- May 16, 2021
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OK,Hi Hoovie. Sorry long night escaping Devon. You're of course correct there is no smart networking with the Orion Smart-Tr. I currently have the SmartShunt, no BMV 700 . Just wondering whether I could/should automate the low temperature charging cut off to the Lithium Battery
questions would be:
First... Does the BMS in the Lithium Battery have a GENUINE low-temperature charge-cutoff? If yes, then you are sorted. If no (and I say *genuine* as many cheap Lithium Batteries claim to, but don't really) or you are not sure, then something to consider for sure.
Next ... How to add? (And what I am about to say is part of the reason why I moved away from using a Raspberry Pi running Venus OS to a Venus GX and then a Cerbo GX)
You have a Smartshunt that you can use to provide Temp info to the entire connected setup via the DVCC options
This is mine - I use the Temp Sensor #4 as the Battery "system" temp - you would select Smartshunt Sensor in your example.
That will let your MPPT controller use the accurate 'dynamic' temp sensor.
The Victron MPPT internal temp sensor is not that useful - it reads once on controller wakeup, sets the parameters according to that temp and that is it until the next wakeup to get the next reading (a day later usually). The Victron Bluetooth SBS fixes that but is not compatible with DVCC as it needs smartnetworking - and DVCC won't allow that (at least currently. it might change?)
So that sorts the MPPT, but the B2B?
If you want a Solution to prevent the B2B from charging a Lithium at Low Temp, get a descrete setup. Something like this unit- https://amzn.to/3l8DXZj - and connect the probe to the battery and the relay output to the B2B (for example, replace the existing jumper with a pair of wires that go to the two relay connections on the device in the link, and set it so the relay opens when temp drops below 5C say.
The other - more expensive - option you have is to replace the Smartshunt with either a BMV-702 (not a BMV-700) or a BMV-712. you can then use the built-in relay on the 702/712 to send a control signal to the Smart B2B to turn off if the temp drops below 5C (or whatever you choose).
The relay on the BMV is not part of the DVCC setup and so cannot be remotely controlled by the Venus system, just directly on the BMV (via display or VE.Connect).
If you had a Venus GX unit or similar (Cerbo, CCGX, etc) with a programmable Relay, then you could set it up with an "Alarm" option to activate on various alerts (not tried that, so can't be sure of that).
With the Pi you would need to add this physical functionality. This kind of limitation, the cost of proper VE.Direct to USB cables and the extra features like multiple temp sensor inputs, tank sensors and digital IO inputs makes the genuine Victron GX units actually better value than the cheap RPi option.
(PS. yes, you can make DIY VE.Direct - USB cables; no, they are not reliable. For testing stuff, ok (and I still use them on my Venus/RPi test kit) but on a proper installation, you need a reliable setup.)