and it's been pretty similar when at all different SoCs

 

[ChrisL]

At the moment it's this and it's been pretty similar when at all different SoCs View attachment 1041358

Fully charged is likely to be 3.4v or slightly more.

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